Mine was when I was working as an assembly line manager for a plant start up for a US automobile manufacturer just a few years ago. I was just coming off a plant shut down from a brake parts manufacturer where I worked for 20 years. This place snapped me up and offered me a salary 35% more than I was making previously.
It started out slow and seemed like a dream job at first. Because of poor engineering design flaws in the new line problems began popping up. Poor scanners, assembly methods, inferior components. I was pushed to make do with the cards that were dealt me. I had only 8 people trained for a line that needed to have 40 to be fully operational. Because of the engineering issues start up was delayed so when full launch happened HR hired the remaining 32 assemblers in one week that I was expected to train with only 8 people. I had warned my boss about this situations possible occurance months before, I had 20 years of manufacturing experience I saw it coming, but I was told early hire wasn't in the budget.
Needless to say the newbies made mistakes left and right, I knew the cause was poor training, but nobody, including HR was listening. Training was my responsibility I was told, but I couldn't pull anyone off the line for training because we had to make our assembly quota. I had teamleaders but I needed them to run the line (assembly not leading) because each one had a 4 to 1 ratio of new people in their zones. I was working 18 hour days 6 days a week, no OT 'cause I was salary, I had to train the newly hired 2nd shift manager on top of it all. I was losing weight, suffering exhaustion and developing medical problems. My wife genuinely worried for my health, she begged me to quit, but that wasn't in my fiber, I was committed to make it work, I even begged for a promotion so I could have more power to clean up the mess, I needed more say over my line.
I was told that I needed to terminate the people making the mistakes. That I refused to do knowing that it wasn't their fault.
Long story short I was duped into accepting a job under false pretenses. I was working as a middle manager in an impossible situation. The employees that worked under me were being abused by my management, surprisingly these employees were represented by a union that cared little for their plight. When the second stage of the launch came about my boss abruptly resigned and I was terminated along with my friend, another manager on another assembly line. The 2nd shift managers followed along with the engineering, materials and HR manager, over a period of about 30 days.
I never felt so powerless and ineffective, it was demoralizing.
To this day I don't understand what happened there, I probably never will. I learned a lesson, from now on I will never, ever, let a job do that to me again.
I absolutely LOVE that place! If I lived in California, I would definitely work there. Unfortunately I don't 
:king:
