Wage Slaves Unite!

[Smooth Criminal]

Hello everybody. This is Smooth Criminal. I'm the annoying guy who ends all of his posts with his screen name.

Anyway. I was at work the other day and a random thought came into my head. There's a thread for just about every topic on Smashboards. Pictures, fitness, news events...so I figured, well, why not make a thread dedicated to the Smashers that just have...jobs? Part-time, full-time, under the table, over the table...hell, even for prospective people seeking employment.

The projected topic matter...? Anything that has to do with, well, what you do. It could be a story of some kind involving a co-worker or a customer. It could be advice, dispensed by members of this thread to help better your standing at your job and maybe land that promotion that you're looking for. It could even be advice on your first interview.

While I'm not a moderator, there are a couple of guidelines I would like to make clear:

1) Keep name-dropping of any kind to a minimum. This is probably one of the most important suggestions that I can make. Many people have jobs that are tightly knit with their social lives (or vice-versa). Including names of companies you work for or even of people you work with could be grounds for disciplinary action by the job or (at the very least) an assload of embarrassment.

Change the names, but don't change the stories.

2) Troll this thread at your own risk. Anyone marching into this thread with a demeaning tone will be reported post-haste. This includes anything from "lol, you fail for working full-time at a grocery store! L 2 college!" to "your job sucks; mine's better!"

I'll probably add more stuff as I go along, but that's the general premise.

Discuss away!

Smooth Criminal

 

[alex3]

shouldnt you at least try to start off the thread?

 

[Mazaloth]

I work at a vet, I clean cages and help with animal surgery. I work 3 PM - 8:30PM Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays/Saturdays.
I get paid $7.14 an hour, I work with good people, and I get the job done.

In the summer I work as a Pump operator. I get paid $22.80 per hour, and I work 10Am-6Pm. I get Mondays, and Tuesdays off.

 

[Liex Link]

I'm a senior in high school who to get more school points on my collage appilcation I work as a waiter in T.G.I. Fridays. I get paid about $5.50 an hour.

 

[slave1]

I get paid about $5.50 an hour.

owch. that sucks.

i worked at K-Mart. it was not bad till we got the new evil manager who screwed life over for many people. i quit after he came. LOL but it was fun while it lasted

 

[KingJiggyWiggy]

I was working for UPS (Under Paid Slaves) during the season. It's brutal work and the supervisors don't give two ****s about your well-being. You will be fired if you complain of pain or get hurt but you will be paid 1k for getting bit by a dog. At least your overtime starts after just 5 hours.

 

[M.K]

I'm thinking of being a busboy (eventually a waiter) when I turn 16 this May. My mom keeps trying to tell me that the "tips" aren't going to be worth it. Is this true? I know that the waiters make less money due to the tips they get, but wouldn't those tips add up over the course of an hour?

 

[DoH]

I work at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen.

My hourly wage is $2.13.

My tips are all taxed, so my checks usually are about $5-$8.

I live off of tips, essentially.

Oh, and here's a story.

Last Memorial Day, I had this gargantuan woman come in with her sister and her sister's husband. After taking about 3 minutes to waddle to her table, I go up and do my greet and everything, and then ask if they want to start with some appetizers. She replies, "I want a Creme Brulee, and a Diet Coke."

Seeing as how a Creme Brulee is a dessert, I repeated it to confirm; incensed, she glared at me and decried, "Don't judge me for my eating habits!"

Her portion of the bill was about $20.

She left me $2.

In dimes.

 

[MBreeto]

I work at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen.

My hourly wage is $2.13.

My tips are all taxed, so my checks usually are about $5-$8.

I live off of tips, essentially.

Oh, and here's a story.

Last Memorial Day, I had this gargantuan woman come in with her sister and her sister's husband. After taking about 3 minutes to waddle to her table, I go up and do my greet and everything, and then ask if they want to start with some appetizers. She replies, "I want a Creme Brulee, and a Diet Coke."

