http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff- Just another bbPress community en-US Wed, 22 May 2013 22:33:15 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/search.php http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-55708 Sat, 01 Mar 2008 02:28:48 +0000 joan 55708@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Well. liking what you do is half the solution - it'll be just a matter of time before you find somewhere you like, to do it in !! http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-55688 Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:41:53 +0000 j9r 55688@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ I started out as a temp accounting clerk. I walked into an agency when my bank balance was zero, no food and the arts weren't paying enough. I passed the math test and was available immediately. Started that afternoon at a company to replace a women who dropped a filing cabinet on herself, never open more than one drawer at a time. I am old enough that they didn't have safeties to keep people from doing stupid things. My entire job was looking for misapplied checks in the millions of deposits. I learned this business for the ground up and have developed a niche. <br /> <br /> Even though it is just accounting, I usually like my job. I build companies. I make departments and often it is fun. I get to wear sweats to work and listen to my music loud, and rarely wear shoes. <br /> <br /> If I respected the CEO I would probably work harder at making this company work, but he lost that a long time ago. So the head hunter is looking for a new company for me to do my stuff at. He's motivated to find me one and I am ready to go. http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-55624 Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:02:23 +0000 joan 55624@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Don't blame you!! I didn't like bookkeeping, and hence accountancy myself - but I like to work alone and bookkeepers often do, apart from when the accountant (you!!!) wants this or that report yesterday. I was efficient at it, and great with currency futures, but it was a strain.<br /> <br /> After I'd left, I knew without any shadow of a doubt, that I would NEVER ever go back to it. http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-55598 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 23:46:03 +0000 j9r 55598@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Hanging in there. We have a meeting with big American corp on Monday regarding possible purchase.....not really sure they would want us in these economic times, but we look.<br /> <br /> This is a non-union shop, and on top of that I am upper management. I am the man - not sure how that happened, in my head I am still a starving artist.<br /> <br /> No one is offering me a package to stay so I am looking. But it really does make you not feel motivated to work, hence writing this during business hours. Should be doing analysis of sales tax, VAT, GST and PST but instead I am here. http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-55387 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:18:52 +0000 joan 55387@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ How are things now, J9R? <br /> <br /> When I was still in the workforce, before my bookkeeping job vanished through a classic buying-out and asset-stripping venture by some corporate arseholes from Chicago, I was able to resist any attacks on work conditions through the union. Have you got a suitable union to help you when things get bad? <br /> <br /> Sometimes, all you need from a union is some objective advice on your options. They have the big picture, not just your little corner of it. Unions have bad press, but they do great things behind the scenes. It is just the tiny percentage of drastic action that the media exploit.<br /> <br /> I talked to my union when things were going bad, and on the basis of their projection of what might happen (and they were right), I resigned about 6 months before the place folded, partly because I could already see the new owners were unethical, partly because work conditions were becoming unendurable, and partly to ensure I got my full termination entitlement. I told my colleagues what was going on, but most prefered to remain blinkered<br /> <br /> In the end you just have to read the writing on the wall. http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-55023 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:08:05 +0000 j9r 55023@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Yes it does, always one of my favorite bits of F&amp;L. &quot;you bastard&quot; never actually had someone say that to me. But I am sure someone will one day. Mostly criers and nodders....... http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-54909 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:44:21 +0000 Anonymous 54909@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=-mo1dOAonqw">Would this in any way help to cheer things up?</a> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-54794 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:56:26 +0000 j9r 54794@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Except it's cold in Canada.....I can barely stand San Francisco. We think it freezing cold at 55 and too hot at 70. We are wimps....... http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-54720 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:57:26 +0000 joan 54720@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ You could always drive north - to Canada! http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-54671 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:47:56 +0000 ysabella 54671@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Well, techie males are the big growth area for Libertarianism, so maybe there are more of them around Berkeley than you might think.<br /> <br /> I would think that the Marines not only need fighting men on the ground, but people for the technical stuff who might not see combat. Hence looking in a college town with lots of math/computer/science nerds.