~1~

*tl;dr see below


As most of you know I was working for a time in a bakery, well not so much a bakery as a manufacturing plant that just happened to manufacture bread. The 'machine' used to manufacture the bread consists of two large industrial mixers capable of churning out dough in ½ ton batches which are hoisted over head with industrial hoists and poured into the gaping maw of the divider which cuts it into 280 gram dough chunks at the rate of 60 a minute and then dumps them into what is called a 'rounder' which shapes the chunks into balls and dusts them with flour and then deposits them into a 'proofer' which gives the balls a forty five minute rest before they are deposited into a 'sheeter' which flattens them out and then they are transferred to a 'moulder' where the flattened dough is rolled and pinched into what is known as a 20" sandwich loaf or baguette. From there it is picked up by hand and placed four deep onto a baking pan. Fifteen pans per side for thirty pans for an even ten dozen per rack. Filling sixty some odd racks per night on a slow evening, it's 7,500 a night on average...

Okay so about two years ago when the shit hit the fan we took a hit and the place closed down, it was cheaper to consolidate in one plant up north than run two, shit happens. I had been fortunate enough to remain on as a sort of 'caretaker'/real estate agent for the owners for the first year and for the last year I've been reaping the rewards of being gainfully employed for the last twenty years leading up to this lapse in employ... UI.

So now at about the same time I'm beginning my 'vacation' an interested buyer had popped up and was looking to move his operation into our facility however (and really I knew this from the start) he operates a bakery and frankly we're not a bakery. So in the last five months I've been around as he is moving in equipment and improving the property to bring it to code and in the last week he has been operating and well, to be quite honest it's complete and total chaos. I mean serious clusterfuck on a scale I can't deal with.

He offered me the job as night manager, at considerably less than what I was making before, with no benefits (which I can deal with) and way more responsibilities... Wait, that's not right, with a fuck load of different responsibilities that I am not trained for and didn't have to deal with before.

See what I did before was 'feed' this machine that so far has sat dormant, I cared for the machine that makes up the plant. The inventories and the flour delivery systems and the water delivery systems and the mixers and hoists and ovens the delivery trucks and the sewer and 'all' of the machine. I did it very well, my plant operated very smoothly.

Now I am faced with 'artisans crafting handmade loaves' at a table, scaling by hand dough mixed in 100lb batches and placed into our cavernous ovens eight and ten loaves at a time. Like making a TV dinner in a blast furnace. Frankly I just don't think I can make it work and I don't want to try because it isn't what I'm trained to do.

First and foremost I do not manage people, people suck. My contact with people is the head baker tells me what doesn't work, I fix it and tell them why they broke it and to not do it again but I don't tell folks to work faster or harder because that's not my job. Outside of the company I have a network of like minded vendors, tell me what's wrong and how they can fix it and he worries about how his guys act. When acting as the shipping agent I can tell you what is wrong and why I'm not accepting it but really the only thing I answer for is the 'machine'.

I'm going down there today to tell them I can't make it work and truth be told I see him folding in a matter of months. I want no part of it.

*pause for intermission.

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~1~

Part deux.

Don't worry the tl;dr is coming up...


I'm completely out of my element, I have no idea what the difference is between a hallah and lavosh and really I don't actually need to in order to do what it was I did here, I just needed to make sure the machine was ready to grind to life at noon each day.



tl;dr


In a time of a difficult economy I am choosing to walk away from a potential employment opportunity because I don't really want to be involved with the inevitable demise and if you read the story you'll understand why it's inevitable.


On the other foot, I really need to keep ties with the owners of the property as the folks in now are leasing w/OTB pending beginning at the second year. I get to figure that out myself I suppose.



Man, I know what I'm doing and why I'm going to do it, even with potentially detrimental effects to me at first but I just can't go on with the place so I guess I just need you all to say...


Fuck I dunno, what would you do?


Keep in mind 'sticking it out for the money', although an option, isn't preferred as a bad rep in this industry will keep you from working in it.

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Mafoo

not trying to be rude, but i dont really comprehend what you are talking about.

you are a manager at a bread making plant.. your plant got bought out? now you dont like the way its running so you are contemplating quitting? is that right?

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PLUR
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return

~1~

Not quite...


Look at it like this, this guy moved into a Ford truck wheel stamping plant so he can hand hammer Lamborghini hoods and doors and he handed me a hammer and said get to it.


I can't do what he wants me to do.


I guess just tell me I'm not stupid for saying no and remaining unemployed.






Don't worry, I fully get what you mean. Sorry.

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Mafoo

youre getting paid less, but less is still more than not getting paid..

got any other job prospects? i wouldnt voluntarily put yourself in unemployment if you can at least find another job before you quit

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PLUR
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return

~1~

This is no bullshit, the amount of compensation I could potentially lose out on needs to be considered. Good shit you need to do every day, bad shit only once.




Ummm, I'm already on the dole, have been for the last year so it's not like I'm jumping on the teet from a job. I just don't think this will be a good fit so I think I need to leave it be and clean up for the owners when the dust settles.

