How is your career going?

[YellowKing]

In a surprise move, our company did a massive market adjustment for IT. While they had supposedly been working on it for a year or so, many think that a wave of talent defection to other companies helped accelerate it. End result was an average 10% pay bump

The market is definitely changing. When I first started in this industry in this town, you literally had maybe 1 or 2 options to work IT in a major company. Everything else was mom and pop PC shops. In the past ten years, those options have exploded as banks, call centers, pharmaceutical companies, etc. have moved in. It's forced everyone to up their pay game.

That said, the cost of living/pay ratio in this town is still horribly skewed compared to the rest of the state. You pay a high premium for living at the beach.

[Paingod]

I still casually shoot off resumes from time to time after checking the help wanted ads here and there, and got a bite this week. A large-ish law firm in the most populated area in Maine is looking for someone to manage their help desk - 7 people. I'm a little tired of fixing printers and desktops after 13 years of being a mostly one-man-shop and have been looking for a step up into management. I've done law firm IT before and it's an unpleasant beast, but money flowed pretty freely as needed - unlike non-profits and small medical offices, where I've always had to pull teeth to get things. They were a little vague on the full range of responsibilities or who I'd report to - so I'm assuming there's wiggle room to establish myself as more than a simple manager and get my hooks into some networking and other parts of the business infrastructure that may be vendor-controlled but doesn't need to be. It's a value-add for the business, and keeps me more interested in the challenge.

The law firm is moving pretty quickly on my resume submission and questionnaire. Sometimes there's a turnaround of weeks between sending in a resume and getting a response from HR. This time it was 3 days, and they're asking me when I can come in to interview - which seems like a good sign. They weren't scared off by my salary request (which I thought was fair, and some businesses don't like fair salaries). If this pans out and they don't go all stupid and try to burn down the salary I asked for, it'll be something like a 60% pay hike (more responsibility in a company 5x the size of the one I'm at now) - but an hour-long commute until we relocate the family closer to the area, which we've been wanting to do.

A day after they contacted me, I was blind-emailed by a recruiter from Robert Half asking if I wanted to chat about an IT Director job in Boston (also, oddly, working IT for a law firm). It's a huge 3-hour commute (I'd get a small studio somewhere outside Boston and go home for weekends) - but the money might be worth it, and again, we want to move south - so we'd slingshot past Portland and settle in closer to the NH border (otherwise my wife's commute would become intolerable). I'm treating this one like a 1-in-1000 dice roll. I've read a lot of miserable things in reviews about Robert Half recruiters in the last few years, doing some bait and switch crap on jobs and salaries, or just flat-out jerking people around.

[Jeff V]

FWIW, I have Robert Half to thank for hooking me up for the job I have today. Years ago, I worked a massive refresh project for a huge client; 5000 machines in two weeks in Chicago and another 2000 in 4 days in DC. I guess that got me a gold star ext to my name and they've kept in touch over the years. You do have to watch them though - when they first contacted me about the job, they were trying to sell it as a simple tech gig at a salary commensurate with such. After speaking with the director from their client, it was actually a regional manager job, and I leaned on them to cough up an appropriate salary (which was not without risk at the time as the hiring climate was poor and I'd been out of work for over a year). It did work out though.

...

Monday, the reorg here took effect and started on the wrong foot. Two new-to-me sites had critical tickets come in overnight and I was bounced out of bed by India. The second night, another critical ticket in another new-to-me location. My first two days here I'd been in a zombie-like state all day and unable to conduct an introductory team meeting with my mostly new staff (6 of 8 are new to me). I've also not had the energy to clean the desk I inherited from my predecessor...the whole office space where I'm at is a total dump, and there are probably 10 pallets worth of electronic waste piled on the floor, in closets, and spare offices. I've already informed my Chicago area minions (4) that there will be a team-building exercise in the offing...

[Kasey Chang]

Working at my current delivery job is not long-term. I am almost 49 and this physical work is not good for me. There's also a lot of management changes. I'm on my 9th month here and I've had three supervisors. OTOH, there's not much room to lateral advancement into IT or such. At least I have work on my resume and money in my bank account.

