Job Updates [Archive] - Simple Living Forums

happystuff

8-21-22, 8:24am

Since I've now been with the school system for a little over a year, I don't think it qualifies as a "new" job any longer. LOL.

So, last week was our last 4 x 10 week. This week is a "transition" week and the hours will be 9:30am to 6pm. Back to official night hours begins next week with the onset of the new school year. The 10 hour days were exhausting, but I really, really did enjoy having those 3 day weekends. LOL.

As of this past Friday, we still had one full classroom to get cleaned and put back together, the bathrooms need to be done, as well as the cafeteria and the hallways. The new principle has allowed teachers to come into school for the past two weeks or so and we get interrupted a good portion of the time to re-situate things in their rooms, remove things, etc. The attitude seems to be "if you could just move my desk a few inches...." won't take a lot of time, but it does and it interrupts the flow of what we are working on at the moment. Plus, 1.5 to 2 hours at the end of every day is used taking out the garbage and recycle they are generating in their preparations.

No time at work, so I spent several hours this weekend completing the mandatory online classes that are required every year. And, no, I can't put in for those hours.

Anyway, my co-custodians keep telling me to just go with it. Whatever gets done is good, the rest... oh, well. And, with all the stuff these teachers are cramming into their classrooms, there probably isn't too much free area for me to clean anyway! We'll see. Should be an interesting start of the new school year.

iris lilies

8-21-22, 9:01am

Thank you for the update. It gives us a good picture of what you are doing at work.

frugal-one

8-21-22, 9:41am

You can’t put in for hours worked? Is it because it will put you into OT??? Those are documented hours worked!

happystuff

8-22-22, 7:57am

You can’t put in for hours worked? Is it because it will put you into OT??? Those are documented hours worked!

I'll look into it, but not sure how far it will go. They are not approving any OT and there is simply too much to be done around the school to take the couple of hours needed. There is also a deadline to complete them. Again, I'm okay with it as it, but will look into it.

iris lilies

8-22-22, 11:45am

I'll look into it, but not sure how far it will go. They are not approving any OT and there is simply too much to be done around the school to take the couple of hours needed. There is also a deadline to complete them. Again, I'm okay with it as it, but will look into it.
Happystuff, at my place of work which was a municipal government entity, staff who were “nonexempt “from the work standards outlined in the Fair Labor Standards Act were FORBIDDEN to do assigned work outside of their 40 hour time.

That is because my organization could get into big trouble for not paying them overtime.The way to do this thing your employer expects is to have all the custodial staff meet in a room and show them the videos they are supposed to watch. That way they know that the training is completed and that has been completed during paid work time.

frugal-one

8-22-22, 2:57pm

Same law applies to nongovernment entities (with a few exceptions).

rosarugosa

8-22-22, 5:37pm

Yes, I would say it is illegal for them to not pay you, but you could get in trouble from your employer for working extra hours without prior authorization. "Not enough time to do it during assigned work hours" will typically fall upon deaf ears, unfortunately.

happystuff

8-22-22, 6:45pm

I asked around and most of my peers also did it at home. They have many more years here than I and said that is how they always did it. One of them suggested seeing if we could at least get comp time for it.

jp1

8-22-22, 6:58pm

Unfortunately wage theft is all too common. It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth the fight because it would not be pleasant and also Carrie’s the real risk that you would be terminated. Depending on your future work plans, and the statute of limitations, it might be a fight you can put off until you are ready to quit anyway.

At my former mega corp job a class action suit had been filed against that branch of my employer before I started. As a result one of the senior staff in our section walked around everyday at 4:35 and told people to go home. The suit ended up being successful and I inadvertently became part of the class because I needed to opt out if I didn’t want to participate and I didn’t return the form after misreading it and thinking I had to opt in. As a result I got a check for about $4,000 of overtime for the time I was considered hourly when I was first hired and lacked any autonomy in my work activities.

nswef

8-26-22, 11:13am

happy stuff, As a former teacher I can sympathize with your frustration. Room prep is hard and moving furniture was something I did most of the time, not wanting to bother the custodial staff who had much to do! And not enough time! I don't know if you have a union. Our support staff finally were able to have representation, but I am not sure it did a lot....so much depends on the principal. Good luck.

happystuff

8-26-22, 7:37pm

Thanks, nswef. Yes, there is a union, but I am not a member, but still have to follow the rules/policies.

School starts Monday! What will be, will be. LOL.

happystuff

10-6-22, 2:15pm

I didn't know this but apparently October 2nd was National Custodian Day. I was out sick on Monday, but when I came in on Tuesday, there was a card and cinnamon roll by my mailbox!! Then yesterday, a teacher of one of the rooms I clean also gave me a card with a gc inside. I must say these gestures made me extremely happy! Last year at the other school, nobody said "boo" about anything all year long, so these acknowledgements were really nice.

Still dislike the actual job, but really like the people!

