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Maker Of Shoes posted:Cons: Ah-hahahahahaha, gently caress you. No seriously, gently caress you.
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# ? May 4, 2010 02:05 |
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# ? May 18, 2024 02:40 |
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kissekatt posted:Honestly, I find the concept of sick days more strange than only being granted 5 hours of vacation every second year (and only if you washed the boss' car). How exactly are you supposed to limit the number of days you are sick? When you are sick you are sick. "Welp, I already took a week off earlier this year when I came down with the flu, I guess I'll go to work with the plague." I literally used up all my sick days about a month and a half into my current job (not corporate, but relevant). Before my second day I was in a car accident and I screwed up my knee pretty good, so I was unable to be on the floor all the time. Then, halfway through the month, I was sick with a very bad flu. I had 7 days and they were all gone by my evaluation period but they still kept me on. I was worried about taking any more, but then I realized if they were going to can me for being sick when I might infect customers, they don't care about me and they can shove their job up their rear end. My yearly evaluation was funny. I had, apparently, 20 sick days. They also counted the ones I was sick for when I strained my MCL and couldn't WALK for TWO WEEKS. I had a loving hospital note and everything. I just wrote them a sarcastic response in their "justify this" box. Limiting sick days is so dumb.
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# ? May 4, 2010 02:52 |
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I just got a letter from the CEO of my Fortune 100 company congratulating me on finishing the Boston Marathon. I've never been in Boston. And by letter, I mean a part of the Boston Globe newspaper was thrown in an envelope with his business card attached and a short congratulations written on it.
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# ? May 4, 2010 06:28 |
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lovely as my job is, at the very least, I do not have my sick days limited and they are not taken out of my vacation days. It's just mind boggling to me how some companies in the US can lump sick and vacation days together and not only that, but dictate how many days an employee can be absent. What usually happens to people who have medical emergencies and have no sick days to use? Do they not get paid for the days they had to take off? Are they let go?
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# ? May 4, 2010 07:52 |
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seakindliness posted:What usually happens to people who have medical emergencies and have no sick days to use? Do they not get paid for the days they had to take off? At all the places I've worked at it was this. The way I looked at it was, I could be absent due to illness or injury as often as I needed to be (within reason) and my "sick days" were the ompany telling me how many of those absences I would be paid for. Fairly simple really.
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# ? May 4, 2010 08:10 |
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seakindliness posted:What usually happens to people who have medical emergencies and have no sick days to use? Do they not get paid for the days they had to take off? Are they let go? I can apply my vacation time to that so I get the money, but that means no vacation. That's what happened last year. I had been saving up all of my vacation time for nearly a year, and had a little over 30 hours saved up. Then I got the goddamn swine flu around March and was out for a week. I couldn't afford to just not get paid for that week, so there went all of my vacation time, plus an additional day or so of just not being paid. And NONE of this is guaranteed by any laws here. Companies have no legal requirement to give any time off at all. (well, unless I became pregnant... not bloody likely) They can, and will, explain that they give this 'generous' amount of vacation time out of the kindness of their hearts, and that you should be thankful for getting anything at all. Robot Hobo fucked around with this message at 08:43 on May 4, 2010 |
# ? May 4, 2010 08:33 |
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I just downloaded and read that epic story about the SA member who was paid for pretty much nothing... Who was he, is he still a member, and does anyone know of the latest? And when did that happen? It's absolutely beautiful....
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# ? May 4, 2010 09:36 |
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abigserve posted:Don't forget the ludicrously expensive housing market, though. It's not that bad - bear in mind the fact that it's looking more and more like a bubble about to burst, and that renting is still quite cheap in some reasonably non-crackhousey areas. Also remember that your mortgage might be higher, but if you get sick you don't go into debt, you don't need to pay a cent for health insurance, and even if you get injured on the job you'll get 100% of your working salary, basically in perpetuity, through the worker's compensation scheme. Maker Of Shoes posted:What the gently caress?! gently caress you! Rolling? What's that? Cashing out? Sure buddy, if you're fired. Ugh. When I got made redundant last year; between my severance package, my 25 days of vacation time that I'd accrued over <2 years, and a bit (~4 hrs/week for about a month) of casual contracting work that I did while looking for a full-time employment, my savings account went up between the time I got laid off and securing new employment.
