Work Ethic

originally posted by: Annee

So sad. Job future not looking good if you don't have a specialty that's needed.

My kid now drives one of those giant trucks in a goldmine. Much better.

Both my boys had some good lessons in what happens if you end up in a career where a HS grade can do the same job within a week.

originally posted by: LABTECH767
When you take away the reward for Work by making people's pay less and less while the rich become so far above ordinary day to day people as to live in another world it breed's discontent with work and discontent with society.

Do people really make less and less the job I started at after I retired from the military 14 years ago paid 68k with benefits, today I hire people in that same job, same benefits at about 90k? I also do not know what the rich have to do with it other than a sense of envy of why I can't have what they have.

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Annee

So sad. Job future not looking good if you don't have a specialty that's needed.

My kid now drives one of those giant trucks in a goldmine. Much better.

Both my boys had some good lessons in what happens if you end up in a career where a HS grade can do the same job within a week.

Unfortunately, my kids ADD affected her reading/reading comprehension brain signals.

But she's a good truck driver

originally posted by: Annee

But she's a good truck driver

Some jobs like that pay extremely well...

a reply to: Xtrozero

That's a good point.

And one I'm all too familiar with. I'm single and only want a small house because I don't want to keep up with more. I'd much rather have a little fixer upper and make the whole thing nice than have a huge house with mostly unused rooms.

The ones here don't stay on the market long.

I'd be happy with a 2b 2br place tucked into the woods.

a reply to: nonspecific

Yup, your application would be filed under "G" with me.

Work ethic is about you, not the company.

Sad people can't see that.

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"We don't work until we're tired or acknowledged for our efforts, we work until the job is done" - some guy with work ethic

a reply to: Mantiss2021

Have to say, looking back, that all my strong work ethic got me....was more work

I feel the exact same way. My work ethic did save me a few times from being laid off. One time only a very very small percentage of people were retained, I was one of them.

Other than that, I think work ethic can be invaluable when working for YOURSELF.
If you have a strong work ethic when working for others all you are doing is making them more money.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: JAGStorm

I actually will favor an older person for a job before a younger person.

The sense of entitlement is huge with the younger crowd.

I had to work decades before my first Gunther, manservant, intern.

I had a guy do some woodwork/carpentry for me. He was older and semi-retired. He was a true craftsman.
Underappreciated and overworked and ready to throw in the towel.
Such a shame. I think there are a lot of stories like that. It's all about quantity over quality.

a reply to: Annee

The really sad part is her boss loved her. The one she worked with every day.

But her boss was "hand tied" by upper corporation that never set foot in the store -- and only cared about the numbers.

And that's where we've gone with consumerism / capitalism.

That's such a shame. That store lost out!

a reply to: JAGStorm

When all of us old farts are dead and buried, people will miss our work ethic.

a reply to: Xtrozero

As far as work ethics go I pay you a wage and I expect some quality work in return.

I’m not talking about people wanting to do LESS than is required.
I’m talking about doing what is required and stopping right there.

Many associate work ethic with going above and beyond. The definition says “worthy of reward”.
I think we’ve seen many employers want employees to come in early stay late and not compensate them for it. There have been many lawsuits regarding that.

My question is more about is there any “reward” for that behavior? Or is it no good deed goes unpunished?

originally posted by: CriticalStinker

That's a good point.

And one I'm all too familiar with. I'm single and only want a small house because I don't want to keep up with more. I'd much rather have a little fixer upper and make the whole thing nice than have a huge house with mostly unused rooms.

The ones here don't stay on the market long.

I'd be happy with a 2b 2br place tucked into the woods.

Sounds super reasonable. I live in a huge house right now, but retiring in about 3 years we are going small even if I need to build it, single story too.

This is for you, so start buying the land and get it ready.



This one is a Musk 50k one.



I have friends that are buy land in different places and then building "tiny" houses as kind of a hobby and to establish different places they can live when they feel like it.

originally posted by: JAGStorm

I’m not talking about people wanting to do LESS than is required.
I’m talking about doing what is required and stopping right there.

Many associate work ethic with going above and beyond. The definition says “worthy of reward”.
I think we’ve seen many employers want employees to come in early stay late and not compensate them for it. There have been many lawsuits regarding that.

My question is more about is there any “reward” for that behavior? Or is it no good deed goes unpunished?

As a manger I need to be constantly aware of what my team is doing on both ends of the spectrum. I have people who would tell the scheduler they have an appt and can't work for 1/2 a day and then kind of forget to put down a 1/2 day of PTO, as example. Or they "work from home" doing basically nothing...lol so that is one end. The other is everyone on my team is salary and so I need to manage their 80 hours every two weeks. If they pull a couple of long day then I need to break them a day so they do not go over their hours very much. Maybe a couple hours past 40 is not a big deal, but 5+ and I feel the company is starting to take advantage. When I need to send them out on jobs that could be 11 hours a day 7 days a week I switch them to hourly as part of a process I have. I'm sure my PMs would love for my people to work 84 hours and only get 40 hours of pay, but I tell them we are not saving money on the backs of my workers, and they really do not want to F with me over it.

