My poor poor boss.

First, a little background

I work for a family business of about 10 employees plus 3 family and 2 inlaws. 30 years in business catering to the upper 5% of the world the family has millions put away. The business is worth millions. The real estate is worth millions. The inventory is worth millions. Their connections are worth millions.

They pay decent. Treat employees like humans. 3 yrs ago, when the economic shit hit the fan, they gave up salaries and lived off their millions. Gave us 30% pay cuts, laid off half the salary people. We all, owners included, are putting in 50-60 hr weeks or more. Often more for them.




After the pay cuts and with the extra hours

I MAKE LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE.

I DRIVE AN HOUR EACH WAY IN METRO ATLANTA TRAFFIC TO GET IT.




I would be financially better off to quit my job and find a McJob close to home so we can jettison my paid for old gas guzzler car. I stayed because we all assumed it would be temporary. I stayed because the working conditions are amazing. I stay because my job is relatively secure and I fear the change. I stay because after 60 hrs of constant multitasking, I'm just too exhausted to work at my own life.


After 3 years of this I am getting angry. There have been too many comments in meetings about how the owners are sick of being poor how we need to step it up and get the money flowing so we can all be happy again. Rude words about how costs in China just keep going up. Rude words about "the food stamp president". And over time, I realize. These "nice" people are my enemy.

They will never give us our 30% back and will keep demanding more and more for the pittance they pay. They could care less about me and mine. Will step on me if they have to and try to convince me how nice they are by stepping on me with the fuzzy house slippers instead of the hob nail boots.

What is sickening is that making a change of employment makes little difference - if it can even be done. College people are working McJobs in Atlanta. There's not a whole lot of hope I'll do much better.

So I'll sit there, and do my job, and make them rich, and listen to their stupid little comments about how bad they have it.

Fucking assholes.

Hired for one job, took on a bunch of other jobs. No one has a job title but if I had to pick one it would be office manager. Which is not quite right either.

gone through several editions\printings by now. Saved my life when I dropped out of grad school. And has come in handy a couple times since. Has a lot of touchy-feely exercises but quite engaging and will give you a sense of self-empowerment.

...but, after using it a few times, I've found that it's more of a "Dianetics for the unemployed" (in other words, faith-based self-help) than anything. Sure, the exercises you do in the book are important for self-knowledge and knowing how to present yourself, but there's a certain assumption that, if you do all the work, you'll be in a dramatically better position to get hired -- that you'll be able to design your own job that fits you best, decide where you want to work, and be able to walk into that place and convince them to give you that position, or even have them make up a new job tailored to your own skills and likes. And I can tell you it doesn't work that way. You can do all the work, follow all the steps, and, usually, have it still result in an extended job-search that eventually comes down, if at all, to the luck of the draw. You may wind up in a job that is somewhat more satisfying for you than if you just mass-mailed resumes for the position you already have, but you probably won't do so any quicker or with less rejections.

(Sorry...I was once a WCIYP? "true believer," but my own experiences in the job market disabused me of that notion.)

when I was in the process of severing from grad school\academia for good, the book helped me re-focus my energies in productive directions. The OP sounded so angry and full of resentment that I thought the book could help channel that energy into more productive pathways.

One thing the book points out is that mass-mailing (or e-mailing) resumes is singularly inefficient, compared to networking. My problem is that I hate networking, schmoozing with people I can barely stand and asking for their help. The book does not offer good advice for misanthropic elitists like me in this regard :)

It has lots of practical advice. Or, it did the last time I used it, which was several years ago. There was also one called "Guerrilla Job Hunting" or something like that, that my brother swore by.

I'll try to check both of them out. Thanks for the tip!

by Barbara Winter. Even though I'm extremely introverted (and therefore not a natural business type), this book helped me set myself up in a business that at least pays my living expenses.

backgrounds are steadily employed even in this recession and even into their senior years.

Going to school to get some accounting credentials might be a good investment. If the author of the OP is an office manager in a small company, he probably already helps with aspects of the accounting and budgeting. So, it would be a matter of taking it one step further. There might be community college or even more flexible online courses. I would watch not to get into the student loan problem, especially not for online courses.

