I am being bumped off shifts by a retiree

[dmbwest]

God bless you Carey, for wasting your time on this crap.

UKJ ...you are a real piece of work all right.

[fishenjim]

Be kind,for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle....Plato

[Punababa]

UnknownJulie reminds me of a colleague of mine, both of us were same grade & salary , even though I was older with more seniority, much more experience and education notwithstanding all this would complain to me and my supervisor that she is entitled to more money because she is a “Single Mother” and I had two income, a wife who made good money. She would never accept the fact I was only married once to the same women for 35 years, sent her to grad school , saved, invested and raised 3 successful children, everyone is this country is “Entitled” to something and society owes it to them and their children something for nothing, it’s all our hard working peoples fault that they are struggling. I grew up very poor with honorable parents who taught me “ do not point a finger at someone else as three fingers are pointing at you”. Since you brought up race I am an immigrant and she is US Born.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Carey -
Thank you for your post. Often we forget that members of every generation had (and have) difficulties in finding a career and work. I'm glad you pointed it out with your mom's work experience as an example, and reminding us about 20 somethings with student loans.

What you said reminded me of what King Solomon once wrote. He may have been considering his legacy, as he watched the generations come and go during his lifetime:

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
What profit has a man from all his labor
In which he toils under the sun?
One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
But the earth abides forever.

And there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which it may be said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been in ancient times before us.
There is no remembrance of former things,
Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come
By those who will come after.

[Bullwinkle]

We will never "own" anything - at best we are care takers at worst we are exploiters

as to coming to BI and expecting to work - may mean displacing someone who has roots in this town. Is that really the best way to reward the sense of Aloha?

[dayna]

I've stayed out of this post so far. But I'm going to post my opinion anyway.

UKJ, I'm not sure of your age. Probably somewhere close to me. I'm 35. I am a single mother, remarried. I have full custody and up until last month never received a dime of child support (17 years). I have not ever had to go on public assistance (thank goodness so far).

I had a VERY good career in Alaska. I KNOWINGLY GAVE THAT UP WHEN I MOVED HERE. My entire family now relies on one income (my husbands) and I have a child going into college.

Do I have a "right" to someone elses shifts because I moved here and changed my life?

No.

I'm choosing to live WAY differently with less "stuff" than I did in Alaska.

Do you know why? I could, frankly, get a job tomorrow. I've been offered jobs here without asking for them. Thats not saying, it's a job I want or love. It's not saying its a GREAT paying job either. But a job.

When so many have so little, I find it hard to complain about what *I* have. When I see so many kids at my daughters high school going without simple things like food, shoes, etc. I choose to leave those jobs I might be offered to others who need them more than I do. Someone could support THEIR family on that job. Many teenagers here are on their own at an earlier age than I've seen in other places, sometimes supporting their own family! I've seen so many hardworking teens, maybe having made some mistakes, raising children from a young age. Maybe THEY need that job. Maybe their Grandparents need that job (coming out of retirement) to help raise their grandchildren so the teen parents can go to high school and hopefully college.

I know that I ramble. I hope I get my point across.

I guess my point is: You have a job. YOU moved here. You have a JOB. And yet you're complaining that someone who has worked there longer, has more seniority, is getting more work than you. THAT MAKES NO SENSE TO ME FOR YOU TO COMPLAIN. No sense at all. You have NO IDEA what their life is like. And even if you did who cares! It's THEIR JOB THEY HAD BEFORE YOU!!!! This has nothing to do with you! It is not their job to take care of you. Which, asking someone else to give up shifts for you because you are a single mom is ASKING THEM TO TAKE CARE OF YOU. That's not their job.

Dayna

http://www.FarmingAloha.com
www.E-Z-Caps.com

[unknownjulie]

I am not complaining about what I have or do not have. I am thinking and posting about the philosophical decision that the retiree made when she bumped me- and what it means for our society as a whole- as this is played out time and again, all over the place. (I have seen this happen time and again on the mainland as well). I am 45. This job market here is much better than from where I moved from, for my line of work, but the reason I moved here had to do with family relationships. I am not going to "apologize" for working part-time here. Why should I not be working at the age of 45? Because I moved to Hawaii?

[csgray]

If it is a government job using a seniority system and she is working she is not a "retiree." Maybe a person of retirement age, or someone who was retired at one time, but now this person is a worker, not a "retiree" and is entitled to whatever shifts her seniority gets her, that is what it means to have seniority in a government job. In the private sector the boss allocates shifts according to their preferences, in a seniority system it is by longevity, you aren't being bumped, you are getting what any person with your level of seniority is entitled to in that system.

Carol

[unknownjulie]

We are private employees- working at a public job. The manager is using the "seniority philosophy" that is in place at the public job- to "allow" the person to bump me. She should technically not be allowed to do this- but since I am new- I am not saying anything negative about it at work. The person is "eligible" for social security and that is what makes me call her a "retiree". I have no idea if she is actually "drawing social security" or a "pension from elsewhere" (she is not retired from the state that I know of). She basically just told me that "she tried being retired and got bored with it". It is complicated and that is why I just said "state job" to simplify. We are working at a state job, but are not technically employed by the state- we are private sector employees. To further complicate matters- my other part time job is an "actual state job" with another state dept. (I have two totally seperate careers that I am concurrently working at). Although for now, I am only working 4 and 6 hours for the next 2 weeks- due to being bumped. So, lots of time to post on the internet! Let's hope I get more hours, so I can the heck off of this website!

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Julie -
If you were the supervisor at your job, what method would you use to fill available shifts? You may have an idea of your own, but here are some common examples:

1) Seniority - simple, objective, math based
2) Most Qualified Worker - subjective, decision is based on supervisors opinion, would cause disagreements and conflicts between supervisor and workers, and between workers who may feel slighted, difficult to explain to those 'less qualified' exactly how they were evaluated, and what aspects of their job carries the most weight in the decision
3) Rotating Alphabetical Assignments - position would often be filled by less qualified, or unqualified worker
4) Number in a Hat or other Random Assignment - supervision would look like they were running a Workplace Lotto, probably be accused of rigging the system at some point