'The Sandwich Factory' analyse og perspektivering

The short story, “The Sandwich Factory” by Jason Kennedy from 2007 is about a man who in 1994 takes a low-paid job at a sandwich factory. At the factory he experiences meaninglessness and unhappiness - giving us a picture of his life and his unsatisfying job. The story takes place at a sandwich factory. The factory seems like a typical food factory where mechanization is utilized to increase efficiency. Therefore employees monotonously work beside conveyer belts like robots and are controlled by managers who run the factory. The managers do not treat the employees properly as the workers are rated and marked from poor to excellent supposedly by their abilities and work effort and it emphasizes that the workers are not treated like individuals. “Someone always has to be rated excellent; he always chooses whoever had the best legs”. The employees are also locked in the factory if they are behind schedule or if there is a larger order than normal. This creates an environment where employees feel trapped and unhappy they are putting pressure on them and forcing them to work long hours and faster. “There were three ways to respond to being locked in. Firstly no response, keep working at the same rate. Or start working faster so that the work would finish sooner and the doors would reopen. (...)”. It seems like they treat them like robots that work monotonously by the conveyor belt. “Locked doors were a feature of the sandwich factory. The managers would lock everyone in if we were behind schedule or there was a larger order than usual.” The employees have nothing to say and it is almost like they are being treated like slaves.