Oil fields. Had to deal with Aliblahba on a regular basis.
You want to know the only thing you can assume about a broken down old man? It's that he's a survivor.
What's the worst job you've ever had?
You want to know the only thing you can assume about a broken down old man? It's that he's a survivor.
Quote: (07-22-2017 03:10 AM)roberto Wrote:
Quote: (07-21-2017 08:55 PM)Off The Reservation Wrote:
Quote: (07-21-2017 08:36 PM)numanist Wrote:
I worked a job at a upscale luxury hotel. I made very little money, and I had to deal with some guests that were extremely particular with what they wanted. The computer software we worked on had to be at least 20 years old, and I also had to deal with fluctuating room fares and issues with no vacancies. The bellman and the manager were nice people, but I can't say the same about some of the female co-workers there. One of them poured an alcoholic drink down my male-coworkers suit while off the job at a bar. The other one was a post-menstrual 20 year old 6 foot 2 inch alpha female who tried to domineer over me. Needless to say, I lasted just shy of two months before I put my 1 week notice in. What have your experiences been?
But I want to point something else out in your post, with the text in green. Yes the abuse and pettiness of hotels and restaurants and many offices can be annoying but back to the green.
You have something special if you don't want to put up with badness. Stupid ways others run businesses etc.
Fuck yes, OTR drops gold again. When I was working my first job, on a farm, the boss told me to change the combine knives. A hundred rusty, low-profile-head bolts, no room to move, and sharp knives to catch your hands on. He gave me a pair of spanners.
After an hour and three knives changed, I went to town and spent my first weeks wages on an impact wrench. I then finished the job in half an hour. After a month, I decided I could run a better business and quit.
Ten years on and I'm in the office whilst my guys are out working. I'm about to buy another impact wrench. This time it's more like a morning's money, and I don't even have to think about it.
Great story Roberto and thanks.
It would be great to hear more from numanist how long ago was this and what happened?
There are so many excuses available not to do what your gut tells you could be done better, and indeed most people just put up with the shit conditions. They don't realize that little voice saying "this could be done better" is more of the ingredient of success (if listened to) than all the capital and perfect conditions for doing something that an imaginary situation could provide.
In Roberto's story he could have just kept the new tool for use for his job, or worse never bought it. Do you know how many people are obsessed with petty reimbursements and have a block not to spend money for a job? How many years could have been lost by the simple statement Ï'm not buying a tool for this job the boss should pay."
- Wake up 4:00am
- Get 130lb worth of gear on and go to tower 4
- Stand in tower for four hour shift
- Eat shit food from a plastic bag (Powdered egg omelet was the worst but had good snacks that came with it)
- Briefing, load up, drive to drop
- Walk around some fucking goat field or irrigation ditches in 110-20 degree heat
- Hear about a 10 year old kid we come across who's uncles fuck him behind goat shed
- Hope not to step on an old russian mine (We are walking in a "suspected minefield")
- Sit on the ground and eat more food from a plastic bag
- Have a contest to see who can throw a rock through a hole in a wall
- Walk for 5 or 6 more hours hoping someone shoots at us
- 6pm get back and start filling sandbags. Everyone E-4 and below. Stack them around 9 tents up to chest height (about 30k of them)
- Eat more shit food but at least it's the first hot meal of the day.
- 8pm back to tower 4 for four more hours.
- 12 midnight choose between cold shower in the dark with a headlamp or cleaning my weapon.
- Weapon is filthy have to do a quick clean. Opt for a whore bath with baby wipes.
- Sleep.
- Get shaken awake by sergent on guard 30 minutes before by shift because he's a cocksucker.
- Relieve the guys in tower 4 early at 3:40 am.
- Wait for sun to come so it gets warm.
- Repeat 335 more times for a year.
Some people say it was the best job they ever had. Not buying it.
- Get 130lb worth of gear on and go to tower 4
- Stand in tower for four hour shift
- Eat shit food from a plastic bag (Powdered egg omelet was the worst but had good snacks that came with it)
- Briefing, load up, drive to drop
- Walk around some fucking goat field or irrigation ditches in 110-20 degree heat
- Hear about a 10 year old kid we come across who's uncles fuck him behind goat shed
- Hope not to step on an old russian mine (We are walking in a "suspected minefield")
- Sit on the ground and eat more food from a plastic bag
- Have a contest to see who can throw a rock through a hole in a wall
- Walk for 5 or 6 more hours hoping someone shoots at us
- 6pm get back and start filling sandbags. Everyone E-4 and below. Stack them around 9 tents up to chest height (about 30k of them)
- Eat more shit food but at least it's the first hot meal of the day.
