Hard Work Doesn't Pay Off

Hard work doesn't pay off! Hard work doesn't pay off! You're just a wage slave ... blah, blah, blah.

We hear it all the time from people who want the minimum wages raised. They whine constantly about how no one can just go into a job and earn their way up the ladder anymore. It's impossible! It just can't be done, so people need to start out at what they think they're worth.

And the constant reply is that no employee who does a good job stays at the minimum for long. They move up; they get promoted. They get experience and skills that let them get better jobs with better pay, etc.

Yes. It's true.

And right now, it's easier than ever. Do you know why? The COVID economy. That's why. Businesses are literally starving for want of employees. All the whiners and complainers are busy sitting on their butts on the couch taking temporary unemployment instead of getting jobs. And they're short-sighted fools.

You move up faster now than you will when the government stops paying you and you have to compete with all your slacker bros. You could be well established, possibly even promoted by the time they drag their worthless butts off the couch, but no ... you're all going to sit their milking the situation until you can't anymore, and then you'll be back where you started - at the bottom. And the complaints and whining will start all over again.

Do you know how I know this is real?

Once again I've lived it.

When the shutdown happened, I got laid off into contract employment by the company I've worked for since 2008. It was less than I was making before; it was less than unemployment would have been. But I kept working anyhow. This past March, I got called back with a potential full-time opportunity. I applied, interviewed and was hired. I started in April, got my first raise and my 90-day eval. And today, I was offered my first promotion.

The speed of all this sounds like a lot, but I know it's due to the COVID economy. It's a workers' market. Jobs are easy to find, even salaried ones with benefits. All you need to do is be able to show up on time and work quickly, efficiently, and with competence. It pays off, and I know that in the normal course of a regular economy, this would likely have been where I would have ended up eventually, just in a longer period of time.

Why? Because I do those things: show up on time, show up reliably, and work quickly, efficiently, and with competence.

a reply to: ketsuko

Congrats on the promotion and a job well done!!!

That's really cool. I'm happy for you.

a reply to: ketsuko

Why work when Crypto make you rich for doing nothing!

a reply to: Boadicea

I'm happy too, but when I think about all the people who say stuff like this never happens, it makes me angry.

It does. It's happening all over my office because they're working to fill and backfill positions that were left open after COVID, and while they can get applicants, no one shows for interviews. And it's not just where I work. It's all over. Anyone who can clear the bar is going to do pretty well for themselves right now.

originally posted by: ketsuko
...show up on time, show up reliably, and work quickly, efficiently, and with competence.

Huh, I thought we weren't allowed to do that anymore... You know, something about being 'actively' anti-racist and all that.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Boadicea

I'm happy too, but when I think about all the people who say stuff like this never happens, it makes me angry.

It does. It's happening all over my office because they're working to fill and backfill positions that were left open after COVID, and while they can get applicants, no one shows for interviews. And it's not just where I work. It's all over. Anyone who can clear the bar is going to do pretty well for themselves right now.

I hear the same from my husband and son. Both of their places of employment need employees, both are actively hiring, both are offering paid training with no experience required, both are offering increased wages, but no one wants to show up, on time, and get the job done. Those who do show up spend more time complaining about how this isn't fair or they don't get paid enough to do that -- and that's when they're not on the phone or taking smoke breaks.

My son has taken to telling some "That's why it's called work and not super happy fun time. If that's not what you want, then you don't belong here." Both would rather do it all themselves than deal with the whining and laziness. If it weren't so darn blazing hot these days, my husband would welcome the overtime... but not right now!

You are so right OP.

We were traveling for work a few weeks ago and the hotel was a mess....the restaurant was closed, nothing was working, there were no staff. I went to the front desk and asked about something and the poor guy said...I'm so sorry. Are you aware of what things are like for businesses right now? He said he hadn't been working there long and they had already promoted him to manager. He got his promotion 6 weeks prior and hadn't had one day off since because they are so understaffed. He said they offered jobs to 48 people about a week prior and only 4 showed up.

