The First Job

The First Day

On June 1, 2003 my thinking on life, changed a little bit. It happened to be a Sunday that I didn't think I would be going to bed at 2:30 P.M. in order to go to work. I got under the cover of my bed and I was out like a light. Once I got into a very deep sleep it was hard to get out of it. I heard my alarm go off, and I didn't want to get up, but I got up and started to get dressed. I went out in the kitchen and got something to eat and then packed my lunch for the night.

On the way to Van Wert, I was getting very intense. I started to get nervous about what I would be doing and who I would be working with. The closer I got to the factory the more nervous I got. Once I pulled into the parking lot and was shutting my car off, I realized that this isn't a place I would like to work at all of my life.

Then I was walking into the factory and got clocked in and realized what I was in for. The presses were pounding away on the big coils of steel; the air had a humid musty smell that was going to get to me over time. I went into the break room and put my lunch box in the refrigerator. I walked nervously to meet my foreman and he gave me something to do. I was running a 400 degree rubber injection press the first part of the night.

At about 2:00 A.M. the bell rang for the first break. I was happy to here that because I needed a break to get something to drink. I sat down in the break room and sweat was still running down my face. As I was starring up at the TV I thought to myself, "this is going to be a long summer." After the ten minute break was over, I walked back out to the press I was running and put on my soaked sleeves and gloves. When I was getting ready to start my press up my foreman came over to me and told me to come with him. All the while I was thinking in my head where is he taking me? What am I going to be doing now? Well he took me to a different cell and told me to work with these people greasing the oil seals. Then before he left he said, "You will be working here in this cell for the rest of the night."

By daybreak I was ready to go home and go to bed. I walked out to my car and drove home thinking that this is going to be a long summer. Once I got home I went straight to bed and got some sleep. It was a first day on the job experience that has changed my life. It has made me want to study harder