On the first day of my hospitalization, having collapsed from anemia caused by bleeding, I was dozing on the hospital bed and had a dream. It was a dream about the “factory internship” I did just after starting my first job.
As I mentioned in a previous column, before I transferred to my current workplace, I worked for a certain automobile manufacturer. When you join an automaker, the first few months are spent in training both at dealerships and factories. The training at dealerships generally has a reputation for being enjoyable and interesting, but the factory internship is notoriously known for being extremely tough.
After completing a three-month dealership training from April, I was scheduled to undergo another three-month internship at Suzuka. (I’m careful not to name the company explicitly, but mentioning Suzuka probably makes it obvious which manufacturer it was.) No matter how tough it was said to be, I thought it would be manageable since it was a fixed working schedule and I could take weekends off.
However, I was completely mistaken — the environment was far harsher than I had imagined.
First of all, there were hardly any proper days off. Perhaps because the new car model was selling extremely well at the time, production couldn’t keep up. As a result, almost every Saturday became a mandatory workday, referred to as a “bought holiday.” I thought, “Is that even allowed?” but attending work was practically compulsory.
The working hours were eight hours per shift, but what made it tough was the shift system. The early shift started at 6 a.m., while the late shift ended at midnight. If Friday ended on an early shift and Monday started with a late shift, I could rest fairly well, but if Saturday was a “bought holiday” with a late shift until midnight and Monday started early at 6 a.m., I barely had a full day off.