Hey guys.
I just read through the whole thread, and I dont really know what to say here. Last night I was pretty steamed and mostly just venting, but I certainly wasn't expecting this many people would have anything to say about it.
Some of you guys are really great people, Id be proud to call most of yall my friends. You really are the best.
And some of the responses, I could only shake my head at and move on to the next one. I honestly wonder if some people even read the entire thread, or if they understood it, their replies are so far off, some of them are hardly even related to anything else being discussed.
Stick Welder sums it up the best. He did in a sentence what it took me way more to do:
"Lanse agreed to a welding apprenticeship not a job that had absolutely nothing to do with welding. He was lied to and had a legitimate reason to be pi$$ed and quit. Why can't you understand that?"
Let me sum this up. I worked damn hard last year to soak in everything I could in class, practiced everything I could, re-did my welds until I had atleast a 90 on every thing that I did (usually a 95), and kept my grade at an "A" every quarter last year. I even went out of my way to run the bigger and smaller electrodes than what we learn with, and did everything that I could on every project that came through the door. I was always one of the first ones to have my tools and gear out of my locker and at my station, and one of (usually the) last to cram everything back in there and head off to my next class.
And, I N E V E R had the expectation that I would be starting off welding, or have anything close to the best job in the place. Some people seem to think I have an entitlement attitude, and I really question where those thoughts come from, considering that Im trying to be an apprentice here. I AM!!! working my way up from the bottom, or atleast trying to. I thought thats how it worked, show up, get some education, start as an apprentice, move up, etc. I never said that I had any anticipation of this being an overnight process, etc.
And since when am I afraid of hard work?? Im not even going there. Lets just say that if I was, I doubt that I would have spent the day tossing around old school heating registers that must have weighed 400-500 pounds a piece. Even with a couple people, it was 96 degrees yesterday when I got home, and we were doing this for hours at a time. We couldn't even leave to go get water, just drink a lot during the breaks, every 2.5 hours. Im really trying not to get worked up over friggin ignorant comments from people who just dont have a clue. And, of course, no union in sight. The guy got really worked up when someone asked him about unions during the "interview", so I figured it was an non-union company that could handle things by themselves. My bad.
Heres the thing. I signed up for, read it, a WELDING APPRENTICESHIP. I never expected to be doing the greatest work in the place when I showed up, thats something else where I wonder where people got it from.
The night before, I was thinking about all this stuff. I didn't really know what to expect, but I figured it would be in the welding field at least. Actually, Im pretty sure thats kind of a requirement. But, nonetheless. I thought Id probably get really familiar with a grinder, pick up lots of tools, hold things for people to tack, get things ready to be welded in various ways, do lots of cleaning stuff up, etc. Anything really, I just kind of assumed it would in some way be welding related.
Not taking hvac systems apart. And being lied to.
Thats right, THEY LIED. They said we would be working with the pipe welders. THEY LIED. They said we would eventually learn to weld pipe. THEY LIED. They said we would get benefits. THEY LIED. They said we would be apprentices. THEY LIED.
What did they get right? The address, and the (crappy) pay. Everything else? T H E Y L I E D! ! !
Thats literally it. The only two parts of the job description that I can think of, that they got right.
And, when I signed on, They had something on the forms that said something along the lines of if you lied about your qualifications, or anything you said wasn't true, they would fire you on the spot if they found out. Welp, now theres a classic case of irony.
The truth is, if they had been straight up and said the kind of work we'de be doing, I might have actually considered it. But THEY LIED. Thats right, we were LIED TO! And by who, you ask? The guy whos our boss!! When I asked him about what we were doing there, he wouldn't give me a real answer. Why? Because HE * * * *'n LIED. He looked us in the eye, and L I E D!!
So, I guess they can lie about all but two things, and give me a $#^! job instead of a starter job, and somehow Im on shakey moral ground for leaving.