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# ? May 4, 2010 09:45 |
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Sir Spaniard posted:I just downloaded and read that epic story about the SA member who was paid for pretty much nothing... Who was he, is he still a member, and does anyone know of the latest? And when did that happen? It's absolutely beautiful.... That was forums user Moonshine if I remember right. and here's the link to the archived stories in case anyone else wants them. http://shii.org/knows/American_Dream
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# ? May 4, 2010 09:49 |
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Error 404 posted:That was forums user Moonshine if I remember right. Does he still post? Here? I'd love to hear if he's still managed to hold the position.
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# ? May 4, 2010 10:03 |
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Sir Spaniard posted:Does he still post? Here? I'd love to hear if he's still managed to hold the position. It doesn't look like it. I searched for a "Moonshine" and got "MoonShine" in return. This person has made two posts since 2006, neither of them live. MoonShine's profile. Well, whoever this was, and wherever they are, they are living the American Dream. TheBoyBlunder fucked around with this message at 10:20 on May 4, 2010 |
# ? May 4, 2010 10:15 |
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I can't help but read those posts in the voice of Dexter's (as in lab) tall, dark-haired nerd nemesis.
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# ? May 4, 2010 13:09 |
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I know this is a little long, but it should make clear to non-US goons exactly what US workers face, and the effects of those policies. This is courtesy of forums user dm and the Center for Economic and Policy Research: quote:Wages for large swaths of workers, particularly for non-college-educated workers who make up about three-fourths of the U.S. workforce, have trailed far behind growth in productivity over the last thirty years, and, for many groups of workers, wages have actually stagnated or even fallen in inflation-adjusted terms. While raising wages for workers at the middle and bottom is important, increasing wages will not be enough. Restoring real wage growth to the two or even three percent per-year rates experienced during the first thirty years of the postwar period would certainly help. But the main problems that U.S. workers face cannot be solved simply with faster real wage growth. This sort of thing is why I tend to get upset when folks say verbally trash unions or say "find a better job!" when they don't realize that nearly every job is like this. Ok, since you were good and took a moment to read all that, here's a little reward. Solkanar512 fucked around with this message at 14:39 on May 4, 2010 |
# ? May 4, 2010 14:30 |
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That is a perfect summary of basically everything that is making me want (to try) to get the hell out of this country as soon as my loans are paid off. The USA's work culture is absolutely atrocious.
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# ? May 4, 2010 14:35 |
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Matlock posted:I just got a letter from the CEO of my Fortune 100 company congratulating me on finishing the Boston Marathon. Maybe there are two Matlocks in your company? In other news, I've been coasting my way through this quarter (I'm sure you've seen my previous posts for my plans) and I heard that I got a promotion I guess Office Space really is true, isn't it.
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# ? May 4, 2010 14:56 |
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I realise that in this industry music is a privelidge, not a right, but something that has me in a recent job: 1) I worked in an IT department where none of my co-workers said anything to each other. They were completly incapable of conversation both inside and out of work. I get told by HR that I can listen to music, so I have my iPod playing quietly in my left ear. 2) This goes fine for several weeks, but then the boss calls me in. He doesn't want me listening to music. I'm kind of confused here because I was told I could and everyone has a radio in their office, so I'm not interrupting people's work by listening to my music quietly. I didn't have to answer phones and I always took my earphone out when anyone came in the room. 3) I go for a week without listening to music. I cannot focus on my work without it since the office is crushing silence, punctuated only by snorts, belches, snivelling and the relentless sound of typing. 4) One of the nice girls in HR feels sorry for me and brings in a radio. My co-workers like working in silence and I don't particularly enjoy the radio (I can't stand listening to most of the DJs), so now everyone in the office is disrupted by it. So... the solution to get me to stop listening to music, which was quiet, on shuffle all the time (So I wasn't fiddling with it) and not using any electricity was to bring in a radio that does the exact opposite of all that. Unfortunately my only real professional skills are related to IT. I'm miserable on phones and I can't handle severe pressure, so I'm destined to enjoy a life of soulless corporate grinding until the end. Oh well.
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# ? May 4, 2010 14:57 |
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Solkanar512 posted:Holy loving poo poo, that blows my loving mind I mean holy poo poo, I currently have 10 sick days and 100 hours of leave (I took two weeks off in January) after working for this company for a year and a bit and the only real worry about my job security is if my position becomes redundant and then I get a fairly decent redundancy package and government help finding more work (it's pretty lovely, but still...) while they give me unemployment payments. Seriously, my mind is blown. I really can't get over it.
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# ? May 4, 2010 14:59 |
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melon cat posted:- Being forced to work with Windows 2000 (yeah, you read that right) and IE 6 because the IT department doesn't feel like doing a bit more work. Word. Still forced to use both of these as well. All my co-workers have bought laptops to use instead.