The people who excel at networking are not always the people who perform best in the workplace. I'm horrible at networking.

There is another problem. The author of the OP is working long, long hours in his current job. That means that he does not have the time for networking of jobseeking. That is the way that lousy employers keep good workers in bad jobs. They demand more and more and more from the employee until they are certain that the employee will have neither the energy nor the time to find another job.

The author of the OP might try a headhunter. Might be the best bet.

or not.

"A fat wallet often complains more loudly than an empty belly."

If they gave you a 30% pay cut and have millions =an you make less than min. wage after 60 hours-you must be salary. an a poor one at that. If you have skills enough to multi-task and are doing the job of an office manager its time you spoke up!
Believe me you can find another job! So go in their tomorrow and tell them if they can't give you a decent living wage then you will need to put your skills on the market(get another job)
they will either give it to you or find" ANOTHER SUCKER" either way you will be better off! If your as good at organization as my last sectary they will be lost without you. she was so good she could type ,answer the phone,make sure I had my morning coffee,have all my appointemts lined up for the day sew a button on my suit coat an fill me in on the local gossip etc etc.
believe me they don't want to lose you! so don't cave in! cuz they will try that first! then they will up the ante!

Of course, some of why I stay is a lack of confidence. It took 100's of applications around Atlanta before I got the interview for THIS job and that was when times were good.

I'm not very attractive, do not have a degree. Never had much confidence.

So your post means a lot to me - it focuses on what I damn well know I'm good at. I can use your post and I can't say enough how grateful I am that you honed in on the issue.

Bless you.

Stop thinking of yourself as not very attractive and undereducated. You are an adult with a proven record of employment with a skill set that is ALWAYS marketable. I've worked 60+ hour weeks -- it is exhausting and hard to imagine being able to carve out the time to look for another job. Make a promise to yourself. Work at least two hours each week getting ready for the job search --update your resume, research the job market, practice interview questions, whatever it takes. Log the time to keep focused -- if you don't put in a minimum of two hours one week, make up for it the next. Getting a less stressful job is your new second job. Once you feel ready to apply for new jobs, your commitment to the search should be at least 6 to 8 hours a week. If that means you need to cut down your time at the current job by a few hours, so be it. It's unrealistic to expect you to work for less than minimum wage in an office management position. Period.

And by the way -- I did exactly the above when I worked for a company that was shrinking rapidly yet financially healthy. When I gave my notice they offered me an immediate 20% raise -- I didn't take it because the hours would still be horrendous but it taught me that employers have little incentive to pay me what I'm worth to them if I don't speak up for myself.

Keep a time sheet so that you track how much time you spend on each task.

Write down all the good things you do that add profit and value to the company.

Then when you go in to ask for more money, mention specific things that you bring to the company that increase its profits and for which you deserve better pay.

Employers do not value loyalty today. They want to see what you are doing for them right now, now what you did a couple of years ago.

I do bookeeping -not accounting- therefore it's not degreed and I have always had the same no-confidence feeling you do, especially around degreed people like CPAs.

So, I always worked in "small businesses" too. Which were usually family-owned, and nepotistic to the hilt. And dysfunctional. Every single damn one of them and there were too many.

I am finally free -- am a new recent public employee, yay!!! -- and away from small businesses, or as I like to call them, "Affirmative Action Workplaces for Relatives Who Can't a Job Anywhere Else."

I know the Atlanta job market is tough; my brother and his family live in the metro area.

Best of luck to you going ahead bravely into the future.

:-)

It's pretty much expected as so many took up the slack and are plain burnt out.

And going into the catering business yourself? Sure you won't be able to start where they are now, but start small, keep your overhead low (work out of your house for a while), and who knows, in a few years you could be competing with them for jobs. There's no secret to starting a small business. Get some business cards printed, take out a DBA, get whatever license you need to operate a catering business and start networking. You'll collect a deposit on your first job which will help you defray the costs of said job. There are lots of networking opportunities in every medium sized cities. Some are free, some are cheap.

