 
Jerrytimes
Member
Username: Jerrytimes
Post Number: 136
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 11:20 am: |    |
This might come off as being cold hearted or whatever, but I have a hard time feeling bad some people that are struggling right now. People don't seem to want to help themselves and just instantly give up on what they have because they lost their job.
Twice this week I mentioned to people that the company that I work for is hiring and they should go online and apply. Both told me that I don't do that (as in they basically want a better job than that). Really? Neither one of you have a job currently and just got done telling me that it's been a couple of months since you've worked and that's what your going to say to me? Mind you, where I work is a good place to make a living, not the best, but good. Easily, in the first year you could make $30,000 or more and can easily move it up down the road.
I see other busineses with help wanted signs (pizza places, restaurants and such) and they seem to always be there. Places like this, to me, are better than being jobless. At least work there for the time being, but people just for some reason have this mentality that they got paid x amount of dollars and they aren't going to work for anything less. People need to wake up and help themselves. |
Spacemonkey
Member
Username: Spacemonkey
Post Number: 601
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 12:29 pm: | |
I agree with you.
I lost my job writing for Chrysler Jan 1. I was making $40 an hour. Next week I'm working a construction job cleaning up a job site for $12.00 an hour. Sweeping. Scrubbing.
So what? It's money in my pocket. I'm also working freelance writing jobs wherever I can 'em at any rate the client will pay. Sadly all it means is that I'm taking gigs away from less experienced people who usually work at such rates.
Regardless, I still feel I'm allowed to be disappointed some, since I went through all the trouble and expense to get a college degree, then a master's degree after that, but at the same time, I don't feel there's any "pay rate that's below me". That's stupid. A guy's still gotta earn. Be it twelve bucks or forty. I'll dig your ditch. I'll work for food. |
Eriedearie
Member
Username: Eriedearie
Post Number: 1601
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 12:46 pm: | |
Jerrytimes - would care to post the name of your company that is hiring? My sister has been without a job and she really can't find one. If you don't want to post the company name - ask me on here to give you my email and then you can just let me know. I would appreciate it. Thanks.
And I agree with both of you. I lost my job and couldn't find one in my field to replace it. So I've been reinventing myself and taking an online college course to become a Medical Transcriptionist. A person has to do what a person has to do. |
Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon
Post Number: 12897
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 2:32 pm: | |
I caught a taste of this my first extended time in Chicagoland, when I was absolutely surprised how happy the workers were in the busiest McDonald's I'd ever seen.
Once you taste big money for little work, it is hard to go back to sweating...especially if you've played by all the rules. |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1520
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 3:11 pm: | |
Not to be the one to cite the sunshine amid the clouds, but ...it's good to have more than one skill, and to not rely on one employer...and to know that you can support yourself with a job that's "beneath you" when bad times hit. It's actually empowering.
It's something earlier generations found out with the Depression. We've gotten used to too much, for too little effort. Now we'll be the ones going around turning lights out. |
Sean_of_detroit
Member
Username: Sean_of_detroit
Post Number: 360
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 3:12 pm: | |
In a global economy, this will likely be common place. You have to look at college education as not a one time then forget type of thing. We just aren't able to see all the problems and changes to far into the future. Learning must be a lifetime obligation now if you want the good jobs. It's what an increasing number of your competition is doing.
You haven't fallen as far behind as you think. It'll be in your rear view before you know it, and you will be a step closer for a stable retirement. You might not realize it, but it's like that recent Wendy's commercial. There are a bunch of people around you right now aimlessly kicking trees. Feeling behind is an illusion. Nothing is a waist of time. You'll probably end up stumbling across a great opportunity where you will need them. That's just not today. If that job is your dream, then figure out what you need to get close to it. Try to be friendly with someone ready to retire from the position you want, and then make sure you're the best one available (and best liked) for the job. Learn from the one before you too. Don't be afraid to let everyone know that that job is your passion, and you'd LOVE that job and that company.
Spacemonkey, your posts really bother me. You have just been looking for so long. From your past posts, it sounds like you are going through a bunch of the same problems I had/have. I really feel for you. I know this economy really stinks. What do you do again? Was it architecture...? Slipped my mind at the moment.
I probably have some things that could possibly help a little. Even if I don't, I would be more than happy to help brain storm solutions. |
Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 4793
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 3:18 pm: | |
Jerrytimes, you're right, and this isn't unique to our area. People think certain jobs are for immigrants or young people. They feel they can't have their dignity and work at a certain place. That's their prerogative, I guess, but I don't want to hear them say that there are "no jobs" when there certainly are.
