The hours are horrible at the Richmond Refinery. As a normal human being, I would like to go to bed when it's dark and get up when it's light outside. Many people go to work at 5, 6am and it's the norm, and therefore you are also expected to go to work no later than 7am. So much for work/life balance. Sure, you can argue I get to go home early. But what about personal preferences?! I'd like to have a good night sleep according to my own biological clock and get up to the sunshine. However, I think this schedule is location oriented. Richmond refinery is one early bird, same as Houston I believe, but people in San Ramon generally go to work a lot later in the day.
There is NO standard, or company procedure. If you like a lot of uncertainties, surprises, then this is the place for you. Surprises come up all the time, and there is no one way to deal with it. You make up whatever form you need to fill out, and you write up whatever guideline you need to follow. The rules are changing all the time. For example, I was promised a certain amount of money for my relocation lump sum written on a piece of paper, company document sent by HR. Only when I was receiving the money in my paycheck did they inform me that that amount was incorrect and sorry for the "misunderstanding" but I'm suddenly thousand dollars short. If I had known this earlier, I would have weighed the different relocation options differently. How could I have imagined that even a written document is no good in this company?
Discrimination against your degree and major. If you were a petroleum engineer, you get paid the most, then chemical engineer, and then the rest of the engineering disciplines. Unfair right? Since you all end up doing the same work. Too bad, so sad, go live with it.