[Jeff V]

At least I have work on my resume and money in my bank account.

So you're doing twice as well as me! I have the work on my resume part, but bank account is still empty.

[Paingod]

My interview went well, I thought. The place isn't a law firm, like I had thought - but does offer some legal services. They're a consulting firm that seems to be expanding rapidly by gobbling up other smaller consulting firms at an alarming rate, and they offer services in everything.

I'm a touch light on management experience - but they didn't seem overly concerned. They really wanted to know how I planned to mentor the Help Desk staff that might work under me - and my response was basically that I'd work with them, answer questions, and build a plan based on the needs of the business. It's hard to say "This is how I'd do this" when the position is brand new and completely fluid still.

What struck me as odd is that there are -no- long term Help Desk staff out of the 6 people doing the job. The IT Director told me that people typically last 6-12 months and bounce out to other opportunities. He doesn't want to hire people who are content working the Help Desk and looks for people with ambition. The position of Service Desk Manager is for just the Help Desk "silo" in the company. He absolutely doesn't want someone who wants to work the front lines each day and said they've been focusing management on "Rolling Down Their Sleeves" and getting into more high-level planning to help keep up as the business grows.

While I applaud that, it makes his goals of cutting back the ever-increasing backlog of 1000+ tickets/month seem impossible. If people are coming straight out of college, working for 6 months, and moving on then no one is building a functional knowledge of the business and its needs in that department. Every month, someone is learning the ropes and someone else is quitting. The department will be in a perpetual hiring cycle and never see stability. I don't know how important that is for a Help Desk, but it seems really weird and inefficient to me that absolutely no one is sticking around.

If they offered me the job, I'd be shifting from a one-man-shop doing everything from Desktop, Printer, Networking, Architecture, Security, and being On-Call 24/7/365 to "Providing guidance for an ever-cycling parade of college kids" with 0/0/0 On-Call ... and somehow getting quality service out 6 Help Desk people without getting too much in the weeds on the 1000+ tickets the Help Desk gets per month.

If I get 6 people to handle 9 tickets per day (53.3 minutes per ticket) for 20 days a month (M-F, 4 weeks), that can clear 1000 tickets. That seems like a -LOT- of manpower to throw at that position ... probably mostly because they can't get anyone to stay long enough to get proficient and efficient. If the IT Director was willing to hire people who found Help Desk work to be near the top-level of their capability and found it satisfying, they could probably get the job done with 2/3 the staff.

Side notes: While the "Manager" role is brand new, they've thrown people into a "Supervisory" role in the Help Desk who had no technical experience, and the workers had no respect for them and couldn't use them as a resource. They've had two or three Help Desk people "graduate" out of the Help Desk and into other roles in the adjacent IT silos - Project Management and Network Systems. They've had two people jump ship out of the Help Desk for "greener grass" only to come back when the grass ended up being made of cardboard. I asked about how much inter-department cross-training there was to help keep the Help Desk people engaged and feeling like they weren't hedged into a small box, and it's really limited.

Just thinking out loud. I know we have a number of IT Pros on the forum, and other business people. I'd be curious to see what you thought about the business as they had it running and what I might want to be concerned about.

[Isgrimnur]

Sounds like there's a hole for experienced help desk personnel. Tier 2 exists for a reason. Those individuals that show skill and initiative, but do not want to move out of the department or company should have opportunities to move up.

People are leaving. If they are indeed leaving for better opportunities, it's because this company isn't providing them with those opportunities. Are they performing exit interviews? Are they monitoring company feedback sites, social media, etc. and seeing what employees are saying on the way out the door?

[hentzau]

We have just had a third engineer on my team leave in about 6 months. Everyone is leaving because of the threat of having to move to North Carolina...they announced their intention to move all of Infrastructure Services to Charolette about a year and a half ago, and so far no concrete plans have been announced, so everyone is starting to jump ship just on the fear that they may be moving us. So I'm doing the work of about 3 engineers now...

