How is your career going?

[Kasey Chang]

The guy that was out on FMLA paternity leave is back, and now that dispatch is calling on Sacramento branch for backup, it seems nobody will be moving into staff position anytime soon. F***. Guess I can forget about being the backup dispatcher or router planner.

Right now I'm sucking up to management by giving them ideas to fix marketing that they are not implementing properly. Who knows if they'll listen?

EX: We are sending stuff out that can use a bit of keeping cold, and we're including those "silver bubble wrap" along with those "ice packs". But we'll "recycle" by donating them to charity, i.e. drivers are supposed to pick those up. We supposedly informed customers via a little "post-card" throw into the boxes. The problem? The card is on BROWN STOCK (into a brown box) and often ended up in the BOTTOM of the box. NOBODY reads them. We're just not getting that much of them back. Some areas, like Palo Alto, have good return rates, but out of 60-80 drop, I see maybe 10-20 returns. Obviously not all have ice packs, but still... And when I tell customers that I see about this, most are surprised that we do take them back.

So my ideas are

a) Use labels that go on the OUTSIDE of the box, on WHITE stock, so the message stands out

b) Add QR code to direct readers to go read details on the company website

Supposedly my supervisor put it on the internal Slack channel. We'll see if they will take my suggestions. I mean, this is what marketing department should be doing! Right?

I told them before that we need Company-Branded Safety/Visibility vests, and seems they are taking that branding seriously, and we may be getting that soon.

[LawBeefaroni]

I got another offer. This one is 90% work from home with a few head office meetings a month. National insurer with a pretty good rep (I buy their stock); being recruited by a friend of a current coworker. I'm pretty happy here but it's tempting. I'd have to put the 3-year-old in school full time because even with the wife at home I wouldn't get anything done. He goes to preschoool 2 days a week now and it's work subsidized and it's still $150/week.

Looking for 20% raise at least plus an extra $15-20K to get the kid out of the house. And they better not give me the "so many new tax deductions" line.

Oh, and they want an answer Tuesday.

[Isgrimnur]

Primerica awaits!

[hentzau]

I just had my 30th anniversary here at Allstate. Still no word if they're going to move my job down to Charlotte.

[LawBeefaroni]

It's a health insurance company so I'd be doing mostly what I do now. Just on the other side of the table. It would be very weird not to be working on a hospital campus though. 23 years now.

Also my boss is leaving at the end of this year. Depending on the merger, I may be in line for an upgrade.

[Kasey Chang]

Apparently my supervisors kinda "promised" that once the department is hiring an office job I'll be first in line. But who knows when that'll be. *sigh*

[Jeff V]

So I'm about 5 months into my new home location. On one hand, I still hardly know anybody at the plant I'm ostensibly located and still need a trail of bread crumbs to find my way around; on the other hand, I'm not there often enough for it to matter. I've been spitting time with a closer logistics facility, as well as working from home once a week or more. I still stay way ahead of my peer in terms of getting shit done, and that peer is in my old spot -- occupying the same office with the boss. The boss knows I frequently work from home...video conferencing is hard to hide, but he's not spoken a word against it. And this is good, since both of my kids are now involved in activities that require their presence as early as 3:50 pm. WTF...are there that many parents who don't have regular day jobs?

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I have my first non-academic job interview on Wednesday for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. It's a full time research position working with horseshoe crabs and other marine inverts, which is pretty cool, but I honestly have no idea how to prepare for the interview. I've been so entrenched in the academic side of research, I've forgotten how things work in the real world. I've looked at the department's vision statement and the research done by the people interviewing me, but there's not a ton out there about what work is done on a day-to-day basis or what the particular division I am interviewing for does. I guess I'll make sure I have decent answers to the sorts of questions I expect, but I'm honestly not sure if what I expect will be anything close to what I'm asked. Should be fun!

[Kraken]

The drawback to relying almost entirely on one client: When the Institute is on vacation, so am I. Assignments have been few this month, and as they come in day-to-day I can't exactly anticipate when I am and am not working. Should get back to normal when classes start after Labor Day, but next month's paycheck is going to be anemic.

[stessier]

The drawback to relying almost entirely on one client: When the Institute is on vacation, so am I. Assignments have been few this month, and as they come in day-to-day I can't exactly anticipate when I am and am not working. Should get back to normal when classes start after Labor Day, but next month's paycheck is going to be anemic.