- 8pm back to tower 4 for four more hours.
- 12 midnight choose between cold shower in the dark with a headlamp or cleaning my weapon.
- Weapon is filthy have to do a quick clean. Opt for a whore bath with baby wipes.
- Sleep.
- Get shaken awake by sergent on guard 30 minutes before by shift because he's a cocksucker.
- Relieve the guys in tower 4 early at 3:40 am.
- Wait for sun to come so it gets warm.
- Repeat 335 more times for a year.
Some people say it was the best job they ever had. Not buying it.
While normal people find these "teens" revolting, somewhere there are people watching the savagery their policies have created and commenting, "Good, GOOD!"
![[Image: 3sAjVr7.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/3sAjVr7.jpg)
Warehouse job... HORRIBLE, CRAZY PEOPLE!!! I just finished a job that was over fifty hours a week, starting at 4:30am. I'm a sleepless train wreck right now. I really want an office job.
A long time ago, an agency placed me in a job as a hospital porter for 2 days. I assisted a permanent employee with his work.
The role involved picking up dirty bed linen and collecting waste bags. I was given gloves to protect my hands.
A lot of the bed linen smelled of piss and some of it had blood and/or shit stains on it.
There were 2 types of bags, black for normal waste and yellow for medical waste. You could see red stuff almost certainly blood and/or body parts inside the yellow bags.
The permanent employee told me that he was in the process of suing a hospital because one time he picked up a yellow bag and a needle in the bag punctured his glove, and then went into his hand. Guess where this yellow bag was - the HIV+ ward!
After the 2 days were up I got a call from agency saying that the hospital wanted to hire me permanently - obviously I said no.
The role involved picking up dirty bed linen and collecting waste bags. I was given gloves to protect my hands.
A lot of the bed linen smelled of piss and some of it had blood and/or shit stains on it.
There were 2 types of bags, black for normal waste and yellow for medical waste. You could see red stuff almost certainly blood and/or body parts inside the yellow bags.
The permanent employee told me that he was in the process of suing a hospital because one time he picked up a yellow bag and a needle in the bag punctured his glove, and then went into his hand. Guess where this yellow bag was - the HIV+ ward!
After the 2 days were up I got a call from agency saying that the hospital wanted to hire me permanently - obviously I said no.
Some of the best jobs I had were the lowest paying and least glamorous, and the worst was a high paying professional job. Delivering pizzas and stocking the shelves in the frozen food section of a supermarket were fun because of the people I worked with, degree of automomny, and appreciation of customers. When you ring the doorbell as the pizza guy, you are instantly everyone's friend. Professionally, you'll make more money but your satisfaction will be less because of the beauracracy, red tape, office politics, and unappreciative clients. So you trade one set of problems - low pay - for others. That is why they call it work.
I've had a lot of shitty jobs (including one where I was forced to do a midnight shift) but what I'm about to share easily takes the cake for me. I worked at a grocery store that claimed they did background checks (doubt it as several of my coworkers were ex-cons) and promoted based on how much of a shithead you are. When I got signed on the hiring manager white outed my starting pay and reduced it. My supervising manager was such a lazy piece of shit! All she ever did was sit on her ass and bark out orders every now and then. Some of us got "clopen" shifts where you work until close and then come in early the next morning. The founders of the company were so fucking cheap to install another bathroom into the store so if you were a guy and needed to take a shit there's only one toilet in the store. Turnover in the store was ridiculous, maybe every other week someone would leave or get fired. Every now and then the founders will walk into the store and point out things that nobody in their right mind would care about (i.e. the bones in the meat department have to all face the same direction).
I bump into my coworkers (former and current) every now and then and you can see in the current one's eyes that they're worn. The former ones get pissed when I talk about the place. One of them is 20 and I feel bad for the guy. He claims, and I believe him, that someone is editing his time stamps so his check is coming up short. Things like this make me wish we had unions or at the very least make me hesitant to spend money liberally. I cook all my meals and even though I drive now as much as possible I ride the bus.