[Paingod]

Are they performing exit interviews? Are they monitoring company feedback sites, social media, etc. and seeing what employees are saying on the way out the door?

I didn't think to ask for those details, but it would make sense. The picture the IT Director painted was one where he simply hired motivated college grads and they kept moving and left as soon as they could. There wasn't any malice or negativity - he just plainly stated that the Help Desk isn't where anyone wants to stay and he knows that. Boom. End of story. He also mentioned a "Dispatcher" role that did quick triage (Did you try rebooting?) before forwarding calls to the Help Desk.

I've worked elsewhere that had a good system that worked like...

• Help Desk I,II, III: Entry level with higher pay grades for long-term, skilled employees.
• Desktop Support I, II, III: The final "Service Desk" position, where you get tickets the Help Desk had to escalate that need more time and attention.

The Desktop Support guys got more interesting projects and were invited to branch out more in the other departments as they wanted to. Interestingly, the folks at that job were all well paid for their roles and stayed put for years.

[ImLawBoy]

The picture the IT Director painted was one where he simply hired motivated college grads and they kept moving and left as soon as they could. There wasn't any malice or negativity - he just plainly stated that the Help Desk isn't where anyone wants to stay and he knows that. Boom. End of story.

He may genuinely believe that, but he also may be oblivious to why they're really leaving. How many truly motivated college grads take a job with no advancement path? If they're doing it just to get some money until they can find a better job, how much time will they devote to the paid work vs. the job hunting work?

[Paingod]

The picture the IT Director painted was one where he simply hired motivated college grads and they kept moving and left as soon as they could. There wasn't any malice or negativity - he just plainly stated that the Help Desk isn't where anyone wants to stay and he knows that. Boom. End of story.

He may genuinely believe that, but he also may be oblivious to why they're really leaving. How many truly motivated college grads take a job with no advancement path? If they're doing it just to get some money until they can find a better job, how much time will they devote to the paid work vs. the job hunting work?

That might explain why it's taking them more than 1 hour to close each ticket.

[Paingod]

How many truly motivated college grads take a job with no advancement path?

I never addressed this - but in my field (IT) and where I live, I had a helluva hard time getting my foot in the door anywhere. It took me almost a year after I graduated to stop getting little piecemeal gigs and actually land my first full time job. I was so sick of hunting that I jumped at being offered a Data Entry/Help Desk hybrid position. Thankfully, the company didn't understand what they needed and by the end of the week I was IT Admin and had kicked out the vendor that was taking advantage of them.

I just heard from the recruiter that they felt I was a good fit culture-wise, and the people I interviewed with liked me. They're working on references and background checks now. Barring unusual issues with those things, I should have a job offer soon! After that, it's all about salary negotiation - my least favorite part of this whole process. I'd honestly hate to decline this because they couldn't make it worth the job change.

[ImLawBoy]

How many truly motivated college grads take a job with no advancement path?

I never addressed this - but in my field (IT) and where I live, I had a helluva hard time getting my foot in the door anywhere. It took me almost a year after I graduated to stop getting little piecemeal gigs and actually land my first full time job. I was so sick of hunting that I jumped at being offered a Data Entry/Help Desk hybrid position. Thankfully, the company didn't understand what they needed and by the end of the week I was IT Admin and had kicked out the vendor that was taking advantage of them.

But that goes to the next question I posted. If someone is a truly motivated college grad who takes a job with no advancement path, their motivation will likely lead them to looking for new work almost immediately. If they're driven, they're not going to stay in a dead end job for too long - it'll be a way to pay the bills until they land something that will allow them to move on. That could be why these motivated college grads only last 6-12 months.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to talk you out of this job. Just poking around about why they have such high turnover. It's possible that their strategy of hiring these motivated college grads is backfiring. If you take the job, you may be in a position to change this idea and hire on some people who are willing to last longer. They might have a lower ceiling, but having people with stick around for a few years could help things.

