Wendybabe Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I work temp jobs for the Summer, (I'm a teacher the rest of the time). During the Summer I work as a Physical Therapist in hospitals. I started at a hospital Monday. The fuckers just loaded me down with tons of work while they sat around doing bullshit. So this morning my temp boss informs me that he giving me only so many hours 4.5. This means I am scheduled to work with patients 4 and a half hours which is how much my boss will end up "billing" the insurance company for MY work. In other words he gets $150.00 for every hour I WORK and pays me a small fraction of that. But when the end of the day comes he is all uptight about the fact that I have worked 6.0 hours! I try to explain, (he already knows what I'm going to say) that people have their own schedules even when their in the hospital. They have to use the bathroom, take medication, talk to relatives, watch the Lakers on T.V. So when he goesinto the routine about how this extra hour and a half is MY FAULT I tell him I'm not coming back! He's all flustered because he's not use to having someone stand up to him. I guess if I had been a lot younger, poorer and ignorant. I would have just taken it! Fuck the goddam bastards who think they can just shit on people because they "outrank" them. The real issue hear was defference. He didn't like the fact that he could't use intimidation on me. He wanted me to kiss his ass. He wanted me to say, "Oh I'm sorry sir, I'll try better next time." He tried to turn it around on me, "Well this is over, I don't want you working in my department...." HEY ASSHOLE I'M IN CHARGE OF ME! FUCK YOU! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted June 18, 2009 Super Moderator Share Posted June 18, 2009 Way to stick it to da Man! The occasions when one can do that in a working lifetime are rare, but they are just the sweetest moments! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilentLoner Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsy79 Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Way to stick it to da Man! The occasions when one can do that in a working lifetime are rare, but they are just the sweetest moments! Ain't that the truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdp Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I'm 46 and diabetic and walked off my job three weeks ago - I have nothing lined up and my health coverage has lapsed but I don't regret it for a moment. I wanted my dignity and I took it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Davka Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I discovered a while ago that if I'm willing to "downsize" my life, i.e. live with less junk and less keeping up with the Joneses, I can be more in charge of me. I work in I.T. I used to work in Corporate America, which I hated. 4 years ago I quit my job at Comcast and put an ad in the local paper as a self-employed computer tech. It's been an interesting financial adjustment, and sometimes I wish I had that steady salary again, but I kiss nobody's ass and pick the clients I want to work for. I would not trade it for the world. Self-employment is the wave of the future for intelligent folks. We were not cut out to be drones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astreja Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 If I had not quit My job as an overworked computer tech in a mould-infested building in a moribund bureaucracy, I would have completely destroyed My health, and missed an opportunity to become a medical stenographer... A job which I love. Sometimes, you just have to trust yourself, and jump the chasm into that new life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Self-employment is the wave of the future for intelligent folks. We were not cut out to be drones. You sure we weren't separated at birth? 7 years ago I was working as a speech writer for the Dept of Justice. It wasn't nearly as glamorous as it sounds. I was lured out of a position I liked with the promise that I would be published in several journals, etc... Instead half the time I was a flunky taking dictation from the bureau head and the other half I was working on a project to help make the police in the US more efficient at their jobs (one of my worst nightmares). I had tasted freedom in college and my return to the workforce had been a bitter pill for a number of years. The DOJ was just the last straw. I gave my lap top to a co worker to return for me and just didn't show up for work one day. I had no idea what I would do at the time. I since started an online business and haven't looked back. I'm back working in an office again, but this time I'm on the board and not an employee. It makes all the difference in the world knowing you dictate your future and not someone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendybabe Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 Yes, if I would have been raised by parents who knew what the fuck they were doing I would never had allowed myself to be totally screwed by employers. I started out working fast food like so many people. I and my co-workers worked harder than anyone else in the company and were paid the least. The people at the top of these businesses are pigs. They have no empathy, the slightest thought about what it must be like to sweat over a hot grill or clean up people's trash. Somewhere the lights turned on, I thought to myself, I'd better get an education. While in college, I worked as a therapy aid for rehab departments. Again I did all the fucking grunt work, paid the least. After getting a "PT Assistant" license I ended up being UNDER most people in my department. This was a mistake. I got the worst patients, hardest schedule, lowest pay, condescended to by everyone. Next I became a teacher. This has given me some amount of dignity but I still am not satisfied with what I do. So I am trying to get my Master's degree in history so I can teach at a college level. Being at the bottom level in a department means you will work harder and get lowest pay. The worst thing is that being a "good employee" usually is just an invitation to your employer to get more work out of you. 20 years ago I worked in a big rehab hospital. It was a grinding mill that burnt people out until they quit. The administration wanted people to quit because they could easily be replaced at entry level wages. They did this by giving people a workload that was unreasonable. They never praised you for anything. They never said, "Thanks for the 16 hours of productivity in an 8 hour day!" but they did say things like, "You blew it when you forgot to document this, were 5 minutes late for that etc...." Thus I am always reconnecting with former coworkers everywhere. "Oh Hi, I remember you, you worked at that hospital!