[Racer X 69]

I do have a t-shirt that promotes these windpumps.



I don't wear it much - too many funny looks.

Somewhere on the Big Road . . . . . .

[CharLac]

Somewhere on the Big Road . . . . . .

Exit 69 would have been even more appropriate

[robtcorl]

Happy TGIF to you working stiffs.
It hit 80F yesterday, this morning it's 40, but I'm sticking with my shorts and short sleeves.
Hope Parallax is safe and sound this morning.

[Parallax]

I'm alive. Heading to work in a biit. The storm is over but the State offices are still closed (3rd day in a row) but we in the private sector need to go to work so we can pay our taxes so the State employees can get paid to sit home and watch game shows and The Outdoor Channel.

[CharLac]

Well, it's settled, Darth gets fired up tomorrow to cook slow some ribs. Marinade tonight, cook for many hours tomorrow. No boiling required.

[normhead]

I'm alive. Heading to work in a biit. The storm is over but the State offices are still closed (3rd day in a row) but we in the private sector need to go to work so we can pay our taxes so the State employees can get paid to sit home and watch game shows and The Outdoor Channel.

The trade off for no overtime, no performance benefits and no X-mas bonus or profit sharing.
There sere a lot of things I missed when I went into the public payroll. It's not all good. And as for the sick days and off days, I was entitle to over 500 sick days when I retired for which I wasn't paid a cent.

My first question moving out of the private sector, "With no overtime or bonuses, how do you pay for Christmas?"

[Racer X 69]

The trade off for no overtime, no performance benefits and no X-mas bonus or profit sharing.
There sere a lot of things I missed when I went into the public payroll. It's not all good. And as for the sick days and off days, I was entitle to over 500 sick days when I retired for which I wasn't paid a cent.

My first question moving out of the private sector, "With no overtime or bonuses, how do you pay for Christmas?"

I worked for 30 years at a public utility.

Lots of overtime.

Every time the wind storms came along and blew trees across power lines, or the heavy snowstorms caused trees to fall and take out power, a major storm was declared.

We worked 36 hour shifts, 36 on, 10 off, 36 on, 10 off, 36 on, 10 off . . . . . . . . until all power was restored.

My last full year I earned over $37,000 in overtime alone.

The linemen often had over 2,000 hours of overtime a year.

Of course after the storm was over, the crew I was on in vehicle maintenance would work weekend overtime to get the backlog of work caught up.

Then there were the weekend and holiday call-outs when a line crew was working an outage and had vehicle issues, more overtime.

[Racer X 69]

And as for the sick days and off days, I was entitle to over 500 sick days when I retired for which I wasn't paid a cent.

When I left the power company I had over 180 days of accumulated sick leave, none of which I got paid for.

I did get paid for unused vacation time, about 2 months if I recall correctly.

[Parallax]

The trade off for no overtime, no performance benefits and no X-mas bonus or profit sharing.
There sere a lot of things I missed when I went into the public payroll. It's not all good. And as for the sick days and off days, I was entitle to over 500 sick days when I retired for which I wasn't paid a cent.

My first question moving out of the private sector, "With no overtime or bonuses, how do you pay for Christmas?"

I have no benefits whatsoever. (Not uncommon with businesses around here). We're closed Christmas and New Year's day so my "Christmas Bonus" is that I lose 2 days pay during the holidays.
I got up this morning, cleared everything with the snow blower and a shovel, un-buried my truck and drove to work. Closed; nobody there and the parking lot inaccessible. No phone call or text telling me I needn't bother. Did the same thing yesterday.
I work because I choose to, not because I need to. As with all jobs, there are parts you like, and parts you don't. The part of mine that I don't like has, over time, become the largest part of job so I've been wrestling with a decision for some weeks now. I've known the owner since he was a 21 yer old kid hired as a gunsmith by the previous owner 17 years ago. Though, since going to work for him, he hasn't had my total enthusiasm (I HATE the internet marketing part of the job) he has had my best efforts, and my respect and loyalty. Note the past tense there. Though I haven't made a final decision, he, by not bothering to even send a text telling me I didn't need to come in just made one of the choices less emotional/personal than it was a few days ago..