[Jeff V]

IT is different field than most in long careers at a single company are rare (except where I work. Many jobs are contract/temp and are self-terminating while others might come to an end when a technology shift renders current staff lacking in skills. In a lot of professions, it's considered bad form to have too many short term positions, but not IT.

my resume is now 4 pages long, and older IT jobs have been reduced to one or two lines. I've been at the same company for 8 years now, was promoted once, and the next management level in my division has 4 people nationwide, all close to my age or younger. I reach retirement age 1 year after my boss does.

So barring a major acquisition, it seems likely I'll rot where I'm at for the next 20 years. Unless I take the normal IT road and seek employment elsewhere. The point is, in this field, there are no dead end jobs, but especially the young will want a job that provides marketable skills.

[Paingod]

One of the big "jokes" in IT that's not so funny is that the Help Desk is a trap. People get in, but quickly get stale. There's no high level work - no networking, firewall, security, architecture - no career progress. The Help Desk is like the first step on a ladder with one rung.

If I got the job, I'd like to try and make my first task to find some way to make the job a rewarding experience without becoming a trap. Diversifying the job duties is one way, as is altering the title somewhat so it doesn't look so bad. "Technician" is pretty broad, as is "Specialist". If I can create a pay scale that moves people up every 6-12 months, with some diversity into other areas - like networking or projects - then I might be able to get a Help Desk person to stay for 18-24 months instead of 6 months. I think that if I can implement a reason to stay and a way to make it look good for a resume, people would hang around longer than the 6 months they do now. That alone should create the level of knowledge needed in the department to eliminate any backlog and create opportunity for staff to diversify more. It seems clear that the revolving door they have now is generating too much suction to prevent anyone from getting ahead of the workload.

I try to avoid job-hopping more than once every 2-3 years. No one I've ever interviewed with in IT has ever said "It looks like you were there for 2 years, and here for 3 years. Why so short?" - because knowledge diversity for IT workers is valuable, and hanging out in one spot is deadly dangerous. Changing environments keeps you sharp in IT. The other alternatives are continued education (always good anyway) and/or working for a Managed Service Partner (who often expect BURNOUT levels of performance to maximize their profit from your labor).

[Jeff V]

"Help desk" means different things to different companies. I've seen their level of responsibility range from nothing more than ticket-takers to ones that offer full service and do things like application deployment and patch management. For a helpdesk that is largely ticket-takers, they might have scripts to follow to resolve common problems before escalating to the next level. That next level might be a more experienced help desk, or local infrastructure technicians. Whatever you call the team who gets the escalations, they could be considered to be the logical next step on the career path of a helpdesk technician. By the time you reach level 3, one ought to be a pretty highly skilled technician. And of course any helpdesk with more than one person is going to have a supervisor/manager.

At the company I work for, we have a Level 1 helpdesk in the Philippines and a Level 2 in India. (occasionally, I get also get calls from a UK help desk that support our European operations but occasionally handles spill-over work for the US). Level 3 is considered infrastructure technicians, most of whom are responsible for boots on the ground support for multiple locations. The infrastructure technician group, while considered to be Level 3 have three levels within that group, I, II, III. A Level III infrastructure tech can handle project management, data center management, cabling, process improvement, scripting, etc. Occasionally they are poached by other teams, such as network engineering or field server management. Above them are 9 supervisor roles, then 4 manager roles, one director, one senior director, and finally a vice president of infrastructure. A lot of our techs are career minions at this company, some have been around 45 years.

So help desk is really only a dead-end for the tragically unmotivated. A less complex IT department might not have much room to grow...but that's what changing jobs is for.

[Paingod]

I've got my second interview this afternoon, and this time I'll be meeting with the folks I'll be supervising (Help Desk) as well as the techs in the other two IT departments (Projects, Networking). I've never been interviewed by the people I'd be managing. Every management role I've had so far in life was one I grew into - promoted to lead people I already knew, or hired people to work under me. This is an odd feeling, like I'm about to be judged by the people I'd be in charge of judging.

