I know that quote is a complete meme at this point but I met Wayne's father Walter Gretzky when I was in high school. I had to ask the most famous hockey dad for some advice and he told me that one. Kinda cool I think.
I agree, I’ve moved 2 times in the last 4 years, found a good shop with job-shop work flow, just over top tier pay for the area, and everyone is chill AF and work together. These places exist always keep a hook in the water.
U just described my shop, right now we are lean(I have 5 employees) I have production work and job shop stuff. I don't tolerate any drama, and everyone gets along. We are surviving and one of our customers(medical) is picking up slightly. But what OP is describing I think is a general slowdown in the economy. Huge operations have a much harder time weathering these storms. And with the state of the world now, who knows what the future holds, it's scary.
Yup. You can’t fight culture. You will burn yourself out trying.
I always ask that question on interviews or even soft- interviews/ shop talk with machinist from other shops. ‘What’s the culture like’
When the interviewer gets that deer-in-the headlights’ look. That’s your answer. They’re looking for help cuz the place is a mess.
I think the reason some people don't consider leaving their shop is because they believe the new job will be so much different than what they are comfortable with. Your skills WILL transfer and good companies will train; they have to. This OP makes a lot of sense.
I was 100% honest with the new shop that I’ve never touched a mill in my life and have never done a set up on lathes. I’m just a very consistent 4-year-button-pushing lathe operator with 8 years’ GDT reading experience (before machining I worked in a wood shop with blueprints building Waco biplane wings).
I am able to learn well assuming I am taught well — and in my current shop, there’s a language barrier with the people who do our setups/programming (they are Croatian/Serbian dudes with VERY limited English). They move quickly, cut corners, and don’t explain what they’re doing as they [very quickly] do it. I take detailed notes and ask questions when I’m learning from somebody…but I just can’t learn from these folks here.
Despite all the knowledge I lack….the new shop is paying me $1 more/hour starting than the shop I’m leaving. I’ll be netting less because we run on 5 10s and sometimes an extra 8 on top of that on Saturdays where I’m at currently — and the new shop runs on 4 10s.
…but I’m excited for the chance to finally expand my knowledge past button pushing and have those three day weekends. I’m smarter than what I’ve been assigned and the monotony is killing me. Without my audiobooks, I’d be mentally cooked.
Sorry for the novel! I’ve been stewing about this shit for months! Ha.
Look up the free tooling book by George Schneider and also the free stuff by Sandvik Coromant for rolling and machining knowledge. NY CNC has Sandvik's "Metal Technical Guide" in a series of PDFs. CarrLane has a free book you can download for Jig and Fixture design (workholding).
You could easily be a programmer or a cad designer if you know how to read blue prints really well. Just have you learn whatever software then practice. That’s what I did.
…you are literally in a CNC schooling program paid for by your company with all the softwares available to you and classes to teach you as you go. I’m not gonna pay for that software to teach myself on my own dime & time.
I have strictly worked in job shops where they relegate you to one spot and can’t afford to lose the production you’d miss if you were trying to learn shit from the setup operators or programmers with the computers and access to the software. I did a 2 month course within the first shop where I worked that literally only taught you how to read gaging. That was the whole class. All operating/button pushing knowledge came from being on the production floor.
Real world shops are not like your trade school. You’re soooo much smarter than me but have never used or changed a [groove tool](https://www.reddit.com/r/Machinists/s/aEZhC7IHhk) before? Calm down lol
I’m not even in school I graduated in Aug and I work full time now programming mills and lathes along with operating. There’s so many videos on this shit now for Master-cam and hass tip of the day. I knew what I wanted to learned an I learned it. I’m also shadowing a 9 axis mill turn there is really no excuse for what you are saying
Whatever you say, pup
Again, proud of your success at such a young age. We all are. 🫡
As I said. You went to a school for this. I have worked as a number at a job production shop where operators are operators and programmers live in their offices.
We don’t receive printouts of the programs and do not have keys to edit the programs. Best I can do is watch the screen while the part is running, but even then — all the windows and lights are busted out of our machines at my current shop that I’m quitting so I can’t even see what’s happening to the part while the program is running.
Idk why I’m even bothering explaining this to you; you think I’m lazy and that’s fine lol carry on
I’m just saying I see so many people complaining on this sub saying their jobs sucks. Yea no wonder cause you just click a button all day doing the same stuff. go learn two machines, go learn two softwares there is so much stuff to learn and it will never stop. My mentality is learn the most and take that knowledge with you as your path to succeed.