Seeing as how a Creme Brulee is a dessert, I repeated it to confirm; incensed, she glared at me and decried, "Don't judge me for my eating habits!"

Her portion of the bill was about $20.

She left me $2.

In dimes.

What a *****. Anyways, I paint houses and stuff. I like it because I don't have to be anyones ***** (I used to work at a country club - **** that). You just paint and think. Thats it

 

[dawgbowl]

I work at Carrabbas Italian Grill, as a waiter.

Full time college student, part time job, all time awesome. >_>

ok, that was lame -_-

 

[petre]

i used to have a job at a grocery store. worked there for almost 5 years and i was only making $8.25 an hour when i left.

im currently looking for a better job...which is impossible because i live in michigan.

 

[Rici]

I work as a car mechanic(trainee) at a Mercedes-Benz dealership. I get paid 5,01 euros/hour. I work from 8 to 5 with 2 breaks of 1 hour total, except for Wednesdays, then I go to school from 8 to 3, but I still get paid a full day's work, so that's kinda nice.

Last 3 days we had an opening party of the new showroom that we've got. It was cool, I wasn't there the first night, but yesterday and today I had to be parking boy. Not actually driving the cars away, but just pointing out where the people should park the cars, along with some other guys. Yesterday sucked, it was raining, windy and it was ****ing cold. Also, there were some people that just wouldn't listen to me. I asked them real friendly if they'd go to the last guy on the end of the parking lot, so it would be easier for us to use the whole parking lot but they just parked their cars on the middle of it, stepped out with some lame little excuses or just plain ignoring me because they didn't want to walk the extra 30 meters. WTF?!
I really was able to stab some tires flat, but luckily I didn't or I would've lost my job

It was fun after all. We could go to the party where there was a catwalk show with some pretty models. There were cute waitresses everywhere and there was this little 'band' with 4 violin players, where 2 of them were amazingly beautiful.

Then there was the Formula 1 McLaren car, but it was only a show model, not a real one. Still pretty cool to see though. And today there was also a race simulator where you sat in half a F1 car, I was the only one to place as first in the race(it was only 3 laps though, but you had to start from the back, settings were set on easy ). Along with all this fun there was an Mercedes bus, which needed to be repainted, so they said:"Hey, let's have some fun and let the kids play with some finger paint on it". So the whole van was painted in all bright colours, and me being the biggest kid had to join in of course . Pics of all this will be put on later in the Las Pictoras thread.

 

[SkylerOcon]

I've landed a job as a 'volunteer' working for my school district during the summer break. Though I won't get paid for it because I'm only 15, it pretty much guarantees me an $8 an hour job during the summer for next year. Pretty good deal, I say. The only downside is that it pretty much restricts me to hanging out with friends on weekends during summer, so that's kinda lame. But at least I'll get the spending money!

 

[Eor]

I've landed a job as a 'volunteer' working for my school district during the summer break. Though I won't get paid for it because I'm only 15, it pretty much guarantees me an $8 an hour job during the summer for next year. Pretty good deal, I say. The only downside is that it pretty much restricts me to hanging out with friends on weekends during summer, so that's kinda lame. But at least I'll get the spending money!

I wouldn't count that worth it, to work over the summer without being paid when you can just get a job next year for almost the same amount?

I worked at a smoothie place over the summer, made about $7.50 an hour, I had ****load of hours, I was honestly working about 30-40 hours a week, so I made a lot of money from it.

 

[_Phloat_]

A question for you guys.. I am 15, probably gonna get a job this summer. (Publix hires young) and I was wondering... Is it rude to ask how much you will be paid in an interview?

 

[SkylerOcon]

I wouldn't count that worth it, to work over the summer without being paid when you can just get a job next year for almost the same amount?

My mom is giving me 100 dollars a week for doing it this year, so I still get some money. I'm saving up for a laptop, so this is going to help, even if I'm not getting payed minimum wage.