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Damn Wendybabe, it felt good just to read your OP. I can only imagine how good it felt to do it. I had a supervisor one time who commanded me to do something with unmitigated contempt in his voice. And it didn’t really even register when it happened. I was too focused on the job. But that night I started thinking about it and the more I did, the more I realized how unacceptable it was. So the next morning when the supervisor showed up I approached him where we could be alone (I didn’t want to embarrass him). I looked him square in the eye and said, “Do you remember when you told me to do that task yesterday.” He looked shocked and let out a squeaky, “yes.” I said, “Don’t you ever talk to me like that again. I’m not your dog.” Like the coward he was he went and tattled to the boss. And I was fired. But I don’t regret it in the slightest. I recognize that as an employee I am basically trading some fraction of my autonomy in exchange for pay. But you give some people an inch and they want to take a mile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 *Hugs* Good for you, hope you find what you are looking for. I have spent about 10 years in corporate America on various contract jobs. These places are pretty much all the same. If you are the low person on the totem pole, you will be screwed, over and over again by the people at the top. No matter what you do, no matter if you do your job absolutely perfectly, or how much you bend over backwards for them, you will eventually be screwed over by them. I've seen zero exceptions to that rule. Sadly there is little alternative to make a decent wage in my state. It is either work at corporations, work retail, work a service job of some sort, or work fast food. There is nothing really in-between and I think it goes to show how crappy the economy has gotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Good job Wendybabe. I'm 46 and diabetic and walked off my job three weeks ago - I have nothing lined up and my health coverage has lapsed but I don't regret it for a moment. I wanted my dignity and I took it back. Wow that takes some real guts. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loren Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Damn right, Wendy! I admire that tremendously! Same to Astreja, bdp and Davka! And I completely agree with Wendy and Amethyst about our corporate culture. There's a very feudal attitude among management. There are Lords, and there are serfs, and the serfs are treated accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loren Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Burnedout and Legion, I think your stories just made my justice gland give a large squirt of FunkinA hormone into my bloodstream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsmoke Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Way to stick it to da Man! The occasions when one can do that in a working lifetime are rare, but they are just the sweetest moments! Agreed. Would that I had such an occasion now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loren Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 7 years ago I was working as a speech writer for the Dept of Justice. Ahhh.... That would explain why you respond to so many fundies with, "I believe I've already evaded that question." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendybabe Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 The asshole is docking an hour and half of my pay! Totally unlawful! My agency is paying me the money but they aren't going to fight it because they don't want to deal with it. The truth was I wanted to walk out the day before but I kept telling myself "be a good person" "Treat them right and they will treat you right". This only sent them the message that I could be pushed around! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I applaud Wendybabe and Legion and others who refuse to be demeaned on the job. Employers will often take advantage of a person and treat them as less than human just because they issue a paycheck. I don't understand people who continually kiss the boss's ass. You know, always going above and beyond the call of duty, giving them gifts on every occasion, etc. I want to yell at them: THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU. Most employers only care about the bottom line - money. I knew someone who did that, gave the boss all these gifts, they were eventually fired anyway. I say screw that demeaning kiss ass attitude. Have some dignity. One of my co-workers is to the point of crazy on pleasing the boss. Yesterday boss had a flat tire. She insisted on going out in 90 degree heat and inflating it! She had some kind of device in her car but WTF!! No one would have known if she hadn't mentioned it, and alternate plans were discussed. Then she later wondered why he didn't go out and help her. Duhh! These people have millions of dollars - don't they have AAA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hereticzero Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I work temp jobs for the Summer, (I'm a teacher the rest of the time). During the Summer I work as a Physical Therapist in hospitals. I started at a hospital Monday. The fuckers just loaded me down with tons of work while they sat around doing bullshit. So this morning my temp boss informs me that he giving me only so many hours 4.5. This means I am scheduled to work with patients 4 and a half hours which is how much my boss will end up "billing" the insurance company for MY work. In other words he gets $150.00 for every hour I WORK and pays me a small fraction of that. But when the end of the day comes he is all uptight about the fact that I have worked 6.0 hours! I try to explain, (he already knows what I'm going to say) that people have their own schedules even when their in the hospital. They have to use the bathroom, take medication, talk to relatives, watch the Lakers on T.V. So when he goesinto the routine about how this extra hour and a half is MY FAULT I tell him I'm not coming back! He's all flustered because he's not use to having someone stand up to him. I guess if I had been a lot younger, poorer and ignorant. I would have just taken it! Fuck the goddam bastards who think they can just shit on people because they "outrank" them. The real issue hear was defference. He didn't like the fact that he could't use intimidation on me. He wanted me to kiss his ass. He wanted me to say, "Oh I'm sorry sir, I'll try better next time." He tried to turn it around on me, "Well this is over, I don't want you working in my department...." HEY ASSHOLE I'M IN CHARGE OF ME! FUCK YOU! I had a boss that loaned money to me to buy a car. Then when I drove up to work in it, the boss told me he 'owned' me too because I could not afford to quit cuz I owed him money. he thought I would work for him for free as long as i owed him money. So I told him to kiss off and moved 200 miles away to go to work. He got his money back but he did not have the control he wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulQ Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 While it may give one a great sense of immediate gratification to walk off a job after being treated poorly, I learned from a friend that there is something even more satisfactory in not quitting. My friend worked for the same company for two years, then there was a big change in management as the owners sold the business. It changed the people around him, and he found himself suddenly burdened with all sorts of menial tasks. The "New management" was shorting people on pay and overtime. Instead of getting angry, he borrowed a page from Office Space. He'd come in and do as little work as possible. He would gladly accept new work, and after they left, feed it into the paper shredder. He'd find web sites featuring dirty limericks, print them off, and file them alphabetically in the file cabinet at his desk. All this shredding, printing, and filing gave the appearances that he was doing "Work." When it came to doing the work he was actually hired to do (programming), he would get that done; so technically he was still performing the same job as he was hired to do. After a month, they finally caught on to him and had to "Let him go." He took his case to the labour board, and won a severance package that was worth a few thousand dollars. He used that money to do some traveling, making sure to send a post card to his old boss from each exotic location thanking him for the "Travel funds." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts