sales administrator

machine operator

Gilster-Mary Lee

What is the best part of working at the company?
Everyone that I had contact with was very professional. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The equipment is worn out and constantly breaks down. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
As a driver, it was pretty laid back, they tell you what to do and let you do it without always looking over your shoulder. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Keep in mind that GML is a private carrier fleet and they only haul their own product. I was always busy, never sitting around waiting for my next load,  but because the trucks are all 6 plus years old, most are over 10 and are glider kits with 15-20+ year old, 1-2 million mile rebuilt in-house engines and drivetrains  in them, you spend a lot of time waiting on truck repairs. 
In my first 90 days driving for GML I went through 10 trucks, none of which would pass a DOT inspection. The best truck out of the 10 went into the Perryville truck shop 4 times in one month for brake issues and all four times their mechanics would adjust the slack adjusters, pronounce the problem fixed and send me on my way with a truck that wouldn't stop in a safe distance. Then I took the truck to an outside shop and described the issues and over the course of one day they diagnosed and then fixed the problems. All the slack adjusters were worn out, the trailer air supply hose had a leak and the front drive axle had one short stroke brake chamber and one long stroke brake chamber on it.  For some reason GML mechanics couldn't or WOULDN'T fix this.

It's stupid stuff like this that causes problems on the highways and nobody seemed to care.

Working for GML I found that the work itself is by no means difficult. The task of dumping 50-100lbs bags of ingredients, while being a bit of a workout, wasn't really a challenge. Measuring ingredients wasn't a challenge, and neither was cleaning the machines or operating them. The most stressful portion of the actual labor is having to do all of that accurately during a short time frame to meet the demand of the lower floors. That is, however, not the most stressful part of the job overall. While working here I watched as people were exploited left and right. I watched as people reported unsafe work conditions and they were punished for it by management through the use of issuing more and more orders to their mixers and demeaning the workers. I watched supervisors insult and belittle those that made their jobs even the slightest bit difficult. I watched blatant racism and hate be swept aside by management, simply due to favoritism. I watched good men get seriously injured on the job, only to be tossed aside by the company as soon as they'd report it. On that topic, by the way, I've seen the management here (from the floor supervisor and up) threaten employees for requesting workman's compensation due to workplace injury. I watched as a worker's movement for better working conditions within the company was rapidly quashed by those from above in the company as they threatened everyone in the plants by letting them know that they're all replaceable. Overall this is a workplace to avoid at all costs. 

I started as temp and was givin 500+hours/90 day probation before i was offered permanent employment. Now if you give them a soiled 90 days not missing a day unless Dr. Approved time off you will get permanent employment...but if u miss a bunch of days no dr notes u will stay a temp....i started out as a line 1 packer then moved to palletizer...and then A "job bid come up" an job opening somewhere else in the plant....It was a Line Operator position come with a nice pay raise and yes alot more responsibility keep in mind i was already on thin ice with attendance but my bid in and got the position ive been at it for 4 almost 5 months now and even though i want to pull my air out and flip out i still enjoy going to work everyday...Like any job there is the annoying pain in the Butt co workers but you get to busy to care...If you can handel standing for 7 hours a day (30 mins lunch and 2 15 mins breaks) and can deal with earplugs all day then you will move up as long as you want to...Im paid good money but not great for what i know and can do but what i have been givin  by GML makes up for the pay....since i have started Aug 31 2018 till present time i have been givin my own line and machine and have received 2 certifications as a machine operator and a forklift license...so like i said if you bust your tail for GML they will give you the tools to succeed in your future....I Love GML simply for the fact that if i ever have to leave GML i will have the knowledge,certifications and License to find a decent if not better position.....

