Just Be Thankful You Have A Job!?!

reply to post by Greenize



17 replies so far, and not one respondent has made any suggestion that might remedy the situation.


Have we all "drunk the Kool-Aide"?

Have we all had the fight drained from our veins?


Have we all forgotten our history?


When our grandparents (and/or great grandparents) were faced with this kind of abuse from their employers/slave-masters, They got smart, rose up and ORGANIZED into Unions!


Yes! There's that word that we've been trained to fear and sneer at; Union.


Socialist! Communist! I hear you recoil into your "safe" little slave cells.


Stockholn Syndrom indded!

And the TPTB are counting on you never breaking free of those chains.



But,



If you won't save yourself, how can you expect anyone else to come to your rescue?


Would you even trust them if they did?

reply to post by Bhadhidar


There is a time and place for a union. There are some great companies out there that bend over backwards for their people. There are just as many that treat their people like dog-doo when it suits their purpose. Back 10 years ago employers couldn't find enough people to work, so they were super nice to everyone, gave people tons of chances to get it right. Now when the economy takes a dump, all kindness is tossed aside.

Yes, I think it is time to bring back the unions on a massive scale. If anything, promoting a union, secures your job and gives you legal recourse if they ever fire you.

reply to post by Greenize


I had a pretty frightful experience with my most recent job.
For months, I had discussed with them the possibility of me returning to school to get my nursing bachelors.
They, being a behavioral health agency who employ nurses, were very supportive of my decision.
I had also discussed with my supervisor's supervisor (who is the nursing director of the site I had been working at and a nurse of 25+ years) that I would need to change my schedule as I would be unable to work overnights due to the erratic nature of my ever changing school schedule.
He was totally cool with it; he even told me that he had the perfect position for me to work that wouldn't interfere with my schooling.
I was elated.
So, months roll by and I was right about to start school.
Well...the nursing director then tells me that they're switching me over to a part-time/outside contractor position...not nearly what was previously discussed.
He then proceeds to tell me that they're discontinuing my benefits, and dissolving all of my vacation/sick/pto hours and yanking all of my hours and were not giving me anything to work with.
Then, they told me that, whereas, they could not give me any hours that fit my school schedule, they were not going to let me go so that they would not have to pay unemployment or pay out any of my accrued time.
So, for the last 4 months, I've been living, meagerly might I add, on student loans and it's damn near impossible to find an employer that will work with my school schedule.
Yeah, I could always go get a lame job for way less pay, but that still doesn't change how shoddily I was treated by an employer that I had worked tirelessly for for the last year.
Oh, and I should mention, that this particular employer has an extremely high attrition rate of employees.
In the year that I'd been there, 25 (at last count) employees (most of them having been there for 3-4+ years) have quit because of how poorly they'd been treated.
So yeah...that's my sob story.

All I can say is.. I'm jobless.. and have been for awhile. Haven't worked in about two years. I don't need to since Im going to school..

But I've switched career goals just because my plans to be pretty meager employment opportunities.. Still I'd love to have some real work, and not depend on my parents..

Originally posted by Bhadhidar

Yes! There's that word that we've been trained to fear and sneer at; Union.

I don't have a problem with unions, per say, but I have a story to tell.

I worked at a cable company almost 8 years, as a customer service rep, and as a pay-per-view coordinator.

The cable company bought out another system that was union. We were called into a meeting and told that we had to join the union, or find another job. How fair is that, to make people join, or take a hike?

I worked in an office, and my job description had nothing to do with having knowledge of electricity, but I was forced to become a union member of the IBEW! $35.00 out of my paycheck, for absolutely nothing!

So, while unions might protect workers who have a need for it, this ticked me off, as it was of no benefit to me, or many other workers in the office of this company! Instead of preserving jobs, we had a chance of losing ours! This union also did nothing in the way of creating new jobs, either.

