WHAT time off?

I haven't had a lunch hour more than 2 times a year since 2 years after I started my present job. They reorganized and they put me in doing 2 jobs that had been shared among 3 people total each - in essence, now I do the job of 6 people, and I am told I am overpaid! Since I am doing these jobs, they tell me I can have time off - but I have to access email and voicemail from home and address problems - and they still charge me for a full personal day or holiday or vacation day. When I get back, so much work is waiting for me I end up working 12 - 16 hours for a couple days to catch up. This is as opposed to my usual 10 hour days. Due to the fact I am an older worker and have some health issues, it is either do this or get fired for being unable to keep up with the demands of my job - a legitimate reason to let someone go and not be called on what is really age-ism. If you are over 40, you are on your way out in this place. I'm not the only one in this position. I also am one of many with elderly family members who have been told to put the elderly person in a home as the company doesn't pay you to be available to your family! And believe me, they don't pay anyone but executive staff enough to afford a nursing home, even the cheap ones are several thousand dollars a month.
Every time I look for something else, though, it is a cut in pay - I have noticed something going on in the corporate world and wonder HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE NOTICED: Salaries for worker bees are dropping relative to what they were 10 years ago, but CEO salaries and perks, and those of other high ranking executives, are WAY up. Our pensions and benefits are being eroded at record rates. This isn't just in my work area, but I am seeing this trend all over, meanwhile housing and fuel costs are skyrocketing. And yes, I have had offers that evaporated - one reason I always take vacation to do orientation and don't hand in resignation until I have the other job for sure. Lately, that's happening a lot.
So, what about the rest of you? Anyone else doing 2 - 6 jobs to get a paycheck? Doing without breaks? Being threatened if they take family leave or get sick? Seeing a general decline in pay for what you do compared to 5 or 10 years ago?

POST A COMMENTtwiz(11/27/2006)
Sounds like you probably work for a smaller company. I work for small private company now, and they expect you to wear 3 hats and do the work that normally would be done by 3-4 big corporate employees. It is an unfortunately reality of small companies. But if you are not being compensated or rewarded proportionately, then I would definitely consider a change of scenary.

Dharmadee(11/27/2006)
I agree with Jujubees-the "You Know What" is rolling down hill in a big way. My personal belief is that this country is rapidy disintegrating into a rich/poor dialectic, and the deteriorating middle class better wake up and smell the coffee...before we cannot afford that shot of Starbucks that we have been programmed to believe that we need.

sheila(11/30/2006)
You know what, Dharmadee, I agree with you. I think the same thing is happening. The evidence is all around, but On top of it, there's a vibe in the air that you can just feel. Call me kooky, but I feel a certain type of mounting tension in the air between classes. A struggle to have what the "haves" have and a depression when you realize you've become in debt trying to acheive that status superficialy through material things that have been sold to you with the promise that you will be like the rich if you have them.

Dharmadee(11/30/2006)
As the child of a union member in the construction industry, and having observed the deterioration of worker's rights over the years, and the deterioration of the great American middle-class overall, I offer this observation:
"The history of all existing society is the history of class struggle.
Between owner and slave, lord and serf, master and servant, these are all examples of the oppressor and the oppressed, in constant opposition to each other. This struggle always goes on, uninterrupted, although sometimes it is hidden, sometimes open. This is a fight that always ends either in a revolutionary change of the society at large, or in the common ruin of everyone in the contending classes."
This is the road that we find ourselves on today. The common lie that we are being fed in the media is the possibility that we may somehow ascend in the ranks to achieve a higher class situation, while laws are constantly being enacted that would bar us from ever achieving that atatus. If you doubt me, people, find out about the bill that would stop Internet Neutrality, and would hand over the the reins of the Internet to big corporations. Just Google "Net Neutrality", and if possible-find and sign a petition to stop them.



shimmy(02/23/2007)
Dear Nerdse,
Please prep your resume, and start looking elsewhere-you deserve better treatment. It sounds like you are working in a third world sweat shop. Don't let manipulative threats deter you from demanding compensation where it is due, but in the meantime, apply elsewhere while you are still employed.

bigblue(02/23/2007)
shimmy is right--apply while you are still employed.

POST A COMMENT»

JobSchmobber Community Comments

Martia (11/26/2006) Yes, a similar thing happened to me, but I was very fortunate to collect disability and the company continues to pay my insurance and hold my position for 3 months. They never in a million years expected me to do this. Understand that their production is suffering as are they. Mean, nasty people they are, but I'm finding my way. Do not continue to destroy your health for morons because they really do need you and if you continue to feel threatened, think about disability (and, believe me I needed and deserved it.) Jujubees (11/26/2006) My belief is that due to the present administraton, everyone's jobs and pay gave deteriorated. Most all of us have had a reduction in pay, while the top dogs have profited. It is truly a time of the have and have nots. People need to pay attention, get involved in their local politics and vote on a regular basis. It's not gonna change unless we change it.