Employment Satisfaction Poll

[Wire Weasel]

Here's a chat for our group to gauge how things are going with some of us.

We remain in a recession and still hovering around 10% unemployment. Stories in the news every week how very many bigger companies are making big profits right now but are hoarding cash - and are not hiring much at all or giving raises. Article a few days ago about how Apple is sitting on 76 BILLION dollars of cash. Here's just one other article from today:

A boom in corporate profits, a bust in jobs, wages  | ajc.com


The company branch factory, part of a nationwide company, that I was laid off from in 2009 used to be a good, or at least very decent, place to work. Most employees were happy and generally moral was good. Since the recession they have chosen to implement numerous draconian measures and have become one of those hated companies and moral is lower than a snakes belly in a wagon's rut. (I am still in contact with many friends there who didn't get the axe) Well over half the people there are dying for the local economy to turn around so they can tell these people to take their job and shove it and find a better job elsewhere in the area. But there isn't anything going on in the region yet and these people are stuck....trapped there. Glad to have a job yes....but absolutely hate the company and the local management now.

So how's it going with you? This will probably only apply to those of you who work for bigger or even nationwide companies....things tending to be somewhat different with smaller, locally owned and operated businesses.

 

[GLR]

This is not going well for the weasel.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Was supposed to be a Poll to go along with this but a glitch occurred when submitted.

I fixed that for you.

 

[Wire Weasel]

I fixed that for you.

Thanks CK !

See GLR, not all is gloom and doom and bad naturedness as you would claim :tongue:

 

[mackmobile43]

I'm looking to change jobs as soon as an opening is available in the church of MJ.

 

[BammBamm]

I'm a mechanic and have my own bay at the shop I work at. I'm paid book time per job. Sounds nice well take into account that if the book says your intake gasket takes 3 hours and I make $32 an hour I get $96 for the job....still sounds good right? Now say your the one who owns the car from hell and due to problems it takes me 5 hours I still make the same $96 and thanks to our economy I am seeing less and less business in my shop. Currently I actually am at work 45-55 hours a week and get paid for around 16-18 hours. Yes I am ASE certified and have over 15 years experience but it means nothing in this economy as currently I'm just happy to have a job. Also getting caught doing mechanical work other than to my own vehicles outside of work equals instant unemployment.

 

[wavrider]

I retired at the tender age of 39 in 2003. Twenty three years of military service. went in when I was still in high school at age of 17 delayed entry program so the few months I was in my last year of high school counted towards retirement.

I was recently employed at an energy efficient lighting manufacture company as an engineer. I got laid off on the third round of lay offs in 2009. Was unemployed for two months then the company called me back.

Offered me a position as production manager instead of engineer for 33% less pay. I was bored so I accepted it and told them I would try it for one year as being on a hot as factory floor in Florida summer heat is not my idea of fun.

The position they offered as production manager was OK, what was not OK was when any of the programs that ran the CNC machines needed modified to make a different part they came and asked me to re-write the program.

That is what I used to do as an engineer, so this company wanted a manager and an engineer for manager pay.

I gave them two years at this position, I took my vacation this May, I am still on vacation, never went back.

The economy sucks, employment is rare and companies are using their employees like a piece of toilet paper knowing that many employees have no where else to go for employment.

 

[Wire Weasel]

The economy sucks, employment is rare and companies are using their employees like a piece of toilet paper knowing that many employees have no where else to go for employment.

Exactly !! Just wait until the economy rebounds...if it does in our lifetime....then you'll be reading the stories of mass exoduses from all kinds of companies where all the people they hopelessly pissed off during this time tells them to kiss ass.

 

[GLR]

I'm a mechanic and have my own bay at the shop I work at. I'm paid book time per job. Sounds nice well take into account that if the book says your intake gasket takes 3 hours and I make $32 an hour I get $96 for the job....still sounds good right? Now say your the one who owns the car from hell and due to problems it takes me 5 hours I still make the same $96 and thanks to our economy I am seeing less and less business in my shop.

I have no way of knowing your level of mechanical ability but I do know that crying about book time is ridiculous. Sure some jobs may actually take 5 hours and pay 3 (very rare) but there are other jobs that pay 3 and take 30 minutes.

A mechanic actually making $32/book hour should be doing very well.

 

[Superidgit]

Exactly !! Just wait until the economy rebounds...if it does in our lifetime....then you'll be reading the stories of mass exoduses from all kinds of companies where all the people they hopelessly pissed off during this time tells them to kiss ass.

