Are you glad your dad (or mom) taught you the value of hard work?

[John105]

If I look back upon my life, I made a critical mistake. I've been on-call at my jobs since 1996.

From 1996-2010, I had a pager. In the 90's, I felt cool having a pager, it made me feel important.

From 1999-2010, I had a company cell and a pager. At the beginning, a Nextel. Again, made me feel so cool, talking out loud in public, beeping on the walkie talkie.

Looking back, there is no way it's even possible to recoup all the hours of my life spent on-call. And when having a child, lost hours.

Yesterday, and this week, was particularly bad. Calls every single day (knock on wood I hope maybe just maybe Sat and Sun it will be quiet). Everybody obviously heard about CrowdStrike and its worldwide impact.

Anyway, here's my day Thursday into Friday.

Leaving work 420, get a call, go back into work, leave work 7:30 PM.

Get home, about to grab something to eat, another call. This one is only an hour.

4 AM Friday, get a call, related to CS, and this lasts until 4 PM. In the meantime, I drive into work, since we have a 80% requirement. Really. I don't want to lose a remote day to this incident. What I mean is there is an in-office requirement, that relies on swipes. 12-5 pm is considered in the office even if it's not a full day, etc. Get this--if we travel for work and not in the office, we must make that up, it's not an excusal from the 80% requirement hahahahahahahahaha

I honestly don't think I could do the above if my dad didn't teach me the value of hard work. I'm sure many could read this and say dude your co. is taking advantage of you get out of there. We're salaried we don't get overtime or any extra compensation. I'm at the end of my career and have never been laid off--I'd like to think maybe I'm just not lay off material and working hard has made me someone who brings value.

At any rate, I thank my dad. If not for him, there's no way I could or would put up with being on-call. It's not good. There's no way to spin it otherwise. And the worst of it, it takes away from our primary responsibility, so it's like having a second job. But, it went with the territory and I just deal with it.

How about you, did your parents teach you to work hard? And are you glad?

 

[demarpaint]

God Bless the both of them. To make a very long story short, they taught my brother and I well, we were blessed.

 

[PontiacHO]

Yes. Working at a Chevy dealership in 1977. Still living at home (19 years old) and paying rent. Family was with us in for the 4th of July. I decided not to go in to work even though the dealership was opened as usual on the 4th. My dad asked me had I scheduled the day off. When I said “no” that I “decided to enjoy the 4th” he said: “if your boss doesn’t fire you, you will never be considered for training, advancement, and be considered as trustworthy. You probably should just quit and move on. You’ve created a bad situation “. I quickly put my uniform on and went to work. That quick analogy from Dad stuck with me. I recall that it was really busy that day and the shop manager thanked me at the end of the day for “hustling to get the work out”.

 

[Oey12]

My parents are divorced and still provided me with priceless life lessons…I am so grateful for them and how they raised me.

My grandparents were legal immigrants, making my father 1st generation citizen. He spent a lot of time showing me and arguing with me about the value of a dollar. That I should always care and treat everything I own as if I would NOT be able to afford it again. He’s the reason why I am so OCD about my vehicles.

In relation to the value of a dollar he also taught me that you should always plan for the worst by saving as much money as possible BUT make sure I enjoy some of with yourself or in my case my wife and children.

Basically he me taught “balance” and tells me “I never seen anyone bring their wealth to their next stop”. It may seem contradictory but it really isn’t…

 

[Pablo]

Yes to a point.

But then they got stuck. Stubborn and yes idiotic dementia because stubborn and idiotic. I learned from them, a lot - hard work gets you places. What you do when you get there, involves hard work and thinking.

 

[eljefino]

They did but perversely, I worked hard to move out!

 

[wings&wheels]

Yes. That and a moral compass (well, isn't work ethic part of that?). The family weren't necessarily big on secondary education, just no awareness, but we all worked.

 

[Pew]

Yes, but certainly not in the way he taught us. My dad was shipped off to boarding school in his country because that was the only way to go to school in his country. Then immigrated over here when he was around 14 years old in the 70s, with no knowledge of English and with barely an elementary school education, and was another 4 years before anybody else in the family could come over. As much as I dislike him and don't talk to him I'm glad he constantly hit in our heads how "he lived alone since he was 14 years old and we need to learn how to survive on our own."

 

[ZZman]

I never remember either parent really showing or talking about working hard. You just do what you gotta do to survive and try to get a piece of the American Dream.

 

[Kira]

Yes to "work ethic" lessons from both parents, who lead by example. However, I don't recall a specific 'course syllabus' on the subject.

May I add "table manners" to the list of 100% INVALUABLE SOCIAL ASSETS. Eat like a pig and you won't be invited back.

Later in life, both my parents lamented having not stressed a music education.

 

[PWMDMD]

My father worked 70-80 hours per week as a flexographic printer in a cold/hot factory setting inhaling noxious solvents and died of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck a day before his 48th birthday. He taught me spending too much time at work is a waste of your short life and no one ever sat on their death bed complaining they didn't work enough.

 

[wpod]

Hard work is awesome. I love to watch people work hard.

 

[GRUMPYDUDE2]

Yes they did.

The older I get the more I realize how great my parents were.

 

[GSCJR]

Yes, and I made sure to let them know.

 

[walterjay]

I thank God that my father set an example of working hard and diligently. I learned a lot from his example. I have worked since I was 14 and have never regretted it.

 

[Chris142]

I dunno I started working a summer job @14. I had a full time job before I graduated high school. I missed my graduation because I had to work that day.

I have busted my rump 5-6 days a week and dont seem to have much to show for it.

I have never had a paid vacation. I worked 18 years straight with only weekends off.

I see lazy people get treated better that ones that work hard so is it worth it?

 

[alarmguy]

In thankful to have worked for most everything I attained.
At the age of 12 or 13 I was rewarded by my parents a paper route delivering newspapers in my community, it was cool having my own money as I looked at my friends parents using them most but not all everything.

At age 16 (or 15) I went to work in a garden center. Always paid my own car insurance, always bought my own cars except the first one my sister gave me her 1966 Mustang.
At around the age of 21 my father got me a job at a major newspaper, did well, granted he was my "in" but not the final say, and they hired me over more qualified people, always bought my own toys, cars boats etc.
I then moved on to my own businesses
At times they financed my ventures in the sense I could always borrow money from them (if I wanted too), but it was a two way street.
They got a better tax free interest rate from me then the could get at a bank and I got a lower loan rate that I could get at a bank.

I raised my kids much the same way, no matter what the future of this world is when I am no longer here. I know my kids and their families will know how to survive. Because they always purchased their own stuff and stood on their own to feet. Actually bought their own homes without a "gift" from me. My parents gave me a "gift' for a down payment that I paid back with interest. My kids didnt even need that from me. Actually another one is looking at homes herself this weekend.

With all that said, don't take my words like I lived or my kids lived in a prison camp. We did our vacations we had our holiday and birthday gifts and always made a big deal out of those events. But buying them cars, insurance stuff like that? No

Im thankful the way I was raised, I think in anyones life you could think of improvements that could have been done better but one huge thing I can say is I learned from my parents was personal responsibility and taught that well to my kids. I think now a days, many but not all by any means, fail to instill that in their kids OR to occupied to bother.
All one has to do is look at our national debt and it shows, lack of responsibility.

 

[4WD]

I was always amazed how hard my dad worked until he just couldn’t …

 

[GON]

I dunno I started working a summer job @14. I had a full time job before I graduated high school. I missed my graduation because I had to work that day.

I have busted my rump 5-6 days a week and dont seem to have much to show for it.

I have never had a paid vacation. I worked 18 years straight with only weekends off.

I see lazy people get treated better that ones that work hard so is it worth it?

Chris,

I am going to start PMing you jobs I come across that I think you might match well for and enjoy-- and have good benefits. I see these vacancy announcements frequently in California, I suspect the challenge is locating a match within reasonable commuting distance of your Casa.

Here are two random searches in California- I suspect you may match well with quite a few of these vacancies, and I am guessing these positons may be hard to fill.
https://www.usajobs.gov/Search/Resu...Mechanic (One Mechanic Shop)&l=California&p=1

https://www.usajobs.gov/Search/Results?jt=Automotive Mechanic&l=California&p=1

 

[Chris142]

Chris,

I am going to start PMing you jobs I come across that I think you might match well for and enjoy-- and have good benefits. I see these vacancy announcements frequently in California, I suspect the challenge is locating a match within reasonable commuting distance of your Casa.

Here are two random searches in California- I suspect you may match well with quite a few of these vacancies, and I am guessing these positons may be hard to fill.
https://www.usajobs.gov/Search/Resu...Mechanic (One Mechanic Shop)&l=California&p=1

https://www.usajobs.gov/Search/Results?jt=Automotive Mechanic&l=California&p=1

thanks!