If you did not have to, would you keep your job?

[question everything]

Poll question: If you did not have to, would you keep your job?

Have to, meaning, of course, needing your wages and salaries to pay for food and shelter and some extra..

Hope you enjoy a day off this Labor Day. Census says 23% of private-sector employees don't get paid holidays, and only 48% of those in service sector do. Some 7.5 million hold more than one job, and roughly 8% work more than 60 hours a week.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. Other. In my ideal life, I could do my current job about 2 days a week

(that's right, even if I didn't need money) and fill the rest of the time with other things.

[uppityperson]

2. I would also, including some extra travel time too.

traveling to other country that is, go see family. Edited to add, I like what I do for pay and would be happy continuing to do it,especially if I did not have to worry about money.

[teach1st]

3. Other

I keep my teaching job, because I love to teach, but give the suits the finger when they visit my classroom to see if I'm toeing the standardized, prefab learning line and finally tell them to sod off, because I'm doing what's best for my particular group of students. I am fired within three days and spend subsequent time volunteering in schools.

[question everything]

8. And this is how so many are being manipulated

Our bosses know that we take pride in our work - regardless of the level of education, experience and responsibility required.

They know that we will not walk out the door and leave our co-workers to shoulder more of our work. So they continue to squeeze us as long as they can.

A recent report - CNN, I think, or perhaps it was ABC - was about how fewer workers take their full days of vacation and how it would be better for the employers to have employees take their vacations and come back refreshed. But even when we do - we stay in contact with our emails and voice mails, mostly because we are afraid of what will wait for us when we return.

[MercutioATC]

4. Not any more...

I love my actual job (air traffic controller). I love the controllers I work with.

It's the political bullshit that ruins it. The FAA imposed a new "contract" on us today (it wasn't a negotiated contract) complete with pay cuts, dress codes, scheduling changes, etc.

I still love what I actually do...and I'm good at it. I used to joke that I didn't know if I'd keep coming to work if the FAA stopped sending me a paycheck. Now I'm planning to leave as soon as I'm eligible to retire.


If I didn't have to keep my job, I'd leave tomorrow.

[MADem]

23. A bit off topic, but were you a post Reagan hire?

Or did you avoid the PATCO imbroglio? I have several friends who got caught up in that...

[MercutioATC]

24. I was 13 years old in 1981. I'm post-Reagan.

I've been at Cleveland ARTCC for 15 1/2 years now.

[MADem]

25. Gosh, I reckon you are!!! Unless you're a very precocious ATC!

That was a tough era for those PATCO guys. Some I know have gone on to do other great things, others have had a rough time since that massive firing and remain scarred by those events.

[MercutioATC]

26. Plenty of them have had no problem calling me a "scab"...

...regardless of the fact that I was in 8th grade when they were fired...

There's biterness there on a lot of levels...much of it justified.

[MADem]

27. That's a crying shame; the scab comments

It is a painful issue, but darn...no need or valid reason to take it out on you.

The scabs are the military guys who couldn't demob fast enough to snatch up those civilian jobs after the Reagan decree. Quite a few active duty ATC types were absolutely BULLSHIT because the Services weren't letting them have an early-out to strikebreak, though they did offer them up in a TEMADD/TAD/TDY status to cover for the shortfall during the strike. Quite a few wet hens, there!

[MercutioATC]

28. Agreed. A lot of people got screwed...

[MADem]

29. AGAIN, off topic--did you ever get a chance to weigh in on that

Lexington ATC/Comair accident issue? If so, can ya point me to the thread?

You'd seem to be a good source to comment on that sad event.

[MercutioATC]

30. It's a situation easily decided by the links provided.

The fact is that the pilot lined up on the wrong runway after being cleared to the correct runway by ATC.

The ATC didn't notice it because:

1) he had absolutely no requirement to make sure that the ComAir pilot put his plane on the correct runway (the runway he was cleared to).

2) the FAA, once again, violated its own staffing rules in an attempt to save a few dollars. They had one ATC performing the duties of two on a midnight shift which was contrary to their own regulations.

I wasn't there. I imagine that it'll take us a few months to get us a cause from the FAA.

[yorkiemommie1]

5. i am

even tho the school district screwed us over by taking our hours and benefits, i have benefits w/ dh.

i work 3 hrs a day as support staff, w/ no one breathing down my neck. a half hour is breaktime, because there is nothing to do when the teachers take their break.

i no longer feel obligated to work through the summer especially since dh is retired and home alone. if they gave me back my hours and benefits, i would work through the summer.

