I seriously see why people SNAP at work!

Since you work in insurance and seem to like it in general, present employer aside, have you considered going to the big companies and trying to get in the door? If there's any industry I distrust mom & pops in far less than corporations in, it's insurance. Insurance is already cutthroat, the littler the guy, the shadier the ethics.

I'd be willing to bet you'd be far happier working for Nationwide or Aetna or whoever, whatever type of insurance it is you deal with.

originally posted by: NightFlight
a reply to: mblahnikluver

M, you need to read The Peter Principle. This book has helped me deal with some real dickheads through the many jobs I have held. Basically its premise is how people rise in a job to their highest incompetence and how to deal with them.

Heres a link...

Amazon , The Peter Principle

Why thank you. I always like a good book suggestion.

originally posted by: NerdGoddess
Me too. I get it, that's why I always request. No sorry, INSIST, that I am placed in a cubicle or office near the closest exit. Now that I work with my mother, and she's hit 50, I insist that she sit by the exit as well. Thankfully no one else seems to care if people go nuts in here or not so the request is always fulfilled.

-Alee

HA I am by the front door and most of the day I basically keep to myself. I don't really interact that much with everyone, it's one of the things I DO love about my job. What drives me nuts is their lack of caring for doing their job right which in turn makes my job harder, which annoys me.

originally posted by: americanbuffalo1
Yes your situation sucks! However you are not alone many people in the USA work hard for very little. I love my job but I don't get paid what I'm worth. As I'm sure many of us are in that boat.

It is a sad fact in this country, unfortunately.

I went from working for a huge bank, BOA to a small local company with 20 total employees. Everyone said "oh you will love a family business." Yea no what a bunch of lies. It is no different working for a local company than it was working for one of the biggest banks in the country. Paid crap and worked to death. At BOA I was also the only teller for months and it was HELL! I was doing the job of 3 people and I was only labeled part time yet I worked 40 hours, full time. So I was constantly cheated out of my vacation and sick time because I was labeled part time and not full time. I was completely being taken advantage of. I hated it.

Honestly ask yourself when you wake up for work, 'what a great day to use my time to make a wealthy person more wealthy!!' Think about it that is exactly what a large amount of the working class in this country do every day.
Now keep that in the forefront of your mind and realize that's the reality only you can change. Either way we are almost all slaves on this prison planet to our enigmatic masters!

We have weekly meetings which make me gag and the one thing that makes my skin crawl is when the owner talks about how we need leads to feed our financial services guy and his kids. The guy drives a $50k BMW and his kids go to a freaking private school. It makes me want to vomit because I am a single mom with ZERO benefits, driving a 20 year old car and yet I am suppose to feel sorry for the poor rich financial guy? OMG it makes my skill crawl.

I am actively working on a plan to start making my own jewelry. I hope by the end of the year to be doing that and making some side money. I can market all over the internet and locally. It is something I have wanted to do my entire life, no time like now that to finally start!

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: YouSir

I make a conscious effort to take myself off the clock here. I know I don't police myself. I constantly find mistakes I've made after I post, so it doesn't do me any good to point out the flaws other people make.

But when I am at work ... it's a different story.

Take yourself off the clock at work or ATS? lol

originally posted by: Nyiah
Since you work in insurance and seem to like it in general, present employer aside, have you considered going to the big companies and trying to get in the door? If there's any industry I distrust mom & pops in far less than corporations in, it's insurance. Insurance is already cutthroat, the littler the guy, the shadier the ethics.

I'd be willing to bet you'd be far happier working for Nationwide or Aetna or whoever, whatever type of insurance it is you deal with.

OH YES!! We have one company locally that my boss hates. He has a nice nickname for them which I find appalling. He also loves to stick crappy homes with them because they don't do inspections which imo is wrong. I would like to get into the underwriting side of insurance. I am an attention to details kind of person and would like that. I know they are building a brand new location here and once that starts to go up I am sure they will post jobs. I would love to work for them, one of our old agents here went to work for them. As a matter of fact a few agents have left to work for companies. If these companies ONLY KNEW what our agents do they would probably pull out of our offices.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: mblahnikluver

Now keep in mind that the husband has also been with his same employer for pushing 20 years now so this has built up over time, but he always takes half of December PTO and still has almost two to three months between the various different types of time off he can access. He also has recently moved into a new job where he gets to work from home always one and sometimes up to two days a week now.

Sometimes, it feels like they pay him to almost never be there.

That is CRAZY! I wouldn't know what to do with that much time off. My bf took a week off recently to work on his house and some minor repairs. I WISH I could take a holiday and work on my house. I have the weekends but I NEVER have enough time! I always joke with my bf and his 45 days a year, that to me is nuts! No wonder the Dutch are so happy lol

a reply to: GiulXainx

That sounds good and all but I really have zero control over how the agents work. They want to be lazy, the boss allows it and makes excuses for it. I have ignored many policy cancellations recently to prove a point but then somehow it's put back on me. I can't win in any situation. These agents get to slack off and not do their job right and I am expected to coddle them. I document everything I send these agents to do and from now on it is NOT my problem if they don't follow through. So when he angry client calls in they can deal with it because I will not lie or take one for the team anymore because they aren't doing their job properly. It is so many damn excuses and I have even told my boss that they can all set a suspense (reminder) to me so I can take care of it yet none of them do, or they forgot. It is pure laziness. It drives me up a wall!