Or tell your boss that you're planning to do it unless they start treating you better. As an employer, you never want good people to become your competition.

Are you on commission, or a 1099 employee?

I'm salary. I make over minimum wage if my yearly is divided by 40 hrs a week by 52 weeks.

I don't work work 40 hrs a week and I doubt many salary people do.

You are being taken advantage of, your employers know exactly what they are doing by having employees classified as 'salaried' in order to save money.

Their failing business model (and their current lifestyle) is being subsidized by you and your fellow employees.

As do my siblings for their employers, and as did my parents and as do nearly all of my neighbors. As do most of the worker bees in the world.

Just because you are paid a salary does not mean you are not due overtime pay. Your boss may owe you overtime for anything over 55 hrs a week. I'm no expert on this, but a previous employer found out the hard way about it.

It's only employees who have managerial roles (which means the authority to make high-level decisions, like about hiring and firing), specialized professional skills, or something of that sort who are exempt from the requirement to be paid for every hour they work.

http://www.flsa.com/coverage.html

With few exceptions, to be exempt an employee must (a) be paid at least $23,600 per year ($455 per week), and (b) be paid on a salary basis, and also (c) perform exempt job duties. These requirements are outlined in the FLSA Regulations (promulgated by the U.S. Department of Labor). Most employees must meet all three "tests" to be exempt. . . .

An employee who meets the salary level tests and also the salary basis tests is exempt only if s/he also performs exempt job duties. These FLSA exemptions are limited to employees who perform relatively high-level work. . . . There are three typical categories of exempt job duties, called "executive," "professional," and "administrative."

Job duties are exempt executive job duties if the employee

1. regularly supervises two or more other employees, and also
2. has management as the primary duty of the position, and also,
3. has some genuine input into the job status of other employees (such as hiring, firing, promotions, or assignments). . . .

The job duties of the traditional "learned professions" are exempt. These include lawyers, doctors, dentists, teachers, architects, clergy. . . . Professionally exempt work means work which is predominantly intellectual, requires specialized education, and involves the exercise of discretion and judgment. . . .

The most elusive and imprecise of the definitions of exempt job duties is for exempt "administrative" job duties.

The Regulatory definition provides that exempt administrative job duties are

(a) office or nonmanual work, which is
(b) directly related to management or general business operations of the employer or the employer's customers, and
(c) a primary component of which involves the exercise of independent judgment and discretion about
(d) matters of significance. . . .

To be exempt under the administrative exemption, the "staff" or "support" work must be office or nonmanual, and must be for matters of significance. Clerical employees perform office or nonmanual support work but are not administratively exempt.

the feds agree with that. if i was you i would call the wage and hour division of the department of labor and see if you actually qualify as salaried. they can't just make you a salaried worker with their magic wand. you have to be doing supervisory work. there are other whereases and wherefores involved. call.

Small business owners can be brutal.

....who are the assholes?

"So I'll sit there, and do my job, and make them rich, and listen to their stupid little comments about how bad they have it."

....quit!

There's a pile of them and many that are legit. I have one that pays twice what anything around here pays per hour.

I thought they were all scams

for Lion Bridge as an Internet Assessor. Pay's good, work is of medium difficulty and I work whenever I want.
http://en-us.lionbridge.com/MultilingualSearch.aspx?pageid=1293&LangType=1033
It takes a while to get on and the test is not easy but if you study you can do it.

Here's a link to a couple of great blogs (not mine) from others who work at Lion Bridge but have worked numerous on line jobs and reviewed them:

http://mywahexperience.blogspot.com/

http://wahadventures.com/2011/03/titling-at-demand-media.html

Here's a forum where I hang out in the LB part of the board:

http://www.workplacelikehome.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=157

I have a friend who works for Demand Media and I'll be applying there soon as well. It's good to have more than one work at home job in the basket as most of them are Independent Contractor jobs and can disappear at any time.

I deduct my expenses on my taxes and never show a profit which is cool. New computer gets written off, etc.

