#I have the PTO but we don’t have the coverage

[isthemedia]

Me: Another comic thumbnailed

Brain: how many have you finished?

Me: well I have the one CLH one inked, two more almost cleaned up—

Brain: but how many are finished?

Me: I have the OCs with @cryptidfoxes OC inked, and 3 more thumbnailed—

Brain: Completion count?

Me: And I have one more CLH thumbnailed and another in process of final sketching.

Brain: And none finished.

Me: A…and none finished.

In my defense-I had to deal with a big financial issue (ie replacing my car)…followed by my job’s department now getting down to a skeleton crew where I’m putting in overtime now, and in the process of trying to pack things since I’ll be able to start moving at the end of April.

Being able to sit and color isn’t quite feasible right now. But if you want to see WIPS I’ll happily share.

[andhumanslovedstories]

A bunch of healthcare unions are going on strike in Oregon, and my nursing union is one of them. We’ve given the mandatory ten day warning and we will be escorted off the premises by 6 am the day the strike starts. We struck last summer, but that time we had a strike, from the outset we said it would be limited to five days. This is an indefinite strike, which means it’ll go until it’s done.

I’m in a good enough financial position to weather being out of work for a bit. That’s super not the case for everyone. If you need to work during the strike, management is saying you don’t commit to working on day one, you won’t be allowed to change your mind. In or out. If it continues into February, we’ll lose our healthcare coverage, so you either have to get absolutely robbed by COBRA or you go without. There’s a union hardship fund, but apparently last strike, it was not very helpful for people having hardships.

Like solidarity forever and this is very stressful. There’s a lot of small and new unions bundled into the strike, so I’m excited that they will get to negotiate with way more power behind them than they would normally have. And a big point of contention for the strike is staffing requirements—that’s a patient safety issue and also something that can make work miserable so it’s good we’re negotiating about that. And I would like more money and more PTO, I mean obviously. But I’m really struck by how much worse this strike could be for us than the last.

[customerservicestartswyou]

Leadership 101

I want to work for a company and have a manager that says and ACTS like this. 👇 Wouldn’t you?

We are human. We need to rest and recover.

If we are sick, how can we work?

If we are depressed and/or anxious (or have other things going on), how does that make us productive? It doesn’t.

Our mental and physical health is just as, if not more, important than our job. If only businesses acted that way too.

I always say no to PTO requests when my team asks for time off.

Well.. to be clear I reject the "asking" part.

I don’t like to be asked for permission.

I always tell my team not to ask, because it’s something that’s owed to you and earned. You negotiated it. It’s weird to ask for it.

This isn't Kindergarten where you need to ask for permission to use the bathroom.

The only thing you need to do is put it in our system, because…. Company policy. And try to give me a bit of time to plan if you can.

We work together to get coverage and figure out priorities. That’s what teams do. And if we don’t have coverage? I’ll pick up the slack as best I can.

Or it can wait. Because let’s be honest, most things don’t need to be done in the week someone is on PTO. Not everything is a priority.

But I’ve never denied a PTO request. My job isn’t to gatekeep YOUR time off.

My job is to ensure things get done, priorities get managed, teams work together, and most importantly people don’t get burnt out.

That's simple leadership 101.

Get your work done. Be productive. Communicate that you need time off. And go enjoy your life.

The only thing you owe me is maybe a treat from your exotic travels 😏

Be a good human

PS: insulting or hateful comments reflect far more on you than they do on me. The world watches

[myeyesarebrighter]

The shit hit the fan at work again today. It’s part of the job. But the pure CHAOS that followed was nuts.

At the end, I was like, “hey team lead, how’d that go for you!” Which was met with her confirming everything I was saying here yesterday (and to her, which she did not receive well). She was like, this is nuts and so stressful. YES YES IT IS. I did it 4x last week while you were out…

So now she gets what I was saying yesterday and was fully like FUCK I got nothing else done and that was more stressful than it had to be!

There was more rambling about the flexibility she counts on having at work to make her family run, but at the same time she’s doing nothing to ensure continuity and coverage while she’s using that flex. Again this is something I’ve been nagging about. I’m so supportive of people making the most of their flex but it’s up to her to use one of her team members to cover her. Part of that is managing time off requests and making sure the team is well staffed, which occasionally means we have to ask people to shift pto… none of it is fun and no one wants to be managing it, but when you don’t it just causes so much chaos for everyone. A well run team is a lot of work, but it keeps things under control for everyone. Sigh.

That’s your ask a manager rant for today. Being a boss sucks some days.

[discjockeyetc]

To Everything, There Is A Season

On March 17th, 2020, I (along with about 17 other people) was told that my position at my previous company had been eliminated. I had been there for just shy of nine years.

Three days later, my resume ended up in the hands of a hiring manager at Owens & Minor/Halyard Health. I skipped over much of what should have been a lengthy interview process and was offered a position that afternoon. I accepted the position and started on March 30th. I mean, how amazing is THAT?? What an incredible blessing... especially at the start of some really rough times in our world.

I came on board at O&M as a contractor with a six-month assignment. As those initial six months came to a close, I was extended another three months (end of December). As those three months neared their expiration, I was extended once again (end of March). In mid-February, I was given another three month extension which would take me to the end of June.

While these extensions were going on, I had already decided that being a contractor was simply not for me. I wasn’t getting access to any benefits. I wasn’t able to take PTO. I also wasn’t able to receive pay for holidays like Christmas and the like. Basically, if I didn’t work, I didn’t get paid.

