julie5
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,611
Jul 11, 2018 15:20:45 GMT
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Post by julie5 on May 13, 2021 10:34:26 GMT
Also since I know I’ll get bashed, if we all sit around and expect the government to pay us to sta the home during a pandemic, amd we eventually become reliant on that since we’ll lose job skills-isn’t that communism. I mean how long do really want to ride the government money. I get it, don’t want to get the virus. But we’re past the one year mark, we’re on track with the vaccine, at some point we have to redefine our normal amd get to it. You obviously have zero knowledge about political systems, now do you? I haven’t come back to this thread because I don’t have an appropriate response but I wanted to validate those who’ve commented towards me by saying—-no. I do not have any understanding of politics and apparently this labor issue is completely separate from the unemployment issue and I did not know that. I apologize.
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Post by jeremysgirl on May 13, 2021 11:06:34 GMT
You obviously have zero knowledge about political systems, now do you? I haven’t come back to this thread because I don’t have an appropriate response but I wanted to validate those who’ve commented towards me by saying—-no. I do not have any understanding of politics and apparently this labor issue is completely separate from the unemployment issue and I did not know that. I apologize. I don't want to pick on you because I think you're a really nice person and it took balls to come back here and say this. But your comments on this thread are exactly the kind of misinformation that is so troubling to me. Where did your original thoughts come from? And I ask because I made two Facebook posts yesterday on my wall based on the information shared on this thread to try to combat some of the posts I've seen on Facebook from others who are completely misinformed. I just want to know where this is coming from so I can do a better job of answering it. I had two friends out of work during the shut down. One was a chiropractor and the other a nurse practitioner who specializes in hematology and oncology. Her hospital laid off workers who were "unnecessary" to fighting covid. If it wasn't for that extra $600 a week both of them would have lost everything. They are professionals. It isn't just minimum wage workers that are out of work or were out of work. Both of them have found other employment as of right now and are doing better. That enhanced unemployment didn't keep either of them from looking for work. It just helped them survive losing their middle class to upper middle class livelihoods. My DD is out of work. She was a night manager at a restaurant. She was making $11.50 an hour working 45-50 hours a week. She qualified for $182 in unemployment by the states calculations and then the extra $300. So she is not making more money on unemployment that she was working. And she was in a low income job. It also hasn't stopped her from looking for other employment or finishing up her trade school. But she's not getting rich off unemployment either. And it hasn't been enough to not motivate her to find a job. So I have seen the enhanced unemployment at work anecdotally. And it fits right with what experts are telling us. And I want to say that I don't know how disabled your son is. And for that I'm sorry. But my DD was a high school honor student. She has chosen a trade and trades are not a lesser choice than college. They are a different choice. I don't want underperforming people working on my house. And she would be very offended to hear the idea that her choosing a trade is because she couldn't make it in college. That couldn't be further from the truth. She just didn't want to spend her career sitting at a desk. She's a very high energy, active kid. You'd be surprised how many kids thought her electrical program was going to be the easier alternative to college and didn't make it through the program. Anyway I'll get off my soapbox about that. But I want to know, if you wouldn't mind telling us, where your initial comments came from. What are you hearing? And where are you hearing it?
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julie5
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,611
Jul 11, 2018 15:20:45 GMT
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Post by julie5 on May 13, 2021 11:25:47 GMT
jeremysgirl I guess my assumptions had no real basis in fact. As for trades, I wasn’t knocking them. I wish I could go back in time and encourage my oldest when she was interested in hair styling. It’s a totally respectable trade. But I foolishly thought college or bust. Thank you for your kind response. I’ll take this to heart and do some reading. It’s not the first time I’ve stuck my foot in my mouth here.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Mar 28, 2024 20:58:15 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2021 13:51:04 GMT
Also since I know I’ll get bashed, if we all sit around and expect the government to pay us to sta the home during a pandemic, amd we eventually become reliant on that since we’ll lose job skills-isn’t that communism. I mean how long do really want to ride the government money. I get it, don’t want to get the virus. But we’re past the one year mark, we’re on track with the vaccine, at some point we have to redefine our normal amd get to it. You obviously have zero knowledge about political systems, now do you? In the US it's often not about "political systems" - it's about scaremongering. Americans have been taught to hate and fear the thought of "communism" - so when something is scary or unknown or complicated/multi-faceted they often (not talking about @julie5 here) will just throw the scary buzzwords at it. The two favorite words that the mega-rich have taught the middle-class to fear are: socialism and communism (which, btw, they use as synonyms).