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# ? May 4, 2010 15:04 |
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I never realised the US was that bad. When are you guys gonna get off your arses and loving revolt, because seriously.
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# ? May 4, 2010 15:12 |
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I am OK posted:I never realised the US was that bad. When are you guys gonna get off your arses and loving revolt, because seriously. As long as the average American gets to eat McDonalds for dinner while watching Survivor they won't do a god damned thing about anything.
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# ? May 4, 2010 15:13 |
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kazmeyer posted:As long as the average American gets to eat McDonalds for dinner while watching Survivor they won't do a god damned thing about anything. Also we're constantly fed a line about how terrible unions are and how they impede "our choices" and "have too much power" and then there is always someone that chimes in about how they couldn't plug in a toaster because they had to wait for union labor to waddle on down and do it for them and yadda yadda yadda. I think I remember someone in D&D trying to claim that their company wanted to give someone a bonus, "but the union wouldn't let them". That's cool though, I love seeing techs being forced into 90 hour weeks in a food safety lab. I think that's loving awesome.
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# ? May 4, 2010 15:21 |
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kazmeyer posted:As long as the average American gets to eat McDonalds for dinner while watching Survivor they won't do a god damned thing about anything. And they will get very angry if you suggest it's anything other than the GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH.
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# ? May 4, 2010 15:33 |
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I am OK posted:I never realised the US was that bad. When are you guys gonna get off your arses and loving revolt, because seriously. The typical American is apathetic, selfish, disgustingly overweight, right-wing, and Christian. It ain't happening.
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# ? May 4, 2010 16:13 |
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What pisses me off about sick days (I have like 15 days apparently in peoplesoft) is that most workplaces go on and on about taking time off if you're sick so you don't spread the disease around the place and then they limit how often you're allowed out sick. What the gently caress are they thinking? I'm from the UK and the miserable vacation and sick time has been hard to stomach since I got here. Nowhere else has ever tracked how often I was sick, because it's beyond your control!
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# ? May 4, 2010 16:14 |
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I am OK posted:I never realised the US was that bad. When are you guys gonna get off your arses and loving revolt, because seriously. I hesitate to use this expression, but it seems to be increasingly suitable to describe it: Common workers in the USA are brainwashed. They think this is how it should be, to the point where they will protest against things that benefit them and vote against their own interests. Combine that with work being almost commingled with religion in a way, and you have a system which cannot be questioned without being almost a heretic. For USA goons, think about how people play up a hard-working life as being a good thing, in the sense of "good vs evil" rather than a "for the good of society" thing. If you want more than 'your fair share' as determined by your employer, you're clearly a greedy bastard who will someday rot in hell. American Exceptionalism exists, but not in quite the way people here seem to think it does. Sundae fucked around with this message at 16:19 on May 4, 2010 |
# ? May 4, 2010 16:16 |
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the posted:Maybe there are two Matlocks in your company? I checked the employee database, and there's nobody with any names close to mine.
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# ? May 4, 2010 16:28 |
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Work in the US is commingled with religion. The "Protestant Work Ethic" has a tremendous effect on how people view work. While it was a good thing when people lived agricultural lifestyles (basically self-employed), it can become almost self-abusive when applied to a corporate structure or employer relationship. Then you have people who define their whole lives by what they do at work and how much they can sink their lives into their job. I'm also convinced that some people believe that if you buy into our nihilist-capitalist system and work as hard as possible that it increases your chances of going to heaven, but I can't prove that. Some people use their jobs as a crutch the same way some people use religion as a crutch. babies havin rabies fucked around with this message at 16:37 on May 4, 2010 |
# ? May 4, 2010 16:32 |
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It really does feel like that! I have no idea how one would go about proving it short of having a big poll with that exact question, and even then people would answer 'no' a lot just because they'd sound like idiots if they answered yes. It's a really bizarre, screwy situation.
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# ? May 4, 2010 16:37 |
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Sundae posted:I hesitate to use this expression, but it seems to be increasingly suitable to describe it: This is the thing that gets me the most: exactly like you said, a lot of people will work against their own interests and support things that only benefit people at the top, who are already getting more than their fair share. Anecdotes like the one a few pages back where a co-worker essentially bragged about how long he worked are baffling to me. I guess people sympathize with those at the top, rather than their own class, because that's where they themselves want to be. Plus, like Null Set said, it's impossible that the USA is anything but right.
