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Keep a bad job that will become a good job in 3 mos., or get a new one altogether?

K

Khadijah

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
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Hey yall, I am just wonderin if you guys can give me your opinions on this situation. It aint me, its my man. I aint posting to put his biz out on front street like that or talk about him behind his back. I just want to see if I am the only one who thinks that he may be gettin a little ripped off. Its a complex situation tho, so Ill try and explain it as quick and clear as possible.

Like me, my boo is a felon with a record, been convicted in the last few years. That makes jobs tough already. Add that to the recession that we are in and shit been hard. We got a kid on the way, and he been bustin his ass lookin for work for a long time now, since we found out i was prego. So...Finally, finally, he got work. Its at a very good company.

This is the deal. Its a window cleaning company. They pay 10-12 dollars per hour to start and do raises and promotions as deserved , and I known a few ppl who worked there and moved up pretty quick.

The work is full time--more than full time. 6 or 7 am to 6pm is a typical day. 10-12 hour days are the norm.

So far so good right.

Not only that but after 6 months with them you are eligibile for health benefits, and the insurance they offer is horizon blue cross blue shield, which is some fucking good-ass insurance. Im on medicaid. Our baby could be covered by real insurance, Im so excited. They even give you vacation days and shit like funeral leave if someone dies, etc. They even give you reimbursement for gym membership so you can stay nice and fit for their work.

This is the catch tho.

Since right now its winter, and they dont do the window cleaning til spring, right now he is doin gutter cleaning work. And its on a totally different pay system-commission only. Its pretty dangerous and involves climbing up on roofs on really big-ass houses that are in those rich folks developments, 40 foot roofs and shit. The team makes 6% of the money that the company earns for that day and splits it between them. After working 12 hours yesterday on his first day, he made $58. Thats less than 5 dollars an hour for really risky work.

So, obviously this sucks right NOW. He will be working most likely 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, at about 5 bucks per hour. Our baby is coming soon. He will still be doing this low-paying long-hours work for a few months after I have our son. So the downside is that he is gonna be bustin his ass for shitty pay, and not get to see our kid for the first couple months of his life until spring comes and he moves onto the better paying work.

but the benefits and the pay is so good once spring comes, that I kinda think hey, its worth waiting for. Or do yall think would he be wise to keep working here but look for a better job in the meantime, and work at that job til the spring when he can come back to the window place once they have high-payin work?

See its my instinct, in the life i am from, to say hey--he got a job. he got a job, a full time job! Hes LUCKY! and that job is gonna get waaaay better in a couple months. so he should stick with it and just deal with the shit for now cuz he cant afford to lose a chance at benefits, its worth it, when would he have a chance to have this good of a job again without a degree with a felony record, etc. Im more of the 'hey, you got ANYTHING , hang onto that shit" becuz im so used to not bein able to find work and always scrappin, never able to get ahead so for me this is like he might as well have won the lottery, you feel me?


But I know that my point of view is kinda shaped by my experience...my place in life, of being used to not bein able to get nowhere and having to take anything I can get, so maybe i am more likely to think its OK to settle, when one of yall high achiever types might think different about it. so i am just curious, how would you act in the same situation? would you keep the dangerous, below minimum wage job and work on slippery ass roofs in snow and ice and shit, so that a few months later you could have a really good-ass , high paying job with benefits? Or would you look for another better paying less risky job in the meantime and then go back to the good job in the spring once they have better paying work? Keep in mind--he aint your average job seeker. highschool diploma, felony record, no job training or education past HS, not good of employment history cuz he worked off the books for many many years, for construction companies that dont even exist no more, etc. so how would you act in that situation?
 
He shouldn't dump the job he has if he doesn't already have something better lined up. A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.
 
Obviously. but if you read my post, you will see that aint the question I asked. I asked if he should find another job, and once he found that other job, leave this one until the spring. I wasnt suggesting that he should leave this one to look for another one. that would be stupid.

Im sorry if the OP was too long to read all the way thru, I tried to make it as short and clear as possible, but I guess you didnt read it and just skimmed and answered based on the title of the thread and not the content of the OP.So..just to make it super clear--the question is--If you were in this situation, would you choose A or B?

A is to clean gutters for 5 bucks an hour working for company A, but keep looking for work somewhere else for better pay. when that work is found and a new job is lined up, go work for company B until the spring, when company A has better paying work available. Once that happens, leave company B and go reapply back to company A and work for the good pay and benefits.

B is to just stick with this job at company A for the winter, get shafted on pay and work long hard hours and not get to see your kid for the first 2-3 months of his life except once or twice a week, and be rewarded with the better paying work and benefits in a few months when the spring comes.

Nowhere in my post did it say a thing about quitting this job without another one lined up. That would be a stupid as hell thing to do, that aint even a consideration.
 
If your man can scoop another job in that time, there's nothing to lose by trying, but if it's going to be as hard as it sounds (i fuckin hate looking for employment, it's harder than working!), just stick to what he's got. three months will be gone in a flash anyway. three month aint shit, really.
 
If I were you I would stay in your current job and do your best. It’s always better having a job, then not having one. And then keep looking for something better. In the evenings, have a little look every day perhaps. But definitely I would not give up your current job, be thankful and happy that you’ve managed to get one at all in this climate! :-)
 
are they gonna let him come back come spring time?? if so, then hell yea find a new one

but also u gotta think, if he does this for awhile then yall are always gonna be strapped come winter time

i say yes, look for another job and if u find one that is better then the springtime gig then take the other job, if the other job is better then the winter gig but not as good as the spring time gig then maybe just sick it out
 
man, do people read the actual first post or not? Hgaberth, This aint my job we are talking about. I am asking about the job that my man is workin right now. It aint about me. Thanks for replying but damn, why is everybody writing about wat "I" should do? My first post aint THAT long, was it too much to bother to read or wat?

Anyways....Yea, the more and more he does this work the more I dont like it. he hates it. He said its scarin the shit outta him. and he worked roofing for years. He aint scared of heights. he knows his way around roofs and ladders. he was never scared when he worked up on roofs doin shingles and all that for years. He aint scared cuz its high up or on a roof--he scared becuz there is no safety standards and he knows that the job is in unsafe conditions.

Its incredibly dangerous--they make them work even when its pouring rain. climbing up on metal ladders 40 feet in the air in pouring rain with no protective harnesses, etc, just the worker on the slippery-ass ladder? thats so fuckin unsafe it terrifies me to think of him goin to work. When it snows, when it sleets, when there is ice and rain, they expect him to just climb up on that ladder and then get on the snow or ice covered roof and clean the gutters out. For less than 5 bux per hour. Thats fuckin terrible. He was tellin me that if OSHA was to go to any of his job sites, they would shut the company the fuck down becuz its so horribly unsafe. I told him to stop tellin me about the conditions there becuz if he keeps tellin me the details Ima be sittin at home prayin the hail mary all damn day long.

The idea that he is doin work that is realistically dangerous--not work like bein a pilot or w/ever, with a theoretical risk that aint likely to happen--but work that has a high likelyhood of real, actual risk that is actually pretty likely to happen....the shit upsets me...The idea that he could slip and fall off a ladder and get hurt so bad, when we got a son 4 weeks away and a whole life to live together....It just makes me so scared and afraid. If the money was good, it might be more appealing, but to be doin such high risk work for so little money just seems like a beat deal.
 
okay, my point is: three months is a very short period of time, so:
1: can he get another job in that time?
and
2: it will be gone before you even realise it (ESPECIALLY your upcoming three months :D<3).

his safety is of the highest importance, for sure. but does he really have another option?
 
Damn that sounds like the pits. That company he works for sounds shady and poorly managed, how the hell are they even in business?
They go from one of the best window cleaning companies to one of the shittiest gutter cleaning companies in the course of a year? Something sounds wrong about that.
The fact that he's getting less than minimum also sounds very wrong. Theoretically, if commissions are good enough, he could get more than $58 for a day of work, but probably not. That sounds like utter bullshit that he's getting paid less than minimum...how the fuck?
I know you don't even want to go there, but you'd get one hell of a settlement if something were to actually happen on the roof...anyways...
He could go to a temp agency and get set-up with an indoor factory job that pays AT LEAST minimum in a matter of days.

Would he be hired as soon as springtime comes if he up and leaves during the winter?
 
lacey k said:
Obviously. but if you read my post, you will see that aint the question I asked. I asked if he should find another job, and once he found that other job, leave this one until the spring. I wasnt suggesting that he should leave this one to look for another one. that would be stupid.
Click to expand...

I started to elaborate, but then I erased what I was writing because it almost seemed to be too obvious to keep going on. If you have a job that you aren't happy with, yes you should be looking for another job while you continue working the job you have.

It sounds like your man has a job that's dangerous and the pay isn't great. So by all means, try to find something else. But keep what you've got until then. None of us can afford to be out of work with no income, especially if we have a family to support and a new baby on the way. It sucks to put your life on the line just to pay the bills.

About jumping from job A to job B and then back again... most employers don't like that unless the work is seasonal or they like to hire temp workers. So be careful about letting them know you're looking for another job.

You may also luck out. Once I found another job and when I gave my 2 weeks notice, they offered to give me more money and a better job to stay. If your man is a good worker and they like him, they may make an offer to keep him.

Good luck!
 
Its a rock and a hard place...he got a lot of shit making it hard for him to get work, the first aint specific to him but just that there is a severe lack of jobs in our county, its always, always been hard to find work here but now its just a million times worse, everytime they do a review the available work goes down in this area. Second is his convictions and the fact he cant pass a background check. He looked for so long to find this job, tried for like 6 months and this was the first time he even got an interview.

If the job was just shitty, and paid shitty, thats one thing. Deal with it, and get the good work when it comes. The shitty and DANGEROUS part is the part that fucks with me. Shitty work for shitty pay is lame but you deal with it if you can. dangerous, risky work for shitty pay, Is it worth risking your life over? Its a hard position to be in.
 
lacey k said:
Its a rock and a hard place...he got a lot of shit making it hard for him to get work, the first aint specific to him but just that there is a severe lack of jobs in our county, its always, always been hard to find work here but now its just a million times worse, everytime they do a review the available work goes down in this area. Second is his convictions and the fact he cant pass a background check. He looked for so long to find this job, tried for like 6 months and this was the first time he even got an interview.