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sassyangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,456
Jun 26, 2014 23:58:32 GMT
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Post by sassyangel on May 13, 2021 13:53:23 GMT
You obviously have zero knowledge about political systems, now do you? I haven’t come back to this thread because I don’t have an appropriate response but I wanted to validate those who’ve commented towards me by saying—-no. I do not have any understanding of politics and apparently this labor issue is completely separate from the unemployment issue and I did not know that. I apologize. I think it takes guts to admit that. I can appreciate this is an emotive issue, it’s just something that I think is far more complex than just the flippant social media sound bites and labels being thrown around on there. These are not normal times. If it needs quantifying as something, I’d call it more a stop gap, safety net because of a global pandemic under capitalism, personally. 🙂
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julie5
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,611
Jul 11, 2018 15:20:45 GMT
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Post by julie5 on May 13, 2021 14:31:49 GMT
As to where I got my info-it’s anecdotal. Signs in every business. I live in a red town in a red county in a red state. Baby steps. I’ll keep digging and learning. It’s the only way anything changes.
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Post by lisacharlotte on May 13, 2021 14:44:29 GMT
Also since I know I’ll get bashed, if we all sit around and expect the government to pay us to sta the home during a pandemic, amd we eventually become reliant on that since we’ll lose job skills-isn’t that communism. I mean how long do really want to ride the government money. I get it, don’t want to get the virus. But we’re past the one year mark, we’re on track with the vaccine, at some point we have to redefine our normal amd get to it. its not gov’t money, its taxpayer money. Taxpayers who don’t have accountants to protect their assets with creative tax breaks and shelters. It’s those people working at Menards making middle class salary.
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Post by hop2 on May 13, 2021 14:58:50 GMT
Yeah, and these supposedly ‘desperate’ hiring managers keep turning down my DD for being ‘over qualified’ with a bachelors degree. Or they want to pay her less than her current part time gig. One would have to be stupid to accept that. DD is not stupid.
Pay decent wages, have a semi regular schedule with adequate hours, and maybe even health benefits or something. Maybe provide child care that’s a big issue here due to random school covid closures.
I don’t find most people to be inherently lazy - not really. But they do want to be treated properly and valued.
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sassyangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,456
Jun 26, 2014 23:58:32 GMT
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Post by sassyangel on May 13, 2021 15:15:47 GMT
As to where I got my info-it’s anecdotal. Signs in every business. I live in a red town in a red county in a red state. Baby steps. I’ll keep digging and learning. It’s the only way anything changes. If I looked around my red state town, I might wonder the same. However, I was paying attention before the pandemic and the “help wanted” “now hiring” signs were in abundance everywhere long before it. Has the pandemic not helped? Maybe. But a lot of these places have long been looking for help (and our regular weekly unemployment maxed payment is crap) - which leads me to think in a lot of these places, the pandemic is a convenient thing to blame.