Working as a contractor, I never felt like I couldn’t “unpack”. It all felt very temporary and I never really got comfortable. I’m at the point in my professional life where I want to be able to “set up camp” at a company and grow along with it. I just wasn’t getting the opportunity to do that. Again, great people, a blessing to have been there, but it wasn’t the ideal situation for me.

Don’t get me wrong. I am incredibly grateful to have been able to stay stably employed during such uncertain times. Especially without ANY downtime in between jobs. I mean, a TRUE blessing. I worked with some really great people and learned a LOT about an area for which I knew basically nothing. The team I was on is highly skilled, extraordinarily friendly, and always professional. I’ll always cherish the wonderful opportunity to have worked there.

Nearly 13 months later, I’m starting another new journey in my professional life. I am now an employee of Optiv, Inc.

I began looking for a new career around the first of the year. I went on several interviews, but hadn’t found just the right fit. That is, of course, until I connected with this NEW opportunity. Optiv is a cyber security company, and my position is “Purchasing Specialist”. The majority of professional experience has centered around the purchasing field which makes this a great fit for me. The culture of the company is also really desirable. It’s exactly the kind of place I’d want to work.

Here’s a picture of me in front of my new office building! Now, I know what you’re probably thinking: “Wait, isn’t that your house?” Why, yes! Yes it is! This is a %100 remote position! I will be working from home permanently because there IS no office to go to!

My manager is based in Kansas City. HER manager (who I also interviewed with) is based in Denver. What’s more, I’m coming on board at the same time as a a few other people (my counterparts) who are in other parts of the country. We’ll actually have coverage in ALL continental U.S. time zones. Pretty awesome!

I’m incredibly excited to jump into this new role! It’s such a relief to be able to join a team on which I can grow and develop on a long-term basis. As grateful as I am to have been able to stay employed during the pandemic, it’s time for me to enter a new season. Here we go!

[rgr-pop]

good news is that my college has a fund (hmmm where did that come from) where we can take PTO that doesn’t come from our banked hours if we’re sick or have to be a caretaker, but we can’t use them for quarantining (my supervisor would probably lie for me, but still) and i personally still can’t work from home for 60% of my weekly hours because it’s desk coverage for a s t i l l o p e n l i b r a r y. now i’m just desperately hoping we decide to have limited hours so i do’t have to continue covering 30% of weekly desk shifts that are distributed between four to five people, half of which would be me being the only non-student staff who had to be there 🤔 weird that the full time equivalent positions of my positions work 12 hours more than me but don’t have all the responsibilities i have & rely on me for a lot while they make almost twice as much as i do hourly for the same position with the same job description!

the ideal, if we really wanted ~continuity of service would be to be open just til like 5 or 6 m-f (ten desk shifts) and for me to only have to take three desk shifts (about 40 some % of my weekly hours) and be able to work from home for most of the rest of it (I literally have like three or four hours of college-required web training to complete rn). the funny thing is that we’re being stubborn about this to offer support to students who now have to do classwork online and might not have the resources but...we have zero public computers in the library right now because of the renovation. we have computers to check out but we’re strongly encouraging no one check them out because of the virus, and we’ve extended the due dates for everyone that has one out, so we probably only have 100 left anyway.

[insertclassyusernamehere]

True Life: I worked for a Sociopath

In early 2013, I started a journey with a company that I loved. I was hired on as a sales associate by a strong, powerful and amazing store manager who literally taught me everything I know. She promoted me 6 months in to a lower level management role, and when she got an offer to move onto bigger things in the company, she helped push me into a fulltime management role. Her assistant manager at the time ultimately ended up filling her position as she left, and to be honest, I had no idea what I was in for. I hadn't worked too much with this particular manager prior, and didn't have much of a real raport with her at all. I truly was excited about the change, and everything felt like a new beginning. The first year was pretty rocky in general, but we just chalked it up to us all being new in our roles, and pushed through it until we got onto a schedule. The assistant manager at the time and I were incredibly close, and it was pretty clear to me at the time that she was being bullied and demonized by our store manager, but I thought maybe it was just some kind of personal bad blood between them. The store manager (we will call her Sarah) would talk to associates and other managers behind her back, calling her names, and pointing her fingers at her for anything going awry in the store. Finally, our ASM snapped, and left the company. Sarah told us all that things would be SO Much better without her there "creating hostility". Most of us knew that the former ASM wasn't the problem.

With the separation of our ASM, I was then ushered into the role as a replacement. I was excited. I was excited about a raise, about more responsibility and the growth that I had worked SO hard for. To give you just a little information on my character: I'm a fiery personality, but I'm also incredibly compassionate. I'm a giant mama bear, and I looked at all my employees as my little cubs. With that being said, I was always doing everything with theirs and the stores' best interest in mind. Now at this time, Sarah had A LOT of personal stuff going on. She always did, to be honest. The personal shit never stopped. But, unlike most people who put themselves in a store management position, she used her power to work everything in HER favor so it didn't conflict with her super dramatic life. This meant breaking every rule along the way. She scheduled herself only opening shifts, on a consistent schedule. Every single Sunday off. And when any small thing happened in her life, she just wouldn't show up to her shifts. She would expect me to come in on my days off to cover her shifts on a monthly basis. She made me work doubles covering her shifts more than a few times. If you were not flexible with her, she would tell you that you just needed to take one for the team and would punish you with a cold attitude and talk shit about you behind your back to the rest of the staff. She bullied everyone in the store, but especially the management team. On the other hand, if you were sick and tried to call out... she'd refuse to cover your shift and make you come in anyways. When she wouldn't come in for a scheduled shift, she would just code in PTO for herself and move on with her day. When she was there, she didnt do anything at all. One time she passed out in the back room from pills while our sales lead was on the floor by herself. As fulltime managers we were assigned DORs (departments of responsibility). There was Operations, Talent and Merchandising and they were split between the 3 fulltime managers. My last year with the company, I was working 2 of the 3 while Sarah was doing none. I took more than half of the conference calls. I planned our entire fiscal year. I made ever schedule, did every interview and every new hire onboarding. I was training our keyholder in the merch DOR. When I say that I was literally running a 1.6 million dollar store with no help from my SM, while only making $13hr I AM NOT KIDDING. All the while, anytime I tried to initiate positive change, and enforce standards I was immediately shot down and told "I am not the Store Manger". So essentially - we were failing. At this point I learned that on top of everything I was doing, she was telling everyone else in the store than I was a horrible manager and did nothing. She called me names to people, and even lied to them about crazy shit she claims I did. When I confronted her, she would tell me it never happened. All our employees were quitting left and right because she was literally crazy. She would yell at them on the sales floor and make them cry, force them to stay past their scheduled shifts and the few times she did make the schedule she would schedule them outside of their availability and fuck us over with coverage on the weekend. She manipulated every single person on staff. I left work crying every day.

