{"id":1995,"date":"2010-09-04T00:01:16","date_gmt":"2010-09-04T06:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ishmaels.net\/blog\/?p=1995"},"modified":"2010-09-04T00:01:16","modified_gmt":"2010-09-04T06:01:16","slug":"hell-of-a-way-to-spend-your-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/2010\/09\/04\/hell-of-a-way-to-spend-your-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Hell of a way to spend your Birthday!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This day has come again, and again (for a special day or Holiday), I am stuck in a far away place <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>working<\/strong>.  I have given nearly 30 years of my life, over 60% of my hearing, and an unknown amount of back and joint wear to this <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>company<\/strong> and they have given my nothing by rhetoric, and a job. Oh yes they paid me a salary but more times than I can count, they have &#8220;stiffed&#8221; me on raises, &#8220;cut me back&#8221; due to business conditions, &#8220;riffed&#8221; me out because they no longer wanted to <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>pay<\/strong> for specialist to do certain jobs then hire me back at a lower wage for a slightly different job, ignored my requests for update <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>training<\/strong> or flat denied it along with countless other &#8220;management <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>cost<\/strong> saving&#8221; ways. <\/p>\n<p>When I hired on , a little over 29 years ago, the &#8220;Assistant Division Engineer&#8221; recruiting me said &#8221; Being an engineer with this company, you will have over a Million dollars in your Profit Sharing in 20 years or less&#8221;.  I think he truly believed that at that <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>time<\/strong>.  He for sure had me believing it, so I jumped on what I thought would be a great opportunity.  It turned out to be one, but the opportunity was that I would be <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>working<\/strong> away from <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>family<\/strong> during all the important days and on call 24\/7.  I was blinded and stupid to think it was going to get better for nearly 20 years of my 29.  I have no count on how many important days I have missed, how many holidays I have spent <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>working<\/strong> and away from home, or how much I have missed in my life and my families lives, because I was tied to a job that had no room for anything but the job.  <\/p>\n<p>Shortly after I hired on the energy business went down.  They kept me on for some strange reason.  There was no profit, so there was no sharing.  We had management that kept buying bad companies and we kept loosing money or just barely making money, but not enough for &#8220;sharing&#8221;.  At least not at the lower levels.  I think that all the top people continued to share huge amounts while those of us <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>working<\/strong> on all those holidays or doing 100 hour work weeks, got our salary, oh yea we got over <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>time<\/strong> cause the govt said they had to.  Well some did, when ever you were bumped up to &#8220;exempt&#8221; you got a raise that seldom paid more than what you had been making on hours but you still had to do at least 80 hour weeks for a set salary?<br \/>\nThe top managers used to publish how important the employee was and how important our families were but they don&#8217;t mean that.  The importance is that we produce more with less every year so they can get their bonus.  It is the typical &#8220;step over a dollar to pick up a dime&#8221; mentality in our top core.  &#8220;Focus on quantity not quality&#8221; is also a great basis for nearly all big companies, ours included.  <\/p>\n<p>For those of us that travel a lot, it used to be a standard that if you had to change plans for a <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>family<\/strong> emergency, the <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>company<\/strong> would try to understand and help you out &#8211; and <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>pay<\/strong> for the travel changes associated.  That just recently has gone out the window.  We just got notice locally that &#8220;You will be responsible for all travel <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>cost<\/strong> changes if the change is due to personal reasons&#8221; !  So if you work 3 thousand miles away from home, you get a call that someone of your <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>family<\/strong> is hurt, sick or died, you (the employee) will have to <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>pay<\/strong> for your trip <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>home<\/strong> to handle details.  I would even guess that the <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>company<\/strong> would now expect the employee to <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>make<\/strong> up any and all lost <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>time<\/strong> or expenses due to a need to be gone.  Is this not &#8220;COLD and HEARTLESS&#8221; or am I missing something? Top that little notice with the <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>one<\/strong> that followed that &#8221; all noted excessive use of <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>company<\/strong> cell phones and the IP-phone system, we have (which at <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>one<\/strong> <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>time<\/strong> had a flat fee <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>cost<\/strong> per month for US calls from the far away) will be charge back to the &#8220;abusive individual user&#8221;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The top also says that &#8220;competency and training&#8221; are very important.  i have tried to get into a two-week seminar to improve my base knowledge on a few items that would help our programs for more than 5 years.  The few times that it fit within my &#8220;off&#8221; <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>time<\/strong> to take it, the <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>company<\/strong> has denied my request.  Just a month ago they approved it.  I set in motion the works to get the course paid for and get reservations for the stay to take this course.  Then of a sudden, they cancel it because it <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>cost<\/strong> money and we can&#8217;t afford it now.  I will be out over $300 for my reservations because I am sure the <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>company<\/strong> will now not <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>pay<\/strong> for the deposits I had to <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>make<\/strong>.  