Let's Babble Our Way to Post #4,000,000 And Win Prizes Too!

[kittens mom]

I think it's a messed up coincidence that a lot of the stuff that has happened, happened in the months since Lucky died. If it was just me that felt this way, I would have to have a long talk with myself about things - but it's not just me. I've had dissatisfaction in the industry in general for awhile now, not by fault of the company or even the industry, but rather the craziness that the industry has to abide by. Yes, changes is constant, but in some cases, I flat-out disagree with a lot of the changes. Then there's the ones closer to home that directly impact me.

There's also the part about WHY I started working for my company. I saw good things for the future. I've stayed with it through some really crappy times and some really good times. But the direction it's going in is not one that goes well with my morals. I get that EVERY business is in it for the money (hospitals, etc included), when the money becomes more important, I have personal issues with that. Most of our goals nowadays revolve around the concept of reducing cost basically. That has been impacting my day-to-day work in ways I'm very unhappy with, and spending ridiculously enormous amounts of time on. If I wanted to deal with the cost of things, and estimating and re-estimating to the point of exhaustion, I'd be in finance. I HATE finance. I feel like MY job has become less about testing, and more about identifying ways to lower costs. When my time is spent more on that, than what I was hired for, I have a bit of a problem.

I literally spent half my day investigating why there was a big difference between my estimate on a project, and the one done by someone else back in February. This really falls under the category of "above my pay grade". I can't explain why the other person had such a small estimate, and he can only explain what he remembers. And for some reason, the burden of proof has fallen on me. Straw, meet camel's back.

I'm at the point where my answer to pretty much everything is along the lines of "I don't care". THAT is when I know things have gotten bad. I've been beaten into the ground with all this stuff, and I give up. They don't like my estimate? Make it smaller then, and deal with the consequences later. I don't care anymore.

Sometimes something just pushes our last button. Life events change perspective or bring it into focus. I wish you the best and hope you find a solution soon.

 

[tallyollyopia]

 
We have ones like these: http://www.supplygeeks.com/Products...7Iouk72aHusAnt4FMo-roZ-JXqYwocKLBQaAiJg8P8HAQ 

They cut pretty well, but have the blunted tip so the cat (or child) can't stab themselves. Ours are from when I was a kid though, so I have no idea if the quality has since gone down. 

I was teaching a preschool class a few years ago (please don't ask how that happened) and one poor kid's scissors broke  apart  when he tried to cut two pieces of construction paper at once for a project we were doing. I'm not explaining this well; first an outline, for the project, was cut out of the first piece of construction paper. The first piece was then pinned onto the second piece, and the child was supposed to cut around the first piece as an outline. The kid made a mistake and the line of the scissors veered too sharply inwards--at which point the plastic piece holding the scissors together just snapped and they fell apart. You might think that was just a fluke, a bad pair of scissors--except  that we lost ten pairs  that day! It was insane!

I think it's a messed up coincidence that a lot of the stuff that has happened, happened in the months since Lucky died. If it was just me that felt this way, I would have to have a long talk with myself about things - but it's not just me. I've had dissatisfaction in the industry in general for awhile now, not by fault of the company or even the industry, but rather the craziness that the industry has to abide by. Yes, changes is constant, but in some cases, I flat-out disagree with a lot of the changes. Then there's the ones closer to home that directly impact me.

There's also the part about WHY I started working for my company. I saw good things for the future. I've stayed with it through some really crappy times and some really good times. But the direction it's going in is not one that goes well with my morals. I get that EVERY business is in it for the money (hospitals, etc included), when the money becomes more important, I have personal issues with that. Most of our goals nowadays revolve around the concept of reducing cost basically. That has been impacting my day-to-day work in ways I'm very unhappy with, and spending ridiculously enormous amounts of time on. If I wanted to deal with the cost of things, and estimating and re-estimating to the point of exhaustion, I'd be in finance. I HATE finance. I feel like MY job has become less about testing, and more about identifying ways to lower costs. When my time is spent more on that, than what I was hired for, I have a bit of a problem.

I literally spent half my day investigating why there was a big difference between my estimate on a project, and the one done by someone else back in February. This really falls under the category of "above my pay grade". I can't explain why the other person had such a small estimate, and he can only explain what he remembers. And for some reason, the burden of proof has fallen on me. Straw, meet camel's back.

I'm at the point where my answer to pretty much everything is along the lines of "I don't care". THAT is when I know things have gotten bad. I've been beaten into the ground with all this stuff, and I give up. They don't like my estimate? Make it smaller then, and deal with the consequences later. I don't care anymore.

I don't know if this will help, but in one of my psychology classes we learned that every company with a certain number of employees (I forget the number--it's somewhere between ten and thirty) has  to have a psychologist that anyone  at the company can talk to when they need to. Please don't take offense to this, but it sounds like you might need to. I wish you the best of luck and hope that things will get better for you soon. 