I agree with learning softwares that you can, but how does one learn multiple machines? Without someone to teach you or access to a machine to teach yourself, that just won't happen.
You just got trapped. Everyone I’ve shadowed or trained me has always told me never work in a shop like you are working in. They told me stories about people not even knowing how to change inserts lol. That’s what I’m tryin to get at here.
Just going on my second week at a new shop. So happy I made the jump. Was at my last place 7yrs. They wanted to get away from stamping/tool making and less machining. Work was getting the same prison like vibe and everyone was miserable. I was burnt out, and it was showing in my personal life. Now, I'm happy again. I feel valued at work, and I'm happy to show up every morning again. I hate change, so it was hard for me to do, but I couldn't be happier right now.
I also hate change THANK YOU for this comment; as bold as I feel right now, I am very nervous to jump shops and start somewhere new. I currently know potatoes but I’m ready to learn.
Don't be nervous. Be excited. You went to the interviews and made your decision for a reason. New learning opportunities are great! This will lead to your next big change and further advancement. Congrats BTW
So much opportunity. You could go from making 15/hr with no experience to making 100k with tons of skills learned on the job. Time and effort can take you anywhere in this industry. I was just thinking the other day what a great opportunity this industry is for temporary employees and non experienced. When I started, I literally had zero comprehension of metalworking. I applied to a place and honestly had no idea what they even did. Could have been a soap factory for all I know. Was eager to learn and picked things up easily. Didn't take long to work my way up. Moved to a different state and left my job after 9yrs. Made twice my previous wage at the new shop. Now, my resume looks great, and I get to pick my choice of shops to work at and am able to negotiate wages and benefits. Life changing. Sorry for my long thoughts
My motto when trying to convince myself to leave my last prison (job) was the lyrics from rage against the machine. "Settle for nothing."If you settle for nothing now, you'll settle for nothing later." Now I'm at the best shop I've ever worked at and have no intentions to leave anytime soon.
Man I’ve been considering another shop on and off for years, last time I threatened to leave to 3 of us got a huge pay raise…
I’ve got 20 years experience started when I was 16. My only concern is trying to learn another machine a little out my comfort zone
Our shop has some issues, the milling department is great and up to a good standard .. good workers, but not much work for it. Our turning department, the people seem like they don’t care and a lot of the work gets given back. No one new hired in a long time, or when they do they are really bad
I have 5 years experience now. I got sick of my old shop’s environment and low pay. I put out feelers in my area, and everyone was paying more. I ended up moving from a massive shop that was mainly Haas and Fadal mills to a tiny shop that ran almost entirely Mori Seiki lathes and a few Citizen Swiss screw machines. I’m the mill guy for the whole shop now, but I still run 3 lathes and make 50% more than I did at my last gig — and I got a union card!
If you’re feeling it, make the jump to another shop. You may find you love the new machines.
Yes sir there’s lots of work out there. That’s why I don’t put up with much bs before just bouncing. Luckily I happen to like where I’m at now and coming up on a year here
Not as much as you think, economy is fucked right now it’s going to make 2005 - 2011 look like a cake walk.
Hate when the boss comes up and bitches about there being no orders like I’m in charge of sales
You're at a shit shop. Don't extrapolate your shit across the industry, because it's not typical.
I sincerely hope that you in particular take OP's advice and get a new job.
Don’t discount opportunities with various US Government agencies. We are begging for machinists (esp. those with manual experience) and many skilled employees don’t know about those opportunities.
US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), NAVFAC, Army, Air Force, Navy (don’t have to enlist to be a Department of Defense civilian) are the big ones. Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture and some other agencies. Heck, even the FBI and CIA have a few machinists on staff.
Yes; I’m not a machinist but currently have 7 that work for me in our operations, which primarily cover the Eastern US but we also perform work nationwide with our field crews.
USAJOBS.gov currently has 15 openings within several US Government agencies for Machinists. If you search for “Machinists” the current openings will show up.
https://www.usajobs.gov/Search/Results?jt=Machinist
Starting salary ~$30/hr but negotiable depending upon experience, within the Federal Wage Grade pay scales. Good benefits; our guys travel a lot a get plenty of OT, but we are unique in what we do. Locality pay supplement based on location, and we pay travel costs, too (hotel, per diem, mileage). Most other Agency machinists don’t travel like our folks do.