(Message edited by mackinaw on May 17, 2008) |
Sean_of_detroit
Member
Username: Sean_of_detroit
Post Number: 361
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 3:21 pm: | |
Oh, you can yahoo message or E-mail me if you'd like. The name is the same as this DetroitYES! one.
I work on the computer, so I'm on a lot. |
Bigb23
Member
Username: Bigb23
Post Number: 1642
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 4:51 pm: | |
Jerrytimes -
You obviously have not been looking for work lately. With the equivalent of a Bachelors degree from work and military experience,
I have applied at farms and graveyards without any luck.
And Burger King was starting workers at $9.00 /Hr ten years ago. Now skilled trades, (i.e. CNC Macro Programming), pay less than that to start.
And shops today ALWAYS keep a sign up for the resumes. (Which can be traded online for profit).
I wish you were in our shoes! |
Sludgedaddy
Member
Username: Sludgedaddy
Post Number: 41
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 5:26 pm: | |
Got any spare change? |
My2cents
Member
Username: My2cents
Post Number: 184
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 5:47 pm: | |
The Horatio Alger Myth
Commentary by Adam Price
Over one hundred years ago, Horatio Alger, Jr. wrote hundreds of novels and short stories about poor young men who achieved a better life through hard work, luck and the help of a wealthy individual. His writings were so popular that the term ‘Horatio Alger story’ came to describe the idea that anyone could succeed in America. This idea is still used by conservatives who defend the gap between rich and poor by saying that there are opportunities for the poor to succeed if they work hard; and that those who don’t succeed remain poor because of their own faults.
In the years after World War II, many poor and working class Americans did achieve a better way of life, buying a house and sending their children to college. While they did work hard like the heroes of Horatio Alger’s stories, their success had less to do with luck and a wealthy patron, and more to do with the strength of unions who forced businesses to pay a living wage and the expansion of public colleges and universities - funded in part by taxes on the rich.
Even then, it was only a minority who were able to succeed. A 1978 study found that 23% of fathers with little education and working in low-paying occupations had sons who became educated and went on to high-paying work. This minority of the successful poor almost certainly had very few African Americans and Chicanos, and women were not even included in the study.
Today, not only is the gap between the rich and the poor growing, but the opportunities that did exist are shrinking dramatically. An updated version of the 1978 study found that today, only 10% of less educated poor fathers have very successful sons, or less that half the rate of only 25 years ago. This is no surprise, given the attacks on unions, cuts in funding for education and tax cuts for the wealthy.
We need unions that will take on the corporations and fight for better wages and benefits. We need to fight to protect public education and other public services, and to stop the attempts to privatize Medicare, social security and other government programs. We need to fight for universal health insurance and jobs or income for all families. And we definitely need to roll back the dividend tax cut and the cut in estate taxes, and raise taxes on the rich top 5% who hold all the wealth in America .
But achieving these reforms is not enough. Working people would be better off with universal health insurance, access to college education and a living wage. But as long as we live under capitalism, the rich will use their control of the government and corporations to roll back these gains whenever they have the opportunity. That is why working people need political and economic power to protect their livelihood, health and education. |
My2cents
Member
Username: My2cents
Post Number: 185
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 5:53 pm: | |
If one obtains a low paying 20-32/hrs a week job, how does one buy $4.08/gal to get to $7/hr job? In an area where public transportation is lacking for example.............and keep the car insurance, rent/mortgage paid and food on the table? And what about health insurance? |
Sludgedaddy
Member
Username: Sludgedaddy
Post Number: 42
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 6:37 pm: | |
I hope every wedding present Jenna Bush received was Made in China. |
Spacemonkey
Member
Username: Spacemonkey
Post Number: 602
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 8:18 pm: | |
sean of Detroit, don't worry about me none. This is my third time being laid off since 2003, so I'm used to it to an extent.
I'm an advertising copywriter. I've worked at ad agencies on automotive accounts. Ad agencies are like any other supplier. Agencies supply ads and marketing materials instead of parts, is all. So when the auto companies cut back, they cut back their business with the agencies too, then the agencies lay off people.
In 2003 I was on the Dodge account at BBDO. I was laid off with 100 others. 2004-2005 was writing for Daimler Chrysler products at a different agency. Was let go. Moved to an internet agency writing for Chrysler brands 12/05- 12/31/07.
