mad_machine wrote: what's overtime? It makes me sick to see you guys pulling in all this OT and there are people still unemployed.. or like me.. only able to work part time (I had 5 hours of work this week.. but will be hitting 32 next)
If you have a EE degree and are willing to work in MN, I have been trying to fill an open position since November.
mad_machine wrote: what's overtime? It makes me sick to see you guys pulling in all this OT and there are people still unemployed.. or like me.. only able to work part time (I had 5 hours of work this week.. but will be hitting 32 next)
Luckily I've never been unemployed for very long (three months at the longest) and personally I hope you're not unemployed much longer. My last job thought it was cheaper to attempt to make everybody work 50-60 hours extra a week (I say extra because it wasn't overtime, it was extra time paid at straight time) rather than pay the extra benefits to keep proper staffing on hand. Personally I refused to work the extra time as I was also a full time college student and would easily put in another 30-40 hours a week studying. Eventually myself and management starting butting heads on my lack of 'OT'. I never left them without a shift being covered as I would always defer to somebody else that actually wanted the shift. If they needed an extra body for the midnight shift I would routinely change my schedule at a moments notice to cover. They always had their shifts covered and I only worked 40 hours but that wasn't good enough for them. Only because they felt it was cheaper to operate that way rather than pay for extra benefits to keep us properly staffed. I disagree with that, especially when there are so many people looking for jobs. 
I just got hired on a new job last week. Putting my CDL back to use as a delivery driver at a local lumber yard. Regular hours are 50/wk, and I'm still deliverying pizza but only on the weekends now.
chknhwk wrote: My last job thought it was cheaper to attempt to make everybody work 50-60 hours extra a week rather than pay the extra benefits to keep proper staffing on hand.
I think most employers have figured this out by now. If things slow back down, It's also cheaper to cut everyones hours than it is to fire people. This is the problem that all of those horrible evil socialist laws in europe that limit hours and mandate vacation time are attempting to solve. Good thing we don't fall for that bullE36 M3 over here, huh?
Actually, it's also the logic behind time and a half - that the employer should have to pay more to workers working overtime because it's saving them the costs of hiring an extra body. Good thing we never let employers do anything to get around those rules, huh?
Sounds like back when I was in foodservice management. I worked a year with 2 days off (Christmas and Thanksgiving) roughly 12/day on average back in the early 90's. I'd do it again if I was the owner, but I'd do it smarter this time.
Before starting my first company I worked 60-65 hour weeks at my regular job and did another 8-10 sat and sun as a day labourer to gather as much coin as possible for months. It was taxing but worth it.
Now I work those same hours just don't really get paid for them but again its worth it.
First job: Farming. No such thing as overtime. Some days were 8 hours, some days were 18 hours. But it paid $14.50 an hour in 1998 when I was in high school, so times were good.
Second job: Technical writer. Always had optional overtime, filled out a time sheet, paid hourly. Only time I took overtime was so I could flex a 3 day weekend without burning a vacation day.
Third job: Product specialist (Foundry) Started as 40 hrs a week, then 2009 hit. The boss's belt got really tight, really fast. I worked a few weekends for "free" since I was salaried. No time sheets. Got promoted, joined a few committees. Got sick of being chained to a desk, coming in at 5AM for a meeting with 3rd shift and staying till 5PM to answer the phones when the office closed. Bossman wouldnt give me a cell phone or a laptop so I could work from home on the weekends.
Fourth job: Engineer/Shop Manager (Manufacturing) Extremely flexible schedule. Show up when you want, leave when the work is done. Here is your laptop, here is your cell phone, here is how to use the VPN. Get your work done. You want to leave at 10AM on Friday to go to a Brewers game? Go for it.
mad_machine wrote: what's overtime? It makes me sick to see you guys pulling in all this OT and there are people still unemployed.. or like me.. only able to work part time (I had 5 hours of work this week.. but will be hitting 32 next)
It's messed up, I agree. We've been trying to hire more people but have had a hell of time finding anyone who does architectural electrical engineering. In the mean time, I work on too many projects too quickly and make stupid mistakes while getting burned out.
mguar wrote: In reply to fasted58: I only worked a 40 hour week, but for more than a decade I came home and worked a 60 hour week on my own home.. That's 10+ years of 100 hour work weeks..
Man, you're so awesome. I admire you. Thumbs up and cheers dudebro!
Oh if we're counting working on our own projects... i've worked about 80 hours weeks for the last 3 years.
I RULE.
I don't remember the last day off I had. Business is good. Clients keep calling. I will take it while it business is good. I have seen those times when I would go to work and not have anything to do. Literally I would have to call clients and say please give me work. (Ya I know you ramp up the marketing at that point). Fortunately I don't have that problem at the moment. I am not complaining I just wish they would pay in 30 and not 60 or 90.
You and me both... some clients take four months. Anyone who thinks this is a great gig... hasn't sold car parts to pay bills.