Feel free not to answer, but how does the anemic month compare to a Curio City month? Still better in the new job than average in the old?

[stessier]

For my own update, I've had plans to get a Master's Certificate but was thrown for a bit of a loop when my companies school assistance program was put on hiatus with no return date given. The plan was for them to pay for half, but there were still a lot of questions to answer like which programs qualified. Also, in the past they have only paid for classes that still needed to be taken. So if I started in say January and the program didn't come back until June, they would only pay for classes I take after June. Finally, the corporation as a whole is having a down year, so the bonus we get in March is likely not happening.

So I'm not sure how this is going to work. Still working on building my coding skills and finding places to use them in my daily job, but it's not quite the same.

[coopasonic]

I am a senior (experience, not age you jerks) individual contributer (in other words, not management) on a tech team. A couple weeks back I told my boss I wanted to move to a different department because I didn't like how the work was being handled and the way the team was being run. We had some extended discussions about other opportunities for me in the department and what was wrong with the team. Next month I take over running the team. That did not turn out how I had expected. I had been thinking about making the jump to leadership for a while, but didn't expect it to fall right into my lap. This could be... interesting.

So things changed and I am not managing anyone. I am on a new team and it is a much better working environment so I am not complaining. Well, I will complain that I am being urged to work in Python which is kind of... not great, but other than that I am not complaining.

[Kraken]

The drawback to relying almost entirely on one client: When the Institute is on vacation, so am I. Assignments have been few this month, and as they come in day-to-day I can't exactly anticipate when I am and am not working. Should get back to normal when classes start after Labor Day, but next month's paycheck is going to be anemic.

Feel free not to answer, but how does the anemic month compare to a Curio City month? Still better in the new job than average in the old?

There were a lot of Curio City months. November and December were good for all but the last five or so years -- I typically made 25-30% of my annual income in those two months. Comparing this slow August with any CC August, even in its best years, Blue Hills comes out way ahead. Comparing it with a xmas month...not so much.

I am still on track to double my income this year.

[Default]

Six more years until I plan to retire. That could change due to devastating injury or illness. I just had a younger coworker die ( she smoked like a chimney ) and we just had a guy lose a leg when a stolen car slammed into the back of his truck while he was loading his next loop, so shit does happen. Until then, I can put 25K a year into a retirement fund. If I can bail at 63, I think I will be ok till SS comes in at 65. I'm on track to pay off the house in a year and a half, so the the plan is to pound money into savings/investments until I pack it in.

[Jeff V]

It's not practical for me to retire anytime before age 83, an age that exceeds that of my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents (when you get that far back, you're talking average life span of 27 anyway).

[Default]

I'm fortunate that I can work two jobs at the same company, hour-wise. Still, life events bled way more money away from me than I care to think about. I would be looking at retirement at 60 and I wouldn't be working til exhaustion.

[dbt1949]

How many of you all really have no desire to ever retire? There is a high percentage of people I'm sure that don't ever want to retire even if they have all the money they need.
It is a mystery to me how that can be but I talk to and hear people all the time that say that. Afraid they'll get bored or lonely I recon.
Or maybe as in Jeff's case are just power hungry.

[Kraken]

How many of you all really have no desire to ever retire? There is a high percentage of people I'm sure that don't ever want to retire even if they have all the money they need.
It is a mystery to me how that can be but I talk to and hear people all the time that say that. Afraid they'll get bored or lonely I recon.
Or maybe as in Jeff's case are just power hungry.

I only work a couple of hours most days and I make $50/hr for doing it. I enjoy the work and it gives my days some structure. Since I'm self-employed, I decide how much I want to work and when. Since I work at home, I can do it wherever I have an internet connection. So "retire" to me just means when do I start taking SS. I'll do that when I'm 66.5 years old because then my benefit won't be reduced by earnings...but I plan to keep right on working for as long as my mind and eyesight hold out, because why stop? If I can keep on doing that, and add in SS checks and retirement account withdrawals, I'll have a lot more money than I do now.

So...if "retire" means "stop working" I don't plan to do that until my body or mind fails. If it means "start taking SS" then I've got four years to go, and I can hardly wait to add those phat checks to my income.

[Kasey Chang]

Apparently my supervisors kinda "promised" that once the department is hiring an office job I'll be first in line. But who knows when that'll be. *sigh*

Apparently, one of our supervisors quit for a job closer to home. That's yet ANOTHER turnover. No replacement yet.