Lets get this straight, this is like you going to look at a truck. They say its a little bit used, but its got low miles and runs like a top, and drives like a dream. Its beautiful, not a scratch on it, always garaged.
When you show up, its a totaled burned out shell thats been fished out a river, with 670,000 miles on an engine thats missing and then you figure out you were lied to, and walk away, and you did something wrong? I dont think so.
Look, I really dont claim to know it all. Or even most of it. If I did, why would I try to get an apprenticeship. They lied about what we were doing (its not even welding related), and so I left. I can do better than that.
Oh, and BTW, I heard from the other welder today. He called me when he got off of work, and said they figured out I wasn't coming back, and he was done there as well, tomorrow at 3:30.
Apparently, they want to send him to a jobsite thats another hour and a half away (and no, he wont be doing any welding related work there either, they said "manual labor"), and so hed have an hour and 45 mins, both ways. They wont do any compensation for gas/travel, and if hes not there at 7 am Wednesday, he, like me, is fired for not showing up. These people dont even let you be late.
So, his options are head down there, work for next to nothing once gas is figured in, or just not have a job. Thats it. He said it'd be back breaking work, and its just not worth it. Apparently, some people from this jobsite ARE going there, and doing this little chore. His mom called the apprenticeship guy, and he was furious about the whole thing. I decided to wait until tomorrow to talk to him, and add to whatever his mom said.
So, thats that. Dang, this turned out to be way longer than I thought it would be. So, this is how it ends. I quit after day one, welder #2 quits after day 3, apprenticeship guy isnt happy (its the LAST time this company works with the school), and things are back where they started.
I really wonder what happened to the third guy. He is an HVAC student, and I wish him the best. Unfortunately, neither the other weldor or myself know him, we've just met him twice, once at the "interview", and once on the "job". I really do wish him the best, and I wish for the rest of these people to see this sham of a company for what it is, and run like the wind.
Again guys, thanks for everything. I really dont know what to say, your support is awesome, and this really is the best forum out there. Have a nice night, everyone
I just read through the whole thread, and I dont really know what to say here. Last night I was pretty steamed and mostly just venting, but I certainly wasn't expecting this many people would have anything to say about it.
Some of you guys are really great people, Id be proud to call most of yall my friends. You really are the best.
And some of the responses, I could only shake my head at and move on to the next one. I honestly wonder if some people even read the entire thread, or if they understood it, their replies are so far off, some of them are hardly even related to anything else being discussed.
Stick Welder sums it up the best. He did in a sentence what it took me way more to do:
"Lanse agreed to a welding apprenticeship not a job that had absolutely nothing to do with welding. He was lied to and had a legitimate reason to be pi$$ed and quit. Why can't you understand that?"
Let me sum this up. I worked damn hard last year to soak in everything I could in class, practiced everything I could, re-did my welds until I had atleast a 90 on every thing that I did (usually a 95), and kept my grade at an "A" every quarter last year. I even went out of my way to run the bigger and smaller electrodes than what we learn with, and did everything that I could on every project that came through the door. I was always one of the first ones to have my tools and gear out of my locker and at my station, and one of (usually the) last to cram everything back in there and head off to my next class.
And, I N E V E R had the expectation that I would be starting off welding, or have anything close to the best job in the place. Some people seem to think I have an entitlement attitude, and I really question where those thoughts come from, considering that Im trying to be an apprentice here. I AM!!! working my way up from the bottom, or atleast trying to. I thought thats how it worked, show up, get some education, start as an apprentice, move up, etc. I never said that I had any anticipation of this being an overnight process, etc.
And since when am I afraid of hard work?? Im not even going there. Lets just say that if I was, I doubt that I would have spent the day tossing around old school heating registers that must have weighed 400-500 pounds a piece. Even with a couple people, it was 96 degrees yesterday when I got home, and we were doing this for hours at a time. We couldn't even leave to go get water, just drink a lot during the breaks, every 2.5 hours. Im really trying not to get worked up over friggin ignorant comments from people who just dont have a clue. And, of course, no union in sight. The guy got really worked up when someone asked him about unions during the "interview", so I figured it was an non-union company that could handle things by themselves. My bad.