If the job was just shitty, and paid shitty, thats one thing. Deal with it, and get the good work when it comes. The shitty and DANGEROUS part is the part that fucks with me. Shitty work for shitty pay is lame but you deal with it if you can. dangerous, risky work for shitty pay, Is it worth risking your life over? Its a hard position to be in.
Click to expand...

You're right that it's a really tough economy and good jobs are difficult to find these days. For that reason, there are alot of people who are doing jobs they're wouldn't otherwise stay in. In times like these, you gotta hang on to whatever you can get while you're lookin for something better. People in risky occupations usually have ways to minimize the dangers. I hope he uses safety gear and they've got people keeping an eye on them.
 
Thats the problem. There aint no safety gear. There is no safety nothin. And no spotting, etc. Every safety violation and unsafe risky thing you could imagine, is present. They expect them to climb up a slippery-ass 45 foot ladder in pouring rain, and then get up on the roof (the majority of the ones they do are in rich neighborhoods and the houses got the really pointy, complicated roofs with all kind of weird shapes and shit) and clean the gutters out...On slippery shingles...Even in ice, even if its SLEETING out, they expect them to do it. Nothin but a ladder. No safety harnesses, no helmets or nothin like that, no jack-shit. some of the roofs are 60 feet high.

There really aint no way to minimize the risk becuz there aint no safety equipment to use, no other workers spotting the guy on the ladder or helpin in any way. its every man for his self.

Thats why the question is so hard . Becuz a shitty job, or even slightly risky one, would be easy to say hey keep it while you got it.

But this job, like seriously, every day he comes home safe from work I feel such huge relief. Its seriously, seriously dangerous. Not just "potential" danger, but real, very-likely-to-happen danger.


Not only that, But i just found out that it will end like a week before christmas. After that they dont do work again til the spring.

So, it would only be for like another month anyways. Might it be better to try to find another job that he could work ALL winter, instead of spending all this available time at this shitty job?

hes already lookin for another one doin his best to try and find a better one while he works here. It sucks becuz if he waits out the rest of this job, he will have to find a job that he can do for like 3 months. It sucks to jump back and forth between jobs for short periods of time like that.


He met a guy who used to work and do the gutters with the same company a few days ago. The guy told him "damn yo, it aint even worth it no more. when i was working there, the safety was absolutely horrendous but they at least paid us 10 bucks an hour. You doing all this for a shitty-ass COMMISION? I feel bad for you yo. It aint worth it no more, it was barely worth it to do that level of risky work for 10 bucks and hour but for the money you making, forget about it ."

Apparently there is a lot of guys with the company he works for that only do the window cleaning work. When winter comes, they dont do the gutters becuz its too risky and too little pay. They only come back for the spring. Dont nobody wanna do this shit, and i dont blame em.

It will prolly take a month or so tho just to find and secure another job if he can. so i guess he might as well just tough it out for now.

its just that the very real risk is scary, to both of us. Not just to me as the worrying soon to be mama who would naturally be protective. But to him too. He is the type of guy to be like "aawww, its fine, its okay, quit bein a pussy" etc. He aint over cautious. but this even scares him.

The idea that he might get hurt in the few weeks left of working is a very real threat considerin the work conditions there. thats why its so hard for him to decide WTF to do.

Imagine if you had work and you knew you needed the job but every day you go, you KNOW there is a very good chance you could get injured or seriously hurt. Like, every day you go to work you may be risking your life. And you get paid jack shit for it.

is the shitty, tiny amount of money you make worth the risk? thats the real question here...
 
he's obviously being exploited. all the benefits in the springtime don't mean dick if he slips on an icy ladder on xmas eve, uninsured, busts his back up and just try to imagine the fucked up kind of situation your kid will be born into then. it's not worth it. even with life being what it is, i'd rather ask for handouts than risk my health with a dependent on the way.

think of this way... even if he does stick it out and work gets better in the springtime, won't the situation be the same come next winter?
 
I personally would quit tomorrow if I was him for reasons stated above by thujone.

Im not the type to live life by "what if's" but this seriously is not worth the risk given that he is about to become a father and have working legs.


And as its obviously a dodgy company, fuck them. It's bullshit. America is meant to be a 1st world country.
 
in a word OSHA !!! they will inspect the job site i promise you . underpaid, understaffed but they will send an inspector to this lousy business's work sites .
the will levy fines and keep on coming back .

OSHA looses inspectors to safety consulting outfits but the ones that remain have the workman's interests in their sights.

a phone call or web site visit is in order . i have seen what a fall down 30' onto vertical rebar did to a young man that had no harness . company had so many safety violations that it made the news several days running.
 
Seriously, I agree, if I were him I'd quit tomorrow. What is this, no other option stuff? There is ALWAYS another option. I'd rather be poor than doing something horrible or dangerous.
 
holy shit is this even true....we got laws against this type of thing...laceyk you are totaly right..he should look for work while still in a bad job ...
 
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