We're having some "too many chiefs" problem. There was some confusion about some program recently added. Customers are "encouraged" to break down the boxes, remove the labels, and leave them out on delivery days to we can collect them. The truth is all we do is we dump it into the compactor to be collected by recycler, which is no different than putting it in the blue recycling bin. And customers are supposed to break down the boxes and flatten them. Instead, less than half of the boxes I collect are broken down. Originally we got directive that "3 or more unbroken boxes are NOT to be collected". Then suddenly yesterday, we got overriden... ALL boxes are to be collected... Except obviously soiled ones.

And if different customers in the same building have different requests? "Accommodate if possible." That doesn't tell me anything. I don't have time to hunt the elevator, wait for it to go up, drop box, come back down. I dump in mail area and leave. This is esp. bad in areas with stairs, LOTS of stairs. Or unlabeled apartments where staris are not at the obvious places, or not labeled as to which units these stairs go to. ARGH.

Oh, and they want to go to 4x10 instead of 8x5 work week in a few months. While it sounds nice (less routes for them to screw up) we the drivers may be dealing with 100 orders PER DAY. Eeek.

Basically, I was hoping to be moved to an office job before we go back to standard time. But we shall see.

[ImLawBoy]

How many of you all really have no desire to ever retire? There is a high percentage of people I'm sure that don't ever want to retire even if they have all the money they need.
It is a mystery to me how that can be but I talk to and hear people all the time that say that. Afraid they'll get bored or lonely I recon.
Or maybe as in Jeff's case are just power hungry.

I would like to retire, and as much as I joke about never being able to, I imagine I will if I live long enough and get the little ones through college.

My mother-in-law retired a few years back, but she went back to her old job after less than a year. She was living alone and doesn't get out much, so I think she needs the social interaction that work brings.

[Isgrimnur]

Since 2008, I have managed salary increases of 75% through raises, promotions, etc. In that time, local market CPI has gone up 20.5%.

Make that 100%.

[coopasonic]

Since 2008, I have managed salary increases of 75% through raises, promotions, etc. In that time, local market CPI has gone up 20.5%.

Make that 100%.

Hopefully that's the salary increases and not the CPI.

[coopasonic]

How many of you all really have no desire to ever retire? There is a high percentage of people I'm sure that don't ever want to retire even if they have all the money they need.
It is a mystery to me how that can be but I talk to and hear people all the time that say that. Afraid they'll get bored or lonely I recon.
Or maybe as in Jeff's case are just power hungry.

I would like to retire, and as much as I joke about never being able to, I imagine I will if I live long enough and get the little ones through college.

My mother-in-law retired a few years back, but she went back to her old job after less than a year. She was living alone and doesn't get out much, so I think she needs the social interaction that work brings.

My wife and I were talking about this recently as she is looking to quit her job now... we are 47 and 45, retirement is not on the horizon, particularly if she decides to call it quits now. We still have about 13 years before our youngest would be graduating from college, which would put me at 60. House will be paid off in 5 years. As long as, in 13 years, we have the same money we have today (so need to recoup college expenses through savings and investment and not lose our shirts through the recession that is barreling our way) I imagine we would be able to call it quits then. I'm hoping we have a little more money than we have today, but I don't want to set my sights too high.

[Jeff V]

How many of you all really have no desire to ever retire? There is a high percentage of people I'm sure that don't ever want to retire even if they have all the money they need.
It is a mystery to me how that can be but I talk to and hear people all the time that say that. Afraid they'll get bored or lonely I recon.
Or maybe as in Jeff's case are just power hungry.

If I won the lottery I'd retire instantly. If my kids sailed through college in the 4 year minimum, I'd be 77 when they are finished. I'll be 85 when the house is paid off. My wife needs to try to find time to upsize her creds from LPN to RN/BSN, but with young children forcing us to work alternate shifts (her at night, me during the day) she's not the time or energy for it and we can't afford for her to just take a couple of years off (which she really wants to do). If Social Security is still around when I hit 70, I might be able to cover the house payment. My 401K isn't going to be enough to handle other day-to-day expenses though. On top of that, my wife has this fantasy that we'll retire together and spend my declining years traveling. Our current situation will not accommodate this outcome.

[Kasey Chang]

Here's another part about this job that sucks... Management making decisions WITHOUT any input from the grunts.