Now here's where things got fucking psychotic. My keyholder and I had to drive to Tampa for a training certification class, and one thing led to another that ended with us spilling only a small portion of the crazy shit going on in our store. The manager training us empowered us to go to our DM. I spent the night writing and incredibly detailed list of everything she had been doing with help of the rest of the store staff and management team. The next day I called our DM and she was floored. She told me that she was going through HR to get it figured out (this was in august) and while she got in a small amount of "trouble"for a few small things, Sarah was still our store manager and she was bullying us worse than ever. Sarah immediately assumed that I was the one that got her in trouble (even though every single person on staff contributed) and she took it out on me in the worst ways. She denied all of my request offs and had my working every single weekend. Things hit rock bottom after Hurricane Irma hit us on October 2018. We had an emergency close the day before the hurricane touched down because our entire staff was living in evacuation zones and were running out of the state to stay safe from the storm. The night we closed it was me, Sarah and an associate who we will call Ashley. Things were totally normal, low stress and went fairly smoothly. When we arrived back after the storm everything seemed normal. Another week passed, and my husband and I were driving down south to his parents house when I received a call from my DM. In this call she Informed me that my CRAZY BITCH SM told her that on the night of the emergency closing I told her that if we didn't close the store I was going to KILL HER AND HER FAMILY.

WHAT THE FUCK.

She also made the mistake of telling the DM that the associate was a witness. And the DM told her that she needed to have a conversation with me and ask me why I said that. The DM (thankfully) warned me that this conversation might happen, but neither of us thought this bitch was crazy enough to actually lie about something so serious that she claims I said TO MY FACE.

BOY WERE WE WRONG!

She called out of her next shift with me, but then proceeded to come in before hours at 8:30 AM as I was opening the systems, cornered me alone in the stock room, and this bitch looks at me and says "Kianna, do you remember saying anything inappropriate to me during the emergency close?"

Me: No...

Her: Nothing... at all?

Me: Nope. Nothing at all, why?

Her *yelling*: SO YOU DONT REMEMBER THREATENING TO KILL ME AND MY FAMILY??!

ME*completely shocked that she literally said it*: No, Sarah. Seriously? We both know I would never say something like that. I literally dont even use that kind of language jokingly.

Her: Just admit you said it and apologize.

Me: I'm not going to admit to something I didnt say.

Her: Ashley was working she heard you!

Me: Oh really? Ashley happens to be my opener. Let's ask her! If she heard me say that, I will apologize and just accept that I somehow said this horrible thing and blocked it out.

Her *hesitantly*: oh... okay.

When Ashley arrived, we sat her down and Sarah asked her the same uncomfortable question. "Do you remember Kianna saying something incredibly inappropriate and threatening the night we emergency closed?"

Ashley: Uhh... no?

Sarah: So you don't remember her threatening my family's life?

Ashley: UHM, DEFINITELY NOT?!

Sarah: UGH, WELL I HOPE YOU ARE HAPPY, ASHLEY, THAT SINCE YOU WON'T ADMIT THAT SHE THREATENED ME THAT I WILL LOOK LIKE A LIAR TO MY BOSS!

Turns out she then tried to groom Ashley into lying for her by offering her a raise if she lied. Ashley told our DM this. SARAH WAS STILL OUR STORE MANAGER. By the end of October, 3 MONTHS AFTER TURNING HER IN, I was done waiting. I turned in my notice, found a better paying job and left that toxic situation. I left because I felt unsafe in my work environment and despite all my evidence and her threats and her literally lying in hopes to get me fired and arrested I WAS STILL BEING FORCED TO WORK WITH HER.

The day I turned in my notice, I found out I was pregnant with my son. Leaving that toxic environment was the best decision I ever made. KNOW YOUR WORTH, GUYS.

[mr-entj]

Mr. ENTJ can you break down how to interpret the compensation from an offer letter such as salary and bonuses for someone with multiple offers trying to weigh options? What to look for? Thank you and all the best to Princess Mango and INTJ!

Related answer:

Hi Mr Entj, if you’re comfortable, could you provide tips on how to negotiate salary? Many thanks for your amazing blog!

What other qualities do you look for in a job before you accept? What should we be aware of before we accept an offer?

Sure, let’s talk money.