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Post by hop2 on May 13, 2021 15:27:59 GMT
I don’t think that the unemployment shortage has been completely caused by stimulus money, but locally my DH has seen stimulus money effect many restaurant owners. He works in food distribution and many local restaurants have had people quit because” I got my stimulus money and don’t need to work now”. Employees have literally said those words to their employers. More than one has had to close or shorten hours due to a lack of employees. These are people that already had these same jobs so it’s not due to scheduling or something else about the job. They are advertising and actively looking for people. Some have said people will schedule an interview and just not show up for the interview. Several fast food places in our area are only doing drive-thru service and I think it’s because they can run with fewer employees and it’s more cost effective overall not to have the dining room open. Ok since you want anecdotal ‘evidence’ here’s some things that I’ve seen recently anecdotally: Food service workers? The ones that get paid less than $5/hr and have to depend on tips. Tips people don’t leave for a take out or curbside order which is currently the majority of the business? You mean they don’t want to come back at $5/hr one week and be off next week because there’s not enough hours because there’s not enough business? Or because someone tested positive and now the place is temporarily closed? Those food service workers? Or the fast food worker that your paying $8 an hour but only staffing 2 people per shift in the entire restaurant and expect one to cover both the counter and the drive thru and one to literally prepare ALL the food? No extra bodies to prep. Those tomatoes aren’t going to slice themselves while the one person you’ve allocated to work the food area flips those burgers. Food service is very hard work and most of the workers are grossly underpaid. The pandemic has added a crap ton of uncertainty & lack of stability to the industry. But the payers want to go on as if nothing has changed. Life changed - the world changed - get over it & adapt My state is at 7.6% unemployment and dropping people are working but let’s knock the crap out of the 7.6% that for some reason can’t. Yeah that will solve problems ( sarcasm ) Again, pay people a decent wage, provide adequate hours and you will find people to work for you. Maybe doordash & instacart pays more than fast food and you have more control of your hours. If you can’t find people to work for you then revisit how much your paying them and what hours your working them
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Mar 28, 2024 20:58:15 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2021 15:51:15 GMT
I don’t think that the unemployment shortage has been completely caused by stimulus money, but locally my DH has seen stimulus money effect many restaurant owners. He works in food distribution and many local restaurants have had people quit because” I got my stimulus money and don’t need to work now”. Employees have literally said those words to their employers. More than one has had to close or shorten hours due to a lack of employees. These are people that already had these same jobs so it’s not due to scheduling or something else about the job. They are advertising and actively looking for people. Some have said people will schedule an interview and just not show up for the interview. Several fast food places in our area are only doing drive-thru service and I think it’s because they can run with fewer employees and it’s more cost effective overall not to have the dining room open. Do you have actual proof of these "stories"? I mean, did you hear it directly from the employee who quit, not your DH who heard from a manager who may or may not be the one who was told this. I have not heard of a single worker who quit upon getting the stimulus check because they don't need to work now. That's bullshit. They probably quit because the check would be enough to pay their bills for a bit while they looked for a better job.
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huskergal
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,939
Jun 25, 2014 20:22:13 GMT
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Post by huskergal on May 13, 2021 15:55:37 GMT
The problem is greed.
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Post by Merge on May 13, 2021 16:28:19 GMT
yes, but... don't you think those people would WANT to come back to work if they were getting paid MORE than the unemployment check is?? If their job had good benefits, etc.? If their stimulus money is enough to live on (for at the least short term), then employers have to give people some INCENTIVE to want to come back to work. A more flexible schedule, more hours, vacation time, career advancement opportunities, SOMETHING. There HAS to be *something* about the jobs that people don't like; employers just aren't finding out what it is. I think everyone would like to be paid more. These small Mom & Pop companies aren’t getting rich by keeping their pay low. Most of them can’t afford to offer benefits like insurance. It’s absolutely cost prohibitive. In order to raise employee wages and offer benefits they would have to raise prices significantly. It’s a vicious cycle. Whatever the solution is, it's *not* that people should be willing to take jobs that don't pay a living wage or benefits to keep mom and pop places afloat.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Mar 28, 2024 20:58:15 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2021 16:37:14 GMT
"10 percent of the richest people in the United States own almost 70 percent of the country’s total wealth. As of June 2019, the top 10 percent held 69.4 percent of total U.S. net worth (that is the value of all assets a person holds minus all their liabilities). The top 1 percent held about half of that wealth – 32.4 percent, while the next 9 percent held approximately another half at 37 percent. The bottom 50 percent of U.S. residents only held about 2 percent of all of U.S. wealth. As recently as 2011, that number was as low as 0.2 percent, caused by the downswing of the Great Recession. Looking the development of U.S. wealth distribution since 1989, the rich have in fact gotten richer, with the top 1 percent expanding their wealth share from 24 percent to 32 percent. The next 9 percent has remained steady at 37 percent while the 50-90 percentile has been holding less wealth, 29 percent in 2019 – down from 35 percent in 1989. The bottom 50 percent, after the recession setback, have only now recovered to pre-recession levels." The money is out there - it's just concentrated in TOO FEW hands.
