The Coffee House

[davidharmier60]

But whining isn't fun at all.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[waday]

If I were to ask my company for a sick day with no impact to work, they'd say yes.
If I were to ask my company for a sick day and impact my work, they'd say no.

I never asked. I simply told them I wouldn't be in because I was sick and I'd be back when I felt able. The few times I found myself managing people: If somebody came to work sick I made them go home. I didn't brook interference from management above me.

But I always made certain every employer for whom I was employed was getting more than their money's worth. And I made sure they knew it.

I appreciate your response, and I'm glad it worked for you and your employers.

Kind of curious to your type of employer and the total company size. I'm in consulting, and the current company is around 20,000 people. Last company was about 100,000. People are numbers, not names, to corporate staff. At the local level, sure, they "care" about you, but as soon as you go above your own supervisor, it starts getting iffy.

Being assertive does work in certain instances but not always; I also fully admit that I could stand to be more assertive in some areas. In the "sick day/impact work" scenario, it simply won't do any good. My employer's "money's worth" of me is my time; therein lies the problem. If I tell them I won't be in because I'm sick, and I miss a deadline, I'm in big trouble. Not only me, our clients are going to hold my company responsible for this lost work. They could get extremely angry or sue, we'd lose repeat business, and everybody loses. So, if I say, I won't be in and I won't make the deadline, they'll pull me off the project and someone else will take over. I lose work.

Work = billability = job

I believe that I do excellent work, which is why I tend to get some of the harder jobs that do take more effort and longer hours to complete. But that means nothing compared to losing work for the company.

 

[JonA_CT]

I appreciate your response, and I'm glad it worked for you and your employers.

Kind of curious to your type of employer and the total company size. I'm in consulting, and the current company is around 20,000 people. Last company was about 100,000. People are numbers, not names, to corporate staff. At the local level, sure, they "care" about you, but as soon as you go above your own supervisor, it starts getting iffy.

Being assertive does work in certain instances but not always; I also fully admit that I could stand to be more assertive in some areas. In the "sick day/impact work" scenario, it simply won't do any good. My employer's "money's worth" of me is my time; therein lies the problem. If I tell them I won't be in because I'm sick, and I miss a deadline, I'm in big trouble. Not only me, our clients are going to hold my company responsible for this lost work. They could get extremely angry or sue, we'd lose repeat business, and everybody loses. So, if I say, I won't be in and I won't make the deadline, they'll pull me off the project and someone else will take over. I lose work.

Work = billability = job

I believe that I do excellent work, which is why I tend to get some of the harder jobs that do take more effort and longer hours to complete. But that means nothing compared to losing work for the company.

This is why my buddies who work in the business world send this GIF back and forth all of the time, haha. I don't miss having to worry about "billable" hours or cost plus contracting or any of the other crap I had in my job right out of college. Then again, I also miss out on the financial incentives. It took me 7 years to work back up to the salary/overtime/bonuses/benefits I left behind to become a teacher. But like Wade said...I have loads of job satisfaction, and I make enough money. I guess more would always be nice, but I don't need it.

 

[waday]

What generation is that supposed to be?? jk But really, other than the college debt, I've worked in education, I never exactly had a high paying job, but I did the work I wanted so guess that made for job satisfaction. Now that I think about it, college was maybe 2 thou a year, and my salary at my first job in a rural program was 7 thou; the next year it was 13 thou, woo hoo! That's a lot of inflation, crap that makes me think I'm old!

I'm giving away my age.

I'm lucky that I'll be able to pay off my college debt in the next couple of years, but I had a big help. Family member worked for the college, which afforded me a huge discount. Then, my first job paid for my graduate degree. They paid for one class a semester, and since I already had a good portion of it already completed, it didn't take more than 2 years. I was lucky.

Many are not that lucky. Some of my wife's friends have law school debt exceeding $100K-$150K. These law schools over-promised the job prospects when graduating. Many of them ended up in attorney sweatshops--as contract attorneys. Some left the law altogether. Ugh.