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: mblahnikluver

Another thing I am seeing, the businesses still run and operated by family rather than by shareholders will often tend to be better run.

NOT in my case. I went from working for Bank of Satan aka Bank of America to a small local business and they are the same only one is massive and the other isn't. They don't care about anyone but themselves. If you heard our weekly meetings you would cringe. Listening to the owner talk is like listening to Trump talk. It's painful.

Oddly enough, husband's is still a family run as big as it is. The key is to find a family that still has principles of wanting to take care of the workers to some degree, and that's not always easy to find.

Finding anyone with decent principles now-a-days seems impossible. It's like everyone has just given up and does the minimal to get by, doesn't matter how good the work is. It really bothers me because imo it's what is wrong with this country in so many ways. People just don't care, they don't speak up and if you do forget it. I live in Florida which is a right to work state SO you can be let go for anything and they dont have to tell you so many times people don't speak up. Which is unfortunate.

I said mine doesn't offer benefits for part-time? It doesn't, but it is family owned still. The boss is a real ball-breaker, but the reason I'm still there after 10 years is because he also doesn't ask us to do anything he isn't doing. If there's 10" of snow on the ground and he wants us in? He's there too. Power is out and there's no heat or air? He's there suffering right along with us.

It's his work ethic to do it, and he expects his employees to put in the same. I can't argue with that. It would be different if he wasn't doing what he demanded of us. And they do extend little QoL perks to us.

At least he has a work ethic. I dont like the people i work with do!

Speaking of benefits. They gave us a $50 Christmas Bonus that was TAXED!! FREAKING TAXED! I was like are you kidding me? Yea.....that for some reason gave me a bad taste. Not sure why.

a reply to: grey580

They don't fire so much these days as they do claim redundancy.

Gleefully accepting resignations is the hardest part of the job.

It sounds like a crappy work situation.

As others have said on here, there other places to work that will provide insurance and reasonable paid time off.

I’m in local gov. They provide really good insurance and about 10 paid days off a year. Then we get off most federal holidays so it works out to probably 3+ weeks a year.

However, my bosses are really #ty, shady people. So there’s that.
a reply to: mblahnikluver

originally posted by: americanbuffalo1
Yes your situation sucks! However you are not alone many people in the USA work hard for very little. I love my job but I don't get paid what I'm worth. As I'm sure many of us are in that boat.
Honestly ask yourself when you wake up for work, 'what a great day to use my time to make a wealthy person more wealthy!!' Think about it that is exactly what a large amount of the working class in this country do every day.
Now keep that in the forefront of your mind and realize that's the reality only you can change. Either way we are almost all slaves on this prison planet to our enigmatic masters!

Yeah underemployment whether in pay or role is a real thing. I’m in that situation relatively speaking, even though it’s a decent job.

originally posted by: Quetzalcoatl14
It sounds like a crappy work situation.

As others have said on here, there other places to work that will provide insurance and reasonable paid time off.

I’m in local gov. They provide really good insurance and about 10 paid days off a year. Then we get off most federal holidays so it works out to probably 3+ weeks a year.

10 days off a year sounds pretty crap to anyone from the UK. Here, as another member stated, all full time employees are entitled to 28 days a year by law. National public holidays can be included in that entitlement but most employers don't and they are an added bonus extra.
Land of the free sounds crap to me compared to 'socialist' Britain...the more I read on ATS.

To the OP, do you know that if you move to the Netherlands and work then the US government will still tax your income there. The only way to avoid it is to renounce your US citizenship. Only two countries in the world tax their citizens on earnings while working overseas, the US, and Eritrea.
Land of the free my arse.

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy

originally posted by: Quetzalcoatl14
It sounds like a crappy work situation.

As others have said on here, there other places to work that will provide insurance and reasonable paid time off.

I’m in local gov. They provide really good insurance and about 10 paid days off a year. Then we get off most federal holidays so it works out to probably 3+ weeks a year.

10 days off a year sounds pretty crap to anyone from the UK. Here, as another member stated, all full time employees are entitled to 28 days a year by law. National public holidays can be included in that entitlement but most employers don't and they are an added bonus extra.
Land of the free sounds crap to me compared to 'socialist' Britain...the more I read on ATS.

To the OP, do you know that if you move to the Netherlands and work then the US government will still tax your income there. The only way to avoid it is to renounce your US citizenship. Only two countries in the world tax their citizens on earnings while working overseas, the US, and Eritrea.
Land of the free my arse.

