a new job.

a new job.
 they are giving us a break from training @ this new job i've got. other people are using it to smoke or whatever; im using it to check in with yall.

its sad & depressing. the job is doing tech support phone service. all the people in my training class have said that they come from jobs where they used to be able to support their families, they're all graduates who used to do meanigful work. everyone has a look of horror/resignation...none of us can believe that this is the best we can do. & yet it is. we were talking, & each of us has been looking for work, ANY work, for over a year. now, we are all trying to convince ourselves that this minimum wage night-shift tech support job will both pay our bills AND possibly lead to something better.
 everyones faces says "i went to school for THIS?!?!?"
 even our trainer seems beat down. this is his second job, he has another during the day. & he told us that this job is about to become even more competitive, because they have just opened call-centers in  the philipines & mexico & had major layoffs here. the supervisor broke in with a "but anything that helps The Business helps us, remember that!"
 if it wasnt the first day, i think we would have all laughed or made puking noises.
 well this is probably being monitored, so maybe i will even lose this job.

 so YES i am thankful that i have a job, any job, but HELL YEAH i am still gonna look for something better.

OH & another thing is they have big american flags hanging up everywhere & the desktop on all the computers is american flags. & there are miniture american flags stuck on each workstation.

 OH & even for this minimum wage job, we had to take 5 different tests, interview with 3 different people, a background check, a credt check (!!!) & now take this week long training & orientation course!!!

•  With all the flags...

  ...I think they doth patriotize too much.

  by Doug in SF on Mon May 17, 2004 at 04:50:29 PM PDT

•  Where do you live?

  What would you rather be doing?

  by Bailey on Mon May 17, 2004 at 04:50:51 PM PDT

•  You know what time it is?

  Time for graduate school! :>)

  by chamilto on Mon May 17, 2004 at 04:51:47 PM PDT

  •  Go into science

    They pay you in graduate school!

    by Unstable Isotope on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:22:03 PM PDT

    •  Depending

      on the school and the program, you can get paid in the humanities and social sciences. I wouldn't be doing grad school if I wasn't. Granted, I get paid enough to live just above the poverty line, but I have been funded through 4 years of grad school in history.

      Ben P

      by Ben P on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:43:25 PM PDT

    •  Hilarious

      I'm sitting here on a stool in my graduate school science lab checking in with you all while a piece of copper grinds ever smoother on a lathe-like contraption in the background. Time to move the sandpaper again...

      Anyway, I was going to recommend pretty much the opposite of your advice, Unstable Isotope. Don't go into science grad school for the money--it's really not that good. And divided out by the hour, I'd reckon my stipend ... hang on, here's a calculator. No need to estimate.

      Yeah. It's about minimum wage. I get around $65 per day and a typical day means 8-12 hours of work. And the insurance sucks (though they did start paying for it this year).

      Another whiner graduate student,
      &y, Ab.D.

      by abw on Mon May 17, 2004 at 06:13:50 PM PDT

      •  Well

        You're right that the pay is lousy as are the hours.  Usually, people go to grad school for the love of science, not for the love of money, otherwise they would go to med school.  However, pay isn't bad when you get out, especially if you're a corporate slave like me.

        I saw statistics, that in general, scientists/engineers are among the most highly paid on average.

        However, if you're going to be a perpetual student, at least science pays.

        by Unstable Isotope on Mon May 17, 2004 at 06:28:57 PM PDT

•  Sweetie...

  check in but blog, post and diary from home.  You know they can access every screen, scan every key strke?  There was a very real reason I made solid friendships with computer support in the 10 floor law firm I was at.  A lot of tech "viewing" did not bother with me...

  by Marisacat on Mon May 17, 2004 at 04:54:32 PM PDT

  •  Fill us in, What kind of "viewing"

    ... Marsia, for us "remote viewers"

    by Al Rodgers on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:08:50 PM PDT