If people want to join a union, fine, but nobody should be forced to!

reply to post by Matthew Dark


Uhm...something is very wrong with your pay situation. You should file for unemployment as an attached worker. I am not sure your states UI laws but most states allow unemployment benefits when your pay is reduce or hours reduced by a significant amount. Also, it seems odd they put you from At-Will to a contract employee like they were trying hide tax contributions. Anyway, you should still look into UI benefits if you haven't already.

My jobs had done a wage freeze and a hiring freeze, but recently that has been lifted.. We got a raise this year.. small but a raise none the less. Were doing fine now in this economy , but honestly id rather work for a employer that is conservative in there financial decisions..

My employers goal for the wage and hiring freeze was to ensure no one would get laid off.. and that was the case.. My employer is pretty good , but the economy effects even good employers.. for instance , this year they only offer a high deductible insurance package.. they know this was inevitable for the last two years and warned everyone 2 years ago when they started offering both the high and low deductible packages.. health care has gotten insanely expensive in the last few years. The only advantage to the high deductible is that you get a Health Savings account.. so as you build up money there you always have it.. so even if you leave the job or get canned you still have money for health expense and in a real bind you can use it for other expenses and pay the taxes and a penalty on the funds.

SO yes its good to have a job, however realize that even good employers have to make spending cuts to ensure you can keep your job.. My employer did some extensive cost cutting, and the ideas came mainly from the employee's , it made huge impacts in profitability of the company even in a down economy.. Some of the cost cutting were benefits cuts for VP's and upper management... Luckily I work for a good company that has good leadership and management.. because in our industry were one of the few that didn't suffer big time. Our closest neighboring related company in our industry filled for bankruptcy... we didn't even lay anyone off and the cuts we made were not very imactfull to anyone.

Proves that a properly run company can make the difference.. not just the economy and other outside forces.

you should be happy you at least have a job. i havent been able to find a job for the past 6 months and would be thrilled to even find a job as menial as being a janitor or working fast food.

with unemplotment over 9%, There needs to be a better way.

I don't wanna work 60 hours a week and someone else doesnt want sit home all week.

can't there be a way I work less and make the same and someone else can have the rest of my hours and make decent money?

Maybe, Just maybe,

There should be a cap on how much CEO's make.

96% of the money made by individuals at my work are made by the employer, not the 64 people below.

I know the feeling of
"Just Be Thankful That You Have A Job!" ....but from a diffrent perspective.. Since Im unemployed.

I worked in construction as a bricklayer.
I done my apprenticeship, then got taken on full-time after getting my ''toilet-paper certificates."
I stayed for a bit, but got really fed-up, so I simply quit.

Then a month later, the recession started and forced companys to lay-off people.
And suddenly, I found myself contending with alot of people for all sorts of jobs.

Even the basic rubbish student Jobs like Starbucks/Costa Coffee.

In two years, Ive only had one tempory job which was just Christmas work.

In that time, most my 'privilages' have gone.
Ive had to scrap my car because I couldnt afford to fix it. Which resulted in me not being able to go after certain jobs which start out side public transport hours.

Ive stopped going to the gym- which was a way of me releasing frustration. (and ive put on a bit of weight!)

Havnt had a holiday.

Havnt been able to mix with my friends because I cant afford to go out.

I havnt even bought any new clothes for ages!

And I keep getting labbled as a 'down-and-out' scrounger by pretty much everyone.

The only thing I deam 'lucky' is that I still live at home... But that still causes more problems, since I dont pay my parents as much Rent as I used to.
Which has also had a knock on effect on them...

Anyway, with my current mind-set, id be happy to work 16 hours a day if I could.
And I dont care much for dinner breaks, as I used to work through them anyway.

But to the point, Ive been saying that to my friends when I see them...

"Just be thankful you've got a Job."

