Stand My Ground

In my previous post, I have shared some of my experiences about my previous jobs.

Today I will share some stories about the relationship I have had with my former boss as an employee, a stubborn employee actually.

Before I became a regular employee at the press, I was working as a freelance machine operator. My brother and I would be working in the press without a formal written contract and get the job done without going home for a break. We used to sleep beside the printing machine with large paper as the blanket. It was like printing was our home. We would go home on weekends and sometimes not due to high volumes of printing jobs.

Heyday

Those are the times that we earned not less than 20K ($400) per week. Pay out was on a weekly basis every Friday. So almost every Friday night or Saturday night we would hang out in bars and clubs for a beer and have fun. Yes, we always hangout back then to give some rewards to ourselves after hard days of labor.

I was in my 20s and I didn’t even think of saving even if I was earning a favorable amount of money. Perhaps because I was just young and free so I wasn’t thinking about my future.

Money was kind of easy however due to the nature of our work it was hard whenever accidents happen. We don’t have insurance and the worst thing is that we never get paid even if one of our fingers is cut off while working.

Time has come for my brother and I to go our separate ways. He found another employer and I was hired as a regular employee at the company we used to work as freelancers. The owner is a Filipino, a single parent and a daughter of one. She was a kind of stingy woman. That was also the time that I had to work hard because I was starting to have my own family.

I was promoted senior operator when the other operator of the machine I was assigned as assistant did not show up for a couple of days. So I was the one doing the printing jobs for a week. Then when he returned, I was given my own machine to handle and with an assistant operator and a helper.

Stubborn Employee

In my introduction, I have mentioned that I was a stubborn employee. Yes, I was and I am not proud of it. I was the type of employee who makes absences without advising my boss. No text message or phone call or whatsoever. Then I will report to work the next day like nothing happened. Then my boss would talk to me and ask why. Just a simple alibi will be enough to make her believe.

The reason I was doing such a thing was that even if I would tell her that I have something important to settle on a particular date, she would not let me have my leave. So I ended up making alibis for my absences.

There was a time that she was so furious about me because I have printed a thousand copies with errors and have been delivered to the client. I think it was thirty thousand sheets with four copies per sheet and would sum up to one hundred and twenty thousand copies with errors.

It came to her attention when the client called and complained about the printed copies with colors not the same as the original copy or not matching with the sample color guide given by the client.

I was advised to stop the printing and she called us for an urgent meeting. My assistant and I went to her office to explain about the client’s complaint.

As far as I remember, the ink used was a special type of color. Meaning I have to mix inks to be used for that particular job order. Offset machine operators are like paint artists because we are very much concerned with the density of colors.

I was making the mass production for forty-eight hours excluding the breaks when that happened. So when my boss asks me about it, I tell her that I was printing the exact same thing as what was given to me as the sample. I showed here the sample and one sheet from what I printed. She then checked and it was good. However, she showed me a copy from the client who appears to be a little different from my output. I then checked and compared. Mine was a little darker than what seems to be the correct one.

I couldn’t find a reason to explain to my boss about the client’s complaint, all I knew was that I was only doing my job in accordance with what was instructed. But then she was agitated about the issue. She had raised her voice with me and my assistant. I just let her express her frustration about the matter. When she was done then I told her that I’m going to go for a break.

I packed my things and went out. My assistant followed but the guard stopped him and was told to stay.

I went home and told my wife that my boss and I just had an argument. Then I told her the whole story about what had happened. After a couple of hours, I received a phone call from the office. The secretary told me that my boss wanted me back on that same day. I resisted and told her that I was going to cool down first and resume work the next day.

When I returned it was like nothing happened. The machine was not running because there was no one to do the job but me. The instruction was to continue the printing. Then I just found out from the supervisor that the error was from the client’s graphic artist. They weren’t able to lessen the percentage of the color on their end. So even if I lessen the color density on my part, it will still appear darker.

I am the kind of person who will argue with you if I am pretty sure I am right. I just don’t lose my ground even if the person in front of me is at a higher position than mine.

One lesson learned here I guess was that I forgot that she was my boss during the time of arguments. I got carried away and completely had a bad temper. But somehow perhaps my boss realized that she was wrong too. That is why she did not want to lose employees like me.

When I had the opportunity to work overseas, I lied again to her for the last time. I know that she won’t let me go but she can’t compete with the offer given to me so she just let me go. When I came back after two years, I visited her. I told her that I have switched careers. She even offered me an extra job if I wanted to. She was happy then. 

I hope you had a great time reading this once again. You can share in the comment if you have similar experience with your boss or immediate superior.

Thanks for reading. Ciao!

Lead image source credits to Usen Parmanov

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