I used to work in retail, at a fancy store that was mobbed during the buying season. Now I work at a nonprofit which gives employees long holidays. I have finally learned about sleep, and feel like I’ve reached the promised land. I could be one of those customers mobbing retail, but even now I remember how horrid it was and refuse to add to the suffering. I swear you can get PTSD from working retail during the buying season.
I’m a university professor. Finals week is the week before Christmas, and grades need to be posted two days before Christmas. Then we spend the next two weeks getting ready for the start of the spring semester the Monday after New Year’s Day. Not sales, but busy in its own way.
There was a time, my children, when smart people worked in IT. Not everything was plug and play back then. You had to know stuff and do things. One of the things you did was look forward to holidays, when all the office people would go home and stop calling 1-800-DO-MY-JOB, giving you a few precious days to do the work you were actually hired to do. I retired at 54 because of IT support. At 68, the dreams are starting to lose their awful clarity, and life is good.
I still leave voicemail on Dave the Engineer’s desk phone sometimes, reminding him to try turning on his monitor before calling IT, but it doesn’t make my eyes twitch with sick joy the way it used to.
I’ve been working with a DOS program for the last month. Proprietary company software that is still in use. Using it makes me feel like I’m in the movie War Games.
I worked for an employer who gave employees sick pay but only if you were sick two weeks which basically ment you almost had to be at deaths door before you got sick pay. But sick pay wasn’t full pay so it wasn’t desirable anyway. Luckily I only collected sick pay once when I nearly got pneumonia. Otherwise I just stayed home in misery knowing I’d be missing a days pay and have to work extra hard when I came back because I was the only full time employee in my department.
They probably did it that way because they’d seldom have to give anyone sick pay thus making it affordable for them. I worked for a small company without super deep pockets.
But I’d like to take this one step further. I was able to survive because i was a tightwad and had a job that paid fairly well for the time. These days pay hasn’t kept up with inflation and so many families live paycheck to paycheck. No matter how much they try to save even the loss of one days pay is a disaster. Back in the day the minimum wage was increased from time to time boosting the pay for everybody but these days the mere mention of raising minimum wage immediate brings howls of protest and a solid wall of resistance.
I think people have been born and have reached legal working age without an increase to the minimum wage. It’s an insane reference point. If they’re not going to increase it, at least rename it. Impossible Wage would work nicely.
I love it when Tabby breaks out the popcorn. And all those helpful signs!
More cats please
I used to work in retail, at a fancy store that was mobbed during the buying season. Now I work at a nonprofit which gives employees long holidays. I have finally learned about sleep, and feel like I’ve reached the promised land. I could be one of those customers mobbing retail, but even now I remember how horrid it was and refuse to add to the suffering. I swear you can get PTSD from working retail during the buying season.
The PTSD is very real.
Working retail does take some of the fun away from the holidays.
I'm a mail carrier. Yes, things get a little busy at work.
Yeah, I would say that qualifies as busy. I’m next to a sorting station that has to have traffic cops starting in November.
I thought that one time Tabby mentioned working at a cat rescue?
That is true. She was also taking classes. I might revisit that.
The signs are the best part.
Well done!
I’m a university professor. Finals week is the week before Christmas, and grades need to be posted two days before Christmas. Then we spend the next two weeks getting ready for the start of the spring semester the Monday after New Year’s Day. Not sales, but busy in its own way.
I worked at a University Library. I miss the week between Christmas and New Year’s that we were closed. Such a nice break in limbo.
There was a time, my children, when smart people worked in IT. Not everything was plug and play back then. You had to know stuff and do things. One of the things you did was look forward to holidays, when all the office people would go home and stop calling 1-800-DO-MY-JOB, giving you a few precious days to do the work you were actually hired to do. I retired at 54 because of IT support. At 68, the dreams are starting to lose their awful clarity, and life is good.
I still leave voicemail on Dave the Engineer’s desk phone sometimes, reminding him to try turning on his monitor before calling IT, but it doesn’t make my eyes twitch with sick joy the way it used to.
I’ve been working with a DOS program for the last month. Proprietary company software that is still in use. Using it makes me feel like I’m in the movie War Games.
I worked for an employer who gave employees sick pay but only if you were sick two weeks which basically ment you almost had to be at deaths door before you got sick pay. But sick pay wasn’t full pay so it wasn’t desirable anyway. Luckily I only collected sick pay once when I nearly got pneumonia. Otherwise I just stayed home in misery knowing I’d be missing a days pay and have to work extra hard when I came back because I was the only full time employee in my department.
That’s a new one. What an odd setup. You basically had to be on short term disability in order to get sick pay.
They probably did it that way because they’d seldom have to give anyone sick pay thus making it affordable for them. I worked for a small company without super deep pockets.
But I’d like to take this one step further. I was able to survive because i was a tightwad and had a job that paid fairly well for the time. These days pay hasn’t kept up with inflation and so many families live paycheck to paycheck. No matter how much they try to save even the loss of one days pay is a disaster. Back in the day the minimum wage was increased from time to time boosting the pay for everybody but these days the mere mention of raising minimum wage immediate brings howls of protest and a solid wall of resistance.
I think people have been born and have reached legal working age without an increase to the minimum wage. It’s an insane reference point. If they’re not going to increase it, at least rename it. Impossible Wage would work nicely.