I just found work in a new company as a tool and die machinist, still around Pittsburgh but this time I will be working in much better conditions and only with four or five other people in such a small specialized department.
I can only hope that these four people I can at least get along with.
I’ve had a weird life to transition from Japanese linguist to precision machinist and watchmaker, but I can’t say I’ve enjoyed the people over all that I’ve had to work with.
There are some very kind and reasonable people that work in the industry too don’t let me fool you they are there and there are some progressive people in it. But we are the extreme minority.
I was actually out of work for about 10 months trying to find a single shop that didn’t strike me like a nightmare and I’ve seen almost every machine shop around the Pittsburgh area and I’ve seen enough Trump and Infowars bumper stickers on vehicles in the parking lots.
One place I nearly took an offer until I saw a racist tirade by the owner against Mexicans and a bunch of others.
If there is such a thing as a machine shop full of progressives I would love to work for them. I think that is probably the unicorn of the industry though.
It would have been nice to work as a prototype machinist on my own to avoid all this bullshit but in time I can specialize in that. I’ve done it before and not have to work for others and it was highly enjoyable not having to have Trump discussions with anyone else in the room.