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farmergiles

Sounds like you've already made the right decision.

If you would only harm your future employment prospects when everything goes tits up then there's no point unless you really need the money.

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Cultivate a stoic calmness

mothernature

You used to do a particular job. That job is over. Now you are unemployed. Now you need a new job. You're going to have to learn it.

If the reason you think you can't do the job is because it isn't the old job, then you should maybe rethink that.

If you can't do the job for other reasons, then don't worry about it.

I'm not trying to sound like a hard ass, but it's not pretty out there in the job world.

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Sometimes sleep is the best revenge- Luke

my_scatterheart

I guess I'm just not really understanding, but I'm not able to connect how your hand in this equates to bad rep. Bad business plan does not equate to bad management. You can maintain efficiency (at whatever capacity that may be for the company), but if that maximum output is still not enough to keep them in business, how does that fall on your shoulders? /imslow

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Be mindful even if your mind is full. -J. De La Vega

Terry

Dude you have 20 years of unemployment insurance headed for you. Sit back, write a novel, smoke weed, but don't go back to work for peanuts mang.

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There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them.

-Sylvia Plath

HTAM

I would tell him I'm interested but we're apart on compensation. If that's the rate he can pay, then define your responsibilities including only what you think the wage is worth. I'm in that position right now, so I will probably end up splitting my time between one place and another.

My problem isn't that he won't pay me more, it's that it's a new business and he can't. I know this because I see the numbers every day. I don't want to leave, but I can't stay full time.

Your sitchy-ation is a little different but I figured I chime in and relay something for you to consider.

Stonie Jo

It's so hard to work a job that you don't enjoy in any way. It comes down to staying at the job and upholding your good rep, or bailing and possibly coming off as a flake. The thing is, you have already built up a rep for yourself with the factory, no? Anyone who knows you or the situation will surely understand if you don't find it profitable to stay. That's what it is all about in the end, right? Quality of work is what decides the worth of the worker. And pay shows the appreciation for said work.

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I've thought of something cool a thousand times for this but as I sit here stoned right now I can't come up with any of them............

tedkennedy

for any job you need to learn new skills.

isnt it unreasonable to expect to find a job that is exactly like the one you previously had? the only reason you were good at your old job is because you did it for so long... if you want to, you can learn new skills.

when you say you will have more responsibilities, dont you have like no responsibilities at you current job so any job will be much more challenging?just because you were lucky this time, is it reasonable to expect you will find a new job that will be like that? usually when people find a new job they have to work hard, its when you are in a job for many years that you start to get comfortable with it and it gets easy.

the compensation is another story. can you find a better paying job and how easy will it be? how many bread factories in your area are looking for managers?

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matthew munari

~1~

Guess I ranted some, lemme nutshell it.

They want to make bread on an artisan level, we produced bread at an industrial level, we are set up to produce bread on an industrial level, they are utilizing 10% of the capacity we are able to run at and this is inefficient and incorrect.

I am not a baker, nor am I a manager per se, what I am is a facilitator for the operation of the machine, the machine being the entire plant as it operates daily. I'm more upset at the fact that they are using my machine incorrectly and I'm not hip on that and I'll never get them to the point where the machine runs efficiently because it isn't the right machine...

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~1~

The operation of the plant was my responsibility, the mechanics of it anyway. I kept the machine rolling and fed so the operators can operate it with little hassle.

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Sugar420

well can you talk him into a new or different machine?
or do you feel like you just cant do anything that will be of any benefit to ( or simply dont want to deal with) an "artisanal" bakery?

SmokeaJoint

So you're more of a mechanic than a baker... choice seems pretty clear to me in that context. Tell your boss to sell the machine for scrap, use the cash to buy an oven and some mixing bowls, and mebe hire someone that knows how to do that job. My 2 pennies.

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Roach

problem is, he's a machine operator , not a baker.

and the new guy doesn't need a machine operator, he needs a "head baker".

Take the unemployment, but throw you hat back in the ring ASAP...(make a resume and look for the same job - different manufacturer) ...not some mom & pop business, where you're expected to work harder..."to make less bread" .

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לזיין את הקופים

~1~

The 'machine' is the plant as a whole...


You guys aren't getting me. That's okay, it's kind of hard to follow I know. There was me, the head baker and the oven master and we answered to the owner. I was in charge of a team of drivers but it was another part of the well oiled machine. They made good money to do what they did which the new guys again, don't have in place nor are willing to pay for. Another frustration on my part. The head baker told me what he needed in the morning to bake at night, the oven master kept me appraised of the ovens and proofers and racks, I moved everything in and out of the plant and keep things from breaking and fix what does. My crew is too much money for these guys, the oven master is making twice what they offered and their head baker is likely to burn the place down if they fire him so he'll likely stay...


I'm going in to offer my services on a 'consultant' basis tomorrow for cash, my time here will be limited anyhow so I may as well milk them for what I can.

I'll keep you posted.

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HTAM

^That's what I was aiming at. Negotiate for your skills and experience.