“Production Manager”

BY LOGAN ZEIGLER

He is a production manager at a plastic molding company. He went from a floor worker all the way up to a production manager after 30-some years. 

I’ve worked at this company for most of my life, and now I am in one of the highest but most stressful positions. It is up to me to keep up with production and to keep everyone productive. It also doesn’t really help that if they don’t follow the rules or they do something that is against policy, I have to either suspend them or fire them. I’ve had some people beg to not lose their jobs, and I believed they would change, but I would end up being wrong and having to fire them anyway. Also, I am constantly busy doing something without any time to cool off or rest. I end up taking the brunt end of things most days. I will get torn a new one by my boss’s boss if something doesn’t go right in my department, even if it wasn’t my fault. 

But at the end of the day, after all the back talk, and people talking behind my back about how much I’m disliked just for doing my job, I like the thought that the pieces we make here for the medical field will go to help someone. It’s the thought that gets me through the day and helps me work better and keep a cool, calm, collected head. So no matter how stressed I am, I always just think back to how well I am doing, and it helps me sleep at night.