First let me state that I am a female and I just became an operator at my job. I became an operator almost 3 months ago. I became an operator for two reasons. 1. I was tired of being an end packer and 2, for the money. An end packer is the person at the end of an assembly line who has to pack the boxes into masters (big cardboard boxes) and place these on a pallet. An end packer does not get the respect they deserve or are paid enough to do what they do. An operator is the person who's incharge of running the machines that turn the plastic film into sandwich bags, storage bags, snack bags and such. We make zip and seal bags and garbage bags where I work.
Being an operator is sometimes easy and sometimes hard. You can have good days and you can have bad days. For the most part it is easy. If you've got a good bag machine packer ( the person who catches the bags after they have been cut into plastic bags ), then 9 times out of 10 you are going to have a somewhat good day. Barring the machinery doesn't break down or tear up in some way.
Now having said that, I will get to what I mean about my title.
I'm not saying that all female operators are too emotional to do their job. On the contrary. I for one am not. You can't be. The operator and the bag machine packer must be a team, they must get along or they're both are going to have a bad day. If you and your packer are helpful to one another, then where will be less jam ups and less of the machine being turned off.
A jam up is when the film get stuck on the hot knife and it won't advance past the knife. It'll just stop and continue to get bigger and bigger until the machine is turned off. Truth be told, no one can really prevent the machine from jamming up. It's going to jam up whether the packer or operator is looking or not. You can just only hope that if you are not near the machine or if you are on another machine, that your packer will turn the machine off before the jam up gets too big.
There are two other female operators on the shift I work. They both have nasty attitudes toward their packers. They constantly yell at their packers. They ( when I say "they" I am referring to the female operators ) pick at the packers and ,in my opion, be too mean to the packers.
I'm sure you've guessed by now that the male operators have the best attitudes. They get along with their packers just fine. Now don't get me wrong, there have been days where I've seen the male operators get mad and mistreated their packers but for the most part they don't get too emotional like the female operators do.
Like I said earlier, you can't really stop a machine from jamming up. It's inevitable. It's going to happen regardless of who is watching the machine. The men realize this and the women don't. Operators that is.
I have seen these two operators cuss at their packers because the machine jammed up. I've seen them try to get their packers in trouble by going to the shift manager or supervisor and telling on the ladies. Like it's really their fault the machine jammed up. I mean c'mon ladies. Get real. The machine is going to jam. It's only a question of when.
As you probably can guess, if the packer doesn't like the operator, she ( I say she because I yet to see a male bag machine packer where I work) will sit there and watch your machine jam up something fierce. She may not even turn the machine off. I have seen this also. Your packer can be your best friend or your worst enemy. I prefer to treat them as a friend. Hot plastic on human skin does not feel nice. It truly, truly, truly doesn't.
I don't know whether it's hormones or that time of the month but I am the only female operator who can go from machine to machine and have her packer smile at her and work with her.
We female operators have to realize a few things....
1. The machine is going to jam up. Move on. ( This is most
important.)
2. You must have a good rapport with your packers. If they
like you, then they will do their best to make sure you
will only have a 5 minute jam up and not a 30 minute jam
up.
3. You must treat your packers with the upmost respect.
Treat them like you'd want to be treated if the tables
were turned.
4. Be good to them and you both will have a good day.
5. The machine is going to jam up. Move on.
Be good to your packer and they will be good to you. Because it's bad when your packer hates to see you coming or even hates the thought of having to work with you.
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Contributor's Note
I know what a packer goes through. I was one for almost a year and a half. That's one of the reasons why I treat them like people not like dogs. Plus my parents raised me to treat others like I want to be treated. If we all did that, this world would be a better place.
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