u/Lower_Amphibian_2497

Does anyone have any advice regarding an easy career path? Currently, I am an operator in a bakery. I've been working here for about 5 years, since I arrived in Ireland. I’ve been offered a supervisor role a few times, but I turned it down because it involved too many overtime hours and the pay difference wasn't significant compared to my current job. Before this, I was a barber for 2 years. The problem is, I don't like the style here in Ireland, I tried to get back into the industry, but they asked me to perform a haircut in 20-25 minutes. In my opinion, you can't produce quality work in that time, and I don't want to do a poor job on people, so I refused and stayed at the factory. However, I've had enough of it

Hi everyone, I’m curious if I’m underpaid for the job I do.

I work in a bread factory as a mixer operator. My job includes preparing the ingredient tube that goes into the mixer (salt, improvers, etc.), entering the bread production list into the computer, adjusting the water levels if needed, going to collect pallets with salt bags and other materials, and then manually loading them into a container each bag weighs 25kg. I also handle grain and other ingredients.

On top of that, I have to enter production data into the computer such as when each bread batch started, temperatures, and I need to do this for every 16 mixers or whenever the bread type changes. I also have to record batch codes for salt and other ingredients, check the bread weight, and make sure everything is running correctly.

My manager also told me that I need to make sure everyone takes their breaks on time, so I’m basically coordinating staff breaks as well.

For this I get €14.15 per hour, plus an operator bonus of €38, and a Sunday bonus of €28.

The biggest issue is that I work rotating 3 shifts all the time, and I can never sleep properly when switching from night shift to morning shift.

Does this sound underpaid for the amount of responsibility and physical

My girlfriend has trigger finger and it’s getting really bad. She had her first steroid shot in April 2024 (worked okay), and another one in March 2025, but the second one did absolutely nothing. Her private doctor said she definitely needs surgery now.

We went to the GP to get the referral for the operation, but we’re still waiting for a date. The problem is the pain. She works in a factory doing repetitive tasks, and after 10 minutes of work, she loses her grip and can't use her finger at all.

We saw the GP today and asked about applying for injury benefit, but he basically dismissed it. He said it’s "not serious enough" to stop her from working. I don’t get it how is she supposed to work if she can't use her hand? He gave her a 2-week sick note, but she already took 2 weeks off in March ( holiday ) and it didn't help at all as soon as she went back to the line.

I'm worried she won't fully recover even after surgery, and the GP is being zero help with the work situation. Has anyone dealt with this? Any advice on how to handle the GP or the benefits part?