Strangest schedule that I've ever seen on a job :eek:

[Gary Allan]

I just an interview with brick manufacturer to be a kiln operator. It's right up my alley. Not labor intensive ..you sit in a control room and watch the screen ..check temps ..alter as need for the tonnage of the bricks ...once an hour you get informed when the automated system is going to open the doors and move the rail cars into and out of the kiln. You just make sure that it does its job. The pay was decent for our local cost of living and the benefits are very good by todays standards ..even yesterday's standard.

Here's the rub. You work 20 days on ..one day off with rotating shifts (you rotate backwards 3-2-1). The kiln runs 24/7/365 unless there's a severe slowdown/layoff. You are off every third Sunday ..and that's it aside from 6 sick days ..4 personal days ..and your vacation. You cover the vacations of the other two operators with 12 hour shifts. You work 7 days (8 hrs. Sat @ 1.5X, 8 hrs. Sunday @ 2X). You then work 7 days (8 hrs Sat @ 1.5 16hrs. Sunday @ 2X .then you work 6 days and get a day off ..and then repeat the schedule. Currently you make in the mid 60's and have NO LIFE. Unless you schedule your VAC on your day off week AND take a personal day ..you only get 6 days off. The company (this is a union shop) doesn't care if they have 3 operators or 4 ..but the union (actually the other two operators) don't want to give up the money. Since the rest of the union isn't on such a weird schedule ..they don't care either.

I wonder if I pay for dial up access would it be worth it? Maybe cell service after 9 pm ..hmmm..

Oh ..yeah ..on the midnight shift you are the only one on the 250 acre property. The marooned Maytag repair man.

Naturally, my wife is all for it

(hearing "ching-ching" in the background). We do have a couple of things to see through and this would do it until the mortgage gets paid off (about 6 years).

...but MAN!! this is something else....

 

[benjamming]

Money isn't everything. I try to work to live & not live to work. That's just me though.

 

[jorton]

Feast or famine, is always the case! looking for the middle ground is life's perpetual search.

If you take that job you won't have time to make applications for opportunities that are more livable.

If your wife works too, then the two of you are helping each other towards the common goal of being debt free.

Otherwise, keep your life and when the level is low, take the other car!

Good luck! Joe

 

[XS650]

That schedule made my head hurt just reading it. Are you sure it wasn't a drug induced dream?

 

[Drew99GT]

Sometimes ya got to do what ya got to do. If you really need the job, go for it. I'm sure you'll have some of the best sleep in your life on your 1 day off.

 

[obbop]

Will they allow you to lube the rail car wheels?

 

[Gary Allan]

Well, we do have a goal of getting debt free in about 6 years (everything). I don't "need" the job, per se~. My wife does very well ..but it does "get in the way" of some of our plans with me not making a like income to hers. For about 15 years she made less than I did ..as I made more ..she worked less. It worked really well, realy ..but 50k+ work isn't abundant here. They're out there ..but it's not like there is an expansion in the job market in this range of wage in anything I'm qualified for.

I'm all for a minimalist lifestyle. In fact I don't care if it's a wasteful lifestyle if it doesn't involve debt.


Yes, the schedule is something out of the Twilight Zone ...but then again...I haven't had a normal schedule for most of my 30 years of adult employment. I no longer think that I'm wrapped tight enough to mingle with day walkers for too long a period of time.

To quote Dan Quayle as he addressed the United Negro College Fund (or was it the NAACP

) , "Losing one's mind is a terrible waste."

..and I was enjoying my part-time job at the foundary

 

[Drew99GT]

Gary, you're the ****! Just a cool guy.

 

[srivett]

That's the schedule when everything is running smoothly. Wait until somebody gets sick or flat out quits and they tell you you can't leave! I work silly hours that range anywhere between starting at 11am and ending at 3am and it is not fun. I really can't wait to get a real job but I'm sleeping or working during normal work hours so dropping off resumes is a biotch.

Steve

 

[Mr Nice]

This type of job will take a serious toll on your marriage. I would rather make less $$$$ and have more time with the wife, kids / grand kids, hobbies, doing house work, spending time on BITOG.....than working all those crazy hours.

 

[Locomotive]

Wow and i thought i had a rough schedule. Im on call but there are certain call hours the company must abide by. You are headed for a rough schedule but hey try it out.

 

[wileyE]

Sounds like a experiment in sleep deprevation to me? Not the best for your health , plus you have zero sense of completing or accomplishing anything, not good for the mental health.

You might take the job with the thought it's only temporary and continue seaching for something else? get a few blood money checks from them and move on. After all what kind of company would schedual their people that way?

I had friends doing the same kind of shift work at alcoa, foundry work. Walking zombies after a few months. Wives would find the toaster in the fridge , milk carton opened on both ends, weird stuff like that all the time.

good luck whatever you decide!

 

[427Z06]

Hey if they let you have internet access and don't mind you surfing non-porn sites, that could be a BITOG administrator's dream job.