 

[donutte]

I don't know if this will help, but in one of my psychology classes we learned that every company with a certain number of employees (I forget the number--it's somewhere between ten and thirty) has to have a psychologist that anyone at the company can talk to when they need to. Please don't take offense to this, but it sounds like you might need to. I wish you the best of luck and hope that things will get better for you soon. 

No offense taken, I've seen them before. If we do have one, I don't know about it, and I definitely think we're above whatever that number is (considering we're freaking huge). Unfortunately, I'm at the point where it's either my morals, or what the company wants. Not sure a psychologist can help with that part of it. We have just gotten insanely big, and a lot of decisions have been made that a lot of folks really don't agree with.

That's just it, it's not JUST me that feels this way. I'm not the only one concerned about things, especially after this year. And if you saw our team meetings, and how much we've been saying collectively how much we disagree with a lot of the things, ha, I laugh thinking about it (hey, no one can say we don't voice our opinions, that's for sure!).

I just happen to be at the point where I don't want to deal with the crap anymore. I know every place has its own BS, but at least it's a different "flavor" if you will. "The business of healthcare" just isn't for me anymore.

 

[whatsername85]

Thanks everyone I'm so glad I'm not the only one who deals with food obsessed Kitty's, although when I leave anyplace he doesn't really eat but I come home and he's chowing down! @donutte a lot of things desensitize us, you can only take so much crap and than it really just falls to not caring anymore. My mom worked for a company over 10 years, she loved what she did and than it all became about money not making or keeping employees happy. My dad passed away and her boss was wondering what was wrong with her. My dad worked for the same company her boss knew what was going on, she was told to kick my sister out and put me in a home so she could focus on doing her job. She quit right there, she loved the people she worked with but it was like after things started going down hill for us they couldn't bothered. I feel a lot of companies, not all, are just about making the money but how can they expect to do that with dissatisfied employees they take advantage of? None of it makes sense to me

 

[foxxycat]

That sounds like out and out harassment. I am glad your mom didn't put up with it.

In this place-its who you know and not how much you know. Scary times are coming because everyone is trying to be the boss's best friend but the few like me who refuse to lick their boots will probably get booted. I never was a bootlicker and I never will be. I call it as I see it. Most people prefer to deal with me because I don't try to bs them. If I know the answer I will tell them. If I don't-I know who does and I try to stir them in that direction.

We also have a big issue with quotes being made by people who never welded or machined before. They never take into account how much time it takes to set up or if the weather affects things-we work with stainless steel. Stainless steel moves when the temperatures change. often we have tolerances that are .005 and if the shop is 90 degrees one day and the next day we have a 50 degree night-the guys leave the doors open to cool it off-then the part moves just in that big of a temperature change. Also we are not allowed to weld on parts less than 60 degrees. in the winter sometimes they shut the heat off and not realize that the shop is supposed to stay at a relatively even temp-one morning the part was 50 degrees and they had to wait for it to warm up. sometimes the bay door gets opened to bring stuff in or out. Sometimes they crack the door to get some fresh air in here. If the oven is running to cook a part for stress relieving-it heats up. So they like to crack the bay door to get some relief but sometimes if a part is near this area-it cools off. I never knew so much about stainless steel until I came to work here and welded on it. I find it challenging and its so pretty but such a pain to weld out of position.

We have lots of safety courses and computer work they want done monthly. Often we are crunched for ship dates and they still make them sit at the computer for 1 to 2 hours in their shift instead of doing actual work-this is corporate garbage that even management doesn't agree with. Often the courses are the same ones every year. I pretty much have them all memorized and can breeze through them but some guys just hate sitting at a table listening to mind numbing baloney that has not one darn thing to do with our jobs. Corporate BS is getting worse. We have lost 25% of the crew to either retirement or plain quitting and working elsewhere. We need qualified QC folks desperately. Right now they all can work 12 hour days if they want. There is just not enough to keep up with the  demand.

 

[kittens mom]

No offense taken, I've seen them before. If we do have one, I don't know about it, and I definitely think we're above whatever that number is (considering we're freaking huge). Unfortunately, I'm at the point where it's either my morals, or what the company wants. Not sure a psychologist can help with that part of it. We have just gotten insanely big, and a lot of decisions have been made that a lot of folks really don't agree with.

That's just it, it's not JUST me that feels this way. I'm not the only one concerned about things, especially after this year. And if you saw our team meetings, and how much we've been saying collectively how much we disagree with a lot of the things, ha, I laugh thinking about it (hey, no one can say we don't voice our opinions, that's for sure!).

I just happen to be at the point where I don't want to deal with the crap anymore. I know every place has its own BS, but at least it's a different "flavor" if you will. "The business of healthcare" just isn't for me anymore.

A common problem with rapid growth is the hiring of executives with impressive resumes and no hands on.  Number crunchers.