    •  Well they can access screens

      thru out thier system....individual screens.  I have seen it done.  In my firm the computer support did it all the time, I don't know if it was tru for the newest most rank hire, but the key people that I knew... yes, they difinitely could, because I could see screens displayed, as I was with computer people at their desks, they would access whomever..  They track where you go on line, it is not unlike the phone number tracking mentioned below.  You go to a url, they can track it, you dial on their phones they track it.  Length of time on a phone call etc.
      And there is soft ware to track key strokes, even the ones you erase.  What vrious depts do and  where I don't know, I only know what was done at my firm.
      They were very invasive, very authoritarian, so it fit with the culture already in place... here in liberal San Francisco.  
      

      by Marisacat on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:23:28 PM PDT

      •  BTW: I left

        in 2000.  They ahd that screen access capability in the late 90s.... the keystroke a bit later.

        by Marisacat on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:28:58 PM PDT

        •  Van Eck phreaking

          here if you're not freaked out already.

          by CSTAR on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:36:07 PM PDT

  •  Really?

    I always assumed they could check how long I was online, and even what pages I went to...but every key stroke?  Scary...my work has pulled people's phone records to write them up, but not internet usage.  I suppose I should play it safe & not post anything from my work computer...but I probably won't because - after working on a computer all day - I try to stay off the computer when I'm at home.  

    by spyral on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:12:54 PM PDT

  •  At times

    at work my computer responds very slowly...
    I know they're scanning.
    And yes, they can record every keystroke.

    by Unstable Isotope on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:19:30 PM PDT

•  So that's where you've been

  I hadn't seen you around the comment postings lately!  Glad to see you're employed...however far below your skills it may be. :)

  by spyral on Mon May 17, 2004 at 04:57:40 PM PDT

  •  Ditto

    I 'm glad to hear it's almost everything is O.K.

    by Al Rodgers on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:07:10 PM PDT

•  Hey! Are you making fun of the Bush ...

  ...recovery just because it causes you personal discomfort? C'mon, there are people in Sudan and Xinjiang who would be happy to have your job. You need to get with the program and slap that Bush/Cheney sticker on your bumper. Without their tax cuts, you'd still not be collecting your unemployment benefits.

  "Grab whom you must. Do what you want."

  by Meteor Blades on Mon May 17, 2004 at 04:58:03 PM PDT

•  Seriously

  At the rate we're going, you're going to have to have a graduate degree to be sure of any kind of job security.

  Ben P

  by Ben P on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:15:00 PM PDT

•  I feel your pain

  I was hatin' life when I had to go back to tending bar, but I got out again, too.

  You will be fine.

  by hamletta on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:17:40 PM PDT

  •  Hamletta,

    Did you recently marry that Prince in Denmark?  
    Just wondering.

    by espresso on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:53:37 PM PDT

•  Good luck

  in your new job! ;)

  by Unstable Isotope on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:24:38 PM PDT

•  hang in there, friend

  I've finally resolved myself to the fact that I'm going to have to move cross-country, at my own expense, natch, to find a job in my field even with a significant pay cut.    

  Thus far, I've had 3 interviews in 2 days and was assured of  a call back for one of them before I left their office. That's more positive news than I've had back home in the 20 months since I got laid off.

  Keep your chin up. It can only go up from here. I may have to live in a storage locker until I get a couple checks under my belt but it's better than nothing.

  by em dash on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:46:05 PM PDT

•  Stop complaining, citizen

  Do your job and take the drug test.

  Submit. Obey.

  hinky dink

  p.s. seriously, things will pick back up one day when a Democrat's back in charge.
  

  by MrHinkyDink on Mon May 17, 2004 at 05:47:49 PM PDT

  •  I'm glad.

    And how is this President going to create jobs?

    by devtrash on Mon May 17, 2004 at 08:25:23 PM PDT

  •   "wah, i want a job with MEANING!"

    i know, when i reread this i sound like a spoiled brat.

    "wah, i want a job with MEANING!"

    www.nornsisland.com

    by n69n on Mon May 17, 2004 at 10:21:45 PM PDT

•  Best wishes

  and hang in there.