I just finished working at 3:00 am and that's great for me because I'm an insomniac and I can work in my jammies and don't have to pay $4.00 gallon to get to a $8.00 an hour job. Most of these jobs pay better than $10.00 an hour.

Private message me if I can help you out. I can only tell you so much because of non-disclosure agreements though.

thanks!!

This would be perfect for me as I am retired. I was a copy editor so I believe I could qualify.

being internet savvy.

Good luck.

I signed up a few months ago for the forum you posted but I haven't posted there yet. My husband and I are planning to sell our condo and travel around the US in a motorhome for a few years. He has a pension from an early retirement but I was looking for something I could do on the road to supplement our income. Lionbridge looks promising.

My computer died and I replaced it with an iPad for traveling. I need to buy a new laptop before applying. Any recommendations as to features/ system requirements I should look for? We'll also be changing our residency state when we sell the condo. I know Lionbridge hires by State so I'm wondering if you would lose your job if you changed states? These are the only two reasons I haven't applied already. I lurk on an RV forum and a bunch of people there are working at Lionbridge. It seems very condusive to the traveling lifestyle as long as you have good internet access.

I recommend a wide screen. Having many tabs open at a time is something I do a lot in the job. Also, be sure you have Word and PowerPoint on it.

I don't know what happens if you move to another state. Sorry. You can sign up at that forum I linked to and ask there.

The computer info is helpful.

because of it, then they might look at doing something to keep the remaining people IF they feel they are worth it. Otherwise they'll wait until things are better for a while before they consider giving anything back.

If you stay you 'hope' they give it back, if you leave you have a chance to find a job that pays you what you are worth, the choice is yours.

+1

Twenty eight years for me and my boss retires leaving me with no job and without a pension. Not fun trying to live on $900.00 a month.

...you upgrade and fine tune your job hunting skills.

I read "What Color is Your Parachute" many years ago, and found it of little use.

You have to understand the interviewing process, and learn how to positively impress an interviewer. To get the interview, you have to prepare a proper resume, and research any potential employer to learn the "culture" of the company you want to hire you, as well as the nature of the business and how it relates to the position you want to be hired for.

All your preparation is, or should be, designed to get, and be successful at, the job interview.

Hiring is serious business, and businesses train their employees involved in the hiring process in evaluation techniques. Several books have been written describing the hiring process, and I recommend you read some of the better ones before you take any action about your current job.

A couple of books I found useful were the "Knock 'Em Dead" books by Martin Yate, and "Guerilla Tactics in the Job Market" by Tom Jackson.

The Yate books have been updated. I don't see newer editions listed for Jackson on Amazon. I would check out a local library for books by these authors, and whatever else might be available. I would look for useful information and not worry about finding the latest edition.

The hiring process from the employer's perspective involves finding a person who can do the work, is looking for a salary that fits within the range the employer is willing to pay, and the person hired will have the savvy not to become a problem for the boss.

Your primary responsibility is to learn how the hiring process works (it is largely a weeding out process), and prepare yourself to convince the hiring authority to hire you.

Your lack of a degree need not be an issue to finding a job. What you need to do most of all is how to market yourself. That means understanding what the hiring person looks for and how to present yourself as meeting those requirements.

Above all don't risk losing your current job until you find another job. Don't burn your bridges. You want to get a positive reference from your current (or any future) employer. You want to avoid a bad reference. Never bad mouth any employer. The books on interviewing will (or should) discuss how to deal with problem employers without ruining your chances of getting hired.

and I agree with the two books you recommend, those are the two I recommend as well.

Do you believe that the 3 family and 2 in laws took pay cuts too? Or any of the bosses favorites? Think they all took pay cuts too?

I would say a better chance is those folks were given a raise using the "pay cuts", given to you.

Have you considered that possibility? Do you ever see anyone elses paycheck? Especially the owners family members checks?

Don

And when they made "everybody" take a 15% paycut--BUT GAVE THEMSELVES 15% RAISES BEFORE THE PAYCUT--I knew I had to leave.

Problem was, they knew I was pissed about it and knew I would be permanently disgruntled so they fired me.