To Keep myself happy, hopefull and optimistic, Ive written a list of things Id like to do when I actually do get a job.

reply to post by Greenize


Having someone take advantage of you is ridiculous. I quit my last job just for this reason. I don't take crap from anyone, and I could care less. They wanted me to work over time because they didn't have enough people, it wasn't like they asked me 5 hours in advance, they were asking me, no sorry telling me to stay, when I was walking out the door. Which is uncalled for I had a family to go home to, I have three kids who are ages 7,9 and 12. If it would have been for an extra hour that's fine, but they wanted me to stay until midnight. I was working at an Assisted living Facility. they had a great second shift, but second shift were babies, they constantly complained they didn't have enough people working. Well, guess what first shift, which is what I worked always had short handed people. They never asked the third shift people to stay afterwards, or even second shift to come in. Nope, we were always short handed and they always said one of us had to stay. Plus, we were way under paid, I figured out that most people who do my job get paid 10 and up. I was only getting paid 8.25 an hour!! The PCA (personal care attendants) were getting paid between 7-7.50 an hour!! The whole place was ridiculous, plus the lady in charge had no idea what she was doing! The place was a big joke.

So I quit, because I was stressed out, and if they asked me to stay all night I was like no I can't do that. There were people there who had grown kids that would have stayed but they were never asked!

So the point of the story is you shouldn't let anyone take advantage of you. If you are in a position where you can't quit, I would be looking for another job, while working. Seriously! I wish you much luck!

reply to post by Myendica

Me, me, me!! I would love to help you and pick up your slack, I left a #ty job, but still looking for a great job! I even applied for per diem jobs, and bank teller jobs! It sucks because I still haven;t been hired, i am qualified for the jobs that I am applying for but nada. I think a lot of them won't hire me because I have kids. One lady asked how old my kids were, my husband said she had no right to ask me that question. Guess what I didn't get the job! Yes, my kids get sick, no I have no one to help me out when they get sick, i need a company to understand that. My family will always come first no matter what, and yes I quit jobs for that reason. I have gotten ultimatums either they fire me or I quit. I always quit.

In any case yes I would love to help someone out!!

I am glad i don't have a job.

I have been on disability since 2005 and love it.

No more jobs with emotional blackmail, back stabbing coworkers.
No more stress. no more having to deal with the BS and a**h**es.
all the long hours. rotating shifts.

Working caused my disability and now the taxpayers pay for what companies did to me over the years.

Some days i don't get out of bed before noon.

Its a little hard living off $980 a month but all the above makes up for it.
all

[edit on 12-7-2010 by ANNED]

I dont wish to offend, but sometimes I wish I was a slave.

then I would know what to do. secure my freedom and escape to survive.

with how our society is, its just apathy and being lathargic

I don't know how it is in the United States, but Canada is a whole 'nother animal. Most of the jobs here are out west or in remote northern areas. And they aren't cushy office jobs either but hardcore trades or hardcore manual labour jobs. In southern Ontario there are pretty much no jobs and I am glad to have a job.

My company is pretty cool in some ways but a pain in the ass in others. They keep trying to trim the staff down to the lowest levels possible, and I don't get the hours I used to. On the other hand we have a payscale which goes much higher and we are getting raises more often. Also we now get overtime after 92 hours in two weeks instead of 100 and in September we're gonna get overtime after 88 hours. The only thing is they manage the schedules to prevent overtime. But overall I'm not complaining. I just wish I wasn't in such a dead area so that I could hunt for another job while I'm working.

Just to add, I'd move to the Yukon if I could have any hope of upward mobility, but it's hard to save up first and last. Not to mention that since I don't drive I'd need someone with a whip to get me around unless I lived in the town I work in.

[edit on 12-7-2010 by Merle8]

That's what I tell people. I have been unemployed since October of last year, and it really gripes my ass that people who have a job do nothing but bitch about it!!

I suppose this is similar to when the whites gave the native americans rancid beef crawling with worms and said "hey, just be happy you have food!".