What is the best part of working at the company?
It was close to my home at the time, and it was straight days, with most weekends off.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Low wages, no real retirement plan, and no paid sick time, were stressful for me. There was no real opportunity for advancement, and people who were put in supervisory positions did not receive any training, which led to them not being very effective in those positions. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
There were a lot of inter office politics. The whole office environment and way of doing things was very dated.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I no longer work there, but there was no change. Each day was a repeat of the day before. It was very mundane. The company was behind, technologically. We still used an old Doss mainframe to enter invoices and set up payments. I was required to maintain a huge system of paper files. Very dated in this day and age.

I worked for Gilster a combined total of 7 years. They have good and bad points. I have been to all the lower 48 and every province in Canada except two with them. The pay is excellent in my opinion. Hub miles, paid downtime, paid hotel rooms. Benefits and profit sharing, commissary privileges, Christmas bonus. Restart at home every weekend.  Much of the equipment is older and new employees start out in the oldest trucks.  Dispatchers, both outbound and back haul are great guys, but they are overworked and can seem surly and impatient at times. Call on Friday for your weekend load, call when you get empty for back haul, call Wed for second trip if applicable. call when empty for load home. They run paper logs unless you get a serious violation then you get elogs. They're safety record isn't the greatest.  Some driver violations result in suspension (aka) spotting trailers at the dc.for a week) however, you get downtime pay for it. Some places you have to break down loads, mostly in Canada.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Going home,if you want a job that gives raises, this is not the place.If you are hired on at $12.00 hrs  you stay at that rate no matter how long you are there.They tell you if you want more move to a different job.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The junk equipment the poor operators have to try and make work

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Fast paced,hot,some good people,you better like sweeping and deep cleaning,because if you have a free minute waiting on product YOU WILL BE SWEEPING,CLEANING,no matter how clean it may or may not be or they will be on your case big big time.Your best bet run the other way!

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Hot environment, hurry up and wait,sweeping every free second you have,the money isn't good enough for packers or palletizers,operators there are magicians to make those junk machines run

The job itself wasn't bad. The supervisors favored certain workers over many others. With that being said, if you were liked your job was great. If they didnt like you, it was anything but a walk in the park. It was also extremely hot in the summer with no air conditioning. The breaks and lunch schedule were great. The coworkers were what made the place fun to work at. They were also extremely short staffed for a majority of the time, which caused the work load to double for most. Which had a major affect on the quality of the product. Most of the time it was less than satisfactory. All in all, if i had to go back and work there, I would not have a problem with that.

What is the best part of working at the company?
If all you're wanting is a paycheck with no life outside work, this is the place for you

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Other employees most supervisors and the overall working conditions are garbage

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is hot during the summer, cold in the winter and there is no culture. You are a number in a system expected to act like a robot

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Clock in 10 minutes early. Get a 10 minute break. Get a half hour lunch. Get another 10 minute break clock out 15 minutes late. All well, providing the duties of a robot and pray to God you don't get sick

After clocking in for work I would first adjust all employee hours from the day before while answering the phones.  If there were any new hires I would create entrance badges for them and take copies of all their personal information so I could enter it into our database and mail all information to the corporate office.  When  I finished with that I would create my receiving reports and enter the codes and amounts of each item brought in by trucks.  I made sure each product we produced had the correct ingredients added as well as the correct amounts on the batch sheets from each line that ran the day/evening before.  I then entered the total amount produced into our database to keep up with product ordered by different companies.

I loved My job at Gilster Mary-Lee. I gave it my all. while working there I learne and a lot of things that I learned on my own and also learned by vendors when New equipment was bought in the plant. I love a challenge, and I am eager to learn New things I strive for that, and to be honest I get excited when learning different things, especially when it comes to my job. I loved my team, we enjoyed getting production out . I also made it an exciting job environment for my employees. when they did a good job I told them and when we had a bad day I will tell them. we will do better tomorrow. I motivated them and  I Loved it. I also had a open door policy when someone needed to talk my door was open

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales administrator 1 salary reported	$42,500 per year
Machine operator 1 salary reported	$20,000 per year

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