It will look good once I start applying to colleges. That, and the expirience will be good for when I start looking for a job once I get out of college.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

A question for you guys.. I am 15, probably gonna get a job this summer. (Publix hires young) and I was wondering... Is it rude to ask how much you will be paid in an interview?

I know that I'm going back on what I said earlier with the whole "name dropping" bit, but I will disclose this much. Phloat, I happen to work for Publix. Been with the company for five years. I make $11.00 an hour as a cashier, full-time (40 or more hours a week). I get sweet benefits like sick pay, vacation days, stock holdings, and all major insurances (including dental) covered.

(

Spoiler

If you want to know more about the ins and outs of the company, just ask me via PM.

)

As for your question, that all depends. If you were entering a high brow corporate position, then that wouldn't be a very bad question to ask. Corporate jobs are all about competition; people who have good credentials will sometimes be courted by numerous companies without and even sections of a particular company within. However, since you are entering in retail and at probably the lowest rung (front end service clerk, as far as jargon goes) then it is kind of...presumptuous to ask about your starting rate. Assume that you'll be starting off at maybe a dollar higher than minimum wage.

You pretty much want to be a "Yes" man throughout the whole interview. When I say this, I don't mean you answer "yes" to any and every question (a degree of honesty is required here); you have to keep a very positive, very confident air around you. Ultimately you want to spell out "Yes, I can be a very good employee for you and benefit the company."

@ Meta-Kirby:

Restaurant jobs that pay commission are REALLY fickle things. On one hand, you can make a buttload more than what anybody could make in one static work day if people are kind enough to shell out the dough. On the other hand, well...you have instances like D'oh's where people aren't so nice and will stiff you out of money. It ultimately boils down to whether you have faith in humanity or not. I personally stick with jobs that pay decently and have good benefits.

(Two dollars in dimes? Jesus.)

And I didn't expect this thread to pick up so suddenly. Cool.

Smooth Criminal

 

[_Phloat_]

Yea, I will be applying for a low end job... CEO didn't work for me =P.

Thanks for the help, i'll keep that in mind.

 

[Mith_]

Still unemployed. Nobody wants to hire me. I'm obviously doing something wrong so I gave up on the job searching for a while.

Full time student ftl(w???).

 

[Scott!]

I've had a few jobs in my time (College student full time, at the moment). But the most interesting, for me at least, has been spending the last six summers working at a ballpark near my house. It's just a minor league team, so nothing too exciting in terms of actual players. But it's pretty interesting getting to see all that it takes to make a game happen.

My first summer, I worked in one of the food booths, making hot dogs and nachos and stuff. There were about 6-7 guys back there, all of us about 14-16 years old. It was always really hot, but we had fun, doing our thing, making hundreds of hot dogs, throwing ice at each other, listening to the radio, and generally having a good time. Plus, on breaks, we could go watch the game for an inning or so.

The next three summers, I was an usher. Pretty much, for the first hour or 2, I told people where their seats were and answered their random questions. If it was anything harder than "Where is the bathroom?" After that, things quieted down fast for me, so I would just watch the game until I was either sent home for lack of use, or abducted to go help the people in promo with the mid-inning events. They like having goofy audience games every half-inning, and would use the ushers to help out. Whether it was carrying the mattresses onto the field for the baby races, or leading the rally cow around the infield (And I'm not making this stuff up), they always needed a hand.

Rainy days were the worst. It was the ushers who'd have to go help the grounds crew with moving the tarp onto and off the field, so our feet and legs would get all messy with the infield dirt. Plus, we'd have to go dry seats for people if the rain stopped. Sometimes, they'd tip, but still, not fun.

During these years, I was called on to fulfill the most visible role of a non-athlete in the stadium. Yes, I was a Minor League team mascot. And it was miserable. I'm not great with kids. I don't know what to do with them at all. Plus, I couldn't see them through my gigantic mascot head mask. So, I had to always look down when I walked so I didn't kick them by accident. That costume reeked; it probably had never been properly washed. And the massive head was worse. I gagged when I put it on. At least I didn't have to smile. Plus, mascots get paid double what I normally got.