Yesterday I was in Menards. They had a giant sign up front saying they were now starting at $16/hr. One of the older ladies that works there started up a conversation with me and said they had tried to hire around 60 people and only had 5 come to work. One of those was fired on his first day...that same day I was there. He was supposed to be there at 5am and he did get there but then slept in his car until 8am when she said one of the managers went out and fired him. LOL.

It really doesn't take much effort these days. Covid aside...not many people even know how to be professional anymore. I took a writing class at a local college a few years back and the professor told me it's gotten so bad she has students try to text her their complete final writing assignment. WTH?

a reply to: ketsuko

My child, my son is shocked at his peers.

He's in college now as a math major and getting into an internship program with a major corporation that will actually PAY HIM 60,000 a year to go to specialized schools for CT.

My kid is on track at making 120K by the time he's 21 with no student debt.

Whine, whine, whine.

The amount of time you spend here makes me question your stellar work ethic, but whatevs..

Whine, whine, whine.

a reply to: JourneyAbout

Yesterday I was in Menards. They had a giant sign up front saying they were now starting at $16/hr.

My daughter and all her college friends are working at Menards for the summer.
She was hired on the spot. They were going to get rid of the wage increase in July (I told her there is no way they are going to do that) and sure enough they extended it.

She really likes working there, but my GOODNESS does she have to deal with a lot of creeps. She is a slim tall blonde college student, so some of the stuff she hears is just too much. I'm ready to go in there and slap some people.

originally posted by: knoxie
Whine, whine, whine.

The amount of time you spend here makes me question your stellar work ethic, but whatevs..

Whine, whine, whine.

You're obviously not working either, but if you must know, my job is a matter of workflow. I work when it's there. There are some moments, particularly in the mornings, when there isn't much to do. I also, shocker, get a lunch hour. But lately, most of my posts are before I leave, in those moments, at lunch, and in the evenings.

But, of course, feel free to troll away. It's clearly the only thing that makes you happy.

a reply to: JAGStorm

That's the worst thing about retail of any kind. The customers.

a reply to: JAGStorm

She is a slim tall blonde college student.

a reply to: ketsuko

That's the worst thing about retail of any kind. The customers

Just kidding,

a reply to: Bigburgh

I too was once a slim, tall, blonde college student. I know of what the woman speaks to a certain degree.

a reply to: ketsuko

LOL..
I was a pretty big dork going through college. Wasn't till I became a paramedic that anyone took notice. But I waa still a dork. 😒


Edit: then I got old😑

a reply to: Bigburgh

Being slim, tall and blonde does not save one from being a dork.

a reply to: ketsuko

Its been a great time to make bold and risky career moves. Lots of people don't want to work and companies are having to come off more money and perks.

Personally I've made two job changes for healthy raises that would otherwise take too long if at all from former employers for the same type of work and skillset.

Get your due Kets!

a reply to: JinMI

Precisely!

This is the time to become well positioned for when all the idiots get kicked off the couch by necessity.

a reply to: ketsuko

My youngest started working for me around the yard until he saved enough for his own lawnmower.

He then went around the neighborhood mowing lawns.

He's a full union carpenter at 21

There can't ever be enough said about hard work and working your way up.

Do you deserve $15/hour....that's the question IMO

a reply to: MykeNukem

It really doesn't matter what the wage floor is at the workplace in question. If you can master the basic job skills and show up and do the work, you won't stay at the floor for long.

If I'm not working, it's because there isn't any work at the moment in time. Those moments do occur since we process in real time as orders are sent to us.

I am currently working processing cancer appointment and treatment guides, so how much we have depends on what the nurses at the various centers order from us and when. In the previous capacities I've worked for the company in, we were more shackled to deadlines where we'd be busy for two weeks and then barely working for two weeks.

Y'all just do me a favor and don't get cancer. I know I don't know real names for the most part, but I'd hate to think I'd seen anyone's name come across my desk. It's bad enough that I saw a high school teacher come across.