 

[waday]

This is why my buddies who work in the business world send this GIF back and forth all of the time, haha. I don't miss having to worry about "billable" hours or cost plus contracting or any of the other crap I had in my job right out of college. Then again, I also miss out on the financial incentives. It took me 7 years to work back up to the salary/overtime/bonuses/benefits I left behind to become a teacher. But like Wade said...I have loads of job satisfaction, and I make enough money. I guess more would always be nice, but I don't need it.

Oh, I'm totally familiar with that GIF. LOL.

If I moved out of my current job to something that had more satisfaction, I'd easily lose 30-40% of my paycheck (at least in the area that I live). Kind of working on that at the moment, but it probably won't be soon.

Many people say the following: A job can have two of the following, but not all three: (1) job satisfaction, (2) high pay, (3) good location. A lucky few get all three.

 

[JonA_CT]

What generation is that supposed to be?? jk But really, other than the college debt, I've worked in education, I never exactly had a high paying job, but I did the work I wanted so guess that made for job satisfaction. Now that I think about it, college was maybe 2 thou a year, and my salary at my first job in a rural program was 7 thou; the next year it was 13 thou, woo hoo! That's a lot of inflation, crap that makes me think I'm old!

I'm giving away my age.

I'm lucky that I'll be able to pay off my college debt in the next couple of years, but I had a big help. Family member worked for the college, which afforded me a huge discount. Then, my first job paid for my graduate degree. They paid for one class a semester, and since I already had a good portion of it already completed, it didn't take more than 2 years. I was lucky.

Many are not that lucky. Some of my wife's friends have law school debt exceeding $100K-$150K. These law schools over-promised the job prospects when graduating. Many of them ended up in attorney sweatshops--as contract attorneys. Some left the law altogether. Ugh.

My wife's in-state tuition for her Master's program was over $20k a year x 3 years + 1500 hours of unpaid internship. We tried not to think about it too much, but she and everyone in her program were looking to go into public service. Fortunately, CT supports education and public servants can make a reasonable salary, although we are still in income-based repayment for all of our loans, and will only find relief with the public-service loan forgiveness program. The cost of college is out of control...I'd rant about that, but I'll save it.

This is why my buddies who work in the business world send this GIF back and forth all of the time, haha. I don't miss having to worry about "billable" hours or cost plus contracting or any of the other crap I had in my job right out of college. Then again, I also miss out on the financial incentives. It took me 7 years to work back up to the salary/overtime/bonuses/benefits I left behind to become a teacher. But like Wade said...I have loads of job satisfaction, and I make enough money. I guess more would always be nice, but I don't need it.

Oh, I'm totally familiar with that GIF. LOL.

If I moved out of my current job to something that had more satisfaction, I'd easily lose 30-40% of my paycheck (at least in the area that I live). Kind of working on that at the moment, but it probably won't be soon.

Many people say the following: A job can have two of the following, but not all three: (1) job satisfaction, (2) high pay, (3) good location. A lucky few get all three.

There is another option, of course, but it requires a leap of faith. You could always strike out into business on your own...I'm not sure what field of engineering you are in, but I know that my friend who is a civil engineer was able to do it. He had to specialize, and his work seems kind of boring (I think he sub-contracts surveying crews and develops cost-estimates for construction companies who do road rehabilitation), but his hours are flexible and he is much happier than he was before.

 

[JonA_CT]

In other news, I made my plans for my first round of golf for President's Day because the forecast has been downright spring like.

Naturally...the weather men are now discussing the possibility of 4 or more inches of snow Saturday into Sunday. Meh.

 

[tirediron]

The cost of college is out of control....

One more reason to go in to the trades!

 

[JonA_CT]

The cost of college is out of control....

One more reason to go in to the trades!