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# ? May 4, 2010 16:37 |
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Robot Hobo posted:And NONE of this is guaranteed by any laws here. Companies have no legal requirement to give any time off at all. (well, unless I became pregnant... not bloody likely) They can, and will, explain that they give this 'generous' amount of vacation time out of the kindness of their hearts, and that you should be thankful for getting anything at all. Holy crap. That is just pathetic. "Here, we're giving you all these 30 hours of vacation a year! Just don't--you know, get sick or anything or you can kiss your hours goodbye--No, no, don't look at Canada, England, Australia or any of those other silly nations that give their workers reasonable time off. This is America, and in America we work so our bosses can afford to polish his collection of luxury cars once a day". I feel for each and every one of you US goons.
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# ? May 4, 2010 16:41 |
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seakindliness posted:No, no, don't look at Canada, England, Australia or any of those other silly nations... Here's the mandatory minimums as of 2006.
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# ? May 4, 2010 16:53 |
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Robot Hobo posted:Too late, I looked. That is incredibly depressing.
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# ? May 4, 2010 16:56 |
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It's not so bad living in the US if you don't mind being an annelid of the world which dulls the pain from the boot that steps on it with fast food, televised sporting events, and constantly buying poo poo you don't need to give yourself the illusion that your 60+ hour work week amounts to having something others don't. Man I need to get the gently caress out of here.
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# ? May 4, 2010 16:58 |
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I am OK posted:I never realised the US was that bad. When are you guys gonna get off your arses and loving revolt, because seriously. I would love to but I just don't have the time off! But really, it's a lot harder to organize something like that in a country this size. And with the job market right now, there are about a hundred people just itching to get into your job, so not rocking the boat will keep paying the bills. It's too bad all those Teabaggers can't do something useful like that with their time. Guess who's been sick the last few days but is still at work! Caught it from my boss who caught it from someone in marketing.
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# ? May 4, 2010 17:02 |
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Robot Hobo posted:Too late, I looked. But all those other countries are SOCIALIST COMMUNISTS for telling people how to run their businesses!
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# ? May 4, 2010 17:04 |
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I believe there was a statistic published that claimed a fair amount of Teabaggers only have the time to protest "Socialism" because they got laid off and are collecting unemployment. Found it http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/us/politics/28teaparty.html
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# ? May 4, 2010 17:05 |
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You know it's not all milk and honey here in the glorious Commmunist Worker's Commune of Australia. My company would kinda prefer it if you'd keep your paid leave below the 4 weeks a year you get. But that's ok, since they don't mind paying the other staff or freelancers double time so you can take some days off! Sorry, just had to rub it in. Seriously though, it's properly hosed for you poor USA goons. The stories about people actively mocking countries with better benefits for workers is sickening. Content! My current job is my first for what could be called a corporate. Haven't got too much to complain about but this is my first experience with an HR Department. God. It makes everything so complicated, particularly training and yearly reviews/performance evals. Shitloads of buzzwords, "buckets", internal "customers" i.e the other departments. Not mention bullshit training days for stuff that's utterly useless to my job. gently caress, my old evals were our supervisors coming along with the checklist of stuff we should be able to do in order to our job. Quick 1/2hr chat, and a few drills running through it all to demonstrate what we can do. Done. Here, they take at least 1hr, one-on-one with our manager going through a whole pile of paperwork, checklists, blah blah blah. No actually checking that I can actually do the procedures and operate the equipment necessary to my job. And it takes loving hours before I even sit down with him, going through old fault reports, emails, everything to prove I deserve a raise for the year. Although, the time I wiped a monumentally smug grin of a HR chick's face about us not being unionised was glorious (For some reason everyone at my old employer was covered by the CPSU, despite it being a regional TV station).
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# ? May 4, 2010 17:08 |
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babies havin rabies posted:I believe there was a statistic published that claimed a fair amount of Teabaggers only have the time to protest "Socialism" because they got laid off and are collecting unemployment. A teabagger that I work with took April 15th off to go protest. I asked him why he wasn't going to work to be productive and helping the economy instead going and whining all day. He told me he was entitled to his vacation days and could do what he wanted with them.
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# ? May 4, 2010 17:10 |
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2ndclasscitizen posted:gently caress, my old evals were our supervisors coming along with the checklist of stuff we should be able to do in order to our job. Quick 1/2hr chat, and a few drills running through it all to demonstrate what we can do. Done. I skipped that story in my earlier ramble because I figured nobody was going to believe it.
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# ? May 4, 2010 17:14 |
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# ? May 18, 2024 02:40 |
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Robot Hobo posted:Too late, I looked. I have a theory that republicans hate on europeans because if Americans ever found out about how other developed nations worked, there'd be hell to raise.
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# ? May 4, 2010 17:18 |