I'm going to see what kind of info I might want to be prepared with going in. Aside from things like "I'm not a micro-manager" and "I do believe in maintaining a healthy work/life balance" I'm not sure what they might be looking for from me and I don't want to be totally blind.

[gbasden]

I've got my second interview this afternoon, and this time I'll be meeting with the folks I'll be supervising (Help Desk) as well as the techs in the other two IT departments (Projects, Networking). I've never been interviewed by the people I'd be managing. Every management role I've had so far in life was one I grew into - promoted to lead people I already knew, or hired people to work under me. This is an odd feeling, like I'm about to be judged by the people I'd be in charge of judging.

I'm going to see what kind of info I might want to be prepared with going in. Aside from things like "I'm not a micro-manager" and "I do believe in maintaining a healthy work/life balance" I'm not sure what they might be looking for from me and I don't want to be totally blind.

I'm sure they are going to probe to see if you have any technical knowledge. Showing them that you can be a resource and mentor is a great first step. Letting them know your management philosophy and framework around training, advancement and promotion would also help. Talking about the current ticket backlog and asking their opinions on why the backlog exists could give you some good insights.

[Paingod]

I'm sure they are going to probe to see if you have any technical knowledge. Showing them that you can be a resource and mentor is a great first step. Letting them know your management philosophy and framework around training, advancement and promotion would also help. Talking about the current ticket backlog and asking their opinions on why the backlog exists could give you some good insights.

You were an hour late

No worries, though. The technicians I met with had a list of prepared questions they wanted to ask, and seemed more interested in making sure I wasn't a troll. The extent of their technical questioning involved asking me about my experience with the ticket system they use there - and ticket systems are very easy to adapt to as far as software goes. They all had copies of my resume. We spent a little over an hour discussing their feelings on what they needed out of a manager, how I could work for them, and what they saw as problems in their department.

I left with a much clearer picture of the role, and it looked better than before. They don't have a "revolving door" problem like the IT Director led me to believe. They have a "We've expanded so much in the last 3 years that we're unable to keep up" problem. In 2016, the company had 250 employees with 3 people in the Help Desk. Today they have 400+ employees with 4 people in the Help Desk, but with plans to add two more. They have a "Dispatch" position that's designed to just handle password resets and do really basic troubleshooting, but can't keep anyone in that single spot. They claim to log around 1200 tickets each month, but suspect they get far more in call-ins and walk-ins. Not logging tickets is a big deal, especially when it comes to justifying the need for more techs.

The company wants high-touch from their IT people. They do not want a "Submit a Ticket" model where IT is isolated unless you get to the top of the queue via email. The senior partners demand that staff are available for anyone to visit and get help. While this provides a great opportunity for customer service to shine, it absolutely cripples efficient operations and workflow. Bob from Accounting can walk over and pull you out of a task you've invested 20 minutes in, and then after you resolve his issue you need to find your place and try to regain your stride. It's a definite investment in quality over quantity, but they may need to consider adding a few more people than they're planning to, and sooner than they think they need to. The company is on track to be at 600+ employees by 2021 if they maintain their growth - and they expect to as they expand across the country.

So - I think the second interview went well. I felt like I did an okay job of clicking with the staff I'd manage, and the Network Security guy who moved up out of the Help Desk Supervisor position a couple years back attended too and I didn't get any kind of negative feeling from him.

I'm hoping for a job offer soon, and would honestly be surprised if I didn't get one given how far into the process I am and how positive everything has seemed. I check all the boxes for what they're looking for, and everyone I've met has seemed like they got along with me well. My biggest fear right now is that they'll come back with a salary number below what I'd consider acceptable for the position. I gave them a fair number range when they asked but they never accepted, denied, or countered - it was just data they collected.

[Jeff V]

The technicians I met with had a list of prepared questions they wanted to ask, and seemed more interested in making sure I wasn't a troll.