I'm a successful professional in my field which required advanced education. My parents contributed as much as they could to my education, but I still needed to cover about $60k of it through student loans (and I went to all public, in-state universities). While the trades should definitely be considered by some, the idea that I should gravitate towards the trades because education is expensive reeks of plutocracy.

I know that's not your intention -- just saying some of the conclusions that could be drawn from that statement.

Also -- I'm not sure if it's different in Canada or in other parts of the US -- but most trades here require post-secondary education, even for those who attend vocational high schools. That is often just as expensive as college, but you can't necessarily use federal education loans to pay for those schools. Some of the unions will hire apprentices, but certainly not all of them, and there aren't many opportunities.

 

[davidharmier60]

The location is what makes my rather low paying job make sense. I was a jack of all trades and master of none when I was younger. Could do plumbing, electrical, painting etc. I'm not licensed to do anything. I'm not terribly old yet will start my 58th year in April. But I feel every one of those years. Plan to work at this grocery store until I die.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[Cortian]

I appreciate your response, and I'm glad it worked for you and your employers.

Worked well enough, anyway

Kind of curious to your type of employer and the total company size.

Manufacturing, engineering or both. Initially in engineering positions. The last 25+ years as an IT geek. Companies have always been small. Employer from which I retired, last year, had ±200 in my facility. Perhaps double or triple that number, world-wide? Some have been as small as a few dozen employees.

I'm in consulting, and the current company is around 20,000 people. Last company was about 100,000. People are numbers, not names, to corporate staff.

I had people for years try to convince me to strike out on my own, as an independent consultant. But a man's gotta know his limitations. I'm not well-self-motivated and my focus tends to wander. (E.g.: Started a Man Cave project last fall. It encountered speed bumps. Then photography came along. Haven't worked on it since about... November?) That can work "ok" when you're salaried and you've so much on your plate (see: "more than their money's worth," earlier) there's never any want for variety. Not so good in a consulting role.

I was never interested in working for Really Big Companies. I had more than one try to steal me from wherever I'd been working at the time. Funny thing was: Oft times the guys pitching coming over to them were the very same guys who expressed envy over how I had it at my job It worked for others. Like consulting: It would not have worked well for me.

 

[tirediron]

AFAIK all trades [which offer certification] require post-secondary education. The difference is that the program is typically structured such that you do your first year of school, work your first 5000 hours, wash, rinse, repeat until you've got your Red Seal or other certification. The advantages are three-fold; (1) generally the tuition is lower, 'though not always a lot; (2) the study/work/study/work program generally allows people to work in higher paying fields (even a labourer on a construction site makes decent coin) between tuitions; and (3) I know a number of people with degrees who are either working in lesser fields, unrelated fields, or minimum wage jobs, but every one I know in the trades has a good job and a decent income...

 

[Gary A.]

Shaun White is a STUD!

 

[davidharmier60]

Going off to Google Shaun White....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[Gary A.]

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was Mary Lou's and Gary's Valentine's Day. We celebrated with a little road trip to Temecula where we dined on a Medley Mushroom Fettuccine and a Lobster & Bacon Panini all washed down with Champagne. Then down to San Diego County and Orfelia Vineyards. We heard a lot of good thing about Orfelia. Even fellow winos in Los Olivos spoke highly of Orfelia ... so we felt compelled and obligated to check it out. Meh ... it doesn't live up to its hype. It was all very nice, (see photos above), the wines were good, but not special, the grounds were serene and very nice ... but not worth the 40 minute drive beyond Temecula down to Escondido. Maybe in summer, because Temecula will get quite hot and Escondido is closer to the beach ... but then those extra 40 minutes would put Gary into Santa Barbara wine country, of which, many of the wineries are world class, second to none.

But, Orfelia had a wide collecting of spouts with heads. We like these pourers, typically the wine pours from the mouth/beak of the animal head.

We picked up a Shark pourer ... it looks like a Sharknado attack.