Tradd

10-6-22, 8:36pm

It’s always nice to get those little things. Nice to be appreciated.

nswef

10-7-22, 10:01am

As an elementary teacher for 31 years I had contact and conversations with many custodians. They are often underappreciated. Kids always loved the custodians doing their jobs at lunchtime. Always had time to say a good word to the kids as they dumped their trash. It does seem that middle school and high school staff tend to be less appreciative....from what I've heard. Sorry you hate the job, but glad you are getting good feedback!

Tradd

12-14-22, 2:24pm

Customer was visiting yesterday and gave me a card with $100 cash in it. Said it was for all my help and keeping an eye on their shipments. It was kosher to take it - both owners were right there.

iris lilies

12-14-22, 2:53pm

Customer was visiting yesterday and gave me a card with $100 cash in it. Said it was for all my help and keeping an eye on their shipments. It was kosher to take it - both owners were right there.
Yay!

happystuff

12-14-22, 3:32pm

Very nice! Congrats, Tradd!

frugal-one

12-14-22, 5:20pm

Nice. Bet you will remember that in the future too.

Tradd

12-14-22, 5:44pm

And within an hour of getting into a car accident at lunch, too!

JaneV2.0

12-14-22, 5:56pm

...
Still dislike the actual job, but really like the people!

Decent clients and co-workers can make all the difference.

catherine

12-14-22, 6:30pm

So nice to have your good work validated, Tradd. Congrats!

On a related note, my son went to his staff meeting/party at the restaurant he's a server at. They announced that, per their July meeting, they would recognize with an end-of-year bonus all the people that received good reviews on Yelp and other social media. So they announced that four people would get a bonus--my son was one of them.

Then they puffed themselves up and said, "So, you will find that in your next paycheck you will have an extra $10."

As my astute DIL-to-be said, because they put in in their paychecks, that means it will be taxed, so it's "here's your $7.73." We just laughed over that. How clueless could an employer be? You can't get out of the parking garage for that.

Oh... and the staff party was a pot luck where everyone was supposed to bring something, but the owners of the place--a restaurant--brought nothing.

Tradd

12-14-22, 6:33pm

Ugh.

sweetana3

12-14-22, 7:14pm

I think your son (and all the employees) need to find new jobs.

rosarugosa

12-15-22, 7:24am

Wow Catherine, that seems to take the prize for cheapness.

Tybee

12-15-22, 9:08am

That is the worst! Yes, definitely look around for a different server job.

Although maybe its a great place apart from the one cheap party--my son was a server until he bought a food truck this year, and he is still going to the company parties of the last place, and might cater their Christmas party. And when the season is slow like right now, he might go back there and be a server for a while and reopen when the weather is nicer--so good not to burn bridges in the restaurant community.

Teacher Terry

12-16-22, 1:51am

Catherine, what horrible people the owners are.

Tradd

12-21-22, 8:35am

Got a work bonus yesterday. Bit more than one paycheck. It was a separate direct deposit from regular paycheck. Put pretty much all of it on debt.

ThetisIslander

12-25-22, 8:40pm

Semi retired. Work when neighbor ask, mostly yard cleanups.

Tradd

3-24-23, 1:28pm

Well, I’ve been at current job two years now. Things are pretty decent. The import supervisor is still extremely difficult to deal with often. I don’t get what her deal is.

My other customs dept coworker is knowledgeable, but getting him to do something even slightly outside his usual duties is damned difficult. I have been swamped the last couple of days with complicated issues I’ve been working with the owners on. We needed an air freight trucker and warehouse in another city to do pickups for us on stuff that comes in over the weekend so we don’t have airline storage. He was given details of what we needed the trucker/warehouse to do and he gave me a lot of pushback. I told him I rarely ask for help, but this was urgent, and I needed him to help. He did the bare minimum. Grrrr.

happystuff

5-28-23, 9:20am

Couple of things I'm still not 100% used to with this job. First is the fact that all the vacation days, etc. roll over to a "new year" on July 1st! That means any extra vacation days have to be used up by June 30th or they are lost. (We get to carry over 5 days). Have been scrambling to find time to take off, so June's schedule will be interesting. LOL

The other thing is the work hour changes. Regular school year shift is from 3 to 11:30. On half days, we are allowed to come in earlier and, hence, leave earlier. Well, Wednesday is the last full day of classes, with the last 5 days of the school year being half days. That means going in from 12:30 to 9 p.m.. Then summer hours start which are 4 x 10 days (Monday thru Thursday) 6 a.m. to 4:30. It IS nice having Fridays off, but it is physically exhausting!

It's going to be an interesting summer, to be sure.

nswef

5-28-23, 9:45am

Happystuff, That being AT WORK at 6 am is grueling. At least it is daylight! Enjoy the Fridays!