I bump into my coworkers (former and current) every now and then and you can see in the current one's eyes that they're worn. The former ones get pissed when I talk about the place. One of them is 20 and I feel bad for the guy. He claims, and I believe him, that someone is editing his time stamps so his check is coming up short. Things like this make me wish we had unions or at the very least make me hesitant to spend money liberally. I cook all my meals and even though I drive now as much as possible I ride the bus.
My first job was a holiday park rep however the majority of the job was cleaning all morning till the afternoon. I had to clean absolute shit from people's mobile homes, I had to clean the showers which involved pulling out the drain with people's slimy pubes, literally clean shit and piss.
I also had to sort out hundreds of dirty laundry into bags, these were always covered in piss, blood and feces.
I used to clean slower but more precisely than other workers so my boss always shouted at me and me and him had serious beef because he treated me like crap - made up stories that I disrespected his wife and had something against my nationality, everyday I would shower the dirt off me and pray I never have to do this in my life again. From then on I respect all cleaners, it's a terrible job which I will never do again. I actually quit the job one week early because my boss crossed the line, it was so close to a brawl and I had enough, went to Spain with that money and enjoyed it.
I also had to sort out hundreds of dirty laundry into bags, these were always covered in piss, blood and feces.
I used to clean slower but more precisely than other workers so my boss always shouted at me and me and him had serious beef because he treated me like crap - made up stories that I disrespected his wife and had something against my nationality, everyday I would shower the dirt off me and pray I never have to do this in my life again. From then on I respect all cleaners, it's a terrible job which I will never do again. I actually quit the job one week early because my boss crossed the line, it was so close to a brawl and I had enough, went to Spain with that money and enjoyed it.
Washing pets
Passing out newspapers as a kid. Yes, I am that old. Anyway, I ordered way too many copies and it took me forever to pass them all out. I guess I was always made for the digital world.
*******************************************************************
"The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day."
– Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
Thanks for the service. Reading this thread makes me a lot more careful with my money. Even when I have the money I will NEVER buy luxury items to impress people (Mercedes Benz, new Jordans, etc). Only exception is if it helps e with my goal of location independence. Hearing liberals bitch about Trump or how their Uber was talking too loud or whatever makes me roll my eyes, especially if they've never had to work a damn day in their life.
Quote: (07-22-2017 11:42 AM)PainPositive Wrote:
- Wake up 4:00am
- Get 130lb worth of gear on and go to tower 4
- Stand in tower for four hour shift
- Eat shit food from a plastic bag (Powdered egg omelet was the worst but had good snacks that came with it)
- Briefing, load up, drive to drop
- Walk around some fucking goat field or irrigation ditches in 110-20 degree heat
- Hear about a 10 year old kid we come across who's uncles fuck him behind goat shed
- Hope not to step on an old russian mine (We are walking in a "suspected minefield")
- Sit on the ground and eat more food from a plastic bag
- Have a contest to see who can throw a rock through a hole in a wall
- Walk for 5 or 6 more hours hoping someone shoots at us
- 6pm get back and start filling sandbags. Everyone E-4 and below. Stack them around 9 tents up to chest height (about 30k of them)
- Eat more shit food but at least it's the first hot meal of the day.
- 8pm back to tower 4 for four more hours.
- 12 midnight choose between cold shower in the dark with a headlamp or cleaning my weapon.
- Weapon is filthy have to do a quick clean. Opt for a whore bath with baby wipes.
- Sleep.
- Get shaken awake by sergent on guard 30 minutes before by shift because he's a cocksucker.
- Relieve the guys in tower 4 early at 3:40 am.
- Wait for sun to come so it gets warm.
- Repeat 335 more times for a year.
Some people say it was the best job they ever had. Not buying it.
Tried to save a dying company for a relative of a friend. Two weeks into the job I discover his psycho bitch secretary has been stealing from him for the past five years. Turned out he was fucking her and drooling over another chick who worked there. I lasted another month. The psycho bitch tried to take over the company and it dissolved in six months. Lessons learned.
I've worked a variety of blue-collar jobs back in my college days, but working at Starbucks was by far the worst. It was so bad that I quit 3-4 weeks into the job.
1) Having to constantly be nice to all your customers, who are a bunch of snobby, bitchy liberals and soyboys was the worst part of the job. I had to constantly greet them and be nice to them when in reality I didn't give a fuck about how their day was going. Also, these people were complete idiots for thinking that the coffee they were drinking was "good" - Starbucks has shit coffee.