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huskergal
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,939
Jun 25, 2014 20:22:13 GMT
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Post by huskergal on May 13, 2021 16:45:57 GMT
If you want to make money and don't want to pay employees a fair wage, do all the work yourself. If you can't afford to pay your employees a fair wage, you have a bad business model. Don't act like you are doing people a favor giving them a crappy job with crappy wages/benefits and crappy hours.
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Post by hop2 on May 13, 2021 17:11:32 GMT
You obviously have zero knowledge about political systems, now do you? I haven’t come back to this thread because I don’t have an appropriate response but I wanted to validate those who’ve commented towards me by saying—-no. I do not have any understanding of politics and apparently this labor issue is completely separate from the unemployment issue and I did not know that. I apologize. No need to apologize. There’s so much “news” out there telling us all this anecdotal stuff but anecdotes are not wide spread causes. Do I think someone told their boss they won’t come back because they are doing ok on unemployment? Sure. There’s always someone - some even have valid reasons like child care. But that doesn’t explain the labor shortages in a wide spread fashion. Especially where unemployment is under %4.5. That’s why it’s good to have these discussions so we can see other points of view - even if it’s other anecdotal stuff it still a different world view.
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Post by crazy4scraps on May 13, 2021 19:42:17 GMT
That's not entirely true and you know it. People are putting in applications for jobs that are being dismissed because they're overqualified or the system dumped them because a key word was not listed. Also, things are much worse than they were back in the days that many of us were struggling. Rents and other costs are higher, wages have not risen proportionately, and “difficult” doesn’t begin to describe the problem of jobs that expect workers to be available at a moment’s notice, but also don’t promise any minimum number of hours. No one can live on part-time work, and because of schedule flexibility expectations, it’s nearly impossible to keep 2-3 part time jobs as it used to be. One of the problems my senior has had is that low-pay jobs still expect complete schedule flexibility. They’re not willing to hire someone still in school for an evening/weekend job because they only want people who are available during all opening hours. The idea that $13/hr is too much for a burger flipper is laughable. Even at full time, that’s well below the poverty level. People can neither add a second job nor go to school to better themselves because if the expectation of endless availability. I really wish people my age and older would let go of the idea that because we did something, people today should be able to do it too. Our society is not the same. I temped in factories in south Omaha during college breaks, and it was hard, hot work, but those workers had a guarantee of full time with paid vacation, benefits, and a pension. Nothing like that exists for most people any more. (ETA: senior just texted me as I was typing to tell me she’s applying at Mod Pizza. Fingers crossed that they’re willing to hire her for afternoon/weekend work and will allow her to set aside certain days for lessons and performances. Other places aren’t willing to do that. When I was in high school, I was able to have a job that let me designate certain off days around my extra curricular schedule, but most employers today aren’t willing to do that. Employees that are have more applicants than they can possibly hire. Short story is, if you can’t find enough workers, look at how you’re treating the ones you have. If you don’t allow people to have a life and still keep their job, your business model sucks and you should have no expectation of people being willing to work for you.) The inflexible corporate attitude toward “flexible scheduling” is what is keeping me from looking for even a part time job. I have a “job” already running my DH’s office (which I can really do any time of day or night) but I cannot work a flexible schedule elsewhere because for now I have to be home for my kid when she’s not in school. Every employer expects you to be able to work any hours they’re open, any day of the week and the schedule can change from week to week. It’s damn near impossible to get hired if the only hours you can work are M-F, 9-3.
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Post by mollycoddle on May 13, 2021 21:37:58 GMT
jeremysgirl I guess my assumptions had no real basis in fact. As for trades, I wasn’t knocking them. I wish I could go back in time and encourage my oldest when she was interested in hair styling. It’s a totally respectable trade. But I foolishly thought college or bust. Thank you for your kind response. I’ll take this to heart and do some reading. It’s not the first time I’ve stuck my foot in my mouth here. Oh my dear, if I had a dollar for every time that my foot has somehow gotten into my mouth, I would be a rich woman. It happens.
