Month: May 2023

I’ve been applying for jobs recently to look for some part-time work from home for the next few months, and encountered a lot of the silly stuff you’d expect: job ads with boomer energy, insultingly low pay, extreme demands, covert sales jobs, the works. However, after applying for a few jobs (and hearing nothing, of course), I started to see a trend of specific job listings. They are always either staffing agencies or new locations for very small businesses with no online presence (the first red flag). The positions are usually for assistant work or “data entry clerk,” and the jobs ask to apply on the job site rather than to the company directly. The ads offer good but not alarmingly high money, but do mention every possible benefit starting immediately and for even part-time workers. Things start to look pretty questionable when you send your application and you get…

But don't act like you do.

Has anyone else been in the place I’m in now? How did you cope? I worked for an insurance/financial institution for 16 years. Out of nowhere they “sold” our department to an overseas outsourcing company. Said company gave us all 1 year contracts. We all saw the writing on the wall. Anyone of value jumped ship early, myself included. I put my resume out and found work quickly doing the same type of work. It’s the only way I know to bring in anywhere near the same income & benefits. I’m now with a company doing the same thing I did for 16 years. This new company likes to talk just like my old company. Lots of “We’re a great place to work!” Rah-rah. I can’t find a way to believe any of it. I’m jaded. I ignore anyone that isn’t in my direct team. At the office, I walk…

As a remote worker, I couldn't help but feel infuriated when my coworker, who had been contributing more than me for the past three weeks, got fired for underperformance. He's a full stack software engineer. He actually solved difficult tasks involving math and such, and I found his solutions super clever and good for business. I felt like the decision was biased and it got me thinking about how to appear more efficient to managers. One thing I noticed about my coworker was that he spoke less during meetings/calls and didn't seem super interested in some of the topics discussed. He was actually interested IMO, but just appeared that way. Additionally, he didn't always write status updates in our tracking system, and he tended to make big commits while I made smaller ones every two days. The managers never mentioned that though. However, my coworker was actually doing a lot…

Simply put, they're trying to prevent us from taking our full vacation time. No sick days. If you miss a day, you have to use your PTO. You can only carry over one week of PTO to the new year. No payouts for unused pto. You cannot use PTO unless you have already accumulated that amount. You will accrue PTO on the first of the month. That pto is the amount you earned for the previous month. What does that mean? Assume you get 4 weeks of PTO a year. It means, if you start the year with zero pto, you cannot go on a 2 week vacation until July. If you carry over the max pto, you can have your two week vacation in April. No sooner. It means that you cannot use your full pto in the year, because you don't actually GET your PTO until the NEXT…

My cat is in pretty serious condition at the vet hospital, and I have no one to stay with him. My boss said I can leave him there for the day and still come into work. They want me there in 2 hours and to call when I’m on the way in. What can I say so they’ll let me stay with my cat?