Afrer I graduated, all I want is to have work in order to help my family financially. My whole family supported my education and I want to repay them. Even it was hard to continue my education, they all work hard to pay for my tuition fees and I wil never forget that.
Graduation Day
I remember my graduation day. It was my mother and my auntie who accompany me on that day. It was an ordinary day for me but for others it was a special day. They have new clothes, new shoes and they have a celebration after.
But me, I don't have any new shoes or clothes. I only borrowed my blouse and skirt from my neighbor. My shoes was old. The sad part was, after graduation, we went home straight. We don't have money to celebrate or even to eat out. My classmates seemed happy during our picture taking. I envy them. When we reached the house, I just change clothes and that was it. But I understand our situation because if we have budget, I know they will cook anything for me.
I also started my new job the day after my graduation My classmates applied before and we were hired as production operators. It was a night shift and working hours is 12. From 6pm to 6am. Aside from that, my travel was 2 hours going to work and another 2 hours after work. Total of 16 hours outside.
When we reached the company, I was shocked. I did not expect my job. The production area was big and there were a lot of employees working..
Our 1st Night
We were only trainees and we were a lot that night. We were divided into different teams. My classmates and I were in the same team. The employees sitting were all girls and it was like a long table where employees are sitting in front of each other where there is a running conveyor and our work is manual insertion.
Each employee was assigned to insert 2 or 3 items to insert in a small board. Those items are small only like the capacitors, transistors with small legs and the board where you will insert those have holes and orientation so you know where to insert those.
There are 4 boards in a tray and you will insert those while the conveyor is running. Until it reached the end process, each board is filled with different items and it will be covered and packed.
You have to move fast while insertion because if not, you have to follow all that boards you missed and the machine will be stopped and other employees will help you as well until you are in your same position. But this will cause delay in the production so you have to move fast.
I was so nervous because other employees will shout at you if you don't move fast. I was inserting 2 items only instead of 3 but this is because the one that I am inserting is too hard to insert. Once you insert it from the board, you need to twist it with your 2 fingers which was painful because you need the force to twist it. If you missed to insert 1 or 2 items in a board, the Quality Control Team will check it and will shout at you.
After 12 hours of working, my fingers were bleeding because it was my first time. Maybe I wasn't used to it. We were all sleepy and tired after a long day of work while travelling home. I almost quit.
But I still continue.
The Payday
This was the day we are all waiting for. The payday. During our first payday, I noticed that my salary was not enough compared to my colleagues. We are working 8 hours a day plus 4 hours of overtime but I only earned few. When I went to Accounting for complain, there was a difference with the employee number given to me and the employee number listed in the system which I did not noticed.
After 8 hours of work, we will file our overtime by writing our employee number. The employee number that I am writing there was not the correct one so it was not credited to my overtime pay.
I am not sure if my salary dispute was returned.
Until I resigned after 3 months. I applied in Laguna, Philippines where my sisters sister-in-law was the Accounting Manager that time. I applied there and passed. It was also a production operator position but with great benefits. I was hired then.
After I resigned from my first job , I felt relieved. That company was too strict but they don't have good benefits for the employees. We were all overworked.
But since it was my first experience, I learned from that. The next company that I worked with was definitely good compared from the first.
Everyone has unforgettable experience in our first job. It maybe happy,sad or stressful. Buy we will all learn as time pass by We became good at it. Hope you enjoy this article of mine.
Thank you CryptoMax for the sponsorship. Happy reading!!
Be patient. Patience is a virtue.