I interviewed for a job once that would have been 2nd/3rd shift tech support supervisor for a company that supported online universities. I was a finalist, and the last round of interviews was a group session with the techs that would have been under me. They had prepared questions, which they in turn read in monotone. Then they stared at me like Children of the Corn -- it was a really creepy vibe. Maybe they were all out of it because it was it was well before their normal shift starts and maybe they were usually in bed at that time, but still. I'm sure my discomfort was obvious and I thankfully did not get that job (it would have been a pay cut and a much further drive from where I was before).

[Paingod]

While we were impressed by your background and experience we have decided to move forward with another candidate that is a closer match for our position. We will keep your resume on file in the event our situation changes and we have more openings.

I felt the breeze as that job passed me by and really thought I had a good chance at it. I'll be curious to look at the LinkedIn profile of whoever they did hire when they move in there.

[ImLawBoy]

Sorry - I know the pain of getting a no on a job I thought I was a sure thing for and was quite excited about.

[LawBeefaroni]

I got a recruited for an AVP position. Money was right, AOR was right, location was...suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.

Dammit .

[hepcat]

AVP? You do NOT want to be in the middle of an Aliens vs Predators war, man.

[Unagi]

You can't say No when the Album Oriented Rock is Right.

[Kasey Chang]

I am pretty stalled in my driving job. There's nothing higher except dispatch. I don't want to drive bigger trucks (nor am I licensed for it), and the only other lateral move is into warehouse / packaging, where I have no experience at all.

I am among the fastest delivery drivers on the routes, but that's mainly because I have, through months of testing, optimized my gear and routine, through some unsanctioned means. I don't run, nor do I speed, but I do skip a few steps... such as leave the van running... I don't scan barcodes (they said it's optional, and the barcodes no longer identity unique boxes) And I sometimes skip seatbelts.

The problem is this company culture doesn't pass on the information to the grunts. They started a new testing phase without telling the grunts yesterday... I had 79 orders in the van, but only 68 was displayed in the routing/dispatch app. Apparently, there's another 11 orders hiding in the back, and I was supposed to call dispatch so they can be "released" to me. They're calling that the B-route. This lead to a major screwup (not by me). It goes like this.

I start at 11AM. I finished my A-route (68 orders) by 6p, and the B-route by 6:50p. (normal off time is 7:30p, counting 30 minute lunch). I called dispatch, they told me to contact a guy to help him with the boxes. I called the guy up, he said he's heading to Richmond, even though Thursday should be Pleasanton/Livermore area. And it's 1 hour drive from Pleasanton/Livermore to Richmond. He said his orders showed that he should be heading that way. I was confused, but I started heading that way myself. Then I thought better and called dispatch.

And waited.

And waited.

Turns out he looked at the wrong part of the app, and never called dispatch to release the b-route orders. The Richmond orders are for FRIDAY (next day). He had to drive back to meet me, which took extra 45 minutes (he's already to San Leandro) and I didn't see him until 8p. Finished delivery of 12 additional orders at 8:51p and got back to base at like 9:45 and finally clocked out almost 10p.

Basically, I got paid for sitting around eating dinner for a whole hour. *sigh* I don't mind the overtime, but this is, to put it plainly, bull****.

[stessier]

but I do skip a few steps... such as leave the van running... And I sometimes skip seatbelts.

Dangerous game. If anything happens at my company and I'm not following procedure, besides getting fired I'd lose any type of workman's comp/insurance protection. I'm assuming yours would be similar. Totally not worth it imo.

[LawBeefaroni]

Plus, like, you are statistically more likely to die.

[Jeff V]

I got a recruited for an AVP position. Money was right, AOR was right, location was...suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.

Dammit .

The suburbs are tolerable. You can tolerate fetid, can't you?

You'd be trading brutal winters for brutally hot and humid summers. An acquaintance made that move and last I ever heard from him he couldn't wait to make his way back north. That was right before the Olympics IIRC.