Understanding your offer letter

1. Base Salary: Your bread and butter, your annual income that’s typically paid in bi-weekly paychecks. A quick way to ballpark your take-home pay after taxes is this: $20,000 in annual income = $500 per bi-weekly paycheck. For example:

$20,000 annual salary = $500 per paycheck (or $1000 per month)

$40,000 annual salary = $1000 per paycheck (or $2000 per month)

$60,000 annual salary = $1500 per paycheck (or $3000 per month)

$80,000 annual salary = $2000 per paycheck (or $4000 per month)

$100,000 annual salary = $2500 per paycheck (or $5000 per month)

These are very rough estimates for a single person in California without any dependents. Paycheck City has a good paycheck calculator by punching in your numbers and location.

This is the hardest number to negotiate an increase because it commits the company to paying a higher salary for the entire year and any subsequent raises.

2. Signing Bonus: This is a one-time payment for joining the company. Bonuses are typically paid out within 90 days of joining and folded directly into your paycheck with taxes already taken out. To avoid people stealing signing bonuses, quitting immediately, and jumping to the next job, signing bonuses have conditions to stay a minimum amount of time at the company (example: 1 year) or to pay back a prorated amount.

Example: Receiving a $12,000 signing bonus ($1000 per month) but quitting after 4 months on the job would result in a $8000 payback amount to the company for the 8 months you didn’t work.

Bonuses are taxed before they’re paid out so calculate approximately 50% off the number given (a $10,000 bonus will pay about $5000).

This is the easiest number to negotiate an increase because it’s a one-time payment.

3. Stocks: Stocks are basically pieces of a company; the more valuable the company becomes, the more valuable your pieces of it are.

For public companies and especially in Silicon Valley, stocks are a huge part of compensation because they make the person heavily invested in the company’s success. A cashier at McDonalds doesn’t need to care about providing great customer service because he/she gets a fixed salary independent of how the company does, but when you’re awarded stocks, your net worth is linked to the company’s performance and it’s in your best interest to go above and beyond in your role to make the company successful.

Stocks are awarded at the time of signing and are called stock grants. A granted stock isn’t yours yet– it can’t be sold for cash until it’s vested. A vesting cycle is basically a waiting period so people don’t join companies for a ton of stocks, quit immediately, and then move on to the next company to repeat the cycle.

Example: A $400,000 stock grant vested over 4 years means that I need to stay at the company 4 years to receive the entire $400,000 amount. My company vests 25% per year so I’m given $100,000 of my $400,000 stock grant every year. If joined the company in 2017, I must stay until 2021 to get the full $400,000.

More stocks are granted every year with the same 4-year vesting cycle. If you quit the company, you forfeit any stock grants that haven’t vested. This is why stocks are referred to as “golden handcuffs”– people can feel chained to companies to avoid leaving behind and losing any unvested stocks. Always ask about the company’s vesting cycle to understand what percentage vests when.

This is easier than the salary but more difficult than the signing bonus to negotiate an increase because of the vesting cycle. If you leave before your stocks vest, shares are forfeited and the company doesn’t pay you anything.

4. Relocation bonus: One-time cash payment for moving expenses like renting a truck, plane tickets to bring your family across the country, fees to ship belongings, and money for a deposit to a new apartment. This is a cash lump sum and it’s taxed approximately 50%.

This number is negotiable depending on how far you’re moving for the job. If you’re moving out of state, you’ll get more money than if you were moving to a different city in the same state.

5. Insurance: This refers to health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, life insurance, etc. Understand how much (or how little) the company covers to calculate how much money will be deducted from your paycheck on a bi-weekly basis. This varies wildly from company to company but as a general rule of thumb ask about: deductibles, premiums, co-pays, maximums, coverage (network), and waiting periods.

Health insurance is expensive in America so understand the insurance coverage because companies can lure you in with a high salary but with bad benefits that will cost you more money in the long run than if you had stayed at your old job and at your old salary. 

6. Paid time off (PTO): The number of paid time off, sick days, and official holidays the company has. This varies from company to company and it factors into total compensation because it affects how many days in a year you have to work.

7. Retirement: This refers to 401k, Roth, IRAs, etc. Retirement is an entirely separate discussion we won’t get into right now but ask about company matching.

[xanadontit]

So

Partner has taken quite a bit of time off since she started in February. Which: fine! It’s unlimited PTO! But between long vacations and random days off (or wanting to leave early every Friday this summer) she announced when she got back from Cape Cod in late August that she would not be taking any other time off for the rest of 2018 (save for any sick days or a doc appointment - but that’s normal stuff). 

Cut to our staff meeting yesterday where she announces she’s leaving before lunch Friday to catch a flight to Seattle to celebrate her boyfriend’s birthday (she’s taking him away for the weekend). She booked this trip as soon as she got back from Cape Cod, apparently. She made a comment about how there was really no reason to say anything before since we wouldn’t need her most of Friday (?) and it’s just a half day. She is heading up a national show in Chicago starting Monday. Sure. Sounds legit.

Boss sent out a reminder email to our team about our time off policy and that it’s nice to give a heads up if you’re going to be gone for more than an hour or so so we can plan ahead for projects and redistribute anything that may need coverage. No big deal. No scolding. Also a good reminder for me and Demand Gen since we’re newer and haven’t taken any time off; the holidays are around the corner, too.

She freaked out to me via Slack, sent an apology email to the team, and we walked to get coffee where she expected me to side with her. I told her that if this is the company policy, it doesn’t really matter if she likes it or not: this is how it works here. I also asked if she’s planning to take time off for the holiday and she huffed, “I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet.” Cool. Guess that whole “no more time off in 2018″ was a joke! I think she expected me to side with her but considering I have stayed late to keep her shit going while she flits off or storms out due to happy hour plans I’m not feeling too generous with her these days. 