Best thing that could have happened. :)

And your employers are small fish, petit bourgeoisie, That same attitude pervades their 'betters' who employ thousands.

I learned the lesson when my employer sold out to a rapacious national chain which promptly eliminated all benefits upon acquisition. A good friend recently had an experience similar to yours, he had considered his employer to be his friend, I think at one time he had been, but the necessities of Capitalism turned him into a shithead.

It is not that these people are necessarily bad or greedy, though that might be the case, rather that the requirements of successfully operating require one to put profits above all other considerations. The greedy may gravitate towards capitalist enterprise but the majority who may be otherwise decent people will be perverted by the necessities.

It is the system which encourages such behavior which should be our target.

Are you seriously looking for another job? If not, then you just as big a problem as the owners are.

we are sympathitic to the companies and the struggles that they have. hubby gave three years. that was fair

I posted some guidelines above as to who is and is not exempt from the act's requirements. If you took a 30% pay cut from what I would guess was at most a $30,000 salary to start with, you'd quality as non-exempt on the salary basis alone. But beyond that, it's almost certain that as an office manager, you are not making independent decisions about matters of significance.

This would mean that your employer is required to pay you time and a half for any time worked beyond 40 hours a week -- potentially going back over the last two years.

Here's a Department of Labor page about how to file a complaint:
http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/fairpay/complaint.htm

Here's a FAQ page:
http://www.dol.gov/wecanhelp/faq.htm

Both pages assure you that your identify will remain confidential, and the second one suggests, "If there is no record of your hours or pay, start keeping one. Every day you work, write down the time you start and the time you finish. Write down if you took time for a meal break and how long the break was. Write down every time you get paid, with the date and how much pay you received. You can call any Wage and Hour Office and ask them to send you free copies of our AWARE record keeping handbooks. You can get as many as you need; enough for you AND your co-workers."

It's a lie but so what. They've been lying to you and using you and now you're admitting to being abused. Like you said, they're "Fucking assholes".

Let them realize you aren't a sure thing, which you aren't. Tell them you feel you're forced to look for another job because you simply can't make it financially.

I've found that when someone has power over you and they abuse it, it's time to make them realize they don't really have any power over you at all, because that power belongs to you entirely. I doubt they'll let you go since you're making them richer.

Gawd, all she talked about was money, money, money - panic mode if she thought she wouldn't make her budget. She is a mortgage loan person, and this was leading up to the housing bubble. I remember looking at the financial statements of some of these folks and wondering how in the hell can they afford a McMansion. Turns out, they couldn't and the bottom fell out for us all.

Greed made this woman crazy at times.

I hate our economic system but as long as your bosses are willing to keep working hard themselve and not draw any salary from their business while the net value of their holdings are going down, I think your recourse is to quit if the situation is not (understandably) working out for you.

You say you are making them rich but it seems like they already are rich and that the business is not making them any richer nowadays. I don't know how they got rich in the first place but from what you said they paid a lot better when workers actually were making them richer.

You couild quit now or they could lay you off now and liquidate the business but either way it seems like no one is making any new money off that business now. The bosses who I think are most evil are the ones who get incentives for increasing profits by cutting worker pay.

That knowledge has to be stressful for all concerned.

I think the remaining workers there may be able to approach the bosses and say that they realize thet the business is not making any money now and that the owners are working for nothing for the time being, but the owners have a cushion to live off that the workers don't.

It seems the owners want to keep the business going at a lower bleed rate for awhile so that it will be intact and able to resume making money if the economy rebounds. I think maybe if I worked there I would say I understood that, but that the owners need to recalibrate slightly what it costs to keep the business running during this down turn. I might ask for 10% of my lost pay back saying I couldn't keep working there any longer otherwise, but that I would then continue to work hard with the owners to keep things running while waiting for a rebound that could restore liveable wages.

They are choosing to use it to in other ways than a salary at the moment. They have the luxury of doing so.

But your point is well taken. Times aren't what they used to be and maybe the poor mouthing I hear all too often is a genuine feeling.