2) Starbucks tends to attract employees that are super liberal and soyoboys. It resulted in lots of workplace backstabbing, gossip, PC culture, and overly sensitive employees.
3) Pay was horrible. Can't believe I traded my time for $8.50/hour. My manager would constantly brag about how Starbucks paid its employees 25 cents higher than minimum wage and therefore they "cared" for their employees. Bullshit.
4) The morning shift hours were terrible. Store opened at 5 am, which meant that I had to be there at 4am in the morning to start prep.
1) Having to constantly be nice to all your customers, who are a bunch of snobby, bitchy liberals and soyboys was the worst part of the job. I had to constantly greet them and be nice to them when in reality I didn't give a fuck about how their day was going. Also, these people were complete idiots for thinking that the coffee they were drinking was "good" - Starbucks has shit coffee.
2) Starbucks tends to attract employees that are super liberal and soyoboys. It resulted in lots of workplace backstabbing, gossip, PC culture, and overly sensitive employees.
3) Pay was horrible. Can't believe I traded my time for $8.50/hour. My manager would constantly brag about how Starbucks paid its employees 25 cents higher than minimum wage and therefore they "cared" for their employees. Bullshit.
4) The morning shift hours were terrible. Store opened at 5 am, which meant that I had to be there at 4am in the morning to start prep.
^^
It may vary per state but if it costs money to conduct background checks I'll bet you money your store didn't do it. Knowing that your coworkers are liberal it's a high chance some of them were excons, dealt drugs, and/or owed child support. Food industry and retail jobs suck hard core.
It may vary per state but if it costs money to conduct background checks I'll bet you money your store didn't do it. Knowing that your coworkers are liberal it's a high chance some of them were excons, dealt drugs, and/or owed child support. Food industry and retail jobs suck hard core.
Pizza hut waiter but it wasn't too bad.
Moving 4x7 planks of plywood by hand from underneath a highway/parking lot to inside a warehouse in freezing January cold.
I'd thought i was being hired to do audio/video setup when i took the gig but instead it was carrying heavy shit with a bunch of other fools.
I'd thought i was being hired to do audio/video setup when i took the gig but instead it was carrying heavy shit with a bunch of other fools.
Placing and removing progesterone sponges in sheep vaginas.
Pregnancy testing cows. And to think before 1940 people didn't use gloves.
Pretty nasty stuff. I'd rather preg check cows anyday. If you get a girl in bed who you know sometimes there's a bit of, shall we say feminine odor, you might start recalling the sheep.![[Image: confused.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/confused.gif)
Pregnancy testing cows. And to think before 1940 people didn't use gloves.
Pretty nasty stuff. I'd rather preg check cows anyday. If you get a girl in bed who you know sometimes there's a bit of, shall we say feminine odor, you might start recalling the sheep.
Dreams are like horses; they run wild on the earth. Catch one and ride it. Throw a leg over and ride it for all its worth.
Psalm 25:7
https://youtu.be/vHVoMCH10Wk
Third shift loading ups trucks, the hostile work environment combined with the shift itself just wore on me after three years.
Quote: (07-22-2017 11:42 AM)PainPositive Wrote:
- Wake up 4:00am
- Get 130lb worth of gear on and go to tower 4
- Stand in tower for four hour shift
- Eat shit food from a plastic bag (Powdered egg omelet was the worst but had good snacks that came with it)
- Briefing, load up, drive to drop
- Walk around some fucking goat field or irrigation ditches in 110-20 degree heat
- Hear about a 10 year old kid we come across who's uncles fuck him behind goat shed
- Hope not to step on an old russian mine (We are walking in a "suspected minefield")
- Sit on the ground and eat more food from a plastic bag
- Have a contest to see who can throw a rock through a hole in a wall
- Walk for 5 or 6 more hours hoping someone shoots at us
- 6pm get back and start filling sandbags. Everyone E-4 and below. Stack them around 9 tents up to chest height (about 30k of them)
- Eat more shit food but at least it's the first hot meal of the day.
- 8pm back to tower 4 for four more hours.
- 12 midnight choose between cold shower in the dark with a headlamp or cleaning my weapon.
- Weapon is filthy have to do a quick clean. Opt for a whore bath with baby wipes.
- Sleep.