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Post by cannmom on May 13, 2021 23:35:46 GMT
I don’t think that the unemployment shortage has been completely caused by stimulus money, but locally my DH has seen stimulus money effect many restaurant owners. He works in food distribution and many local restaurants have had people quit because” I got my stimulus money and don’t need to work now”. Employees have literally said those words to their employers. More than one has had to close or shorten hours due to a lack of employees. These are people that already had these same jobs so it’s not due to scheduling or something else about the job. They are advertising and actively looking for people. Some have said people will schedule an interview and just not show up for the interview. Several fast food places in our area are only doing drive-thru service and I think it’s because they can run with fewer employees and it’s more cost effective overall not to have the dining room open. Ok since you want anecdotal ‘evidence’ here’s some things that I’ve seen recently anecdotally: Food service workers? The ones that get paid less than $5/hr and have to depend on tips. Tips people don’t leave for a take out or curbside order which is currently the majority of the business? You mean they don’t want to come back at $5/hr one week and be off next week because there’s not enough hours because there’s not enough business? Or because someone tested positive and now the place is temporarily closed? Those food service workers? Or the fast food worker that your paying $8 an hour but only staffing 2 people per shift in the entire restaurant and expect one to cover both the counter and the drive thru and one to literally prepare ALL the food? No extra bodies to prep. Those tomatoes aren’t going to slice themselves while the one person you’ve allocated to work the food area flips those burgers. Food service is very hard work and most of the workers are grossly underpaid. The pandemic has added a crap ton of uncertainty & lack of stability to the industry. But the payers want to go on as if nothing has changed. Life changed - the world changed - get over it & adapt My state is at 7.6% unemployment and dropping people are working but let’s knock the crap out of the 7.6% that for some reason can’t. Yeah that will solve problems ( sarcasm ) Again, pay people a decent wage, provide adequate hours and you will find people to work for you. Maybe doordash & instacart pays more than fast food and you have more control of your hours. If you can’t find people to work for you then revisit how much your paying them and what hours your working them I agree that there are major problems with the economy and the lowest paid employees. These are jobs that are paying $15 an hour and they still can’t get people. I just don’t know what the solution is. Trust me I’m not a conservative saying that people need to just find a job and work. $15 an hour is not bad for unskilled labor and these businesses still can’t get people.
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Post by hop2 on May 14, 2021 2:17:15 GMT
Ok since you want anecdotal ‘evidence’ here’s some things that I’ve seen recently anecdotally: Food service workers? The ones that get paid less than $5/hr and have to depend on tips. Tips people don’t leave for a take out or curbside order which is currently the majority of the business? You mean they don’t want to come back at $5/hr one week and be off next week because there’s not enough hours because there’s not enough business? Or because someone tested positive and now the place is temporarily closed? Those food service workers? Or the fast food worker that your paying $8 an hour but only staffing 2 people per shift in the entire restaurant and expect one to cover both the counter and the drive thru and one to literally prepare ALL the food? No extra bodies to prep. Those tomatoes aren’t going to slice themselves while the one person you’ve allocated to work the food area flips those burgers. Food service is very hard work and most of the workers are grossly underpaid. The pandemic has added a crap ton of uncertainty & lack of stability to the industry. But the payers want to go on as if nothing has changed. Life changed - the world changed - get over it & adapt My state is at 7.6% unemployment and dropping people are working but let’s knock the crap out of the 7.6% that for some reason can’t. Yeah that will solve problems ( sarcasm ) Again, pay people a decent wage, provide adequate hours and you will find people to work for you. Maybe doordash & instacart pays more than fast food and you have more control of your hours. If you can’t find people to work for you then revisit how much your paying them and what hours your working them I agree that there are major problems with the economy and the lowest paid employees. These are jobs that are paying $15 an hour and they still can’t get people. I just don’t know what the solution is. Trust me I’m not a conservative saying that people need to just find a job and work. $15 an hour is not bad for unskilled labor and these businesses still can’t get people. It is a complicated issue 👍🏻
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Post by crazy4scraps on May 14, 2021 17:20:29 GMT
I agree that there are major problems with the economy and the lowest paid employees. These are jobs that are paying $15 an hour and they still can’t get people. I just don’t know what the solution is. Trust me I’m not a conservative saying that people need to just find a job and work. $15 an hour is not bad for unskilled labor and these businesses still can’t get people. They can’t get people because the work environment sucks. Back in the day if all you could get was a string of part time jobs, at least it was doable because you could get a couple jobs with set hours so a person could plan their life. Now all of these companies don’t want to do that. They want a minimum number of employees that can work any time of the day or night. Another thing is that stores and other retail places used to close earlier at night so people could be home with their kids and families. Now almost every place is open until 9-10pm or even 24 hours, plus weekends and most holidays. There’s no way to have any kind of decent work-life balance when the employers expect a handful of people to be able to cover every possible shift, cut hours when the workload is slow or force overtime when a bunch of people quit. Another thing I’ve read that is different now compared to years ago is that there are a lot more people these days who can’t pass the drug test that many companies require.