As I said it’s 3+ weeks, maybe even 4 with gov holidays. Yes it’s not as much as some in Europe, but 4 weeks off a year in days isn’t bad.

10 days means 10 business days, ie 2 weeks. Then with overtime you can either take it as money or as further time off. So many people take off more than I just mentioned.

There are plenty of things that make places in Europe better for workers or residents.

Also there are some exemptions for taxing abroad. I was able to get exempted while working in China.

Hey Op,

Are you physically fit and not shy to manual labor?

Just saying, you could make about 30 grand over the summer working as a mover. (large city) Its hard work but pays like a sugar daddy.

Just a thought. There are seasonal jobs all over the country now that pay damn well.

Cut your gym membership, get into REALLY good shape, get paid well, own your time like a business. Get good and take on bigger jobs for bigger bucks. OR work longer hours as seasonal help.

Eat pizza, STAY HYDRATED and be happy.

a reply to: mblahnikluver

Good to see you mblah! Still wearing dem fine fine shoes?

Waaaay back in the wayback when I was a young man, U.S. (and others) companies needed their employees, and they realised that if they mentored the good ones and gave them excellent benefits, that the employees would work harder, and invest their loyalty in the company -- that is, a true symbiosis. In such an idealised situation, everyone benefitted, and people's finances improved as the companies grew and that was the backbone of America.

These days it appears that the dollar is the pinnacle, and the employees are the grist for the mill. Okay, some companies and businesses still treat their employees like they matter, but many do not. I remember back in the 80's, I had a friend who worked for KFC, and Harlan Sanders came around for de ol' morale boost and he toured the Bay Area and actually spent several hours in each location -- talking and listening to employees. They actually closed the KFC for 1/2 day at each location, and she said that he wanted to listen to employees' concerns. At that time also (may still be the case), employees could invest a set percentage of their income toward KFC, and some of them did pretty well doing so. My friend did.

The way you and me can "vote" in a meaningful way is with the way we spend our money. We can boycott businesses in which it is apparent that the employees are cannon fodder. We can collectively make big businesses reinvest in their employees.

Or we can do nothing.

Which has been tried before. A lot.

Well I have applied for a local insurance company that we actually represent here. SO wish me luck!

I actually had a customer encourage it who works for the company. I am done with no respect and crap pay! Lets all cross our fingers and toes!

originally posted by: argentus
a reply to: mblahnikluver

Good to see you mblah! Still wearing dem fine fine shoes?

Argentus!! Long time now see, nice to see you! I still have my babies but they mostly stay in a closet now. I have no idea how I walked in those for so many years and didn't break my neck!

Waaaay back in the wayback when I was a young man, U.S. (and others) companies needed their employees, and they realised that if they mentored the good ones and gave them excellent benefits, that the employees would work harder, and invest their loyalty in the company -- that is, a true symbiosis. In such an idealised situation, everyone benefitted, and people's finances improved as the companies grew and that was the backbone of America.

THAT is what I say and it use to be like that. Now it is not unfortunately so you get lazy slackers who don't care and employers who don't as well. If I ran a business I would make sure my employees were taken care of and trained properly. I would want them to grow with my business not drown in it! I do not get the mentality today in the work field. I hear it from so many people from all walks of life.

These days it appears that the dollar is the pinnacle, and the employees are the grist for the mill. Okay, some companies and businesses still treat their employees like they matter, but many do not. I remember back in the 80's, I had a friend who worked for KFC, and Harlan Sanders came around for de ol' morale boost and he toured the Bay Area and actually spent several hours in each location -- talking and listening to employees. They actually closed the KFC for 1/2 day at each location, and she said that he wanted to listen to employees' concerns. At that time also (may still be the case), employees could invest a set percentage of their income toward KFC, and some of them did pretty well doing so. My friend did.

I remember a guy who worked for Wal Mart back in the good old days as he called it. He said they had excellent benefits and retirement accounts, bonus' for every holiday. The list went on with what the said they use to get. He worked for them for over 20 years before he left. He said the company just went down hill after the owner died. I also remember my first job at a grocery store that is still there however it is NOTHING like it was when I worked there. My brother has been there for years and was even fired for BS reasons BUT got his job back at a new location. Why? Because when he walked out from being fired HALF the store walked out with him! He led a mini revolution at the local grocery shop, but it was because everyone backed him and how he was being treated. It is the same crap I deal with and now he has a job with the company at a better location, more pay and he is in charge now.

Things in the work world have changed and not for the better if you ask me. I know I deal with lies and constant crap daily and it is unsettling for me a en empath. It really bothers me.

[qutoe]The way you and me can "vote" in a meaningful way is with the way we spend our money. We can boycott businesses in which it is apparent that the employees are cannon fodder. We can collectively make big businesses reinvest in their employees.

Or we can do nothing.

Which has been tried before. A lot.

Yea I see the boycotting but that doesn't really work and it only hurts the employees at the low end not the ones where it counts or matters.

I did just apply for a few jobs in my area, one a customer encouraged me to sign up for so cross your fingers.