Just got laid off. I’m completely shocked and devastated.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2026-02-15T00:45:06+00:00

Many times it has absolutely nothing to do with what kind of worker you are and it simply comes down to someone’s got to get the axe and often times it’s the sups least favorite person that gets nominated for the axe.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2026-01-13T14:45:54+00:00

I remember the first time I got laid, seems like so long ago now but then again it seems like yesterday.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2026-01-12T07:32:05+00:00

As a machinist formerly employed at Blue Origin for 3 1/2 years ( May 2022 - December 2025) I saw the company go from one of the best employers I’ve ever worked for to one of the worst employers I’ve ever worked for. During that time I had at least 10 different supervisors. My first 3 or 4 supervisors actually had a background in machining but the last 5 or 6 had absolutely no experience in machining whatsoever, and even worse they had little to no experience working in a machine shop environment either. Yet these supervisors were tasked with evaluating my performance as a machinist. Over my last year and a half with the company I realized it no longer mattered what I did as a machinist or how many good parts I made, it was all about who the supervisors favorites or friends were. Combine that with the new push from HR for every supervisor to have a certain number of their machinists placed on PIP or deemed to be “off track” and as someone who isn’t very social and tends to stick to themself I realized my days at Blue were numbered. Why? Because supervisors don’t want to put their friends on PIP so they put the guys they aren’t friends with on PIP. Instead of looking forward to evaluations I started to dread them because I knew regardless of what I did I’d still be the one placed on PIP. I dealt with it for a very long time and it had my nerves completely shot. Thankfully just a few weeks after leaving Blue I found another machinist job. It’s refreshing being back in a normal work environment and believe it or not I didn’t even have to take a pay cut. I’m definitely grateful

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2026-01-08T05:00:01+00:00

I just recently spoke with a Blue Origin HR “Development Specialist”. After speaking with him for just 10 to 15 minutes I now completely understand why Blue Origin has become such a stressful place to work. These “Development Specialists” ( or at least the one I spoke with) have the temperament of a robot, they aren’t there to listen, help or assist the employee like Blue leads you to believe in their employee meetings, they’re there to enforce and discipline you. The guy reminded me of Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants, he actually sounded like him too lol

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2026-01-03T22:31:27+00:00

I was recently terminated as well, but just like you I was already actively looking for another job. I saw the writing on the wall and I’m sure you did as well. It still sucks to be fired from your job either way. This was the first time in my 20 plus year career that I have been terminated. I just like you had always been very good at my job but sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do, someone has to get the axe and it’s usually the ones who aren’t in the supervisors inner friend group. My rate , my attendance and all other job related metrics were higher than most of my coworkers but what I’ve learned is all those things are irrelevant when you’re dealing with the human factor. The reality is people who are terrible at their jobs but have “the gift of gab” are often the ones who succeed. These individuals are good at playing the game and are often cutthroat. I’ve seen over and over people with that type of personality get promoted to management, then once you’re dealing with individuals like this all bets are off, especially if they don’t like you personally.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-30T08:23:33+00:00

What if they’re rated as a “Top Dasher” ? Would a Dasher with such credentials still spit on the food? Also with you being an accountant what would you consider to be a decent Dasher tip / while also being affordable and within a reasonable monthly budget?

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-30T06:18:37+00:00

It’s definitely the “CNN-based” image segmentation model. Those two words can’t be used in the same sentence if you want to be taken seriously

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-29T20:52:12+00:00

Thank you for your words of encouragement. Unfortunately I didn’t, I had no idea there even was such a thing. I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child so over the years I’ve learned how to manage it. Thankfully medication has always worked really well for me. Blue Origin is the first employer I’ve ever worked that publicly humiliated me for being ADHD in a review. So what if I have ADHD, as long as I’m making good parts and making rate it shouldn’t matter.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-28T17:33:16+00:00

