Zombie 13 and Surviving The Worst Work Travel Ever

[Barbisi]

I decided to create a new thread to describe the actual on site experience Zombie13 endured, for those who might have to travel to a similar 3rd world country atmosphere location, either in Mexico or other areas of the world.
Zombie asked me to write up an expose of the many terrible travails he had to survive in the course of an abysmal 5-day work trip.
First of all, he was bullied into flying out on a genuine company holiday (one of only 6 annual guaranteed companywide vacation days available to all employees.) He was able to upgrade on Alaska Airlines to a premium economy seat and therefore avoid a cramped leg position which would have made his long standing and squatting movements even more painful than it proved to be. (Whether he will be reimbursed for this upcharge remains to be seen.)
The hotel he was pressured into booking in San Diego turned out to be inconveniently located far from the border in a very sketchy part of town with a lot of homeless denizens and despite clearly listing complimentary breakfast, offered no onsite restaurant or food services at all! The room (bed, bathroom, etc.) according to Zombie was at least clean if barren of extra amenities. He was forced to pay upfront with his CC but upon returning home, after much upper management haggling, mercifully saw the $500+ charge mysteriously vanish from his card.
The rental car, his first BMW, ended up being both uncomfortable and uninspiring to drive. The company made it clear in writing, that under no circumstances could he drive this car or any auto for rent across the border into Mexico, due to high theft and vandalism "concerns".
Each day he drove this very fancy brand to the border, paid to park, and stood in line to cross on foot. Thankfully, the crossing ended up a relatively short wait, and he was met by an AL (local to SD) employee. This gentleman always hailed the battered company taxi, which was abysmally beat up, to drive the two of them to the sprawling Benchmark compound, surrounded by comforting barbwire. Zombie made note of numerous potholes and damaged roads all along the way and said he felt every jolt of the torn-up asphalt during the six rides back and forth to the border crossing.
Never did he appreciate the luxury of living in America until he was compelled to work in Tijuana, he told me only yesterday! He counts this exhausting adventure as the most eye-opening so far of his life - He said he had never seen such poverty, such hopelessness, such resignation to appalling conditions, for which no easy remedy exists.
(To be continued.........)

[Carmella]

Why did his company send him there? I don't remember if his company has part of their business there ? The conditions sound beyond awful.

[Barbisi]

Thanks Carmella ! You have such a kind, empathetic heart. I hope your new job is working out well for you on all levels - work/life balance, benefits, company culture and perhaps most importantly, an increased salary!!!
For Zombie13, nothing about this job other than the health insurance, is positive - 10% pay cut, company holidays slashed to only 6 per year (as you yourself experienced) and PTO to only 14 per year (1.1 days earned per month. I think you had even less : 6?)
They even made him flyout on Memorial Day Monday ! (They very reluctantly gave him the next Monday as a comp day, LOL! )
He can no longer afford to contribute to the 401K plan because of the permanent decreased salary and has been forced to cash in one 401K already to prop up our slowly dissipating bank account.
I know some will say these company policies are just "the new normal- get used to it! "

[Barbisi]

Part 2 of Zombie13 's first nightmarish odyssey of a work trip.
He landed in SD around mid-night (Tuesday morning), accepted the one rental car still available at that late hour, the above-mentioned luxury BMW (!) and drove to the very disappointing hotel, touted in print to offer non-existent breakfast. He probably managed less than 6 hours of sleep, barely showered and struggled to find his way to the border parking lot. According to my husband, it took at least 30 minutes one way to get there and back daily. Mercifully, the wait on foot to cross and back for the three grueling days of work was only 15 minutes, but he was forced to carry 2 laptops plus a heavy bag of additional cables and tools (on the first day only; he had a carryon luggage bag full of work products which he thankfully could leave at the Tijuana Benchmark building.) on Tuesday; he had to walk an additional 10-15 minutes all days before he met up with the local AL employee who had the beater of a taxi waiting for them. (The one "perk" of his hellish trip in Tijuana, LOL!)
He could only work about six hours per day because of the enormous difficulties these added steps imposed. He checked with his boss to make sure he would be paid for 8 hours work for all 3 days.
His back naturally began to hurt on the first day; he was literally a human mule.
The cafeteria lunch food offered was palpable but nothing spectacular ; while there he had little appetite knowing he had to work a demanding, compressed schedule.
By the time Zombie made it back to his mediocre room, after a large Olive Garden dinner, he crashed hard on the bed. He even fell asleep while on the phone with me , alarming me!
After one day of this, he abandoned any hope of sightseeing; his mission was to survive and come back to his family in one piece, which he did Friday May 29, arriving home after midnight on the 30th.
The result: the great AL is sending their own "hardware expert" tomorrow (June 8) to get the rack to fire properly.
More than a week later, his back is STILL hurting. All for nothing except a trip straight of a very bad dream to please a crummy company D., who gladly throws their employees under the bus anytime the customer asks.
Thoughts, justbroke , anybody, at all?

[justbroke]

This is what we call grunt or mule work. I'm in the I/T industry and have been in telecommunications for many years working for Ma Bell. As I wrote before, we typically had the "young" guys do all the grunt work. Otherwise it came down to seniority since we had two unions (Communication Workers of America and the IBEW).

Yes, customer work is a priority and contracts may (can) demand that something must be completed at a particular time (time is of the essence). That means all hands on deck. If you're hired as a field technician you would expect that you'd be out in the field. Other than voluntarily, I never climbed a pole or antenna tower (I did it for the thrills). (See the picture below of the M.I.T. radio tower and radome. I climbed to the top of the antenna tower. I was much younger. I wouldn't try it today.)

Bottom line is if you're the field technician you'll need to lug heavy equipment and work in places that most people don't want to work. As I have written before, Zombie13 needs to be looking for a new job. Field work is for the yutes.