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Post by Merge on May 14, 2021 17:52:52 GMT
I agree that there are major problems with the economy and the lowest paid employees. These are jobs that are paying $15 an hour and they still can’t get people. I just don’t know what the solution is. Trust me I’m not a conservative saying that people need to just find a job and work. $15 an hour is not bad for unskilled labor and these businesses still can’t get people. They can’t get people because the work environment sucks. Back in the day if all you could get was a string of part time jobs, at least it was doable because you could get a couple jobs with set hours so a person could plan their life. Now all of these companies don’t want to do that. They want a minimum number of employees that can work any time of the day or night. Another thing is that stores and other retail places used to close earlier at night so people could be home with their kids and families. Now almost every place is open until 9-10pm or even 24 hours, plus weekends and most holidays. There’s no way to have any kind of decent work-life balance when the employers expect a handful of people to be able to cover every possible shift, cut hours when the workload is slow or force overtime when a bunch of people quit. Another thing I’ve read that is different now compared to years ago is that there are a lot more people these days who can’t pass the drug test that many companies require. Some companies should look at whether their drug testing policy is really keeping people safe, or just excluding good people from their applicant pool. IMO drug testing is antiquated. It’s been used by some companies to exclude people of color from being hired. Unless you are a forklift operator or drive a bus, or do something where a lot of people could be hurt before anyone realized you were high, it’s really none of the employer’s business.
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Post by aj2hall on May 14, 2021 19:56:04 GMT
Other things like tattoos, too are sometimes a barrier to employment. Our state police fairly recently dropped the requirement that you couldn’t have tattoos on your forearm.
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Post by crazy4scraps on May 15, 2021 4:00:17 GMT
They can’t get people because the work environment sucks. Back in the day if all you could get was a string of part time jobs, at least it was doable because you could get a couple jobs with set hours so a person could plan their life. Now all of these companies don’t want to do that. They want a minimum number of employees that can work any time of the day or night. Another thing is that stores and other retail places used to close earlier at night so people could be home with their kids and families. Now almost every place is open until 9-10pm or even 24 hours, plus weekends and most holidays. There’s no way to have any kind of decent work-life balance when the employers expect a handful of people to be able to cover every possible shift, cut hours when the workload is slow or force overtime when a bunch of people quit. Another thing I’ve read that is different now compared to years ago is that there are a lot more people these days who can’t pass the drug test that many companies require. Some companies should look at whether their drug testing policy is really keeping people safe, or just excluding good people from their applicant pool. IMO drug testing is antiquated. It’s been used by some companies to exclude people of color from being hired. Unless you are a forklift operator or drive a bus, or do something where a lot of people could be hurt before anyone realized you were high, it’s really none of the employer’s business. I think a big part of it was due to the huge increase in people addicted to OxyContin.