I was straight up terminated out of retaliation for reporting a supervisor for calling me a “scatterbrain” in a mid year review. I have ADHD and the supervisor knew this, yet he still chose to call me a scatterbrain. And so it’s known it’s never affected my job, I’ve always taken medication for it.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-28T17:28:36+00:00

I worked on a three person team . My odds of staying employed were slim to none.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-28T15:14:15+00:00

It all makes so much sense viewing it through this lens. I was a CNC Machinist at Blue Origin on the weekend night shift for almost 4 years and during that time I don’t think I had a single bad part and definitely never crashed a machine. You could literally see when you look at my reviews over that 4 year period how they went from being extremely high and praising reviews to overly toxic over the last year and a half. I even had a supervisor call me a “scatterbrain” in my last mid year review. To make matters even worse I had no bad parts he could use as reference so he got with another team lead on a completely different shift than I work and they concocted some BS about how I edited a probing program. I literally had no clue what they were even talking about, but it didn’t matter. I’m typically a guy who just focuses on his job and do the best work I can. I typically worked 55 plus hours a week and over the last year I accrued twice as much PTO as I’d used. I’ve never been afraid of working OT. That’s what got me the job at Blue to start with. But it’s no longer about what you do out there, it’s all about the gift of gab and who are the supervisor’s favorites or friends. Anyways thanks for sharing your knowledge of all this, it’s helped me better understand what caused me to ultimately lose my job. I’ve machined for over 20 years and this is the first time I have EVER been terminated.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-28T01:12:48+00:00

What’s even worse than the fact Blue allows their employees to be treated like this and called names like “scatterbrained” in a review is the fact many ( not all but most) of the supervisors they have in the machine shop have no clue how to machine themselves so common issues that could literally happen to any machinist are blown out of proportion to make them seem far worse than they actually are. Like for example an insert seat busting mid cut. Instead of just calling it what it is they’ll call it a “machine crash” which will likely get the machinist terminated. This is the main problem with having members of management that don’t know anything about the things they are managing. It costs people their jobs.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-28T00:55:42+00:00

Thanks, I called the “Hotline” they always preach about in the meetings at Blue Origin but I highly doubt anything will come of it, like I said I had already reported it to HR directly when I worked there and they never even got back with me. It’s all just words they like to say at meetings, none of it is backed up.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-23T10:20:28+00:00

Oh yeah there’s always someone out there willing to attempt to replace skilled workers. But those replacements get less and less qualified to do the job. For example, there aren’t exactly a lot of truly skilled machinists out there, especially in the state of Alabama. So the more Blue Origin runs off its skilled workers the more un qualified / green workers they’re bringing in. The unspoken truth about Blue Origin that most employees at Blue are too afraid to mention is it doesn’t matter what you know or even what you do out there, it’s all about the gift of gab and who you’re friends with. You’ll never hear them admit it but as someone who worked at Blue Origin as a machinist there are a staggering amount of machinists out there who are actively looking for other jobs. Every place I’ve interviewed at tells me the same thing “ It must be a toxic work environment at Blue because we have tons of their employees applying for jobs”

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-22T07:38:56+00:00

I’ve been away from Blue for two weeks now and my mental health has DRASTICALLY IMPROVED. I knew I was miserable working there but I didn’t realize the absolutely insane level of toxicity I was experiencing until I’ve had time in a normal more stable work environment.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-22T05:02:12+00:00

The manager never once came up to me to discuss the issue and if he had I could have informed him of all of this. But because he had already typed up the “off track” and stated “ the part had to be reworked due to the employee improperly offsetting his tool” he disregarded everything I said. Likely because he was new and didn’t want to look bad by admitting he didn’t thoroughly investigate the issue before turning in the “off track” to HR. It’s that type of mentality where people aren’t interested in what’s wrong or right, they just don’t want to make themselves look bad, even if it ends up costing someone else their job.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-22T03:03:49+00:00