[napi21]

6. I'd keep my job. I've been saying for years...If I won the BIG lottery,

but I would be the most arrogant bit*h there! Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to prove it!

[Nikia]

7. I would take a break and reevaluate my career goals

I definitely wouldn't be doing what I do now.
I might take a different jobs but it would be more on my terms.

[Zorra]

9. When I was five years old, I knew I wanted to be just like grampa....

retired.

[Coyote_Bandit]

10. What job?

I'd love to have one that really would pay for food and shelter and a bit extra....

In the meantime, well, I won't go there. Too depressing.

[question everything]

11. Sorry about that

Some 16 years ago, after my first "layoff," the "common wisdom" was that not much hiring is done during July and August, and then during December.

Let's hope that something will happen next month.

[Coyote_Bandit]

14. Thanks for the well wishes

Perhaps I shouldn't mention that I was laid off over three and a half years ago, have collected well over a thousand rejection letters since that time and have three graduate and professional degrees the latest of which I earned in 2001. Oh well....

[question everything]

15. Been there, done that..

I ended up "dumbing down" my resume. Hiding all extra degrees, holding jobs that did not even require a college degrees, just to keep us floating.

I hope that you've lived in your area long enough to build some kind of a network. I've never had any, as we moved so often, or we lived in a smaller town that really could not offer anything in our field except for the jobs that we lost.

Still, the economy supposedly has improved since the last three years, so you may want to revisit the places that rejected you then. See if you can offer something new.

One suggestion that a coach once made was to read the business sections of the local paper, and when a company is mentioned, to write to the president - yes, go to the top - saying something:

I've read with interest that XYZ Inc. has launched a new venture. I have done similar projects and would like to suggest that XYZ Inc. could benefit from my expertise. I will call your office within two weeks to arrange for a meeting to explore a mutual association. DO NOT enclose a resume with such a letter.

Because you have professional degrees you should not write to the HR. All they do is look for catch words. You never know. You may just catch a top executive as s/he is mulling a new approach and your letter will set you apart from all others. And do call within a few weeks.

One thing, again, from personal experience. You sometimes feel so embattled, betrayed, even, that this can come through in a personal interview. If you do get a meeting, you need to really build a positive, up-beat presence.

[Coyote_Bandit]

16. Thanks

I believe I have tried everything you suggested.

And, sorry, but measures of economic recovery do not necessarily reflect improvements in the employment sector. A better measure of employment is the labor force participation rate which measures the percentage of the population age 16 and older who are employed. While the labor force participation rate has improved slightly (it is currently at 66.2) from a January/March 2005 low of 65.8 it remains considerably lower than it was at the time I was laid-off (when it was a 66.7).

http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?data_tool=latest_numbers&series_id=LNS11300000

Looking at those labor statistics I can see that there are a whole lot of other long-term unemployed folks just like me.

[Seabiscuit]

12. Other. I love my job but yes, I do know what else to do with my time:

I don't have to work. But I've been self-employed for many years and really enjoy it.

[MADem]

13. Job? What job? My ass is retired!!! NT

[stepnw1f]

17. You Are Fortunate Because...

i think retirement may become a thing of the past due to conservative economics or better yet, fascism.

[reprobate]

18. You got it! I worked 45 years to qualify for this position,would't switch

[Scout1071]

19. Not a snowballs' chance in hell.

No way. I wouldn't even go back to pack my desk.

[Hamlette]

20. I'd go part time. . .

I love my job and worry about someone more conservative taking over when/if I leave. I work for state government in a very red state but I tell my agency to "turn left" as often as I can. I'm lucky because they usually listen to me.

You want me to keep my job too :)

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. Been retired for 7 years. And, loving every minute of it.

Work is a highly overrated form of amusement.

[elocs]

22. I kissed my job goodbye last November.

It was a union job that paid well for my area, but I didn't like it and it had the potential to cripple me to wear I would end up wearing an adult diaper or popping pain pill to get through the day (repetitive lifting as an order picker in a food warehouse). I am single and can live very comfortably on very little, so I have just done temp work since January. This past summer I worked about 3 weeks and had no trouble with finding things to do on my time off. Mostly, I unapologetically enjoy doing nothing and I am very good at it. I figured that life is too short to work at a job I do not like if I have a choice.