<br /> <br /> Still and all, I think of Berkeley and I think of Cliff Stoll. &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_biggrin.gif&quot; title=&quot;:-D&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-54537 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 05:29:52 +0000 j9r 54537@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ I really wonder about both sides of the Berkeley/Marine fiasco. First Berkeley, get over yourselves - this is right up there with the &quot;Nuclear Free Zone&quot; which doesn't apply to medical equipment so you have regulated that my neighbor can't build a bomb in his basement? Or that the lab on the hill that pays for a lot of stuff can't do the experiments there - well they don't - that's what Livermore is for.......<br /> <br /> Second - do the Marines really think that Berkeley is where they are going to get a large amounts of recruits from.....a reasonably rich, well educated and exceedingly liberal town....not the normal recruit. Part of me wonders if the Marines pick Berkeley out of spite.<br /> <br /> In any other part of America I would be considered VERY liberal, but here I am verging on conservative. I mean I voted against a minimum wage law. I voted against it because it was badly written and nearly uninforcible but I voted against it so that make me against the working man...... http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-54534 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:24:47 +0000 ysabella 54534@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Since I live in the most liberal areas I have ever seen in America, almost everyone I know thinks we should be taxed more and benefits should be provided by the government, this is the &quot;People Republic of Berkeley&quot; after all. Republicans are very scarce here. But this is also one of the most capitalistic areas around. The rich are often envied and most people are looking for that new American dream, the start-up that goes public for millions, and many of us know people it has worked for and many it hasn't - companies go under all of the time. The Bay Area's history is filled with booms and busts, from the fur traders, to the Russians to the 49&quot;s all the way to the computer geeks, year after year it is the way it works. That why many of us came here.</blockquote><br /> So, so true. There is an irony there. And of course Berkeley got in the news protesting a Marine recruiting office. Apparently the government should provide but it shouldn't actually look for anything. That, plus the idea that just because the office is there, our susceptible youth will clamor en masse to fight wars in distant countries. I mean, <em>please</em>. <br /> <br /> I think I am stream of conscience writing, its late and I am tired. Time for bed, to do it all over again in the morning........<br /> <br /> And yeah - my resume is out.</blockquote><br /> My favorite job search engine is indeed.com - have a look sometime. And best of luck. http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-54531 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:13:12 +0000 j9r 54531@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ As a person who for years went without benefits, I have fought hard to get the best benefits possible for the employees, so making this decision really sucked. But it also cut the negative cash flow by 20% and the work is still being done. Slowly they are coming around to understanding but I will never expect them to be happy about it. <br /> <br /> Since I live in the most liberal areas I have ever seen in America, almost everyone I know thinks we should be taxed more and benefits should be provided by the government, this is the &quot;People Republic of Berkeley&quot; after all. Republicans are very scarce here. But this is also one of the most capitalistic areas around. The rich are often envied and most people are looking for that new American dream, the start-up that goes public for millions, and many of us know people it has worked for and many it hasn't - companies go under all of the time. The Bay Area's history is filled with booms and busts, from the fur traders, to the Russians to the 49&quot;s all the way to the computer geeks, year after year it is the way it works. That why many of us came here.<br /> <br /> I think I am stream of conscience writing, its late and I am tired. Time for bed, to do it all over again in the morning........<br /> <br /> And yeah - my resume is out. http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-53777 Sun, 17 Feb 2008 01:18:39 +0000 Red Raven 53777@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Re the part-timers losing benefits: blame the government - they are the ones who make it necessary for employers to provide 'benefits'. Other countries have proper public health systems, so employers don't have to provide 'benefits' .<br /> <br /> </blockquote><br /> <br /> I've been working for the Gov part time for 6 years now. I have no benefits at all unless you count my paycheck once a month. I can't afford to buy my own health insurance and I can't afford to go to the doctor, so I end up not going. It worries me because what if someday there were something wrong with me and I didn't go because I couldn't afford it and then later found out that visit could have resulted in finding a cancer before it got out of hand.<br /> <br /> Sad thing is, in America you have the right to free speech, the right to practice the religion of your choice, the right to bear arms, just to name a few, but you don't have the right good health. No no, good health is reserved only for those who can either afford it, or are willing to go into debt for it. <br /> <br /> It's rediculous. http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/work-layoff-#post-53773 Sun, 17 Feb 2008 00:48:42 +0000 wildfire 53773@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ It's probably oversimplistic, I know, but I sometimes wonder if the US spent more of its tax on good education and healthcare, it wouldn't need to spend so much on the prisons later.