I think was is irritating me the most is that there are an awful lot of Americans who work their asses off all their lives pay check to pay check and then if disability through illness, injury or old age comes, we are told we should have saved for a rainy day and it's our own fault we don't have any boot straps left. The people I work for are "little fish" in the rich man's world but even they hold this idea that someone making 10 bucks an hour for a lifetime should be able to finance their own disability or retirement.

I said they are assholes, but you might be right. Maybe they are just clueless.

Most half way well off people are pretty clueless about what it takes for an average family to survive today. Your owners don't seem among the worse ones out there but what someone else here suggested makes a lot of sense. They need to face the reality of the day to day struggle you are going through, and they need to accept that there is a limit to what you can do without getting enough money to get by with. They also need to be open with their employees about their plans for what will happen if the economy improves, how will they make it up for your loyalty now?

In a slightly fairer world even if yuor bosses conclude that they can't make money at this particular business now, and decide to shut it down, current employees should be rewarded to the extent that they helped build that business. The owners get all the money from sale of assets, they should at least offer very generous severence packages if they decide to cash out. A few owners think that way, most don't.

constantly about how hard it was to find and keep employees who viewed working there as a "career" (vs. "just a job") and who cared about the business, gave it their best effort, etc.

They had only one year that they didn't make a substantial amount of money (e.g., multiple hundreds of thousands to more than a million) as long as I knew them, according to their own reports.

I introduced them to a very bright and conscientious college graduate who was sick of dealing with people as a manager, and wanted to move back into an accounting type of position. She was very excited because they had an opening that suited her. Why didn't it work out? Because they refused to pay more than what today would probably be about $13 per hour.

I no longer sympathized with them after that.

for wealthy corporatists to promote the fallacy that they are 'clueless,' rather than acknowledging the truth and getting smacked in the face with their own corrosive hedonism.

Business owners, particularly ones who "treat their people like human beings" often take that responsibility seriously. The staff is viewed like... well not family exactly, but maybe step family.

When things aren't working, they become keenly aware that the business situation (for which they are ultimately responsible) is harming people. I had a former boss, although he had personal flaws to numerous to account for, the happiest day of the year for him was the day he passed out the checks for the annual profit sharing bonus.

When he felt that business was suffering because an individual or group wasn't giving their best effort he could be a real asshole. Remedying the situation was his job.

she wrote "the business is worth millions" - well, probably not if it is not making any money. "The real estate is worth millions" - well, that depends on finding a buyer who can pay millions and also has a profitable use for it. "The inventory is worth millions" - again, that depends upon finding buyers. When I went out of business, I had a "going out of business sale for five weeks". Sales, for those weeks were very good by my standards, taking in for a day what I used to take in for a week, but I still had about half of my inventory left when I finished, and it was next to worthless.

One other business offered me 30 cents on the dollar for my new books, but I kept them on the off chance that I would be able to go into business somewhere else. I gave about 15 boxes of books to the local library and another fifteen boxes to the thrift shop and a box of new books to the local college, but I still ended up with tons of books to move/dispose of. I gave my old set of "books in print" to another bookstore where I moved, and so on. I make donations here and there. But I had $5,000 or so of inventory that I wrote off on my taxes as worth $0, and that was probably half of my inventory.

Except that I actually got a raise this year....and no pay cuts...BUT, I too am sick of listening to the Prez of my company, who eats lunch with us, whine about MY President and his taxes and people spoiling their kids and blah, blah, blah.

Then he drives to his $1M home in his new Lexus SUV to see his other new Lexus, which had to be specially ordered cause they didn't have the right color on the lot.....his daughter had 2 wedding receptions last year....had to have cost a bundle....I wasn't invited. :-) Oh, and she gets a monthly check from my company just for being born into her family. Ugh.

Screw the whiny rich. I am just now paying my friend back the money she lended me to buy a used fridge....which is a really nice stainless steel, may I say. :-)

Don't get me wrong...I enjoy my stressful job and the bennies, but shut up already!!!

Good luck with your situation. I hope all works out for you.