Anyway, thanks for the confirmation that a heads up (if not a time off request) is expected and how adults roll. 

[haiverings-blog]

Wasn’t He Recently Elected As President?

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[bakurapika]

starbucks’s goal as a company is to become a “third space” - the idea that people generally have home, work, and a third space that they regularly go to in free time, like a coffee shop. they want to be seen as a vital part of a community.

i’m guessing this store doesn’t have a drive-through, where wait times are generally prioritized over customer interaction.

note that it is very difficult to find coverage for shifts - when I quit starbucks, I found out I had a bunch of accumulated sick days (not PTO, which would have been paid out). you can ask for help from other stores, and you can fill in at other stores as suggested above, but the shifts are often odd hours and stressful enough that it would be difficult to have two in the same day at different stores. 

Eg if you’re scheduled to work from 10am to 2pm at your home store, you can’t pick up a 6-10 shift at another store; you can’t get that 10-4 shift that’s open at another store, and you technically could get the 6:30 - 10:30 (with the probability of staying late since it’s a close) at the store across town, but then you’ve spent more than 12 hours at your workday being paid for 8 hours, with a significant amount of that extra 4 hours being spent on travel, and since someone is sick, this may come up unexpectedly without a chance to plan for it - so you may get off your shift, go home, start to relax, then see at 5 pm that there’s another shift you can pick up, so you stuff dinner in your mouth and get ready to go to work again because you can’t afford not to. And/or you know the barista in question and feel bad for them and don’t want them to have to work while running to the bathroom to puke every 10 minutes.

I’m just surprised that the manager let people call off without coverage. That was very rare and highly discouraged, even at our store where our manager was nice to us and would allow it. We were already regularly understaffed. When I was a closing supervisor, closing at 8 with a scheduled shift end of 8:30 but in reality getting out around 8:45 - 9 (I tried my best to be efficient but with just 2 people it was hard if we wound up getting extra customers in the evening). If she called out without coverage? First off, it wouldn’t be safe since we’re supposed to have two of us in the building at all times, so my manager would have to show up. She was salaried so she would sometimes work 12+ hour days. We wouldn’t be getting out by 9 either, I’ll tell you that for sure.

In case you would like to know what it’s like working at Starbucks

[realisfiction16]

I requested PTO a month ago to add one day to my vacation next month to fly out. When I asked manager about it last week, she blew it off. When I asked her yesterday and told her I'm trying to get flights, she told me I have to have coverage before she'll approve. The problem is no one wants to cover my job. Everybody hates it (and everybody's busy with their own jobs). So now my family's disappointed with me because we can't book flights, but I'm in a bind because I literally don't have the time off.

I hate this place.

[salt-sass-and-lyrium]

Pretty sure my car is cursed

(also my apartment but that’s a story for another time)

So, for some reason yesterday I just couldn’t get out of bed. I wasn’t having a particularly low day or anything, just something was telling me to stay in bed. And I seriously considered calling off but then I remembered that I’m trying to save up PTO so I decided to just grin and bare it and go in. I was running late, but probably wouldn’t be more than 10-15 minutes late, which isn’t the hugest deal.

Except.

On my way in. SOMEONE FUCKING HITS MY CAR.

I’m seriously starting to think this MoFo is cursed. Anyway, so I come to a four point stop (I guess that’s what they’re called, intersection that looks like a plus sign) and stop. As I’m stopping, there’s a white van on my rightthat’s already there, another car pulls up on my left at about the same time as me, and then after we both arrive, a black car pulls up behind the white van. White van goes, the car on my left turns, so it’s my turn to go straight. So I do.

And the black car drives right fucking in to me. I start to notice she’s rolling through the stop sign, slam on the brakes and the horn, but she doesn’t stop in time and hits me. She kept saying “I don’t know how this happened, I didn’t see you!” and like... I drive a bright red card and it’s broad daylight... idk how you didn’t see me. But whatever. We pull over and get out to inspect the damage. Seems her car got away unscathed, but there’s a ding on my passenger side (later I noticed - or more accurately the insurance dude who does the estimate noticed - she must’ve hit my tire because there’s a lump in it and scrapes on the rim but ok). Car is still drivable so I’m not panicking, but the lady first asks me if “that’s something I’d even bother to get fixed”.

... uh. Yes.

So I start to ask her for her insurance info. She starts saying “Oh, this isn’t my car!” I reply that doesn’t matter, she still hit me. She then says “I don’t have coverage for uninsured motorists”. I explain that’s not what that means, she’s legally required to have collision coverage so her policy has to cover at least that. She drags her feet some, but I keep insisting she give me her info. Then she starts asking me how much I think the damage would cost to fix. I have no fucking idea, I’m not a mechanic, the dent didn’t look that bad but she did hit me pretty hard (like I got jostled, radio skipped a bit and everything) so there could be internal/electrical damage. She then says “Well, I’ve got some cash on me. What if I just gave you some money?”

... no? Because what if you don’t give me enough?

She also keeps repeating that she just got into an accident the other day.

At this point I start to wonder if she doesn’t have insurance, which is why she’s acting so weird about it, so I ask her who she’s insured with. She says Esurance. I ask her to get her card so I can get her policy number, she again tries to offer me money, but then finally starts looking for her card. She says she can’t find it, and asks if it’s ok if she “drives home to look for it and comes back”.

No?

