October 25, 2000 | 12:00AM ETNews & Politics
Always keep this in mind: Everybody is after the same thing you are, whether they're on the top or the bottom. We all want promotions, pay raises, better job titles -- just to be in a better spot than we are in now. Co-workers and friends will be your worst enemies, and supervisors will do their best to make sure you will never be bigger than them. Trust is a word that does not exist in Silicon Valley. I learned this through experience.
I was five months out of high school and wanted something stable, something I could depend on if college didn't work out, a ladder I could climb. A friend told me about this temp agency, Trend Tec, that would find me a job with reasonable pay and benefits at some big Silicon Valley companies. Their slogan said it all: "Our Pride -- Our People."
I really didn't know what to expect working for a major company. I thought that most companies in Silicon Valley were well-organized, had good training, were very caring about their employees and would give good opportunities to very hard workers.
I signed on as a Material Handler at International Component Industry Company (ICIC) that specializes in making air bag parts for some major car companies. I had to take these parts and put them into an oven, then write down some data, then pull them out of the oven and put them into a container. Then I had to move the container down to a certain spot where the line workers could grab it and put the parts together. Overall, it was a reasonble job. I got $7.00 an hour, five days a week, with $10.50 for overtime.
After a month of doing this, the line leader told me to go help this old guy sort out and stock packages and deliver them to women on another line and then race back to my area to get the parts out of the oven and into the containers. That wasn't in my contract but I figured they'd see how hard I was working and would probably promote me.
Just when I'd had it and was ready to complain, they finally took notice. The supervisor called me in and told me about a position in Shipping and Receiving that would require a month of training. I asked him if I had to inform the temp agency and he said it wasn't necessary because the company was going to pick me up as their employee and give me a raise.
After a month, I was expecting to become an ICIC employee instead of a Trend Tec temp worker but they told me I needed one more month of training. By then I was using the forklift which I shouldn't have been using because I had never been certified -- my temp trainer taught me to drive, even though he wasn't certified.
The front secretary told me that if I was certified, the company would have to pay me an extra dollar per hour. I went to the agency and spilled the beans -- I was very confused about everything. My personnel counselor told me not to operate the forklift and that she would talk to ICIC.
The next day the supervisor told me to go to Human Resources so I could become an ICIC employee. They had all the paperwork ready to fill out, but I noticed I was being offered only a fifty cent raise. When I pointed this out, the manager asked me what I thought was a reasonable pay and I said, "Ten dollars an hour." He laughed and said, "I guess we don't see eye to eye. I assume you'll be quitting now."
My supervisor called me the next morning, offering me the one dollar raise -- to $8.50 -- but by then I felt offended that they tried to cheat me in the first place. I said my agency suggested I ask for $11 an hour and he laughed and said, "We won't do that." Later I got a call from my personnel counselor angry because the agency didn't want me to tell ICIC they'd recommended that amount of money. Then she wished me luck for the future.
So like that I was left to hang out and dry. The way both companies saw it was, "Well, we got our money's worth. See you later."
This piece originally appeared as part of a series called High Tech Heart Of Darkness: Young Temps On The Line In Silicon Valley in Youth Outlook.
Always keep this in mind: Everybody is after the same thing you are, whether they're on the top or the bottom. We all want promotions, pay raises, better job titles -- just to be in a better spot than we are in now. Co-workers and friends will be your worst enemies, and supervisors will do their best to make sure you will never be bigger than them. Trust is a word that does not exist in Silicon Valley. I learned this through experience.I was five months out of high school and wanted something stable, something I could depend on if college didn't work out, a ladder I could climb. A friend told me about this temp agency, Trend Tec, that would find me a job with reasonable pay and benefits at some big Silicon Valley companies. Their slogan said it all: "Our Pride -- Our People."
I really didn't know what to expect working for a major company. I thought that most companies in Silicon Valley were well-organized, had good training, were very caring about their employees and would give good opportunities to very hard workers.
I signed on as a Material Handler at International Component Industry Company (ICIC) that specializes in making air bag parts for some major car companies. I had to take these parts and put them into an oven, then write down some data, then pull them out of the oven and put them into a container. Then I had to move the container down to a certain spot where the line workers could grab it and put the parts together. Overall, it was a reasonble job. I got $7.00 an hour, five days a week, with $10.50 for overtime.
| "I really didn't know what to expect working for a major company." |
Just when I'd had it and was ready to complain, they finally took notice. The supervisor called me in and told me about a position in Shipping and Receiving that would require a month of training. I asked him if I had to inform the temp agency and he said it wasn't necessary because the company was going to pick me up as their employee and give me a raise.
After a month, I was expecting to become an ICIC employee instead of a Trend Tec temp worker but they told me I needed one more month of training. By then I was using the forklift which I shouldn't have been using because I had never been certified -- my temp trainer taught me to drive, even though he wasn't certified.
The front secretary told me that if I was certified, the company would have to pay me an extra dollar per hour. I went to the agency and spilled the beans -- I was very confused about everything. My personnel counselor told me not to operate the forklift and that she would talk to ICIC.
The next day the supervisor told me to go to Human Resources so I could become an ICIC employee. They had all the paperwork ready to fill out, but I noticed I was being offered only a fifty cent raise. When I pointed this out, the manager asked me what I thought was a reasonable pay and I said, "Ten dollars an hour." He laughed and said, "I guess we don't see eye to eye. I assume you'll be quitting now."
My supervisor called me the next morning, offering me the one dollar raise -- to $8.50 -- but by then I felt offended that they tried to cheat me in the first place. I said my agency suggested I ask for $11 an hour and he laughed and said, "We won't do that." Later I got a call from my personnel counselor angry because the agency didn't want me to tell ICIC they'd recommended that amount of money. Then she wished me luck for the future.
So like that I was left to hang out and dry. The way both companies saw it was, "Well, we got our money's worth. See you later."
This piece originally appeared as part of a series called High Tech Heart Of Darkness: Young Temps On The Line In Silicon Valley in Youth Outlook.