All kidding aside, you could do it for a year and put some scratch together for future job searching opportunities. Get a doctor to certify that the job's schedule isn't good for your health before you leave.

 

[Tosh]

I suppose the job happiness depends a lot on what happens in between those hourly chores. Are you a person who enjoys being alone?
Wiley, how does one open both ends of a milk carton? Good point about no sense of completion. I'm getting used to that with my job....

 

[Schmoe]

Wow. Is it even worth 60K a year? Sounds like it probably comes out to a nickle an hour when you add all the hours up. I have to agree with some others here, it WILL take a toll on your health, marriage and live. There will be a time when you'll get burned out. I mean think about it, if the job was "all that", seems like they would have a ka-zillion applicants for it. I'm with Ben on this...I work to live, not vice versa. Time is important, but sometimes, you got to do what you GOT to do for the good of the family. You must weigh all those factors in before deciding which train you'll ride. If Daddy ain't happy, no one else is going to be happy too!!!!!

 

[Pablo]

What are the union dues? Too high for the tradeoff!!! What kind of whimpy bargaining unit do they have? Unions, don't get me started...if they aren't crooks, they are trying to break decent companies....all to the benefit of whom?

My opinion? The hours/time off sucks. No, it REALLY sucks. And let me just say this is coming from a guy that was getting fairly......anxious......desperate....will work for God.

 

[Gary Allan]

Keep in mind gentlemen, that although I'm not a dullard or buffoon, I'm not credentialed in much. I'm also an old 49 ..not a young 49. I had the good fortune of having a very good job for 15 years that not only paid the bills well ..but was also stimulating and personally rewarding. I really enjoyed going to work. They would have tore my cold dead cheeks out of the chair in the control room if they had not been sold and closed.

There are decent jobs out there ..but there's limited availability. No one with any brains is leaving them and I'm also competing with much younger applicants. Where I "fit in" are creamories and pasteurization process plants ..and I've been to all of them. Local municipal jobs in water treatment or waste water treatment are typically politically connected (you need to know someone) and they don't pay as well (but decent benefits). If I want to have a 12 hour day I can find my type of work in Philadelphia (steam plants, facility operations)...but it will be about 3 hours of commuting involved and 70+ miles daily.

I got interviewed for one local fruit juice and cider bottler. That was a really good job (up to $27/hr) ..but only made it to the second round.


Now my wife makes enough to keep our head above water ..but there are some things that need to be done. I've got one more daughter to get through high school and college. She's already getting mail from the expensive private schools due to her honors and activity status. We hope for some state school to give her a decent scholarship. We'll leave the fancy schools to her in her post graduate life (and her debt).

I have no worries about my marriage. Given all the carnage that two people can inflict on each other ..that boat would have surely been rocked already. We still haven't had enough time with each other. Our time with each other is still looked forward to and enjoyed. Most people with conventual lives have just about said all they can to their significant other by the time 25 years (anniverary is in Dec) is behind you. I am blessed with an exceptional woman as a wife ..and if I choose this route she will bend over backwards to make it work. Truly, before the kids came along, if I was Clyde ..she would have surely been Bonnie.

Also keep in mind that our income, outside of the past two years, has been a near flat 80k for about 18 years. We were upper middle class at one time, and are now in a more common demographic. The last two years we broke into 6 digit range (120k+ and 107k) ..but didn't reduce nearly enough debt due to some expensive incidents. No matter what income level you're at, unless you're making so much that you have to invest it or send it to the government ..it always boils down to a "maintenance" income. Since we made 80k a year for so long ..we spent 80k a year for so long. Those habits don't just stop on a dime and you pick up a few things along the way (like affording two car payments and such).

I've also explored a few independant income ventures ..and have figured out the time/money invested doesn't come out all that well. You're buying yourself a long hour job in most cases for the sake of independance. Except for that independant aspect, that is what I'm looking at here ..without any increased debt ...and no risk.

I don't have issues with working alone. In my old job I always got along with my partners (two operators per shift) ..but it was what I imagine missile silo duty was like ..except that your partner may not see you for 7 of the 8 hours. While he was off doing whatever he was doing, I was running historicals on the various systems or trying out different configurations/settings to see if I could be more yield from out evaporators. I can entertain myself quite well. Hopefully there is a reasonable internet access modality that is available to me. Otherwise it's a good book. There's always DVD's on my laptop.

Anyway, if I decide to "march into h-ell" with this substantial commitment of time, it will be with a sincere plan to get us debt free. I can hack it for the duration of that event. I've known people who have lived in one state and worked in another, only returning home for the weekends. It all depends on your obligations and priorities. This is not an ideal situation by any stretch of the imagination. It's merely an available way to get where I need to be.

If I can't hack it ..and it drives me crazy ..I'll quit. I will surely keep looking for work. Right now I'm not so much into truly gainful employment as I am into job security. I don't think that my dementia can get any worse

 

[Pablo]

Gary after my nasty reply - just mostly to get a load off my chest, I'll add this - If you can do it - GO FOR IT!