r/Glasgow Tools

Actually, you know what, let's actually have this discussion because I have a tonne of real world experience rather than internet experience in this regard.

I got straight As in high school and could go to any University I could choose, but my real world circumstances meant working was the more prudent and sensible choice. I chose to work in the logistics industry, where a lot of class 1 and class 2 drivers were not from Scotland.

I started as a warehouse operative which is to say a glorified shelf stacker with a forklift license and I worked myself up through the ranks til I became a shunter, part-time supervisor and general overseer of warehouse / logistics operations when the main supervisor wasn't present; I was given, on many ocasions, the opportunity to get my Class 1 license but I always turned it down because the work is awful.

At the height of the pandemic, I was working an average of 85~ hours per week with my worst weeks approaching 100. I went from 15.5 stone to 12 stone 7 pounds. Drivers and logistics staff, in general, got treated like garbage as we were nto seen as 'essential workers' and I infrequently would go out and deliver food to the drivers during lockdown. Ocasionally, this would escalate to the point where drivers would ask the police to intervene on a shop or service station refusing to serve them.

Our road and service infrastructure is garbage and drivers were treated like garbage during brexit and the pandemic. I had absolutely no interest in pursuing a career in this industry after the first year. That's when I decided to apply to University so that I could better my working conditions even though I know I will never earn as much money as I did working in logistics. For an idea, during covid, I hit the 40% tax bracket easily.

The driver shortage was a nightmare to deal with. We had, approximately, 30~ class 2 trucks for local delivery and we only had about 12 permanent drivers employed where the rest were composed of agency staff and sub contractors and I personally noticed the reduction in EU drivers.

In that time, there was no proper vetting of staff when it came to criminal background checks. We had a couple incidents where new employees were nearly lynched and/or chased out the yard when it was discovered they were pedophiles. Scottish born and bred, mind.

On the other side, we had people with more 'socially accepted' criminal convictions. Like the drug dealer, the people convicted of assault or so on. They were not bad people and they don't deserve to be judged for a single mistake in their life. The drug dealer, in comparison as having the most severe conviction, just wants to live a simple life now after his parents died while he was in prison.

My own supervisor was convicted of assault and, infact, has a court order preventing him from carrying any knives (even a stanley blade).

I left this industry for my mental and physical health to pursue a degree in the hopes of living a calmer and easier life despite the fact that it will be a massive hit to my income. An industry that has been broken by tacit mismanagement and disruption from the government and, in my opinion, a poor attitude from the general population.

It wasn't the people that I worked with that made me want to leave.