You know, people on facebook really piss me off when they are constantly bitching about what Americans are supposed to be doing about the war, the tsunami, the school system, the art community, blah blah blah. What are they doing? Going to their jobs at Starbucks and bitching about what all the rest of us are supposed to be doing.
Be a part of the change you want to see, people.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Do I really want to work?
So, I'm about 4 months unemployed now. I've been looking for work online, mostly with the state for the superior benefits package they have, which is mostly why I worked in the first place. So far I haven't really gotten any nibbles, but I'm not giving up. I'm also shopping for cheaper health insurance, since $1400 plus per month really seems like a lot to me.
What I'm noticing is that many employers are really taking advantage of the poor job market to require lots of experience without actually paying the usual wage for that type of experience. Yes, there are Phd's out of work, but that doesn't mean they want to make 10 bucks an hour. Or that they can afford to. You can make more on unemployment. It reminds me of my brief (very brief) adventure working for a dentist. At the time, I was living in CT and working at a beauty supply factory. Divina, it was called. They manufactured shampoos, hydrogen peroxide, cream rinse, etc. I was the floor foreman. I was making $7 per hour (it was over 20 years ago), but after working there for 2 months I was making more than the people who had been there for 20 years and worked the lines. Frankly, I found it very depressing. So I applied for a job with a dentist. When he called to offer the job, he didn't discuss pay. He assured me that we'd be able to come to an agreement and I would be happy with it.
Not being a total trusting idiot, I called in sick to the factory for my first day of working with the dentist so I would have a job to go back to if it didn't work out. I know, it's lousy, but I had to look out for myself. Besides, this factory was a place where sometimes new hires would ask where the bathroom was and never come back. It wasn't Intel, that's for sure. Anyway, I went in to work for the dr. First I was given my instructions on where to park (a pay lot, $20 per week, my responsibility), then I was told what to wear (white nursing clothes I would have to buy). Then they showed me how we jump out to the waiting room whenever it was empty to straighten magazines, etc. Then type dictated referral letters, answer the phones, fill out the charts, yada yada. Oh, and when not busy, clean the bathrooms. And by the way, at the doctors' command SCRUB UP AND ASSIST. Which none of them, and I, was definitely not qualified to do.
Apparently, this did not matter. I was pretty freaked out about that.
So at the end of this very long day, the dentist calls me into his office, he asks me how I enjoyed it, I blow smoke up his ass, and then he offers me $7 per hour. Um, no thanks. I told him that wasn't going to work for me. So I left, and he went out and got into his convertible Mercedes and went home, I assume, or to his girlfriends' house or something.
I guess the point I'm making is that lots of employers are really really cheap. And it's getting worse in times like these.
Maybe I'll get a paper route.
What I'm noticing is that many employers are really taking advantage of the poor job market to require lots of experience without actually paying the usual wage for that type of experience. Yes, there are Phd's out of work, but that doesn't mean they want to make 10 bucks an hour. Or that they can afford to. You can make more on unemployment. It reminds me of my brief (very brief) adventure working for a dentist. At the time, I was living in CT and working at a beauty supply factory. Divina, it was called. They manufactured shampoos, hydrogen peroxide, cream rinse, etc. I was the floor foreman. I was making $7 per hour (it was over 20 years ago), but after working there for 2 months I was making more than the people who had been there for 20 years and worked the lines. Frankly, I found it very depressing. So I applied for a job with a dentist. When he called to offer the job, he didn't discuss pay. He assured me that we'd be able to come to an agreement and I would be happy with it.
Not being a total trusting idiot, I called in sick to the factory for my first day of working with the dentist so I would have a job to go back to if it didn't work out. I know, it's lousy, but I had to look out for myself. Besides, this factory was a place where sometimes new hires would ask where the bathroom was and never come back. It wasn't Intel, that's for sure. Anyway, I went in to work for the dr. First I was given my instructions on where to park (a pay lot, $20 per week, my responsibility), then I was told what to wear (white nursing clothes I would have to buy). Then they showed me how we jump out to the waiting room whenever it was empty to straighten magazines, etc. Then type dictated referral letters, answer the phones, fill out the charts, yada yada. Oh, and when not busy, clean the bathrooms. And by the way, at the doctors' command SCRUB UP AND ASSIST. Which none of them, and I, was definitely not qualified to do.
Apparently, this did not matter. I was pretty freaked out about that.
So at the end of this very long day, the dentist calls me into his office, he asks me how I enjoyed it, I blow smoke up his ass, and then he offers me $7 per hour. Um, no thanks. I told him that wasn't going to work for me. So I left, and he went out and got into his convertible Mercedes and went home, I assume, or to his girlfriends' house or something.
I guess the point I'm making is that lots of employers are really really cheap. And it's getting worse in times like these.
Maybe I'll get a paper route.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)