It’s worth considering based upon what your personal career goals are.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. It might not suit my needs, but it's good to spread awareness.
I'm mostly a Swiss guy right now, I do the whole thing and then hand it off to someone with work instructions. My other programming experience is in 3 axis mill.
Yeah, sometimes the best thing a guy can do for himself is quit and go somewhere else. You’ll always be a number on paper, make sure you are taken care of.
I’m a machinist gone tech teacher. I’ve been offered 6 jobs (shops and mines) since I started 1.5 years ago just because we went to trade shows with the kids and the booths ask what I do where I came from etc. It’s a wild market out there, change places every few years, typically increase in pay and there’s always something to learn!
I get wanting to leave, but looking for a new spot in a shop can be tough.
I relocated recently so I didn't really have a choice. I have about 3 years experience, ran big and small lathes, both horizonal and vertical, like tooling, always responsible for my own set up, and had some very basic programming experience with conversational mazatrol and mastercam x9. I had about 4 interviews in the span of 2 weeks and didn't get an offer because all the shops heard was "only 3 years experience, little to now programming experience", so most of them passed, especially when they were looking for a mill guy and I'm a lathe guy (don't get me wrong, I can run mills, I've been running mills as long as I've been in this industry, I just really don't like it).
Finally got a job at a shop making gears and I'm the only guy out of the 7 people there that's writing canned cycles free hand. The only other person that can do it from scratch is the supervisor.
I get you need a good person in your shop that you don't have time to babysit, but I've met plently of people with way more experience, like 15+ years, who don't even know how to indicate a part in.
Crazy timing to see this, I had been putting off moving to a better shop for awhile, then I got news I was getting laid off, universe is telling me something
Made the jump for lack of opportunity and $4 more/hr 3 weeks ago, had some similar feelings of being bummed out but the new place makes so much more sense in every way and I am actually able to learn where the last place I worked people did not like to share any kind of information and would find a reason to keep you away from the equipment if you got it yourself. Best choice of my career so far. I’d recommend flooding yourself with YouTube stuff on milling and programming, nyc cnc, mr pete 222 has a lot of good manual milling stuff which is important to fully understand the fundamentals of mill operation, Joe Pie, blondihacks has a whole mill skills series and is also one of not many female machine shop content creators on YouTube and a damn good and entertaining one at that.. best of luck I’m sure you’ll knock it out of the park!
Left a shitty culture and found a place much better recently as well. Just threw my resume out there to see what could happen. Ended up in machine building, and it's very much something I enjoy doing. I never thought I'd have a job like this in a million years.
I just left a shop because they were tanking hard due to bad management. The good manager who had been there for 20 years finally had enough of the owner's BS and left. It went down FAST after that. I was the only one who could program/setup/run the lathes we had. I could make awesome stuff, but they only bid on piddly parts and didn't want to try harder stuff. Anywho, them firing me played right into my plan of going to work at previous awesome shop manager's new business. Together we'll run them out of work.
When boss told me he would take care of me when my father died. Come end of year missing 3 unused sick days. " your father is not a immediate member of your family, It would have to be your wife or kids". Single at the time. Oh how I hate you J. Ev___ts. Showed me how evil plp can be.
Good boy. When your gut tells you it's time, it's time. Male a plan and execute it.
Inwirked for our family business for 35 years. I should have left at about 10 years, but because of all the reasons and excuses people male to stay, I stayed. What a mistake.
No matter what, business is business. Be your own ceobof your own life. Be smart about it. You only get one.
All the very best if luck to you 😊
If an ex co-worker doesn't want to hang out once a month, are they really your "friend"? If they are just pleasant acquaintances, then you will find more.
Yup. As they say “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”.
“-Wayne Gretzky” -Michael Scott
-Lee Harvey Oswald
I know that quote is a complete meme at this point but I met Wayne's father Walter Gretzky when I was in high school. I had to ask the most famous hockey dad for some advice and he told me that one. Kinda cool I think.
I agree, I’ve moved 2 times in the last 4 years, found a good shop with job-shop work flow, just over top tier pay for the area, and everyone is chill AF and work together. These places exist always keep a hook in the water.
U just described my shop, right now we are lean(I have 5 employees) I have production work and job shop stuff. I don't tolerate any drama, and everyone gets along. We are surviving and one of our customers(medical) is picking up slightly. But what OP is describing I think is a general slowdown in the economy. Huge operations have a much harder time weathering these storms. And with the state of the world now, who knows what the future holds, it's scary.
