Haichuan Gratitude Season--My “Mentors”【Workplace Section 009】

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This post was last edited by leileienn on 2016-2-19 at 19:14. Time flies; thinking back to the year I graduated feels like it was ages ago. Back then, after graduating from school, I was assigned directly to a Sinopec company to work in the production workshop on shift. At that time, I met my first mentor (not necessarily a mentor in the strict sense of someone who teaches you through apprenticeship or is assigned by an organization), who taught me how to perform *operations. As it is an old unit from an older factory, its manufacturing process is outdated and the equipment is old; control is essentially manual. The team members are mainly people who returned to the city after the cultural revolution; each team consists of 6 people, and there are 5 shifts, with a relatively low workload – during night shifts, people can either sleep or do other things. My supervisor also sleeps (we take turns; the company strictly forbids sleeping during night shifts, but they turn a blind eye), and he told me that I don’t have to come in for night shifts. Just show me how to do it; I don’t need to do it myself. So, after working shifts for 3 months, I basically just muddled along without learning much; on the other hand, I drank alcohol with my supervisor quite often, which improved my tolerance for alcohol significantly. Later, I was transferred to another workshop for shift work – it was purely physical labor, involving cleaning plate and frame filters; I worked together with the others, completing one hour of work per shift, and that was considered enough for that shift, with no supervisor present. A month later, I was transferred to a branch factory as a technician, responsible for equipment management. At that time, I met two elderly fitters who were also educated youths during the Cultural Revolution; after returning to the city, they found wives in the villages near their companies, and both wives gave birth to daughters. By following these two experienced craftsmen, I gradually learned maintenance techniques, and I often went to their homes to eat. I’m living alone, and they and my family care about me a lot and take good care of me. I remember one thing now: I rode my bike to a place to drink, got drunk, and on my way back, fell into a ditch; I needed 5 stitches (there was a hospital at the factory at that time). Later, I was transferred to work as a equipment engineer at the company’s most advanced facility (which was the first of its kind in the country and the largest in Asia, with all components imported). The workshop supervisor at that time was very kind to me; in terms of management as well as personal conduct, I learned a lot through his influence. In particular, the methods and ways of thinking for solving problems have been extremely beneficial to me. Although we are in different fields (he specializes in processing, while I specialize in equipment), his knowledge is very comprehensive. Also, they always include me every time the unit goes out for drinks. Later on, he switched to work at a foreign company as a senior executive and took me with him. Due to the transformation of foreign companies, we went our separate ways, and in the blink of an eye, 8 years have passed. We’re in less contact now. A mentor and a friend at the same time – truly precious. The master shows the way, but it is up to the individual to practice. A good master is grateful, while a poor one is still remembered with fondness. After a long time, looking back on the past, the master was merely a passerby in life.