[/rant]

[normhead]

My last full year I earned over $37,000 in overtime alone.

Where as as a high school basketball/tennis coach, I work 15-20 overtime hours a week, and on tournament weekends was either coaching games, or driving kids to meals and on call for the whole weekend without any compensation whatsoever. I was allowed to charge the kids enough for their motel rooms to cover the cost of mine, but, I still paid for my own meals.

But that being said, the public service pension makes it all worthwhile. My contributions were worth $400k, which were matched by the province and my pension is guaranteed. Here I am 12 years later and I'm finally living off the province's contribution. I had enough in the pension fund to cover myself for the first 12 years.

[gaweidert]

Where as as a high school basketball/tennis coach, I work 15-20 overtime hours a week, and on tournament weekends was either coaching games, or driving kids to meals and on call for the whole weekend without any compensation whatsoever. I was allowed to charge the kids enough for their motel rooms to cover the cost of mine, but, I still paid for my own meals.

But that being said, the public service pension makes it all worthwhile. My contributions were worth $400k, which were matched by the province and my pension is guaranteed. Here I am 12 years later and I'm finally living off the province's contribution. I had enough in the pension fund to cover myself for the first 12 years.

Well let me see:

- Lost 90% of my pension. For a long time they did not contribute to your 401(K) because "We have a pension.".

- Vacation policy was that you earned next year's vacation this year. They changed that the year I retired to you earn it as the year goes along. So I lost four weeks of vacation pay that I had earned the year before.


- Took away all health insurance for their retirees.

- Took away life insurance for their retirees even though we paid extra while working so we would have it. Because they were self insured, they could do this.


- Once I became a salaried employee, no OT no matter how much you worked. Lots of 16-18 hours day while on the road. Plus travel was almost always on the weekends.


Needless to say I am glad that kept up with my 401(K) and I am glad that I am out of the rat race. Never believe anything the company tells you unless it's about layoffs. That is one promise that they always make come true.

[robtcorl]

My deal, as a surveying crew chief, was we were guaranteed pay for a 40 hour week.
If weather prevented working outside we could do busy work in the office, if we chose to go home instead we didn't get paid for that time.
We also got time and a half for OT.
The pay was never great, but a perk for crew chiefs was the Chevy Suburban work trucks we took home. Another was they contributed a certain percentage to our 401K and had profit sharing.

[tim60]

I have no benefits whatsoever. (Not uncommon with businesses around here). We're closed Christmas and New Year's day so my "Christmas Bonus" is that I lose 2 days pay during the holidays.
I got up this morning, cleared everything with the snow blower and a shovel, un-buried my truck and drove to work. Closed; nobody there and the parking lot inaccessible. No phone call or text telling me I needn't bother. Did the same thing yesterday.
I work because I choose to, not because I need to. As with all jobs, there are parts you like, and parts you don't. The part of mine that I don't like has, over time, become the largest part of job so I've been wrestling with a decision for some weeks now. I've known the owner since he was a 21 yer old kid hired as a gunsmith by the previous owner 17 years ago. Though, since going to work for him, he hasn't had my total enthusiasm (I HATE the internet marketing part of the job) he has had my best efforts, and my respect and loyalty. Note the past tense there. Though I haven't made a final decision, he, by not bothering to even send a text telling me I didn't need to come in just made one of the choices less emotional/personal than it was a few days ago..

[/rant]

Here his non communication would be negligently causing you to drive to work in dangerous weather.

[Parallax]

Here his non communication would be negligently causing you to drive to work in dangerous weather.

Not so much today, but yesterday it was a full-on blizzard.

[eddie1960]

or cows with guns, one of Rupert's favorites.

Cows With Guns - The Original Animation - YouTube

fantastic just what i needed at end of this week