- Get shaken awake by sergent on guard 30 minutes before by shift because he's a cocksucker.
- Relieve the guys in tower 4 early at 3:40 am.
- Wait for sun to come so it gets warm.
- Repeat 335 more times for a year.
Well. That sounds horrible. However, I can top it:
I worked for a woman. An old, fat, STUPID, over-promoted redneck woman. It made me question my own existence. It was the worst 11 months of my life, or anyone else's.
Draining toilets on locomotives for the transportation industry. Lowest paid job there. Listening to higher paid workers complain about how much their jobs sucked, because they were bored. Seeing them drive corvettes to work. Having general manager of the company tell you that you are not qualified to transfer to another position, because you worked there too long and never tried to change jobs, in the past.
Audio Sales. Building/selling sound systems to absolute retards. Worked straight commission.
After the millionth time someone comes in and tells you they want to build a "high quality" sound system for $300, you're half tempted to slap the shit out of them. Or that they're very interested in the system, but only if I "could knock $1000 off the price" and "hook them up bro".
Some weeks I walked out with 2-3 grand free and clear(amazing for no college degree/little to not expenses as a young'un) as audio is a luxury and there were some seriously rich clients. Others I was making nothing.
Did I learn something valuable from it? Yes. Would I do it again? Fucking hell no.
All it did was further convince me the average American has subhuman levels of intelligence. Also why I was turned off completely to ever working for someone ever again if I could avoid it. A sniveling cocksucker "customer is always right" boss sucking off people that didn't even want to buy was the worst. As well as giving away full refunds away like candy(meaning I would owe the company money). Never again.
After the millionth time someone comes in and tells you they want to build a "high quality" sound system for $300, you're half tempted to slap the shit out of them. Or that they're very interested in the system, but only if I "could knock $1000 off the price" and "hook them up bro".
Some weeks I walked out with 2-3 grand free and clear(amazing for no college degree/little to not expenses as a young'un) as audio is a luxury and there were some seriously rich clients. Others I was making nothing.
Did I learn something valuable from it? Yes. Would I do it again? Fucking hell no.
All it did was further convince me the average American has subhuman levels of intelligence. Also why I was turned off completely to ever working for someone ever again if I could avoid it. A sniveling cocksucker "customer is always right" boss sucking off people that didn't even want to buy was the worst. As well as giving away full refunds away like candy(meaning I would owe the company money). Never again.
"Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,— 'Wait and hope'."- Alexander Dumas, "The Count of Monte Cristo"
Fashion/Style Lounge
Social Circle Game
Team Skinny Girls with Pretty Faces
King of Sockpuppets
Sockpuppet List
Quote: (08-18-2018 06:02 PM)Crash_Bandicoot Wrote:
I've worked a variety of blue-collar jobs back in my college days, but working at Starbucks was by far the worst. It was so bad that I quit 3-4 weeks into the job.
1) Having to constantly be nice to all your customers, who are a bunch of snobby, bitchy liberals and soyboys was the worst part of the job. I had to constantly greet them and be nice to them when in reality I didn't give a fuck about how their day was going. Also, these people were complete idiots for thinking that the coffee they were drinking was "good" - Starbucks has shit coffee.
2) Starbucks tends to attract employees that are super liberal and soyoboys. It resulted in lots of workplace backstabbing, gossip, PC culture, and overly sensitive employees.
3) Pay was horrible. Can't believe I traded my time for $8.50/hour. My manager would constantly brag about how Starbucks paid its employees 25 cents higher than minimum wage and therefore they "cared" for their employees. Bullshit.
4) The morning shift hours were terrible. Store opened at 5 am, which meant that I had to be there at 4am in the morning to start prep.
Main reason I go to local coffee joints. They operate like bars. I tip extra and the people who work their are happy to see me and I get free coffee occasionally or a pastry thrown in.
Hell I've even gotten a few bangs out of it. Always buy local.
"Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,— 'Wait and hope'."- Alexander Dumas, "The Count of Monte Cristo"
Fashion/Style Lounge
Social Circle Game
Team Skinny Girls with Pretty Faces
King of Sockpuppets
Sockpuppet List
After finishing school in Europe pops called me back home to the motherland run his interests in the newly opened Tendaho Dam and it's associated 200,000 acre sugar cane plantation.
