unions

I used to work as a utility locator. I was the guy who would mark the lines in your yard when you "Call 811 before you dig".

The company I worked for was so badly managed that I'm shocked they haven't gone under or been sued out of existence, but it may have just been this one regional office. They expected everyone to work 12 hours per day, six or seven days a week, and when it was your turn on call, you would be working all night. It will wear your mind down like you wouldn't believe. I worked there for a year. I almost lost my wife. A long-time friend died, and they told me I couldn't go to his funeral. (I went to the funeral. I had figured out they couldn't afford to fire anyone) I very nearly crashed the company truck a few times from lack of sleep.

What finally made me see sense and go find literally any other job was one night I was trying to get to sleep, and there was a police helicopter flying back and forth over my neighborhood. They were flying around when I had to go out on a call at 11 pm, and when I got back home at 1 am they were still flying around. I found myself seriously considering shooting the helicopter out of the sky just so I could get an hour of sleep. I don't want to hurt anyone. I don't want to shoot at anyone. But I had not been able to get more than a half hour of sleep for two days and I wasn't thinking clearly.