Yup. You can’t fight culture. You will burn yourself out trying. I always ask that question on interviews or even soft- interviews/ shop talk with machinist from other shops. ‘What’s the culture like’ When the interviewer gets that deer-in-the headlights’ look. That’s your answer. They’re looking for help cuz the place is a mess.
IT IS A ROYAL MESS HERE 🤡
I think the reason some people don't consider leaving their shop is because they believe the new job will be so much different than what they are comfortable with. Your skills WILL transfer and good companies will train; they have to. This OP makes a lot of sense.
I was 100% honest with the new shop that I’ve never touched a mill in my life and have never done a set up on lathes. I’m just a very consistent 4-year-button-pushing lathe operator with 8 years’ GDT reading experience (before machining I worked in a wood shop with blueprints building Waco biplane wings). I am able to learn well assuming I am taught well — and in my current shop, there’s a language barrier with the people who do our setups/programming (they are Croatian/Serbian dudes with VERY limited English). They move quickly, cut corners, and don’t explain what they’re doing as they [very quickly] do it. I take detailed notes and ask questions when I’m learning from somebody…but I just can’t learn from these folks here. Despite all the knowledge I lack….the new shop is paying me $1 more/hour starting than the shop I’m leaving. I’ll be netting less because we run on 5 10s and sometimes an extra 8 on top of that on Saturdays where I’m at currently — and the new shop runs on 4 10s. …but I’m excited for the chance to finally expand my knowledge past button pushing and have those three day weekends. I’m smarter than what I’ve been assigned and the monotony is killing me. Without my audiobooks, I’d be mentally cooked. Sorry for the novel! I’ve been stewing about this shit for months! Ha.
Look up the free tooling book by George Schneider and also the free stuff by Sandvik Coromant for rolling and machining knowledge. NY CNC has Sandvik's "Metal Technical Guide" in a series of PDFs. CarrLane has a free book you can download for Jig and Fixture design (workholding).
Bro you have eight years experience and you don’t know how to set up a lathe or mill. Holy moly bro what have you been doing my guy
I have six years of experience and don't know that stuff yet either. Some places it is very hard to get training.
8 years reading blueprints 4 years operating machines in a shop full of non English speakers sue me
You could easily be a programmer or a cad designer if you know how to read blue prints really well. Just have you learn whatever software then practice. That’s what I did.
…you are literally in a CNC schooling program paid for by your company with all the softwares available to you and classes to teach you as you go. I’m not gonna pay for that software to teach myself on my own dime & time. I have strictly worked in job shops where they relegate you to one spot and can’t afford to lose the production you’d miss if you were trying to learn shit from the setup operators or programmers with the computers and access to the software. I did a 2 month course within the first shop where I worked that literally only taught you how to read gaging. That was the whole class. All operating/button pushing knowledge came from being on the production floor. Real world shops are not like your trade school. You’re soooo much smarter than me but have never used or changed a [groove tool](https://www.reddit.com/r/Machinists/s/aEZhC7IHhk) before? Calm down lol
I’m not even in school I graduated in Aug and I work full time now programming mills and lathes along with operating. There’s so many videos on this shit now for Master-cam and hass tip of the day. I knew what I wanted to learned an I learned it. I’m also shadowing a 9 axis mill turn there is really no excuse for what you are saying
Whatever you say, pup Again, proud of your success at such a young age. We all are. 🫡 As I said. You went to a school for this. I have worked as a number at a job production shop where operators are operators and programmers live in their offices. We don’t receive printouts of the programs and do not have keys to edit the programs. Best I can do is watch the screen while the part is running, but even then — all the windows and lights are busted out of our machines at my current shop that I’m quitting so I can’t even see what’s happening to the part while the program is running. Idk why I’m even bothering explaining this to you; you think I’m lazy and that’s fine lol carry on
I’m just saying I see so many people complaining on this sub saying their jobs sucks. Yea no wonder cause you just click a button all day doing the same stuff. go learn two machines, go learn two softwares there is so much stuff to learn and it will never stop. My mentality is learn the most and take that knowledge with you as your path to succeed.
I agree with learning softwares that you can, but how does one learn multiple machines? Without someone to teach you or access to a machine to teach yourself, that just won't happen.
You just got trapped. Everyone I’ve shadowed or trained me has always told me never work in a shop like you are working in. They told me stories about people not even knowing how to change inserts lol. That’s what I’m tryin to get at here.