However, it wasn't worth it, so after that summer, I made sure to get a job where they couldn't steal me away for the sweaty bird suit. They built a Pro Shop, so I worked there. And I've been there for the past 3 summers. It's a decent job, especially for retail, going by the horror stories I hear. Generally, it's just me the days I work, except on the busiest nights, like Friday, or any night with fireworks. It's pretty good. It can get really slow on weeknights, but whatever. I can stand outside and see the scoreboard, so I can follow the game. Or I can play with the baseball paraphernalia like the mini bats, rubber balls, and inflatable stuff.

It's a funny place to work, in general. Being in the store, I get to carry a walkie talkie, so I can hear the chaos from the people making the whole thing happen. There's a lot going on for a tiny team in a tiny stadium. For the high schoolers out there looking for an unusual job, if there's something like this near you, hey, it might be fun. It's certainly unusual.

 

[1048576]

How do you find employment? I can't even find a place to volunteer in Gainesville. I've joined several college clubs, but other than that, my resume is severely lacking, especially since I've never had work experience? I've sent applications everywhere, but it seems like a waste of time since I've never had a job before. So I'm wondering: how did you all get your first jobs?

 

[Eor]

I applied to a lot of places

 

[1048576]

Me, too, but I assume all the companies are taking more qualified applicants.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

How do you find employment? I can't even find a place to volunteer in Gainesville. I've joined several college clubs, but other than that, my resume is severely lacking, especially since I've never had work experience? I've sent applications everywhere, but it seems like a waste of time since I've never had a job before. So I'm wondering: how did you all get your first jobs?

Never thought I'd see you here, Numbers.

There's really nothing special to how I acquired my first job at McDonald's. I just walked in, put in an application, and spoke to a manager about my interest in working for the company. She did all but hire me right there.

I constantly stress this to my friends who are unemployed: If you REALLY want a job, regardless of how it is, make yourself known to the person who is hiring you. I don't mean leaving a paper trail for them to follow back to you or a little ninety-nine cent card asking purdy-please for a job. Do your application and try to request an audience with him/her via a phone call or even by going to the place you applied for. Don't be a nuisance about it or overt. Just ask around for the hiring manager.

Remember, one of the most important things that a manager will look at before he hires you is initiative. By expressing this level of interest, you are showing him that you are something a little more than just a face. A worker bee, maybe, but not just some schmuck.

I think you know the drill for face-to-face encounters, like interviews or talking to the manager about the job. Dress nice, be a "Yes man," etc.

(Note that this is most effective for low-end jobs such as retail and some small-time secretarial work. Conventional channels are a must for big jobs.)

Other than that, Numbers, the rest is up to the employer. Try not to be too picky when you look around for a job also. I know full well you're in college, mister...I'd hope you were looking for a quick buck here and there.

Edit: Also, if your clubs are pertinent to any questions to the hiring managers...by all means, include them!

Smooth Criminal

 

[Peeze]

I work at a major clothing company in the NOC(network operations center) as a "technical support specialist" aka helpdesk. 40g a year + benefits.

 

[jber4life]

I am SO Excited for this thread.

Ok, last summer i worked in Denny's,

(For people who dont know it, it is a 24 hour breakfest resturant.)

Anyways, It was my first serving job, so i was given 11PM to 7 am, five days a week. (On my training shift i needed to call the police twice.)

Pretty much, I got to babysit people after the bar closed, i got to witness everything. People stripping naked, fights... you name it, i dealt with it. But the money was good and the stories are priceless.

 

[Xsyven]

I've been unemployed since October. Before that, I worked at a theater, as a backstage technician. I only made $275/wk, though. I'm gonna work there again this summer-- shootin' for $300/wk.

 

[DoH]

Some cowboy kept on grabbing my *** last night, even while eating with his family. I just kept bringing him more drinks.

He left me $40 though.

I don't know whether to be offended or pleased that Wii Fit has paid off.