So in the end it is important to manage all sides of it and if you are not doing that, or your company isn't then they suck plain and simple.

Here's a funny one -- sort of.

I was a customer service manager at a publishing company.

Small staff -- I think it was 5 people.

I went on a 2-week vacation. My boss didn't want me to go. Then he said -- well you know a good manager if they can leave for 2-weeks, and their department runs smoothly. See you when you get back.

I had cross trained my staff and they respected me for my fairness.

So, after 2-weeks -- I come back and get called into the office. Now my boss wants to know why he should keep me, cuz my department ran without a hitch.

I reminded him

a reply to: JAGStorm

Work ethic is about knowing there is a job to do and doing it.

I work on the production side of publishing. Some days, we are dead slow and we can't wait until 5 when we can pack up and get out, but other days, we are slammed. On those days, you work on the size of the job and work 'til it's done. There is no, "I'm sorry. I know the agreement says that if you submit under deadline, we'll process it, but we want to go home and our official quit time is X ..."

originally posted by: Annee

So, after 2-weeks -- I come back and get called into the office. Now my boss wants to know why he should keep me, cuz my department ran without a hitch.

I reminded him

My wife's friend worked at a Chinese restaurant and they treated her like crap. Making her do all the nasty/crappy jobs that were not really part of what they hired her for as a cook. She told them she needed to go home for a month and they said if you take one day off we will fire you and it was the old famous lines you can't fire me, I quite! All after I talked to her when she was deciding not to go home to not lose her job. I told her they were paying her minimum wage and busting her butt everyday, with her good work ethics she could work anywhere. When she came back she doubled her pay in a much nicer place.

Even people who work for me I tell them if they do not like working here find another place that works better for you and I'll help you all I can. Done it a 1/2 dozen of times as they all ask me to be a reference.

Like i said, i do get some perks most dont. Boss loaned me the money to buy my house several years ago, if i ever need money in a pinch, its there no problem, need a day off with 6 hrs heads uo, no problem, yes 23$ an hr is low pay for my skillset and everything i do. I get paid hrly with 14hrs of time and a half, yes i could go to any high end dealer and they would hire me on the spot at 35$ an hour just by looking at where i work...we get cars from allllll the dealers when they cant figure out a problem car. Usually i get to figure them out.

Dealerships are flat rate pay, and for the last few years, i have been checking in with several techs around, and the amount of cars they get in is slim, most are warranty which pay half what a non warranty repair would cost, there just isnt enough cars to justify leaving....believe me i crunch the numbers twice a year.

We are a family owned shop, about 40 people, 40 bays, and part of it is im scared to go corporate, if i dont do well, we lose everything.

I know my boss, and thats how he likes to keep his employees, full, but not full enough to not need him, thats why i work extra, and i charge 50$ per hr on side work. So i dont have to rely on him. Its complicated, but not complicated, unfortunately im comfortable, which im trying to get out of that bubble.

Im too nice to run my own shop, i would give too much small stuff away to help people, i dont have the heart to be a businessman lol. The amount of money to open a shop with the right equipment and scanners is dumbfounding nowadays, if you dont have a top of the line scanner for these newer cars, you are just spinning your wheels. i do have many contacts that would love to have me when i do make the jump out of my security blanket. And my wife is pushing me to pull the blanket off


a reply to: Xtrozero

a reply to: JAGStorm

Well, I'm winding down three months of medical leave of absence because I burned myself out. Organizations have been taking advantage for a while now, even more so with the work-from-home situation. There are fewer boundaries between work and home life, and since you're not in the office and always have your phone, you should always be available, right? I've had our sales folks call me at all hours of the night asking if I can hop on a client call to discuss service offerings, which isn't in my job description, and they have folks staffed who are supposed to handle that; I guess they get to clock out at 5.

We went from a team of 10 engagement leads in my practice down to 4; only two of us were actually leading engagements, and the other two were working on internal projects. Thirty-four engagements that I am actively leading, interviewing two candidates a day minimum and doing sales support. Sorry, even with my decent paycheck, I'm not being paid enough for that. It remains to be seen if I will go back to this organization after my LOA is up. I do know that I've pretty much lost all passion I once had for the type of work I do.

Call that a lack of work ethic if you'd like; I feel like I've been had. Which is part of the reason why we have so few engagement leads; most of them have already left because of the bait and switch we got at the start.

I'm at work now on labor day. In my biz, time is money and the studios run 24hrs helping to crank out the "circus" in Bread and Circuses.

Union Proud, Union Strong and the overtime scale is fantastic but I'd do this for free...It's that much fun!!!

In my mfg, wholesale, retail op; I hire the best people I can find and pay them well enough to generate a work ethic.

a reply to: JAGStorm
I’ve always had a high work ethic, it has benefited me at times but mostly gets taken advantage of, which is why I’m currently looking into getting my cdl and a change of vocation.