It appears that the management just eliminated the hand-holes on the boxes. And it's clear that the middle-management have NO IDEA why, as some are making up **** (it's for better temperature control). Only later was it revealed that they want to eliminate us delivery grunts carrying the boxes by "dangling" them. They want us to ONLY move the boxes by two-hands, from the bottom.

Except elimination of the hand holes makes the boxes much harder to maneuver in and out of the vans, and/or carrying to the customer's doorstep. Not to mention taking stuff up and down the stairs. My rough estimate is this will slow us down by 20%, as we can no longer just reach in, and pull out a box, but have to climb in to move the boxes. I may be a little faster as I have a "box puller", but I can't work miracles.

[Jaymann]

Can you go rogue and cut your own holes?

[Jeff V]

Can you go rogue and cut your own holes?

[Paingod]

How many of you all really have no desire to ever retire? There is a high percentage of people I'm sure that don't ever want to retire even if they have all the money they need.

When I was a younger man, I had enough money to take a couple months off so I did. Without any fixed structure to follow, I quickly lapsed into depression and just played games 24/7, barely leaving my apartment to go to Dunkin Donuts for food. Since then I've always assumed I'd have to maintain some level of employment.

[Jeff V]

How many of you all really have no desire to ever retire? There is a high percentage of people I'm sure that don't ever want to retire even if they have all the money they need.

When I was a younger man, I had enough money to take a couple months off so I did. Without any fixed structure to follow, I quickly lapsed into depression. Since then I've always assumed I'd have to maintain some level of employment.

A friend of mine first did this when he was about 30 years old. He spent the time biking from Seattle, as far north as Banff in Alberta, as far south as New Orleans, eventually ending in Washington, DC. He did a few more less-epic rides in subsequent years. Now, he only works until he has enough money for a world travel junket and is often gone 6 months at a time.

[Paingod]

I have issues motivating myself to actually push for things like that.

[Isgrimnur]

Since 2008, I have managed salary increases of 75% through raises, promotions, etc. In that time, local market CPI has gone up 20.5%.

Make that 100%.

Hopefully that's the salary increases and not the CPI.

Correct. CPI for July shows 21.22%.

[LawBeefaroni]

I got another offer. This one is 90% work from home with a few head office meetings a month. National insurer with a pretty good rep (I buy their stock); being recruited by a friend of a current coworker. I'm pretty happy here but it's tempting. I'd have to put the 3-year-old in school full time because even with the wife at home I wouldn't get anything done. He goes to preschoool 2 days a week now and it's work subsidized and it's still $150/week.

Looking for 20% raise at least plus an extra $15-20K to get the kid out of the house. And they better not give me the "so many new tax deductions" line.

Oh, and they want an answer Tuesday.

We've been in discussions and it would be a solid raise with up to a 15% annual performance bonus which would more than cover day care. If I hit the targets. And that's an issue for me, not a fan of the salesmanship aspect, though I could live with it. I'm calling today and turning it down reluctantly and hoping we can talk again in 6 months of the merger doesn't work out like 8 hope. Timing just isn't right for me to leave yet, too many unfinished projects and potential opportunities.

[raydude]

How many of you all really have no desire to ever retire? There is a high percentage of people I'm sure that don't ever want to retire even if they have all the money they need.
It is a mystery to me how that can be but I talk to and hear people all the time that say that. Afraid they'll get bored or lonely I recon.
Or maybe as in Jeff's case are just power hungry.

I only work a couple of hours most days and I make $50/hr for doing it. I enjoy the work and it gives my days some structure. Since I'm self-employed, I decide how much I want to work and when. Since I work at home, I can do it wherever I have an internet connection. So "retire" to me just means when do I start taking SS. I'll do that when I'm 66.5 years old because then my benefit won't be reduced by earnings...but I plan to keep right on working for as long as my mind and eyesight hold out, because why stop? If I can keep on doing that, and add in SS checks and retirement account withdrawals, I'll have a lot more money than I do now.

So...if "retire" means "stop working" I don't plan to do that until my body or mind fails. If it means "start taking SS" then I've got four years to go, and I can hardly wait to add those phat checks to my income.

I love my job as well. The scientists I work with are like little kids when it comes to the discoveries they make, and their enthusiasm is very infectious. That plus the fact that I'm on missions to places we've never been to before (Europa, Titan) and doing things that haven't been done before (flying a drone on another planet) is what keeps me going to work even though my commute is about an hour each way. If it were any other job I'd quit and find something closer to home, but I'm riding this train until NASA stops giving work to APL.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I guess I did ok on my Skype interview because they've invited me down to the facility to give a seminar and meet everyone. The email said I was their top candidate which, as CC kindly pointed out, means that if I don't get a job offer I'll know it's because I blew the in-person interview.