Since I am in the <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>training<\/strong> business for our customers it is strange that internally we can&#8217;t afford to upgrade our people but we want to sell the fact that it is necessary for our customer to do this?   I think we have an &#8220;OXYMORON&#8221; here?  Maybe I am the MORON?<\/p>\n<p>I can say they have paid me and paid me pretty well comparatively speaking.  But is that <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>pay<\/strong> worth what I have missed in the past 30 years, including the broken promises, and what I have lost in &#8220;giving to the job&#8221;?  (I have lost 65% of my hearing due in major part to <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>working<\/strong> with large loud equipment). We all <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>make<\/strong> bad decisions mine appears to have been leaving a job I liked that didn&#8217;t <strong class='StrictlyAutoTagBold'>pay<\/strong> a lot and low potential for advancement, but would have gotten me to retirement several years ago with substantially less wear, tear and stress.  Oh well, like I said, it is a HELL of a way to spend your Birthday! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This day has come again, and again (for a special day or Holiday), I am stuck in a far away place working. I have given nearly 30 years of my life, over 60% of my hearing, and an unknown amount of back and joint wear to this company and they have given my nothing by rhetoric, and a job. Oh yes they paid me a salary but more times than I can count, they have &#8220;stiffed&#8221; me on raises, &#8220;cut me back&#8221; due to business conditions, &#8220;riffed&#8221; me out because they no longer wanted to pay for specialist to do certain jobs then hire me back at a lower wage for a slightly different job, ignored my requests for update training or flat denied it <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/2010\/09\/04\/hell-of-a-way-to-spend-your-birthday\/\">&#8220;And Now the Rest of the Story &#8211; &#8220;Hell of a way to spend your Birthday!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-1995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bbs","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hell of a way to spend your Birthday! - And That was How it Went<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/2010\/09\/04\/hell-of-a-way-to-spend-your-birthday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hell of a way to spend your Birthday! - And That was How it Went\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This day has come again, and again (for a special day or Holiday), I am stuck in a far away place working. I have given nearly 30 years of my life, over 60% of my hearing, and an unknown amount of back and joint wear to this company and they have given my nothing by rhetoric, and a job. 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I define RV campers as people who have an RV of some kind, anything from a pop up tent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"BBS\"","block_context":{"text":"BBS","link":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/tag\/bbs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17036,"url":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/2010\/02\/11\/long-over-due\/","url_meta":{"origin":1995,"position":1},"title":"Long over due","author":"wd0ajg","date":"February 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Yep, long over due in my posts. I got home just before Christmas and the big storms in Oklahoma, and it was COLD!... snowed... bowed... miserable. That would make one think I would have a lot of time for \"blogging\"... not so. I thought about it a lot but never\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hobbies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hobbies","link":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/category\/hobbies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7036,"url":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/2011\/07\/06\/july-4thwhy-do-i-come-back-from-vacations\/","url_meta":{"origin":1995,"position":2},"title":"July 4th\u2013Why do I come back from vacations?","author":"wd0ajg","date":"July 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This makes about the 4th time in the past 30 years, that I have come back from a vacation only to have BAD news waiting on me.\u00a0 This time, when I got to my emails from work, I found the one \u201cstandby\u201d.\u00a0 That usually only means one of two things.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3334,"url":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/2010\/11\/19\/hobbies-leisure-and-pastimes\/","url_meta":{"origin":1995,"position":3},"title":"Hobbies, Leisure and Pastimes","author":"wd0ajg","date":"November 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Amateur Radio Operators have, in the past, made meaningful contributions to the radio broadcasting industry. A hobby can be the source of entertainment or the source of ideas for new business ventures. Hobbies are usually practiced for interest and enjoyment, rather than for financial reward.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hobbies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hobbies","link":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/category\/hobbies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7598,"url":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/2011\/08\/21\/planes-and-work-yuk\/","url_meta":{"origin":1995,"position":4},"title":"Planes and work\u2026 YUK!","author":"wd0ajg","date":"August 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Well it is planes and things and travel and dealing with idiots again today.\u00a0 I have not traveled in several months and had almost forgotten how to pack for trips, how to prepare for the drag of hurry-up and wait associated with flying.\u00a0 I know I have posted about my\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11711,"url":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/2012\/05\/02\/may-1-2012long-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":1995,"position":5},"title":"May 1, 2012\u2013long day","author":"wd0ajg","date":"May 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I was up way early, pulled the motor home out and hooked up the jeep. Told the wife I was running away from home and promptly left.\u00a0 Ok, the real story is that I found the repair job for the air conditioning unit (road unit) was not working.\u00a0 Seems the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"SAM_1200-001","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ishmaels.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/SAM_1200-001_thumb.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ishmaels.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}