So you can get a true snap shot of what is going on there? Are they unhappy just because they are bringing less in and using the paycuts and prssure to keep their earnigs at non recsssion levels? Or are they barely staying afloat. Knowing this will tell you some important things: are they going under soon? are they greedy fucks who think they should be profiting as much as they did in more prosperous times? Do you have a case to make that they aren;t making the sacrfices you are? If they own a lot of land they may be feeling a pinch because it's not worth as much on paper. but that's not your problem. Look at what the business is doing and see if you can negotiate a roll back on that cut. Stop working the extra hours- tell them you need to do more of whatever at home- do it yourself projects whatever so that you can survive on this salary. And work on your resume. If they can't promise you anything more than increase work pressure, then it's not a viable business plan. Presumably they are earning less because they are doing less business. Get out of there and take care of your own. They didnt cut their own salaries, they get it all back as profit. You are the ne getting screwed here, you need to find out if there;s any way things will get better. It is very likely they will not want to increase your salary when they can- they will probably want to keep the added profits to make up for the tough market. and they will do it on your back.

And, I would also add to get together with all other non-family employees and confront the bosses with above questions as a united front. In other words, go as one to management and ask, "how long are we going to be sacrificing to turn your business around? And once we do, what will we get as a reward? The reason owners make so much is because they own the business and they are the ones taking risks, making sacrifices, etc. But if you're taking on water to help keep them afloat, then it's reasonable to ask what's in it for you and your fellow employees.

If the economy ever improves, the rich will not improve our pay with it.

The new society meme is the rich now will get away with paying much less and continue to claim that times are hard.

they have the hand wringing down to a science.

all the numbers say it has improved. And they are sitting on that money. Its not an "if". Things have gotten better for the wealthy. And that has not trickled down.

the proverbial 'numbers' they use to assert that 'things are getting better.' I'd laugh, but the ongoing disintegration of our global economy is not funny. Nor is it over. Not by a long shot.

Means things are grand at the top, not that they are getting better at the bottom. But on average...

Its kinda funny if you are into the macabre. Otherwise, not so much. Otherwise it just hurts to watch.

I have a good job (at this minute) but have been told I was "over-paid" for the current economic conditions and they've hired a consultant to see how much my pay should be cut. :puke: I'm 59 years old and have been working here for 15 years and can't leave this hick town because my mom is an 87 years old widow and relies on us a great deal. She's lived here 60 years, so it would be cruel to uproot her and I don't think she could deal with a faster environment. In the meantime, I'm still working 60-70 hours a wk (salaried, of course) becasue I'm doing the job of 3 people. I've made them so much money, doubled their collection rate, run a clean happy ship and this is my thanks!

In redneck northern FL, women are not paid as well as men and at my age it would be extremely hard to find a job that's paying what I'm making now.

I'm trying to look on the good side. Once they do this, my OT gets drastically cut, no more Saturdays or late nights - more time with my family! However, I do't know how we will be able to pay my daughter's last year of college and help our unemployed son and that's making me crazy/sad.

damned straight and that's why we need to organize against these asses.

I'd talk to a recruiter and see if you might get some interviews (use vacation or sick time to go on them). You may be more marketable than you think.

I was laid off last month and then offered a re-hire with 20% of my former work load at half the pay. I qualified for Unemployment but they deduct the paltry sum I am now making. That officially makes me SOOL.

I feel your pain.

Or whatever deity you prefer, or whatever. Just a phrase. Massive reorganization at work, and as a result I suspect many will lose their jobs. At my age, that would have been it. Over and out; I would have had no chance of being hired. Well, my current job was eliminated, but after multiple interviews, I was told I am hired as part of the new structure. I really like where I work, and the people and what we stand for, but all the great evaluations I have gotten through the years really counted for very little. I have no beef about conditions or salary or benefits. I know I am fortunate, but this has been very, very tough.

I will find out about my coworkers this week. It may be difficult. I keep my fingers crossed for all of them.