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Post by Merge on May 15, 2021 4:06:10 GMT
Some companies should look at whether their drug testing policy is really keeping people safe, or just excluding good people from their applicant pool. IMO drug testing is antiquated. It’s been used by some companies to exclude people of color from being hired. Unless you are a forklift operator or drive a bus, or do something where a lot of people could be hurt before anyone realized you were high, it’s really none of the employer’s business. I think a big part of it was due to the huge increase in people addicted to OxyContin. Drug testing has been around forever, though. And if you are addicted, should that really keep you from working as a sales clerk somewhere? Or a barista? If you can’t perform the job, they can fire you, but maybe the benefits that come with the job could help the addicted person get treatment. If we started treating drug addiction like other medical conditions (which it is), instead of a character flaw, employers wouldn’t have the right to ask about it/test for it anyway.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Mar 28, 2024 20:58:15 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2021 4:32:39 GMT
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Post by crazy4scraps on May 15, 2021 5:19:15 GMT
I think a big part of it was due to the huge increase in people addicted to OxyContin. Drug testing has been around forever, though. And if you are addicted, should that really keep you from working as a sales clerk somewhere? Or a barista? If you can’t perform the job, they can fire you, but maybe the benefits that come with the job could help the addicted person get treatment. If we started treating drug addiction like other medical conditions (which it is), instead of a character flaw, employers wouldn’t have the right to ask about it/test for it anyway. I agree with you to a point. However, sales clerks and baristas handle cash and I probably wouldn’t want to hire someone to be a cashier who is more likely to steal from me to get their next high. I know someone who owns a restaurant who had an employee that was stealing other employee’s tips and also right from the cash register to fund their drug habit. She had to wait to fire the person until she had concrete proof of who was suspected of doing it which took a while. If that employee got fired without cause they would be able to collect unemployment and that makes the employer’s unemployment insurance costs go up. The employer most likely wants to screen potential workers to cover their own butts in multiple ways.
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michellegb
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,914
Location: New England and loving it!
Jun 26, 2014 0:04:59 GMT
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Post by michellegb on May 15, 2021 10:12:20 GMT
THIS is a big part of the messed up corporate culture we have cultivated in this country. And I agree with all the talk about companies basically requiring you to pledge all of your hours to them alone. In my twenties I held two jobs because I was able to work full time and work part-time specific hours. I looked until I found a second job that fit. None of the big retailers will do that anymore. They have created the environment that is causing them issues. It's not hard to figure out.
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J u l e e
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,531
Location: Cincinnati
Jun 28, 2014 2:50:47 GMT
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Post by J u l e e on May 15, 2021 11:56:30 GMT
^^same. My first few years out of college I taught third grade full time and worked in a clothing store (discount on clothes to wear to work for someone straight out of college who had nothing professional!) in the evenings and on weekends, and also taught an aerobics class on weekends at a gym. Both of those places allowed me to work the hours I had available outside of my full time job and helped me pay down my student loans, etc.
My daughter is home for the summer and working at Old Navy and taking summer classes. The only way she is able to take classes this summer, especially one she needs that isn’t offered in the fall, is because her class is virtual and she can watch the lectures asynchronously - because Old Navy won’t schedule around that. She misses bonus points for not attending the lecture in person because she’s trying to work and save money. It’s Old Navy, people! Come on! Help a 19 year old out.
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Post by Merge on May 15, 2021 12:16:58 GMT
Drug testing has been around forever, though. And if you are addicted, should that really keep you from working as a sales clerk somewhere? Or a barista? If you can’t perform the job, they can fire you, but maybe the benefits that come with the job could help the addicted person get treatment. If we started treating drug addiction like other medical conditions (which it is), instead of a character flaw, employers wouldn’t have the right to ask about it/test for it anyway. I agree with you to a point. However, sales clerks and baristas handle cash and I probably wouldn’t want to hire someone to be a cashier who is more likely to steal from me to get their next high. I know someone who owns a restaurant who had an employee that was stealing other employee’s tips and also right from the cash register to fund their drug habit. She had to wait to fire the person until she had concrete proof of who was suspected of doing it which took a while. If that employee got fired without cause they would be able to collect unemployment and that makes the employer’s unemployment insurance costs go up. The employer most likely wants to screen potential workers to cover their own butts in multiple ways. All kinds of employees steal. In this country, you could make a reasonable argument that a diabetic is more likely to steal so they can afford insulin. Shall we screen for that, too? Drug testing for most jobs is often excluding casual pot users - even in states where it is legal - from jobs they could otherwise do well. And it contributes to the stigma of addiction, causing people to avoid seeking help.
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