[coopasonic]

I get the feeling LawBeef isn't a suburbs guy regardless of the weather. I made the move from cold small city suburb (Rochester, NY) eventually to dry heat mega-suburb (Dallas, TX) and I prefer the heat to shoveling and clearing snow off my car, but Dallas isn't an armpit like Atlanta.

[Jeff V]

I get the feeling LawBeef isn't a suburbs guy regardless of the weather. I made the move from cold small city suburb (Rochester, NY) eventually to dry heat mega-suburb (Dallas, TX) and I prefer the heat to shoveling and clearing snow off my car, but Dallas isn't an armpit like Atlanta.

That would be true. Spending an afternoon and/or evening hanging out with him is worth the effort of getting to the city in the first place. I've been to Atlanta a bunch of times, but it is nowhere near the same.

I'd not be keen to move, but were I to get a substantial offer with a commensurate title upgrade I'd seriously consider it. Fortunately my wife can find work instantly wherever we go, so that is not a real issue. That's not the sort of thing I'd seek to do, though, and the older the kids get, the more damage would be done uprooting them.

[Madmarcus]

Living in Atlanta and reverse commuting to the suburbs might be an option. Remember - any time spent commuting in your car's AC is time that you have successfully avoided the hot and humid summer weather.

[Xmann]

I have an interview in Knoxville in two weeks. I think our run in Denver is coming to a close. Wife is done with snow starting as early as October and running through April. I'm ok with leaving it behind as well. All of our family being in Florida and Georgia makes a potential move that much easier as well. Our daughter has been married for two years now, I'm sure grandkids are incoming and no way my wife would want to live across the country from them. My first time through college in the 90's was at UT and we go back every couple years for a game, so I'm looking forward to getting back there.

Finding a management position is tough without any connections. Since the fall, I have probably applied for 2-3 dozen positions in Nashville and Knoxville. I've had several phone interviews I thought went well. This is the first time I'm being flown out, hoping that's a good sign.

Only thing I'm worried about is coming up with a reason to take a couple days off for the trip. I'll tell my boss I need a couple days off for an appointment, but if she asks for what, I'm not sure what I'll say.

[dbt1949]

I can't remember how many times my grandma died. She was a tough olde bird.

[gbasden]

Family matters. Good, convenient and true excuse!

[Default]

I don't run, nor do I speed, but I do skip a few steps... such as leave the van running... I don't scan barcodes (they said it's optional, and the barcodes no longer identity unique boxes) And I sometimes skip seatbelts.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/ ... d=94469245
Yeah, I knew a guy like that. He hit a tree in the rain. It threw him through the windshield and cut through his knees. His legs were held on by his tendons. My coworker who was delivering across the street tried to comfort him, but he was screaming incoherently and didn't recognize her. He never regained consciousness at the hospital and died a couple of days later because he wouldn't wear a seatbelt.

Stop being a dumbass.

[Kasey Chang]

I'll keep that in mind.

[Default]

I'll keep that in mind.

It's never going to happen to you.

Until it does, and then it's too late.

[Kasey Chang]

Well, turns out I have nothing to worry about. I just got my lay-off notice. As of June 1st, I'll be unemployed again.

The company operates up to 60 delivery vans out of San Francisco, but due to the way delivery area is structured, some have to cross up to 2 toll bridges DAILY. So they are moving to "satellite delivery hubs" and laying off most of the original delivery drivers in San Francisco to save on the tolls. Instead of dozens of vans crossing the bridge, it'd be a handful of larger reefer box trucks, going to drop off boxes to the "local" vans to do the deliveries.

As I am carless I am unable to move myself to one of the outlying hubs, up to 1 hour north or south.

Right now, they are afraid of a mass quitting that they are offering 1 week extra pay if those being laid off will stick it out to 5/31.

Morale is through the floor and still sinking. I wonder how many will show up for work on Monday.

Off to job search I go...

[Kraken]

Congratudolences? A layoff should qualify you for unemployment benefits, and in this economy you probably won't need them for long (but you should pounce, just in case). If you have to go through dislocation, this is a good time. Also, reefer box trucks.