I have been a medical worker (started off as CNA, now psyche tech) for about a decade, and I have seen perks and benefits disappear over that time. I dont blame the downturn in the economy though, so much as corporatization. The fact of the matter is that you can only get so much business (dictated on how many beds you have) and once that market share is maxed, the only way to increase profit each year (which corporations are mandated to do) is to begin eating away at the costs from the inside. This usually means taxing the lowest pole workers with more work, while eroding their pay and benefits.

When i first started in medical, there were tons of great perks. No deductable insurance (the base plan was actually free to all the hospital workers, you only had to pay if you wanted upper tier), incentive pay for picking up extra shifts, usually 4-6 dollars an hour on top of overtime. Health incentives, keep track of your diet and exercise for the month and get a 50 dollar gift card to walmart each month. And bonuses....not massive, but 400 christmas bonus is pretty much enough to cover xmas shopping. Oh, and the standard 5% increase yearly. Sadly, all of this is gone now, and the work itself has become much more demanding and onerous over time.

They got rid of secretaries, and now us psyche techs have to double as clerks, doing all the filing and stuffing, and phone answering. They cut housekeeping hours, so now we have to fill in for that as well after hours. They CONSTANTLY short staff us, so I often have had to single handedly manage a psyche unit with 15-18 adolescents, while also managing the secratary duties, running groups, keeping kids occupied, and trying to maintain a therapeutic milieu, and offer counseling. Sad and near impossible, it has taken all the joy out of my job.

This is just my example, but the corporatization is widespread, and most jobs, i fear, have been following this pattern for some time.

I remember the last time that was said to me. My response was that I wondered how many middle management positions would be needed if enough employees quit over their jobs being threatened. Would you like me to go ask?

The response was "You are not scared of anything are you?" I said that I am scared of many different things, but I am not intimidated by many. And I continued in a calm voice with "I don't work to make friends. I take pride in the job that I do. When I don't have pride in my work, then I have to make a change. I am able to do the job that I am doing and I take pride in doing it. I like to see my completed work at the end of the day and say to myself that I did that, and did it right. If you have a problem with my work than say so, and I will work to correct it. But if I am not appreciated or can no longer be happy with my work, then I am out the door and I may or may not say goodbye. Most people like such honesty and feelings from their workers about their job. I have had management positions before, but I like to be where the fish are biting."

He patted me on the back and said that I had a good future here. Then the economy took a nosedive and I was laid off six months later by the seniority list. But he called me at home to say he was sorry that it had to be that way and he lost quite a few in the department.

reply to post by Greenize


No offense intended at all, but this was clearly communicated in the early 1980s and has been happening since the early 1990s. It's been getting progressively worse since.

The people who were affected by it early or saw it early and spoke up about it were vilified or ignored as conspiracy theorists or just plain nuts, though not always in those words.

But at least more people are realizing now that it has happened. Lets just hope they now also figure out why and how it happened and also learn a lesson from the experiences of the early warners.

This is what happens when you don't pay attention to both what is happening to your fellow humans and to the warning signals.

I am really lucky and i have to say the recession hasn't effected me majorly! Just Taxes and National Insurance really.

I work for a major housing association in England, it's specifically designed for people over the age of 55 and who have some kind of personal care needs. I'm a care worker in the organisation and i earn a few pounds more an hour than somebody who works in the independent/private sector of the care industry. I am a member of a union and i know they will look after me if and when i need them to. I'm also in the company's health care cash plan, which is a complete lifesaver as i often cannot afford NHS treatment (in England opticians, prescriptions and dentists all charge for their services, in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland everything is free as it is subsidised by England, go figure!) We have had 6 new members of staff and are about to relocate into a £7.1 million extra care facility in August/September. My company gives me plenty of notice with changes, and if i don't agree they wont force me to. I'm good at my job and there is plenty of opportunities for career advancement. And the bonus is i love my job, the elderly will always need care and support, and i will be there to give it to them!