My lesson learned: never work for a company associated with Chrysler again without expecting to be laid off. I would take the job for the pay, and have been interviewing once again to write for Chrysler, but I will always assume it's temporary. It's just my luck. |
Patrick
Member
Username: Patrick
Post Number: 5398
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 9:44 pm: | |
Never work for an ad agency associated with ANY auto related company. Look at what just happened at Campbell Ewald with the delco account. |
Sean_of_detroit
Member
Username: Sean_of_detroit
Post Number: 364
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 9:46 pm: | |
That really stinks though...
Good to know that your keeping on walking.
They say there is a calm after the storm. Honestly, I'm not really sure if that is true. It seems like it is most of the time though. |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 2145
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 9:48 pm: | |
Don't forget, we also must clean up the damage from the storm.
That's the hard part. 
(Message edited by DetroitRise on May 17, 2008) |
Ghetto_butterfly
Member
Username: Ghetto_butterfly
Post Number: 840
Registered: 09-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 9:54 pm: | |
That's why I'm moving back to "Socialistic" Europe (although I am actually going home sweet home). But before any of you call me a snob, I've been there and done that during my years in the US. Having 2 degrees, knowing 4 languages, experience and holding high-paying jobs, then getting laid off, working jobs such as receptionist or working at a place that is total hell just to get a paycheck, just to make ends meet and raising a kid by myself, all that has tought me to depend on myself, rely on myself and do whatever it takes to survive. Anybody can do it if they have the survival mindset. |
Sean_of_detroit
Member
Username: Sean_of_detroit
Post Number: 365
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 10:03 pm: | |
Oh, about the fast food jobs.
The problem is that these jobs don't pay enough to support anyone other than yourself. If you have a family, they don't work. That is especially true among single parents. Another thing I really don't like is that new business tax. I'm sure some of you have heard of it. Is it just me, or does that law really make it less feasible for lower paying jobs to pay older employees? I haven't really looked into the whole thing as much as I should have yet, but it seems like it has tons of loopholes. One of these loopholes is the pay scale. They don't have to pay as much to high school aged students as they do to people over 18. I would guess that would make it hard to get a job at a fast food restaurant or retail store around here.
To anyone who knows this new law well; Am I correct in my understanding? |
Spacemonkey
Member
Username: Spacemonkey
Post Number: 603
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, May 18, 2008 - 8:19 am: | |
Patrick, I worked on that ACDelco account ten years ago. That was shocking news to hear it moved from C-E to Leo Burnett and that many people at C-E were laid off because of it.
Thing is, Burnett is in Troy, so the work is still in the area, but I heard LB didn't hire on any more workers to do the work, they're just letting their present workers take on the extra load. Does that make sense? |
Jerrytimes
Member
Username: Jerrytimes
Post Number: 138
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, May 18, 2008 - 5:34 pm: | |
If anyone out there is looking for somewhere to apply to, my recommendation is to check out your local communications companies (AT&T, WOW, Comcast, the dish companies, Brighthouse). They all ways seem to be hiring and there tend to be numerous positions available. Sales, technical, office stuff. They even have contracting companies that work for them that will also employ people. |
Sean_of_detroit
Member
Username: Sean_of_detroit
Post Number: 369
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, May 18, 2008 - 6:05 pm: | |
Awesome idea Jerrytimes. If anyone is following that recommendation, I can supply a few references for Brighthouse... If you see a job you like there, let me know before you apply!
Unfortunately, nothing in the city. They only cover Livonia, Canton, Redford, and Westland I think. It's not much, but I could get a good word in for ya. |
Rid0617
Member
Username: Rid0617
Post Number: 136
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Monday, May 19, 2008 - 1:41 am: | |
If they have tech support I might give you a call if we go there. I've been building and servicing computers out of my home for 6 years. |
Spacemonkey
Member
Username: Spacemonkey
Post Number: 607
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Monday, May 19, 2008 - 4:48 pm: | |
Just found out that four of my previous Detroit advertising co-workers have moved to Austin, TX for advertising jobs over the past 4 months. Business is booming there.
Any of you know anything about Austin, Texas and what it's like to live there? The job market, schooling, cost of living etc.
My house goes up for sale tomorrow. Worked out all the details with the realtor yesterday. Signed the papers and such. My wife and I are short-selling, then getting an apartment. That will free us up to move out of state. |