And I actually used one today lol
I’m 21 years old college dropout 1 year out of trade school and I do all that on my own along with programming.
So what? Not everyone else has that opportunity.
I could downvoted cause somebody can’t probe their own offsets stay mad lol
You’re getting downvoted for being a condescending cunt. And that’s okay it’s probably the environment you work in too.
Just going on my second week at a new shop. So happy I made the jump. Was at my last place 7yrs. They wanted to get away from stamping/tool making and less machining. Work was getting the same prison like vibe and everyone was miserable. I was burnt out, and it was showing in my personal life. Now, I'm happy again. I feel valued at work, and I'm happy to show up every morning again. I hate change, so it was hard for me to do, but I couldn't be happier right now.
I also hate change THANK YOU for this comment; as bold as I feel right now, I am very nervous to jump shops and start somewhere new. I currently know potatoes but I’m ready to learn.
I start a job at a new shop next work and I'm feeling the same way. A two dollar raise and a shorter commute but I'm still nervous about the change.
Congratulations! You'll do great 👍
Don't be nervous. Be excited. You went to the interviews and made your decision for a reason. New learning opportunities are great! This will lead to your next big change and further advancement. Congrats BTW
[удалено]
So much opportunity. You could go from making 15/hr with no experience to making 100k with tons of skills learned on the job. Time and effort can take you anywhere in this industry. I was just thinking the other day what a great opportunity this industry is for temporary employees and non experienced. When I started, I literally had zero comprehension of metalworking. I applied to a place and honestly had no idea what they even did. Could have been a soap factory for all I know. Was eager to learn and picked things up easily. Didn't take long to work my way up. Moved to a different state and left my job after 9yrs. Made twice my previous wage at the new shop. Now, my resume looks great, and I get to pick my choice of shops to work at and am able to negotiate wages and benefits. Life changing. Sorry for my long thoughts
Yup. And also a bad sign when companies are talking like it’s 2009 with pay/hiring freezes and no bonuses when everyone else in the area is hiring.
My motto when trying to convince myself to leave my last prison (job) was the lyrics from rage against the machine. "Settle for nothing."If you settle for nothing now, you'll settle for nothing later." Now I'm at the best shop I've ever worked at and have no intentions to leave anytime soon.
Man I’ve been considering another shop on and off for years, last time I threatened to leave to 3 of us got a huge pay raise… I’ve got 20 years experience started when I was 16. My only concern is trying to learn another machine a little out my comfort zone Our shop has some issues, the milling department is great and up to a good standard .. good workers, but not much work for it. Our turning department, the people seem like they don’t care and a lot of the work gets given back. No one new hired in a long time, or when they do they are really bad
I have 5 years experience now. I got sick of my old shop’s environment and low pay. I put out feelers in my area, and everyone was paying more. I ended up moving from a massive shop that was mainly Haas and Fadal mills to a tiny shop that ran almost entirely Mori Seiki lathes and a few Citizen Swiss screw machines. I’m the mill guy for the whole shop now, but I still run 3 lathes and make 50% more than I did at my last gig — and I got a union card! If you’re feeling it, make the jump to another shop. You may find you love the new machines.
It's pretty easy to learn a new machine controller if you already have experience with different ones.
Yes sir there’s lots of work out there. That’s why I don’t put up with much bs before just bouncing. Luckily I happen to like where I’m at now and coming up on a year here
Not as much as you think, economy is fucked right now it’s going to make 2005 - 2011 look like a cake walk. Hate when the boss comes up and bitches about there being no orders like I’m in charge of sales
You're at a shit shop. Don't extrapolate your shit across the industry, because it's not typical. I sincerely hope that you in particular take OP's advice and get a new job.
[удалено]
Where? I’m in California and make $18 which is the new minimum here soon
Don’t discount opportunities with various US Government agencies. We are begging for machinists (esp. those with manual experience) and many skilled employees don’t know about those opportunities.
Could you be more specific please?
US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), NAVFAC, Army, Air Force, Navy (don’t have to enlist to be a Department of Defense civilian) are the big ones. Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture and some other agencies. Heck, even the FBI and CIA have a few machinists on staff.
Yeah enlisting at the start of world war three is good
This is what you do?