Not having that problem in where I live at. People here just dont wanna work. Work is there people just dont wanna do it.

 

[BammBamm]

GLR I can say I'm doing O.K. but like all others when you make x amount a week for a period of time you tend to become reliant on this amount of money and then when it drops instead of raises it hits hard. I had been making about 700+ a week take home for about 8 months and became comfortable with this and bought my new home I just moved into and over the 6 months my house was built my take home has slowly went down to about 500 weekly. And I am a ASE level 1 master mechanic with the majority of my study in automobile electrical and charging systems. I am currently studying transmission rebuilding and hvac systems to get my level 2 master ASE.

 

[K1MIZ]

KNOCK ON WOOD!

just the opposite has happened to me.. I got out of the Marines 11yrs ago. Thought i could and would land me a state police job sfter getting out. I took the state police exam while still serving in the Marines and scored a 98 on the test. Got out of the corps and never even got looked at by MASP. Took the test again scored another 98. Again never even looked at by them. Couldnt find a good paying job to get some income. Took the civil service exams (needed to become a cop) and passed the tests several times w scores all in the high 90s over several years. Finding out later that to get hired in a political state you got to know people. You have to suck on city mayors nuts and city councilors nuts to get recomended for hire. I aint a suck dick and refused to suck up to crooked political poeple for jobs.. started taking NH state police exams over a few years and scored even higher on their exams. 98s 99s and passing PFTs. Went threw the process twice of back ground checks and family interviews both times after having pending employment that the state is broke and now cant afford to higher so many. They then only higherd laid off cops from other states to save the state accademy costs to train un trained police. And this point i dont have 2 nickles to rub together. Almost homeless.

Nobody wants to hire a JARHEAD. I was told being a marine would land you any job you wanted.. i found out otherwise over 7 yrs. Now i am broke, trying to get back into any branch of military to put a roof over my head and food in my stomach. At the same time i am trying to get back into the service i applied for Boston Police and a BIG NAMED Aviation company.. i got invited into BPD back ground check process.. after 3 interviews w them i got DQ because i never in my life resided inside the city..(bullshit if you ask me) so now im dealing w the army. Trying to get a job that i want if i reenlist. The army is dicking me around but they want me.. prior service usually can land ( for the most part) any job.. they wanted me back in a combat company since i am a former Marine.. i didnt really want to be a grunt again.. now i am two days from being sworn in and shipped out to iraq and my phone rings. Its december 97 .i have been broke for 7full years, almost homeless and lost in life.. my phone rings..it the bigest Aviation engine builder in the world. They higherd me..now i work for this great company. I have very high blue collar pay. Protection. Benifits.. new car. The market takes a big dump. Everyone looses their homes, jobs, cars, 401ks ect ect..and i am finally on the up and up. Saving money.. property values are dropping to my benifit. Soon i will be able to afford my own house.

The point of my story isnt to rub it in but to only state that when the economy was good i was down. Now that its down i am up. I am glad i never became a cop in the most crooked state of MA. I am glad i didnt get back into the service because i would probably be dead..i am not doing too bad today.

Knock on wood..

 

[K1MIZ]

Ps.. i am extreamly greatfull for where i am today.

 

[Highlander_821]

I am a Chef, and I love my job. My favorite aspect of it is that I work an academic schedule, so I get summers off, 4 weeks at Christmas, 1 week for Thanksgiving Break, and 1 week for Spring Break.

And I eat at work for breakfast and lunch, and often take something home for dinner, so I save hundreds of dollars a month on food. I only have to pay to feed myself on the weekends.

When I first started cooking, it was kind of a crap job. Chefs were looked down on as likened to domestic servants, not professionals like we are these days. My first Chef told me to stick with it, he saw the trends were going to work in our favor, and boy was he right.

 

[eagle1911]

I own a company that does laser shows, we build all of our projection systems ourselves:

(Always gotta show off a little )

We're working currently on getting into the business of medical and industrial RF-excited lasers also, we've got two prototype CO2 laser exciters going (basically a simple RF pulse generator coupled to a kW amplifier) so there is expansion on the horizon.

I also work full-time as a senior IT at a local hospital.. so between my family and these 2 jobs I'm busy constantly. I'm lucky to be able to participate in hobbies at all.

I don't have a whole lot to complain about really (knock on wood).. I get some downtime pretty regularly at my day job, which allows me to stay in touch with my interests and keep in contact with various communities. I do wish I had less student loan debt, since it's eating up a lot of my personal money lately..