[Isgrimnur]

I guess I did ok on my Skype interview because they've invited me down to the facility to give a seminar and meet everyone. The email said I was their top candidate which, as CC kindly pointed out, means that if I don't get a job offer I'll know it's because I blew the in-person interview.

What are brothers for?

[morlac]

Simple really. Abuse brings control.

Upper mgmt made the decision.

Middle mgmt executes it and doesnt need to know why.

Grunt forced the decision by using the holes as a short cut to properly and safely move boxes.

They could try and enforce policy of only moving boxes with two hands on the bottom or force it by eliminating it as an option. Only one of those is guaranteed and prolly saves money on box design.

[Kraken]

How many of you all really have no desire to ever retire? There is a high percentage of people I'm sure that don't ever want to retire even if they have all the money they need.
It is a mystery to me how that can be but I talk to and hear people all the time that say that. Afraid they'll get bored or lonely I recon.
Or maybe as in Jeff's case are just power hungry.

I only work a couple of hours most days and I make $50/hr for doing it. I enjoy the work and it gives my days some structure. Since I'm self-employed, I decide how much I want to work and when. Since I work at home, I can do it wherever I have an internet connection. So "retire" to me just means when do I start taking SS. I'll do that when I'm 66.5 years old because then my benefit won't be reduced by earnings...but I plan to keep right on working for as long as my mind and eyesight hold out, because why stop? If I can keep on doing that, and add in SS checks and retirement account withdrawals, I'll have a lot more money than I do now.

So...if "retire" means "stop working" I don't plan to do that until my body or mind fails. If it means "start taking SS" then I've got four years to go, and I can hardly wait to add those phat checks to my income.

I love my job as well. The scientists I work with are like little kids when it comes to the discoveries they make, and their enthusiasm is very infectious. That plus the fact that I'm on missions to places we've never been to before (Europa, Titan) and doing things that haven't been done before (flying a drone on another planet) is what keeps me going to work even though my commute is about an hour each way. If it were any other job I'd quit and find something closer to home, but I'm riding this train until NASA stops giving work to APL.

I don't actually "love my work" -- I'm basically polishing press releases in the form of ever-upbeat "campus news" -- but I don't mind it, either, and it suits me. The Institute does a lot of interesting science and I have a very small hand in popularizing it. I like being associated with them, however loosely. If I were 10 years younger I might parlay it into an actual job.

[Kasey Chang]

Can you go rogue and cut your own holes?

Not exactly. No time to do such.

Imagine a typical "office file box" (albeit, single piece, not separate cover). Loaded with fruits and vegetables.

If I need to carry two of them, I would personally "haul" them by one hand into one hand hole for each box. Yes, stuff will shift a bit, but with two hands spread out, I can see the road in front of me. If I hold both boxes in front of me to my chest, I can't see the road directly in front of my feet. In fact, just this afternoon, I almost twisted my ankle when my left foot hit uneven pavement and twisted pretty badly. Fortunately, a year's delivery training means I don't sprain from that, as my other leg immediately pushed up to relieve the tension, and it took two hops to balance the boxes. And this wasn't even a very uneven terrain, but merely an alley in San Francisco. If I wasn't "experienced" I would have fallen, spilled both boxes, and with a possibly sprained ankle, and unable to continue my route (I have like 30+ orders left).

I can haul out my dolly for at little as two boxes, but that'd slow me down too. I have to pull out the dolly from storage (behind passenger seat), deploy the dolly (it's a folding one), and load the boxes onto it. That would eliminate the "danger" of carrying the boxes, but again, trading speed for safety.

The danger of "dangling" the boxes via only one hand-hold is overloading the handhold, the box rips, and the whole thing drops, possibly breaking what's inside. And since we do sometimes ship glass bottles and such...

When even customers wonder "what happened to the hand holes... this may be something they reverse soon.

[Isgrimnur]

Boss just informed me that we've been marked for a transition to the 2nd HQ building once the old tenants are out and it's rebuilt for our purposes, so some time next year.

Which will add 20 miles a day to my commute and make me lose the mileage reimbursement that I currently get for making the 7-10 trips a month that I make there.

[Jaymann]

But do you get a corner office with a view?