Teacher Terry

5-28-23, 11:48am

I only had one job where I worked 10 hour days for a year but it wasn’t physical and I was exhausted on Fridays and got nothing done and I was only 40. My job involved a lot of driving to see clients which is why I was out of hours by Friday.

jp1

5-28-23, 4:12pm

That ‘bonus’ tops the one I got years ago. I had been a temp employee for most of the year and brought on full time in October. In December they gave a Christmas bonus of one extra paycheck but mine was prorated for the time I was a permanent employee. As I told a friend at the time ‘I got a bonus in the high two figures!’

happystuff

6-5-24, 9:25am

Another school year is coming to an end. Today marks the first of five 1/2 days for the kids, so that means I now go in at 12:30 instead of 3. Once school ends, we will finish out next week starting at 6:30 a.m and then start our summer hours of 4 by 10 the following week. At least there is a bit of a transition. sigh...

happystuff

8-18-24, 8:13am

And now another summer is coming to an end. I can tell because I start new - later - hours tomorrow. It is the last week before school actually starts and they are allowing teachers to come in and work on their rooms up to 6pm - which means we have to stay until 8pm. The following week starts in-service days for teachers, two initial 1/2 school days for students, and then a 4 day weekend for Labor Day. (Of course, we custodians don't get Friday - just a three day weekend.) Welcome to the end of summer and start of what, hopefully! is my LAST school year!!!! :D

frugal-one

8-18-24, 3:13pm

Get your countdown calendar working happystuff!

www.timeanddate.com

Tradd

8-18-24, 3:41pm

Woo hoo!

happystuff

10-2-24, 9:01am

This is just a big whine....

Night shift co-worker is now out for medical reasons until October 25th. (Has been off and on for the last 5 years!!!! Whole other story) They finally have a sub coming in for about 4 hours a night who gets through what they can, leaving the rest for me. I TOTALLY appreciate that they did get a sub! But a whole month of doing my work and then picking up the slack on the rest of the building really stinks. No contract in sight (was due July 1st), so I'm still not making enough for my own job let alone part of someone else's. Sigh... this is definitely keeping me motivated for retirement!!!!!

iris lilies

10-2-24, 11:11am

catherine

10-2-24, 11:13am

happystuff

10-3-24, 8:58am

Thanks, catherine and IL. They have finally found a sub - a 16 year old working towards a car - LOL. Very motivated, but still a kid. I'm very grateful to have him show up, though, as whatever he gets done is less for me. Very grateful!

happystuff

3-8-25, 8:28pm

Four actually work days and counting!!!! Then 11 vacation days and then 1st day of retirement on April 1st! Can't even describe what I'm feeling.

Tradd

3-8-25, 9:03pm

Woo hoo

early morning

3-9-25, 2:56am

Yay happystuff!

iris lilies

3-9-25, 9:57am

This countdown is so exciting!

happystuff

3-15-25, 9:11am

Figured I should update the actual job thread. So, I am now on vacation for 11 days!

Tradd

3-15-25, 10:32am

Yay!

rosarugosa

3-15-25, 12:33pm

Eleven days of vacation is great - the rest of your life is even better!

happystuff

3-21-25, 8:09am

Since I'm technically still an employee, I decided to post here. This has been my first week of vacation before retirement. I'm still waiting to hear from SS and Medicare B - signed up with both, got acknowledgement of the filings, but nothing else. Insurance ends the 31st so I'll admit to being a bit nervous.

It has been interesting so far. I'm trying to re-adjust my days and find myself sleeping ALOT - i.e. going to bed early, but also getting up a bit earlier than when I worked. I still find myself doing everything I feel "needs" to be done in the morning, but since I'm no longer heading out to work in the afternoon, I'm at a loss. LOL.

Another interesting thing is the number of part time jobs I have been made aware of and actually asked to apply for! Simple things like crossing guard and part time office work with our township. Not ready to jump in to either one right now, but surprised that "windows" have opened up so quickly. LOL.

I also put in a volunteer application at the library - apparently everyone does that. And I was able to attend my first VFW meeting - in person! (Always held at night).

This is definitely a transitional period!

catherine

3-21-25, 1:44pm

It sounds like you'll have plenty of opportunities to keep from being bored in retirement, happystuff! All that sounds great! (Except the part about slow response from SS and Medicare).

happystuff

6-10-25, 2:37pm

Wasn't sure exactly where to put this....

And I'll say right now, I'm negatively effecting my karma with this... but I can't help but be both happy for myself, sad for my classrooms, and Pblthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh to the BA who straight-out refused to give me a raise!!!

The person they hired to replace me - for over $5000 more a year(them posted his salary in the Board of Ed minutes email) - lasted less than a month. My co-worker go sick and was out for a little over a week. That basically meant they had NOBODY for the 2nd shift cleaning at my school. They apparently did the bare minimum with subs and ot for the already-over-worked full time mid-shift guy. I REALLY would have come in as a sub, but again the BA was sticking to the rules and I cannot even sub for 6 months after retirement.

My supervisor (supposed to be a "working supervisor") doesn't stay unless there is NOBODY else. And he knows that the ONLY reason I left was lack of raise.

Again, I feel bad for *my* teachers/classrooms, but this all could have been avoided so easily!

Sigh...

As for retirement - IT'S GREAT! I've been busy on most days and the new puppy keeps me busy EVERY day! LOL. So far, everything but the medical has fallen very nicely in line.