  I remember getting my first very unsatisfactory temp job over a year ago.  I had been out of work for 6 months.  In time, the assignments got better, I made some friends and ... yes business contacts, and I felt generally better.  It's almost more important at some point to have a schedule to arrange your life around.

  Congrats on the job.  I hope it doesn't last too long before you get a better one.

  by Manhattan Dan on Mon May 17, 2004 at 06:24:35 PM PDT

•  Hang in there, n69n!

  You are so incredibly talented...I've seen your work!  You will rebound!!

  For those of you wondering what field to get into....here ya go!

  Healthcare!!  RN's have a projected shortage over the next 20 years. Sonographers have a 7 year projected shortage. MRI, Rad Techs and CT Techs are also in 5+ year shortage mode.

  If you do go that route, PLEASE make sure your school is ARRT-accredited for RAD,MRI and  CT...and ARDMS-accredited for Sonography.

  Good luck to all of you.

  And yes, your company can track all your internet forays. No surprise there if you really think about it!!

  by calichick on Mon May 17, 2004 at 06:50:37 PM PDT

  •  Nursing

    I have a degree in nursing and I've got to say, you have to TRY to be unemployed.  It's very different from many other fields right now...

    The flexibility is great and for at least the next 10-20 years nurses should have fantastic job security due to the aging baby boomers.   Our health care system is a mess of course, which could prove to be a problem eventually as far as wages and the like go.

    That said the work's tough but right now the money can be good, especially with overtime, travel nursing, or agency nursing (working at different hospitals within an area).  In the Pacific Northwest new nurses start around $40,000 for full time day shift and can be closer to $50,000 for full time nights.

    Awhile ago there was an article I saw about coal miners transitioning to health care... Wish I could remember where I saw it...

    by Callisto on Mon May 17, 2004 at 07:08:03 PM PDT

•  hang in there Norn

  I have endured several crappy jobs in my lifetime and all I can say is it won't be forever.  As my 10th grade teacher advised our class on unpleasant experiences: experience it and file it away, maybe you can get something out of it.  But then again, he was a writer. Writers are always doing that kind of stuff.

  Can you bring your sketchbook to work for breaks?

  by raincat100 on Mon May 17, 2004 at 07:59:54 PM PDT

•  Hi Norn,

  I'll add my best wishes to you to those offered by your other friends here at DKos.  Great that you have a way to pay the bills, and buy those art supplies!

  patience is its own reward, so press on to the next goal.

  I'm out of funding at the lab the end of June with no grant $$ lined up for the first time in ages - since I got my PhD in '96.

  kinda scary, but kinda liberating.  I may now have time for my art!!

  the thing I'll miss the most is my T1 line at the office ...

  by murfmom on Mon May 17, 2004 at 08:23:02 PM PDT

•  man I'd kill for a tech support job.

  Try working telemarketing. ( They claim 15-20 dollars an hour, but yeah right)

  by devtrash on Mon May 17, 2004 at 08:28:52 PM PDT

•  glad of it!

  well in the caffeine buzz of getting off work @ midnight on my first shift as a tech support customer service representative frontline facilllitator, i know i am a lucky bastard to have /any /job.....& glad of it!

  i'm sure very soon i will explore new & sublime depths of misery but right @ this moment, i  feel ok about it!

  OH & the tv in th break room was set to foxnews & all i heard in the short time i was in there was "sarin gas! sarin gas!"

  www.nornsisland.com

  by n69n on Mon May 17, 2004 at 10:09:49 PM PDT

  •  Yeah FOX news was almost as in

    love with the sarin as they were in thrall to run the whole of the Berg death video.

    Get home, stay safe, kiss the dog, go sit with the lotus and the koi.  I hope it is a beautful warm night... if the supervisor in the dept is not too terrible, it will be OK...
    >^..^<

    by Marisacat on Mon May 17, 2004 at 10:21:18 PM PDT