Lesley wrote: You and me both... some clients take four months. Anyone who thinks this is a great gig... hasn't sold car parts to pay bills.
What you need is a gainfully employed, younger, funny, very handy, balding fat guy with a foul mouth to split bills with. 
A kid I work with at Nissan works 40 hrs a week there (we get yelled at if we go over 40) and 40 at home depot. every week. He seems like a zombie sometimes lol.
I don't feel it's worth it, and if I were that bad off, I would be getting a 4 on 4 off factory job to make the same kind of money instead of working 80 hour weeks for $10/hr or less.
Friday was a stat holiday, and also my scheduled day in. On 12 hr continental shifts, you don't get stats, except usually Christmas, so I get the stat pay, plus the whole shift at time and a half. Double time and a half. I'll gladly give up my stats for that.
Right now we cant get enough tractors out the door. With demand so high, some shifts are getting ~20 hours OT. Me being on the logistics side of things, has to be there too. Sometimes its a blessing and others a bad thing. With the wifey out of town this weekend I might just take all that I can get. I want tint for the dd and some goodies for the Si.
mad_machine wrote: what's overtime? It makes me sick to see you guys pulling in all this OT and there are people still unemployed.. or like me.. only able to work part time (I had 5 hours of work this week.. but will be hitting 32 next)
We're still hiring, apparently people who can pass a drug test woukd rather be unemployed than drive a bus. Thanks to last years never endng snow I had five weeks oner 90 hours, one of them over 100. Thanks to the tax man I kept less that the year before
I'm with mad_machine, under-employment sucks.
Normally I get 32 a week, but typically end of summer I get 6-8 weeks of 40+ a week. I don't mind the hours, it is just that I get jerked around by the company. They have no problem giving me a F/T+ work load for 2 months, but end of the day I'm just a lowly part timer with lower pay, less benefits, and no guarantee of hours. All while single handed running my own personal $1Million 'mini-dept'
And this is from a Forbes 'top company to work for.' 
mguar wrote: Now at my age I'm forced to make an industry change without the network that previously kept me an extremely employable person.. No one wants to hire a 63 year old guy as entry level.. Without the industry connections I'm an unknown person. I send resumes/cover letters, cold call, knock on doors, and sneak in back doors all in an attempt to find employment..
A friend of ours (he's actually on this forum sporadically) is a bit younger than you and in a similar boat. Was laid off a couple of years ago and is now a 60+ year old unemployed IT guy. He's managed to find occasional temporary contract jobs here and there, but in general considers himself retired. The same thing basically happened to my mother's husband sometime prior (pre-recession, but he's near 70 now).
We've hired guys in their 60's and even 70's, but the pharma and process engineering we do is so specialized, we've been having a lot of trouble finding people.
I have had about 4 60+ hour weeks lately. I am actually loosing trained guys because we simply cannot keep up with the work load, so I figure I will be in for 70+ counting my CAD/programming time at home for the next 3-4 months until we can find some replacement bodies.
I physically limit myself to 40 in the lab or machine shop combined. Bad things can happen in my shop when you are tired.
Ian F wrote: We've hired guys in their 60's and even 70's, but the pharma and process engineering we do is so specialized, we've been having a lot of trouble finding people.
Thats actually my wold, we need someone with mechanical engineering / molecular biology / micro fluid / cell culture all wrapped up in a automation/robotics person.
Basically I need to find a way to A sexually divide a few times.
In reply to wearymicrobe:
Sounds like you've been a "weary microbe" for some time...
Ian F wrote: In reply to wearymicrobe: Sounds like you've been a "weary microbe" for some time...
16 year's and I am so tired, three companies started all three bought by big pharma. I almost have FU money, like buy a bar in Hawaii money or move to Costa Rica and surf for 20 years. But between the golden handcuffs and that we actually do really important work on cancer and are making really great strides keep me at the current company.
Also I am home pucking my guts out with something stupid in my gut. So lots of posts from me today.
1-2 hours of OT /per week. Mainly just because I like to get to work early and leave on time.
I'd like to get some more over the next month though, would really help me finish the car.
stroker wrote: Sounds like back when I was in foodservice management. I worked a year with 2 days off (Christmas and Thanksgiving) roughly 12/day on average back in the early 90's. I'd do it again if I was the owner, but I'd do it smarter this time.
Food service management kept me at 54-65 hours a week. Then I was moved to Dallas where there was 22 local restaurants and became a corporate flunky where I did franchise inspections and management relief/emergency work.
I had 3 straight weeks of 120+ hour weeks before someone noticed that my paycheck was rather...unrealistic looking and hired 3 more folks to help.
Then the same company had a bit of a shakeup and a lot of corporate stores were sold as franchises so I freelanced as a store trainer to help set up the newbs. Did about 80 hours a week for 6 weeks before I took a break and moved on to the next franchise.
Quit my last restaurant job when I discovered that servers made more per hour than I did!
Bruce
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