All the best to you. My heart breaks at what many are going through. I know; I moved in with my Significant Other in December so she could keep her lovely home. She lost her job through no fault of her own in January 2010 despite a great work history, and is my age. No chance, in other words. She has started a home-based business, with modest success. But my keeping a job means we are a couple of the fortunate ones, and I know that. It's a roll of the dice out there.

Lousy pay. No benefits. It was all about making money for them.

One year they decided to throw the staff Christmas party during office hours. They invited their entire client roster and insisted that I sit at my desk in case anyone wanted to make a booking. Then they handed me a $10.00 bill as my "bonus" for the year.

When my husband's grandmother died, I asked for the afternoon off to attend the funeral. You'd have thought I had asked for a week off to party. They made a huge stink about it, trying to make me feel guilty for not being there for that couple of hours.

Only pluses were that the office was 5 minutes from home and it was strictly a 9 - 5 situation. But, in retrospect, an employee's dignity and self-worth ought to be worth something, and I feel that I sacrificed both.

I don't have any advice for you. If you feel that sticking with it is better (for the time being) than any alternative, I understand exactly where you're coming from.

I can sympathisize. I've worked in catering before too, in food in general, and I know how demanding some of these folks can be and unsatisfied with the money they make. It chafes me to think that these people are so ungrateful to the workers who make them that money in the first place.

Two things I can think of to do:

Check out your local/state employment services. They usually have someone on staff who teaches resume construction and gives classes to aquire interviewing skills. You don't have to be unemployed to access their job databases, which often contain jobs that are not advertised on Craigslist, etc. They also tend to have listings for city/state jobs.

Also,
Check out food services admin in the public sphere, I currently work for a college and there are regular openings for people who do what you do. The pay is generally somewhat better than minimum and there is chance for advancement on merit. And you don't have to put up with bosses who act their money worries out on you.

Besides, I suspect many of the conservative owners of luxury buisnesses (read wealth wannabees) who rode the wave of the last few years are going to find out how foolish they were reducing the number of people who could afford their product in the first place. You said the buisness is mostly family; you really should have your ducks in a row in case they decide to downsize-or give an out-of-work cousin a berth...

Whatever you do, Good Luck!

better. But I worked in a place for 9 years. I was an excellent worker. She wanted me to move to another department. I finally had enough and told her no way. I told her she didn't need to worry about me any longer and that she had her favorites and everyone new it. I turned around and got my time card and punched out and never went back. I am now collecting at the age of 62 my social security. I tried to get disability but they turned me down. I finally waited and few months and applied and that way they couldn't take it away from me because I earned it. Every time I see her I let her know that was the best day of my life. I never regretted leaving. Of course I had my husband and we were alittle more stable as far as finances go. My sister helped me pay off some bills. Now am home taking care of the grandkids. Of course my health isn't the best but am not stressed any more.

If you are actually making less than minimum wage they are probably violating federal laws. Others have already posted good information about that.

I cannot begin to express how I am totally over people saying "I have this crappy job but I can't quit because there are no other jobs whatsoever in this economy. And I'm too old because I'm over 40. Or 30. Or whatever."


I am 62 years old. Should I repeat that? I've been able to find work even in this economy. There are jobs out there. They may not be wonderful jobs but they pay above minimum wage and they even have benefits. I work for a hospital. I make better than minimum wage and I have benefits. I'm not going to get rich but I can support myself until I eventually start collecting social security.

There are jobs out there. It's not as though you have a job paying you six figures that you're hesitant to give up. DO NOT TOLERATE THIS.

and if they asked for a minute longer, I'd tell them to kiss my fluffy white ass.

I don't know about the kiss my ass part - but I'm at that point where I'm going do my job 110% for 8 hrs a day and then leave. It won't take long there are questions about why my job isn't getting done. I'm simply going to say something to the effect...

' You are fantastic to work for and I certainly did not mind the sacrifice for a short while. But it's become clear that my salary here will not ever go back to where it was, let alone what I actually deserve to make for the work I do here. I have to think of myself and my family and simply cannot afford to give my labor away for the long term. Unfortunately no one can save for a rainy day and retirement on the salary I make since the pay cuts.'

This will give me the time to make a move.