We exchange phone numbers, and then she again asks if she can leave, again says it’s not her car, and again offers me cash. I keep turning down the cash because that’s shady af and she starts to get angry with me. She’s like “Well, I gave you my phone number! It’s not like I’m going anywhere!”

Annnd the moment you drive off all you gotta do is block my number. There.

She calls her mom at home to ask her to look for her insurance card. Mom can’t find it, so she basically starts getting angry with me for insisting she give me her info because she doesn’t have the card on her. At this point, I contemplated calling the police, but since she didn’t have proof of insurance on her, I knew they’d give her a ticket and I didn’t want her to have to deal with that/deal with STLPD. I point out that she’s on a smart phone with internet, and she can just call her fucking insurance company and they can give her her policy number. 

So she calls Esurance and I stand by with pen and paper, expecting her to turn to me at any minute like “Ok, it’s policy number blah blah” and I hear her talking to the insurance employee, like “I don’t know how it happened I didn’t even see her!...Yeah, she doesn’t want me to leave! I don’t know, I told her I’d be back!” and more and more shit about how ridiculous I’m being. But, she does admit hitting me, and that she ‘didn’t see me’.

To make sure she’s not bullshitting me, I ask to speak to Esurance right then and there, and file a claim. I get a claim number and at this point, I’m pushing an hour late to work. But what makes me start to side-eye everything is the ... analyst...? rep? idk what that job title would be called, was like “Well, we’ll investigate the claim and if it’s found that [redacted] is actually at fault...”

Hold up hold up.

What the fuck do you mean, “if”? She straight up told you she hit me because she didn’t see me. The only way she couldn’t have seen me was if she wasn’t looking both ways before crossing, and just kept driving (even though she should’ve stopped at the sign which I suspect she didn’t). It wasn’t her turn to cross anyway. I fail to see how this could not be her fault. But, I’ve gotta get to work. A few hours later,I call Esurance to make sure I wasn’t being fucked with and have them check the claim number and explain the process to me. And a few hours after that, one of the.. claims adjusters? idk, calls me. I walk him through what happened, and he’s like... not getting it. I was like

“She was on the right hand side of the street, it wasn’t her turn to go but she said she didn’t see me and went anyway, and hit my passenger side”

This stupid motherfucker goes:

“How is that possible?”

... uh what?

“If she was on the right hand side... how could she have hit your passenger side?”

BECAUSE THAT’S WHERE THE FUCKING PASSENGER SIDE OF A CAR IS YOU UTTER FUCKING TWIT (he’s in America, so it’s not like the cars are reversed). So I spent probably 15 minutes explaining this very simple concept to him. He then starts trying the “well, if she’s actually at fault...” line, but then kinda stops himself when he realizes she herself opened the claim and admitted hitting me. He still is trying the “well maybe she wasn’t at fault” bullshit. Dude, she fucking T-boned me. What concerns me is that she was driving a rental car. The guy was like “Well, we have to check and make sure the rental car she was driving was in her name.”

... does it matter? I’m assuming it was in her name because she was driving it because she’d gotten into a car accident with her actual car. Today, I went out to this shop to get estimates done, and that’s when I realized it was more than just the dent, but scrapes on the wheel and a bump on the tire. I also thought I heard some squeaking from that wheel I hadn’t heard before, but told him I could just be imagining things. 

So what I figured initially would be probably a few hundred at best to fix, turned out to be over a grand. I don’t imagine this lady had over a grand in cash on her person. 

[dipulb3]

These companies are paying their employees to receive the Covid-19 vaccine

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/these-companies-are-paying-their-employees-to-receive-the-covid-19-vaccine/

These companies are paying their employees to receive the Covid-19 vaccine

Many US companies are debating whether to mandate vaccines. Over 70% of current or recent CEOs of major companies said they were open to requiring vaccines, a poll by the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute said.

“I think the right thing to do is for United Airlines, and for other companies, to require the vaccines and to make them mandatory,” Scott Kirby, the United CEO told investors on an earnings call in January.

But not all CEOs agree. Although some industries, such as the healthcare sector, may require vaccines, others are instead offering various incentives to employees.

Depending on the industry, some employees may receive gift cards, while others are offered free rides to vaccination sites. These are the companies that are paying their employees to get vaccinated.

Aldi

In January, the discount grocery chain announced it will give its hourly workers four hours total of PTO to get vaccinated. Aldi emphasized the vaccine would not get in the way of employees’ work or pay.

Only 13 states currently offer vaccines to grocery store workers, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 1.3 million frontline workers, said.

American Airlines

Employees who get vaccinated will get an extra day off next year and $50 in American’s employee recognition program.

“I think from our standpoint we’re highly encouraging our team members to go out and get the vaccine,” AA Chief Operating Officer David Seymour said.

Amtrak

Amtrak is giving employees a bonus of two hours of pay when they show proof of their vaccination, as well as excusing absences for those who get vaccinated during work hours.

Bolthouse Farms

Bolthouse Farms is offering its employees a $500 bonus if they show proof of vaccination, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company also holds vaccination clinics weekly at its main farm.

Dollar General

The discount store popular in rural areas is giving its employees a stipend worth four hours of work to get vaccinated. Dollar General won’t make the vaccine mandatory for its more than 150,000 employees.

“We do not want our employees to have to choose between receiving a vaccine or coming to work,” Dollar General (DG) said in a press release.

Instacart

In February, Instacart began giving a $25 “vaccine support stipend” to in-store employees and independent contractors. To be eligible, shoppers need to have delivered five times in a month.

Kroger

Kroger employees will get a one-time payment of $100 if they show proof of vaccination. Workers who don’t get the vaccine for religious or health reasons can take a health and safety course and receive the payment.