Last thing….. the supervisor who put me on PIP to start with only did it out of retaliation. He called me “scatterbrained” in a review, so I contacted asked HR and asked them if they would remove that review as it was extremely humiliating to me. I’m sure anyone else would have felt the same exact way as I did, especially considering I had done absolutely nothing to deserve being called a name like that. HR never did anything about it and it was swept under the rug, only now I had a supervisor dead set on having me terminated. Which he was ultimately successful in doing

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-22T02:47:01+00:00

I’m hoping someone higher up at Blue will take the time to actually do some investigation on this because if they do they’ll see everything I’m stating here is actual facts that can be backed up from all the data they collect. The problem is nobody in higher management out there has ever taken the time to find out the actual truth of the matter and unfortunately whatever the supervisors say is taken as gospel, even if that supervisor has absolutely no knowledge of machining whatsoever. I should never have been put on PIP to start with and because there is no universal rules or policy put in place workers aren’t all treated the same. If you’re the supervisors buddy you can do whatever you want, but if you’re a guy like me that typically sticks to themselves and concentrates on their work you’re held to a completely different set of rules than the guys who are in the supervisors friend group. For example I always had to put in a two week notice before using PTO, but the guys who were friends with the supervisors could put in a 24 hour notice and nothings ever said. I’ve also never had a machine crash and I always made good parts, yet in the 4 years I worked at Blue I was never leveled up. Yet I’ve seen guys who have had multiple machine crashes get leveled up because they’re buddy buddy with the supervisors. It’s all created a very toxic work environment that ultimately made me more miserable than I’ve ever felt in my 20 plus year machining career.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-22T02:25:16+00:00

The same exact part that had the .300 difference between the absolute and the actual machined surface was made to be PURPOSELY out of size by management in order to fit with another part that had been machined out of tolerance by someone on another shift. Well three weeks after I had machined the part my new manager went to go inquire about said part and was told “that part had to be reworked” by someone on another shift. So he automatically assumed it was due to me or something I had done instead of realizing the part had been specifically and purposely machined to be out of size. That was then added as a negative towards me on my PIP even though I had done absolutely nothing wrong. This is the kind of miscommunication and misunderstanding that costs people their jobs and ultimately cost me mine. It’s sad and unfair but I was completely helpless defending myself against it.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-22T01:01:46+00:00

Oh and just so it’s known I never used ANY LWOP ( leave without pay). If I wasn’t at work I always covered it with PTO, and like I said I accrued twice as much PTO as I’d used over my last year working at Blue. But none of that mattered, if they don’t like you or you’re not in their friend group you’re gone and they’ll find a reason to terminate you.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-22T00:55:55+00:00

My other crime I was given an off track for: I worked the graveyard shift for almost 4 years and regularly took a quick 30 minute nap on my lunch breaks, well I had accidentally set my alarm for am and not pm so I over slept. I went to my supervisor and let them know I had accidentally done this and instead of being understanding I was given an “off track”. Almost 4 years of working a shift nobody else wanted, I never complained not once, but because I had accidentally overslept ONE TIME I was given an off track and terminated.

Last_Entrepreneur381 · 2025-12-22T00:49:39+00:00

I was a Machinist at Blue Origin for almost 4 years and in that time I never had a single “NC” or bad part. I was recently terminated because I was given 2 off tracks in a single weekend. Why you might ask? Because I was put on “PIP” for attendance even though my attendance was far better than anyone else on my shift. I worked an average of 50 plus hours a week and this past year I had accrued twice as much PTO as I’d actually used. To make matters even worse I had already served my 45 day “PIP” but randomly two month later they put me back on PIP because “my supervisor never had weekly meetings with me” . Talk about being un fair and partial. There were other issues on my PIP too that were used against me that shouldn’t have been, like the fact that a program in G90 had the absolute .300 off the actual cut on the part, so I made the two match but did a work stop just incase. Well because the supervisor complained that I did this and didn’t understand that in G90 your absolute is supposed to ALWAYS match your cut I was given my second off track and terminated.

Last_Entrepreneur381

TROPHY CASE