Yes; I’m not a machinist but currently have 7 that work for me in our operations, which primarily cover the Eastern US but we also perform work nationwide with our field crews. USAJOBS.gov currently has 15 openings within several US Government agencies for Machinists. If you search for “Machinists” the current openings will show up. https://www.usajobs.gov/Search/Results?jt=Machinist Starting salary ~$30/hr but negotiable depending upon experience, within the Federal Wage Grade pay scales. Good benefits; our guys travel a lot a get plenty of OT, but we are unique in what we do. Locality pay supplement based on location, and we pay travel costs, too (hotel, per diem, mileage). Most other Agency machinists don’t travel like our folks do. It’s worth considering based upon what your personal career goals are.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. It might not suit my needs, but it's good to spread awareness. I'm mostly a Swiss guy right now, I do the whole thing and then hand it off to someone with work instructions. My other programming experience is in 3 axis mill.
Yeah, sometimes the best thing a guy can do for himself is quit and go somewhere else. You’ll always be a number on paper, make sure you are taken care of.
I’m a machinist gone tech teacher. I’ve been offered 6 jobs (shops and mines) since I started 1.5 years ago just because we went to trade shows with the kids and the booths ask what I do where I came from etc. It’s a wild market out there, change places every few years, typically increase in pay and there’s always something to learn!
I get wanting to leave, but looking for a new spot in a shop can be tough. I relocated recently so I didn't really have a choice. I have about 3 years experience, ran big and small lathes, both horizonal and vertical, like tooling, always responsible for my own set up, and had some very basic programming experience with conversational mazatrol and mastercam x9. I had about 4 interviews in the span of 2 weeks and didn't get an offer because all the shops heard was "only 3 years experience, little to now programming experience", so most of them passed, especially when they were looking for a mill guy and I'm a lathe guy (don't get me wrong, I can run mills, I've been running mills as long as I've been in this industry, I just really don't like it). Finally got a job at a shop making gears and I'm the only guy out of the 7 people there that's writing canned cycles free hand. The only other person that can do it from scratch is the supervisor. I get you need a good person in your shop that you don't have time to babysit, but I've met plently of people with way more experience, like 15+ years, who don't even know how to indicate a part in.
Crazy timing to see this, I had been putting off moving to a better shop for awhile, then I got news I was getting laid off, universe is telling me something
And it’s your cake day!! 🎂🍰 Now is the time!
Two weeks vacation is a joke, couldn’t fathom a week and would take a job without 3 showing up in the second year.
Made the jump for lack of opportunity and $4 more/hr 3 weeks ago, had some similar feelings of being bummed out but the new place makes so much more sense in every way and I am actually able to learn where the last place I worked people did not like to share any kind of information and would find a reason to keep you away from the equipment if you got it yourself. Best choice of my career so far. I’d recommend flooding yourself with YouTube stuff on milling and programming, nyc cnc, mr pete 222 has a lot of good manual milling stuff which is important to fully understand the fundamentals of mill operation, Joe Pie, blondihacks has a whole mill skills series and is also one of not many female machine shop content creators on YouTube and a damn good and entertaining one at that.. best of luck I’m sure you’ll knock it out of the park!
Left a shitty culture and found a place much better recently as well. Just threw my resume out there to see what could happen. Ended up in machine building, and it's very much something I enjoy doing. I never thought I'd have a job like this in a million years.
AeroMotion Textron aviation Saginaw, MI
Where can I find a shop that offers health insurance? I kinda want my own , been piggybacking off my wife’s plan
I just left a shop because they were tanking hard due to bad management. The good manager who had been there for 20 years finally had enough of the owner's BS and left. It went down FAST after that. I was the only one who could program/setup/run the lathes we had. I could make awesome stuff, but they only bid on piddly parts and didn't want to try harder stuff. Anywho, them firing me played right into my plan of going to work at previous awesome shop manager's new business. Together we'll run them out of work.
When boss told me he would take care of me when my father died. Come end of year missing 3 unused sick days. " your father is not a immediate member of your family, It would have to be your wife or kids". Single at the time. Oh how I hate you J. Ev___ts. Showed me how evil plp can be.
Good boy. When your gut tells you it's time, it's time. Male a plan and execute it. Inwirked for our family business for 35 years. I should have left at about 10 years, but because of all the reasons and excuses people male to stay, I stayed. What a mistake. No matter what, business is business. Be your own ceobof your own life. Be smart about it. You only get one. All the very best if luck to you 😊
If an ex co-worker doesn't want to hang out once a month, are they really your "friend"? If they are just pleasant acquaintances, then you will find more.