“We are strongly encouraging all customers and associates to receive the vaccine to curb the spread of Covid-19, and we’ll do all we can to ensure they have access as soon as it’s available,” Dr. Marc Watkins, Kroger’s chief medical officer, said in a statement.

Lidl

In January, the grocery chain announced it will give $200 of extra pay to its US employees who choose to get the vaccine. Lidl has more than 125 stores across east coast states.

Last March, the company worked with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield to provide free, comprehensive Covid-19 medical coverage to its employees.

McDonald’s

Workers at both corporate headquarters and restaurants will get up to four hours of paid time off to get vaccinated.

Publix

The popular southern grocery chain is giving its employees $125 gift cards when they show proof of vaccination.

Target

Target (TGT) is giving its workers free rides to vaccination sites. The company announced in February that US employees will be eligible for up to $15 in Lyft rides each way to and from their appointments. Hourly employees will also receive up to four hours of pay.

“As we have for the past year, we’ll continue to invest in our team’s pay and benefits so they can take care of themselves, each other and our guests,” Chief Human Resources Officer Melissa Kremer said in a statement.

Trader Joe’s

The California-based grocery store is giving its workers an additional two hours of pay for each dose they receive.

— Appradab Business’ Nathaniel Meyersohn, Parija Kavilanz, Will Godley and Jazmin Goodwin contributed to this report.

[languagendersex]

y’all i know you’re tired of me posting about this...but i finally got the chance to fill out the health insurance paperwork at my job, and i came across the more detailed benefits summary (that may be from last year, but...), and it is literally the most comprehensive and inclusive coverage i have ever fucking seen. it covers transgender-affirming surgeries at 100%. it specifies autism-related care and substance abuse as well as mental health care. it covers ALL birth control of ALL types (including impants and IUDs AND both male and female sterilization surgeries) at 100%. it covers ALL preventive medicine (prescriptions) at 100% (still not sure what all that covers, but i’ve never seen anything like it before). 

i could literally save up my PTO and get top surgery and not have to worry about the cost at all. like i almost fucking cried when i read that y’all don’t know...i mean not to mention they require LGBT inclusiveness training and there was literally a video we had to watch that had several queer people, including a non-binary latino person talking about how they’ve been treated in health care situations and how they want to be treated...like the more i learn about this place, the more i feel like it’s where i’ve always belonged

[cwapresidente]

Why I will not vote for COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN GOODMAN COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES, LLC AND COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA

My ratification vote would be my agreement to end CWA’s founding Contract, version INSTALLATION CONTRACT CWA-25. I have defended this Contract as Local 4390 President for the last six years. CWA-25 is the 25th Contract version, ratified over a span of more than 80 years. Ours is a storied Union of Telecommunications Workers, employing quality craftsmanship from the time of mechanical step switches and cord boards to fiber optics, wireless, software switching through to nano-scale, diffusion-based molecular propagation communications.

Finnish-based Nokia goals to drive the cutting-edge communications research and products of the future, but strives to do so without proven, experienced telecommunications Installers, simply because they bargain wages and benefits collectively as a union.

After agreeing to accept and honor our collective bargaining agreement, Nokia has demonstrated they will take any and all actions to eradicate union representation in their company. I don’t trust Nokia to have the best interests of union workers in mind. Based on a lack of financial information or a business plan, I don’t trust the newly formed Goodman Communications’ ability to sustain a business for the duration of a three-year Contract. For these reasons and the specific reasons listed below, I will be voting against the ratification of the proposed, Draft Contract.

28.6% WAGE CUT

No other recorded union represented agreement has proposed such an egregious wage loss, surrendering close to one-third of bargained union wages. No gradual step reductions, but an immediate, irrevocable kick to the wallet. The proposed wage cuts are based on market wage averages research. Wage averages in teleconstruction are being driven down by contracted, gig-jobbing and overseas wages. If Goodman cannot afford union wages, how long can Goodman remain viable? How long will Nokia subsidize this agreement? I will not vote to lower my union-bargained wages to keep them in line with a third-world country wage.

NOKIA KEEPS CONTROL OF THE PENSION ACCOUNTS – GOODMAN HAS NO PENSIONS

The pension accounts serving our retirees have transferred since manufacturing was spun-off from AT&T to create Lucent Technologies, then purchased to form Alcatel-Lucent, then again, Nokia. I will not vote for a Contract that allows our retiree pension assets to remain with Nokia while my career is being bargained away to a smaller company, because Goodman does not have the experience and expertise to handle pensions. Bargained contributions to my pension cease on the day we leave the rolls of Nokia. Goodman offers only a 401k savings plan.

CONFIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN NOKIA AND GOODMAN

Goodman has agreed to offer employment to 201 union represented employees, without background checks or drug testing, sight unseen. CWA National was allowed sight access to some parts of the confidential commercial agreement between Nokia and Goodman, but we do not know the full contents of the agreement and will be given no opportunity speak to a Goodman representative before accepting employment with the company. There is no way to verify a sound business plan to support the viability of long-term employment with Goodman or to determine why a new company would agree to employ 201 workers without background information.

REBALANCING – PERMANENT TRANSFER OR LAYOFF

If the Company determines that a permanent rebalancing of employees between Adjustment Areas is required, … An employee shall be given at least thirty (30) calendar days advance notice of a permanent rebalancing. If a subsequent rebalancing ensues the retained employee(s) are the first to be rebalanced unless the Company has a bona fide business need for retention. If the employee declines the permanent rebalancing, he/she will be laid-off in accordance with this Article. (Article 15, Par.15.04)

NO GUARANTEE OF A 40-HOUR WORK WEEK

In fairness to our union, CWA-25 does not guarantee a minimum 40-hours for a full-time employee. CWA-25 also does not contain language specifically allowing the Company to pay only 4-hours for a work day.

