So I walked...

[Evo]

...out of a job today.

First time in the 30 years I've worked full time that I walked away without a 2-week notice.

Shop had been under-staffed for weeks, and twice as busy as any other time of the year. Just slammed to the walls. I've been busting my ass to make improvements for a year and a half. Shot down every time I complained about what was broke and needed fixing or replacing. Nothing luxury, just basic stuff. A properly working exhaust station for the spot cleaning gun. Pallets without giant burn holes in the rubber so we could finally level out the presses properly. A drill that wasn't a $20 homeowner piece of junk so we could spin more than a quart of ink at a time. God the list goes on and on. The unofficial shop motto was, "Everything is Broken".

Basics.

Any time we NEEDED anything, I would have to figure out what old gear we could sell in the shop so we could buy what we needed. I wasted hours and days going back and forth about it.

At one point I brought in a couple dozen old screens I had in my shed just so we could finish jobs on time.

Mind you this is a good size shop. 2 autos, a 10 and an 8 color and a manual. TONS of work. TONS of product moving through and much of it at a good margin. All the big accounts of the area. Schools, fire depts, you name it. Skeleton crew of employees.


I got chewed out this morning for not putting in enough over time. Seriously.

Was going to talk to the owner at lunch but he was busy in a meeting chewing out one of the press ops for not putting in enough over time. So I went home for lunch and he got an email of resignation.

It felt WEIRD.


Well now I'm home for awhile and updating the resume. One thing I've learned is after being in and out of the biz, then running my own shop and dedicating myself to advancing the craft, It's REALLY hard to deal with another shop. Especially one that doesn't invest any time, money or energy into improvement.



So... how's things with you guys?
 

[Mr Tees!!]

Gotta put it out there....If you decide to venture down south, gimme a shot at ya. I need good help badly, someone who cares about more than a paycheck.  Between ATL and SAV, so I imagine you have some music connections down here.

Hope it works out for ya, man!!

[Underbase37]

Well, that sucks. I have worked for a shop like this before & its not fun. Funny thing is I bet if you were being taken care of better you would feel better about putting in more OT. His loss

Murphy37

[Prosperi-Tees]

Thats gotta be frustrating. Ever think about moving to Fresno? 

[Evo]

Ever think about moving to Fresno? 

Err... no.

 

[Prosperi-Tees]

Lmao believe me I understand!

[GraphicDisorder]

If you land in far East TN let me know. 

Best wishes, you will find something. 

[islandtees]

If you ever come to Fl, let me know.

[ericheartsu]

That's such a bummer to hear. When you were running your own shop, I was always so amazed and impressed with what you were able to do. A little daunted actually. You were one of the first people I looked up to when starting to get really serious about printing. But hopefully this means you'll be moving to a shop that actually cares for you to be there!

Like everyone else says, if you happen to run down our way...let me know! I also might know some people in CA that might be looking for help if you wanna pm me!

[GraphicDisorder]

You should do a USA tour, go work in a few shops for a few weeks at a time.  Improve them, leave.  Do this until you are rich or until you find something local.  OR move to one of those shops that you really like. 

[mk162]

i'd hire you for a couple weeks.

I think we are going to have to hire again here.  I've been holding off for as long as possible.

Funny thing, when all of our equipment is working well and we don't stop to fix things, we get more work done in less time...thus avoiding overtime.

[mimosatexas]

HIS LOSS!  I've only really talked to you a few times on the forum, but all of those conversations have changed how I do things in my shop for the better.  You clearly know what's up and they should have listened.  Sucks you had to peace out, but honestly it sounds like the right decision.

[GraphicDisorder]

EVO WORLD TOUR

[royster13]

EVO WORLD TOUR

When will the tour shirts be on sale?......lol....

[tonypep]

Sadly I must report that this is more common than most of us would like to admit. Fat margins are not necessarily what they may seem. Owners can get greedy. Good printers often make bad business owners and vice-versa. Best of luck we always seem to land on our feet.