The project was being lauded as "a new beginning" and economically game changing mega-project partly funded by the government and partly by local investors in order to pull the impoverished region of nomadic tribesmen out of violence and poverty while boosting the country's desperately needed forex reserves.
Average yearly temperature is above 38 degrees down there with 0 infrastructure. Me and a score of other mid 20s western educated sons of families who bought shares along with some local managers were staying at the best hotel in the largest town of that desert shithole. Population 1400. Hotel looked like a crack house Motel 6 with no running water.
Our main job was community engagement. Basically to convince the tribesmen that the project was to their benefit. 3000 of them were hired by the sugar factory and the farm with double the median annual salary for the country. We even built standard cement bungalows with indoor plumbing for each employee and his family. Might not seem much bit these people lived in camel hide huts before the project. That is on top of bribes and gifts to the clan leaders.
All went well for the first 3 months. Cane was coming in good. The dam was irrigating 100% of the anticipated arable land.
Around the 4th month mark the clan leaders ran out of money and started causing problems. After a long day of dealing with day to day 3rd world bullshit me and the other kids from Addis would drive a pick up into the desert with 3 baby goats and a case of beer. While were enjoying the evening a bunch of naked kids with flies on their faces would routinely show up just staring at us. We would give them some food and chewing gum. Next day they double in number. A week later over 100 people from the clan come over. When we refuse to give them food they threaten us in their language and leave.
Some weeks later we discover that over 300 acres of cane is drying up because these animals slashed the black plastic under the buoys which leads to the water seeping into the desert sand.
A significant portion of that land was my father's. I immediately file a complaint with the CEO in Addis and he flies in to negotiate with the clan leaders. Clan leaders ask for more money. I offer them a Toyota Corolla on the spot and a primary school in one of their towns if no similar imcidents happen for 5 years. Big mistake. Should have read the Art of the Deal.
While I was dealing with this, harvesting season came around. Out of the 3000 local tribesmen who were offially on payroll, less than 600 showed up. The rest? Not only were they getting paid this whole time without showing up to work, but they also rented out their bungalows to 3rd parties while they kept living in their makeshift camel skin huts.
A "Board of Directors" meeting was called shortly after that except, these fat middle aged thieves were not even in the country. They were chilling in Europe and North America while it was me and a couple other kids with skin in the game running this operation without knowing it. There was literally no one on top OR at the bottom for that matter.
The Cane is starting to dry up at this point and we are talking losses in the tens of millions of dollars. I'm a country were 60% of youth are unemployed and labor costs are dirt cheap finding 2500 workers should be that hard would it? Wrong. People are used to mooching off their families and playing candy crush on fake UAE androids and "don't want to work in the unbearable heat". These are able bodied men with no two cents to rub together.
We manage to assemble a rag tag team of 1500 workers. 1 week training and then to work. We sigh a big sigh of relief. But the tribesmen strike again. Beating up the workers after work and intimidating them. Almost half desert.
3 months later, 80% of the came had dried useless. And now we have to deal with hiring and paying workers to clear the fields for the next year. On top of trasporting the useless cane to be burned somewhere.
Atleast we made sugar from the rest 20% right? Wrong. The factory equipment was all second hand from India despite brand new equipment from the Chinese for less than 4% extra. Machines break down after less than a month of production.
A month later, newspapers report Tendaho Sugar Project a Great Success!!!! Fake ridiculous number in profits. Complete with interviews with happy tribesmen thanking the government and I can't make this shit up :
The wrinkly ass clan leader who I gave the Corolla to showing off his car as a proof of how the project has benefited his community.
In reality, the reservoir which is supposed supply the project for 4 years even with no rain and low levels on the Awash river dried up within 5 months after a particularly long summer. All the investors who made the project possible lost money including my family. The bungalows that were built are now populated by hyenas and meerkats. The people the project was to pull out of poverty are still getting bi-yearly food aid from Western NGOs. And the only people who benefited from this 300 million dollar project were the tribal leaders who wasted everything on Khat and concubine. And the "Board members" who are spending 9 months out of the year in places like Washington D.C and Cote D'Azur. The factory is still running at less than 15% capacity.
I aged 5 year during those 14 months and have given up all hope on Africa. I have stories for a lifetime about the day to day idiotic crap, laziness and inefficiency.
I hope the guys in the Black Man Game Options thread read this post before they go all Africa is great on me again.