The Company may adjust the schedule of work hours and/or weekly work tour assignments as it deems necessary based upon changing conditions in operating its business. An employee’s work schedule can include Saturday and Sunday scheduled as part of a work week. (Article 9, par. 9.03)

The Company does commit if an employee begins work on a scheduled workday, and such circumstances do arise, the employee will be compensated a minimum of four (4) hours for that day.

If the forward-looking forecast of work is such that it is desirable and possible to do so, the Company will have the right to institute short-timing for employees in a particular Adjustment Area in an effort to avoid work force layoffs or rebalancing because of short term fluctuations of work. (Article 15, Par. 15.03)

LOSS OF DOUBLE-TIME

Goodman will only agree to pay time and one half, as required by law. CWA National failed to agree that double-time was bargained not just as compensation, but as a governor designed to limit the number of work hours a company can expect out of a worker. Without an economic penalty of over-working an employee, a company is free to mismanage an employee’s efforts and pass the additional time and a half markup to the customer. Customers are not as keen on paying up scopes for double-time wages.

NO PROTECTION FROM CONTRACTING OUR WORK

The Company reserves the right to contract work to meet the needs of the business – NO LIMITS. We are agreeing to allow the Company to use temporary employees if the Company believes there is a need – NO LIMITS - NO TIME LIMITS. The Company will allow SUPERVISORS to perform bargaining unit work in an emergency (determined by the Company) – NO LIMITS.

NO PENALTIES IF THE COMPANY VIOLATES THE CONTRACT

The terms of the Contract are enforced only by the tenacity and diligent policing of volunteer union officers and representatives. If the union misses filing and follow-up timelines, the grievance is invalidated. There is no language penalizing the Company for missed deadlines or abuse and violations of the Contract terms. If the terms of the Contract are violated, the Company need only wait to exhaust the efforts of the Union Local walking the complaint through the grievance process, then if found in fault, is only required to make the complainant whole.

There is no language in the Contract protecting a complainant or the union representative from retaliation for filing a grievance.

VAGUE CONTRACT LANGUAGE FAVORS GOODMAN – MAKES CONTRACT INDEFENSIBLE

One of Articles of the Goodman Contract with the most precise language states, “The use of pronouns “he” or “she” and the suffixes “men” or “women” shall not be interpreted to refer to members of only one sex, but shall apply to members of any sex. This is a non-labor related item, but a social directive that has no bearing on preserving union work, union jobs or the safety of our members.

Nokia closed the Remote Integration Test Center (RITC) in Dublin, Ohio – claiming a core entrepreneurial decision to leave Installation by moving the work to a 3rd party installation model. CWA explained a cooling of defense against Nokia’s unilateral decision, citing a lack of direct language in CWA-25. Nokia closed the test center, shifted 106 union jobs to non-union contractors and employees overseas, without union negotiation. The defense of the union jobs that left Ohio and will be permanently eliminated if this Goodman Contract is ratified.

The Goodman Contract is peppered with Company-friendly, vague terminology such as, “reasonable amount of time, the employee has had insufficient rest, similar experience, skills and abilities, the Company will endeavor, abetting or threatening violence, whenever possible, due to issues beyond the control of the Company, as it (the Company) deems necessary, advanced notice may vary by supervisor, Company has made reasonable efforts to mitigate the unexpected circumstances, discretion of the Supervisor, Company and employee shall discuss when an employee can return for a weekend trip home, employees travelling together, in an effort to avoid work force layoffs or rebalancing, if the Company determines, a bona fide business need, Supervisors will not perform bargaining unit work except to maintain operations in emergency situations when there are no unit employees to perform the work needed, or when such is necessary for legitimate and immediate needs or for the instruction of personnel.”

If these phrases are left to the interpretations of an arbitrator, the arbitrator may cite no direct language required to rule in favor of the union.

NO QUARANTINE OR PANDEMIC WAGE PROTECTIONS

Contract only agrees to create a National Health and Safety Committee. The committee is only required to meet three (3) times a year. You can request not to work alone for reasons of safety but will be subject to a per diem reduction if on temporary transfer.

PTO DURING WORKER’S COMPENSATION LEAVE

“Employees may (will have to or not be paid) use PTO during the first week (five (5) working days) of absence from work due to a work-related injury, …” (Article 11, Par. 11.08)

MY CAR – MY CHOICE

Employee must be authorized to use personal vehicles for Company business. No language allowing the employee to refuse to carry tools or materials in their personal vehicle.

No language requiring employee to obtain or maintain a driver’s license while working under this Contract.

The employee is responsible advising his/her insurance company and maintaining insurance coverage of at least $50,000 bodily injury per person/$100,000 bodily injury per accident/$25,000 property damage liability per accident.

There is no offset compensation offered to the possible additional insurance costs once your insurance provider is made aware of your personal vehicle being used to perform commercial duties.

DISCLAIMER

I am 61 years old and have 30 years of service. I am nearing the end of my 2nd term as President of CWA Local 4390. My list of reasons for determining my vote on ratification are personal to me and should not be misconstrued as an attempt to move others for or against when voting on the proposed Contract and Effects Agreement. I am publishing my interpretations strictly as an additional information perspective that may be of use to others to better understand the ramifications of their vote. – Arthur T. Plas, President, Ohio CWA Local 4390