Heres the thing. I signed up for, read it, a WELDING APPRENTICESHIP. I never expected to be doing the greatest work in the place when I showed up, thats something else where I wonder where people got it from.
The night before, I was thinking about all this stuff. I didn't really know what to expect, but I figured it would be in the welding field at least. Actually, Im pretty sure thats kind of a requirement. But, nonetheless. I thought Id probably get really familiar with a grinder, pick up lots of tools, hold things for people to tack, get things ready to be welded in various ways, do lots of cleaning stuff up, etc. Anything really, I just kind of assumed it would in some way be welding related.
Not taking hvac systems apart. And being lied to.
Thats right, THEY LIED. They said we would be working with the pipe welders. THEY LIED. They said we would eventually learn to weld pipe. THEY LIED. They said we would get benefits. THEY LIED. They said we would be apprentices. THEY LIED.
What did they get right? The address, and the (crappy) pay. Everything else? T H E Y L I E D! ! !
Thats literally it. The only two parts of the job description that I can think of, that they got right.
And, when I signed on, They had something on the forms that said something along the lines of if you lied about your qualifications, or anything you said wasn't true, they would fire you on the spot if they found out. Welp, now theres a classic case of irony.
The truth is, if they had been straight up and said the kind of work we'de be doing, I might have actually considered it. But THEY LIED. Thats right, we were LIED TO! And by who, you ask? The guy whos our boss!! When I asked him about what we were doing there, he wouldn't give me a real answer. Why? Because HE * * * *'n LIED. He looked us in the eye, and L I E D!!
So, I guess they can lie about all but two things, and give me a $#^! job instead of a starter job, and somehow Im on shakey moral ground for leaving.
Lets get this straight, this is like you going to look at a truck. They say its a little bit used, but its got low miles and runs like a top, and drives like a dream. Its beautiful, not a scratch on it, always garaged.
When you show up, its a totaled burned out shell thats been fished out a river, with 670,000 miles on an engine thats missing and then you figure out you were lied to, and walk away, and you did something wrong? I dont think so.
Look, I really dont claim to know it all. Or even most of it. If I did, why would I try to get an apprenticeship. They lied about what we were doing (its not even welding related), and so I left. I can do better than that.
Oh, and BTW, I heard from the other welder today. He called me when he got off of work, and said they figured out I wasn't coming back, and he was done there as well, tomorrow at 3:30.
Apparently, they want to send him to a jobsite thats another hour and a half away (and no, he wont be doing any welding related work there either, they said "manual labor"), and so hed have an hour and 45 mins, both ways. They wont do any compensation for gas/travel, and if hes not there at 7 am Wednesday, he, like me, is fired for not showing up. These people dont even let you be late.
So, his options are head down there, work for next to nothing once gas is figured in, or just not have a job. Thats it. He said it'd be back breaking work, and its just not worth it. Apparently, some people from this jobsite ARE going there, and doing this little chore. His mom called the apprenticeship guy, and he was furious about the whole thing. I decided to wait until tomorrow to talk to him, and add to whatever his mom said.
So, thats that. Dang, this turned out to be way longer than I thought it would be. So, this is how it ends. I quit after day one, welder #2 quits after day 3, apprenticeship guy isnt happy (its the LAST time this company works with the school), and things are back where they started.
I really wonder what happened to the third guy. He is an HVAC student, and I wish him the best. Unfortunately, neither the other weldor or myself know him, we've just met him twice, once at the "interview", and once on the "job". I really do wish him the best, and I wish for the rest of these people to see this sham of a company for what it is, and run like the wind.
Again guys, thanks for everything. I really dont know what to say, your support is awesome, and this really is the best forum out there. Have a nice night, everyone