The project was being lauded as "a new beginning" and economically game changing mega-project partly funded by the government and partly by local investors in order to pull the impoverished region of nomadic tribesmen out of violence and poverty while boosting the country's desperately needed forex reserves.
Average yearly temperature is above 38 degrees down there with 0 infrastructure. Me and a score of other mid 20s western educated sons of families who bought shares along with some local managers were staying at the best hotel in the largest town of that desert shithole. Population 1400. Hotel looked like a crack house Motel 6 with no running water.
Our main job was community engagement. Basically to convince the tribesmen that the project was to their benefit. 3000 of them were hired by the sugar factory and the farm with double the median annual salary for the country. We even built standard cement bungalows with indoor plumbing for each employee and his family. Might not seem much bit these people lived in camel hide huts before the project. That is on top of bribes and gifts to the clan leaders.
All went well for the first 3 months. Cane was coming in good. The dam was irrigating 100% of the anticipated arable land.
Around the 4th month mark the clan leaders ran out of money and started causing problems. After a long day of dealing with day to day 3rd world bullshit me and the other kids from Addis would drive a pick up into the desert with 3 baby goats and a case of beer. While were enjoying the evening a bunch of naked kids with flies on their faces would routinely show up just staring at us. We would give them some food and chewing gum. Next day they double in number. A week later over 100 people from the clan come over. When we refuse to give them food they threaten us in their language and leave.
Some weeks later we discover that over 300 acres of cane is drying up because these animals slashed the black plastic under the buoys which leads to the water seeping into the desert sand.
A significant portion of that land was my father's. I immediately file a complaint with the CEO in Addis and he flies in to negotiate with the clan leaders. Clan leaders ask for more money. I offer them a Toyota Corolla on the spot and a primary school in one of their towns if no similar imcidents happen for 5 years. Big mistake. Should have read the Art of the Deal.
While I was dealing with this, harvesting season came around. Out of the 3000 local tribesmen who were offially on payroll, less than 600 showed up. The rest? Not only were they getting paid this whole time without showing up to work, but they also rented out their bungalows to 3rd parties while they kept living in their makeshift camel skin huts.
A "Board of Directors" meeting was called shortly after that except, these fat middle aged thieves were not even in the country. They were chilling in Europe and North America while it was me and a couple other kids with skin in the game running this operation without knowing it. There was literally no one on top OR at the bottom for that matter.
The Cane is starting to dry up at this point and we are talking losses in the tens of millions of dollars. I'm a country were 60% of youth are unemployed and labor costs are dirt cheap finding 2500 workers should be that hard would it? Wrong. People are used to mooching off their families and playing candy crush on fake UAE androids and "don't want to work in the unbearable heat". These are able bodied men with no two cents to rub together.
We manage to assemble a rag tag team of 1500 workers. 1 week training and then to work. We sigh a big sigh of relief. But the tribesmen strike again. Beating up the workers after work and intimidating them. Almost half desert.
3 months later, 80% of the came had dried useless. And now we have to deal with hiring and paying workers to clear the fields for the next year. On top of trasporting the useless cane to be burned somewhere.
Atleast we made sugar from the rest 20% right? Wrong. The factory equipment was all second hand from India despite brand new equipment from the Chinese for less than 4% extra. Machines break down after less than a month of production.
A month later, newspapers report Tendaho Sugar Project a Great Success!!!! Fake ridiculous number in profits. Complete with interviews with happy tribesmen thanking the government and I can't make this shit up :
The wrinkly ass clan leader who I gave the Corolla to showing off his car as a proof of how the project has benefited his community.
In reality, the reservoir which is supposed supply the project for 4 years even with no rain and low levels on the Awash river dried up within 5 months after a particularly long summer. All the investors who made the project possible lost money including my family. The bungalows that were built are now populated by hyenas and meerkats. The people the project was to pull out of poverty are still getting bi-yearly food aid from Western NGOs. And the only people who benefited from this 300 million dollar project were the tribal leaders who wasted everything on Khat and concubine. And the "Board members" who are spending 9 months out of the year in places like Washington D.C and Cote D'Azur. The factory is still running at less than 15% capacity.
I aged 5 year during those 14 months and have given up all hope on Africa. I have stories for a lifetime about the day to day idiotic crap, laziness and inefficiency.
I hope the guys in the Black Man Game Options thread read this post before they go all Africa is great on me again.
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)