Rough Draft: Memoir

Imagine working at a factory, in which every body working with you is over the age of 40, yet almost every one of them is acting like they have just reached their 10th birthday. Imagine trying to get back to work after coming back from a break, to find out you have just sat in a chair completely soaked with water, and the whole entire staff is standing behind you dying of laughter. Or you get off work, and eager to leave, you go out to your car, and somebody slopped silicone grease, which does not wash off, under all of your car door handles. That was what it was like when I worked at NADCO Tapes and Labels factory last summer. Duties of mine included comparing rolls of tape to determine if the rolls were the correct size. I did this for nine to ten hours per day, five days per week, for three months. The job was very monotonous, and boring. The only way I got through it was the fact that I was being paid $9 per hour. If I wasn't inspecting rolls of tape, I was cleaning, taking the trash out, or as I said before, being pranked. Aside from those reasons, it was also a risky job since you work with machines that could potentially hurt you pretty bad. The job changed me and made me realize that I definitely want to go to college so that I do not end up like these people, or end up working fifty to sixty hours per week, just to be able to barely support myself.

First of all working at NADCO was a very monotonous ordeal. The duties I was assigned to were insanely boring to say the least. I compared rolls of tape to a normal sized roll to determine whether the rolls were the right size or not. Basically, a company bought about 500 boxes containing more than 150 rolls of tape. But, when we made the tape we made the rolls too small by a very miniscule amount of about 1 to 2 millimeters, and the company returned them in exchange for all new, correct size rolls of tape. So they hired me, an unskilled worker, to compare each roll of this total of approximately 75,000 rolls of tape to a normal sized roll. I would compare these rolls of tape, putting good rolls in a barrel and bad rolls in a different barrel. I did this for most of the time I was working every day. This lasted for the entire 3 months of the summer. When I wasn't inspecting tape, I was sweeping up after the other workers, taking out the trash, doing minor machine work, or doing other miscellaneous tasks.

Another reason I am more motivated to go to college because of this job is so that I am not working with these types of people. Half of the employees at NADCO barely spoke English, and the other half acted as though they were children. It was impossible to have a half intelligent conversation with anyone. No one was ever serious, hence all the pranks and jokes done on me, since I was new to the job. I was pranked very often. Pretty much anything I would do would include a prank being pulled on me. Even when I was in the bathroom, they would use an air pressure hose to shoot a cloud of baby powder under the door and make me think the building was on fire. Taking out the trash was a big hassle because anytime I would pass this one guy, he would spray me with water. Sometimes they would put fishing line along the bottom of the door that leads to the dumpsters, so when I would come back in, I would trip and fall. They even went as far as to create labels with profane phrases, stick them on my back, and ask me to go to the gas station to grab them food for when break came. As soon as I came back, they would pull off the sticker and show me and I would then realize why I got so many dirty looks.

Also, working at NADCO was a risky job at times, as is any factory. Typically, machines at factories have sharp blades, quick moving parts, and areas where things can get crushed. Well, at NADCO, there were a few injuries caused by machinery. One of these while I was working was a severe gash in a man's hand, which was so severe that he was rushed to the hospital. Another time an immigrant worker stabbed himself with a box cutter knife, and the blade went so deep that blood was spewing everywhere. This also resulted in being rushed to the hospital. This is a big reason I want to go to college and get a career in which I am not working with high risk machinery, where I could become injured for life, or potentially die.

Furthermore, my motivation for college is fueled by my past experience of working at the NADCO Tape and Label factory for obvious reasons. Through doing excruciatingly boring tasks, working with people who most likely did not graduate high school, and witnessing multiple work related injuries I have learned that I need to do well in school and get into a field in which I enjoy. Thus, I have a stronger drive to achieve as much as I possibly can. I feel everyone should have one of these experiences, to understand how much of a blessing it is to be able to go to college to learn and eventually achieve a career in which you enjoy. I am extremely glad I had this experience. Even though it was tough during it, I learned a great life lesson which has changed my life to a great extent.