 

[foxxycat]

Agreed. We now have management and supervisors. Only a handful of supervisors used to work on the floor. all the rest never build a darn thing in their lives. They have no clue and when the guys ask for details how to solve problems-we often get the wrong answers and nothing we can do about it. Sometimes we get someone who refuses to ask other coworkers for help. But for the most part they help each other out. They just finally started adding pictures with directions for set up and machining/welding. I been asked them to videotape and make a book of how to directions incase the guy on the job is out unexpectedly. They finally started doing this. Still have a long way to go. They still don't train everyone equally. If they don't like you-you get one job and no advancement and no opportunity to learn something new. If you want to learn you need to go on an off shift in order to move around but even that doesn't promise that you will get hands on exposure to certain jobs.

When I started in 2003=we had 1 guy to run the shop-both machining and welding since they often worked together. then they had 12 planners. It was ridiculous. these people never built a thing and they insist that oh this job takes 20 hours when in reality it was a 2 to 3 week process. Then we have issues with putting crappy welders on same jobs and refuse to retrain them-they just make another guy clean it up. Such a big problem here. I swear they do it purposely to make more money.

 

[kittens mom]

 
Agreed. We now have management and supervisors. Only a handful of supervisors used to work on the floor. all the rest never build a darn thing in their lives. They have no clue and when the guys ask for details how to solve problems-we often get the wrong answers and nothing we can do about it. Sometimes we get someone who refuses to ask other coworkers for help. But for the most part they help each other out. They just finally started adding pictures with directions for set up and machining/welding. I been asked them to videotape and make a book of how to directions incase the guy on the job is out unexpectedly. They finally started doing this. Still have a long way to go. They still don't train everyone equally. If they don't like you-you get one job and no advancement and no opportunity to learn something new. If you want to learn you need to go on an off shift in order to move around but even that doesn't promise that you will get hands on exposure to certain jobs.

There seems to be a common tipping point. A company grows or is sold. Somewhere the standards are lost. There is also a tendency to hire in lower cost employees while expecting the ones with more skills to pick up the slack. Nothing beats having Larry, Moe and Curly as your co-workers.

 

[foxxycat]

Totally  agree. When we were sold by a Britain company everyone got a bonus. Once the new people took over-they no longer do bonuses or any kind of sales commission or any type of cost bonus. Now they designed this bs called powerup points. what a load of crap. We get taxed heavily on it if we turn it in. I ignore mine. I won't use them. One guy used their points and got taxed the same exact price as the cost of the item. so in the end it was costing us money to turn them in. Personally I just want them to leave me alone. I don't want nothing they have to offer other than my paycheck. The environment is very toxic. so many people are now left to juggle more balls. There are a few who will quit by the fall-they are actively seeking employment elsewhere. I keep hoping they will sell us to another company and come back as a good company. glassdoor.com has horrendous reviews for this company. Most of the white collars are in pittsburg PA or now cranberry. They make all the decisions and rarely come up to see whats going on. Just a big joke.

 

[kittens mom]

 
Totally  agree. When we were sold by a Britain company everyone got a bonus. Once the new people took over-they no longer do bonuses or any kind of sales commission or any type of cost bonus. Now they designed this bs called powerup points. what a load of crap. We get taxed heavily on it if we turn it in. I ignore mine. I won't use them. One guy used their points and got taxed the same exact price as the cost of the item. so in the end it was costing us money to turn them in. Personally I just want them to leave me alone. I don't want nothing they have to offer other than my paycheck. The environment is very toxic. so many people are now left to juggle more balls. There are a few who will quit by the fall-they are actively seeking employment elsewhere. I keep hoping they will sell us to another company and come back as a good company. glassdoor.com has horrendous reviews for this company. Most of the white collars are in pittsburg PA or now cranberry. They make all the decisions and rarely come up to see whats going on. Just a big joke.

We had one of these temps turn up the temp on a sink of acid for a process to near explosion point. They didn't know the difference between F and C. They were working at a 1/3 of my salary so I knew the end was going to come. The amount of product being scrapped was insane. The idea then became to push out higher numbers to compensate. OH My cheese and whiskers. In two years we went from a profitable reliable source to a joke.  At one point my joke of a supervisor promoted the least-skilled employee to be trained as a tech because she couldn't afford to lose any ' real ' workers on the floor. One of the women hired from this temp agency went to lower a machine case run by hydraulics. It wouldn't come down when she hit the switch. She looked in seen the safety bar reached in with the machine trying to lower and released it. She was out with a broken arm. I'm not going to even go into detail of the employee I made stand in the ice cold rinse off shower for the required 15 minutes.

And all the time this was going on the managers were unconcerned as long as something was coming out the other end.

 

[artiemom]

Oh--I feel for all of you guys, I really do. I can sympathize completely. 

@Donutte   I felt the exact same way as you are feeling now. I felt that way for a very long time. Kind of Karma that I cannot work any longer. 

I was at a point where instead of saying: "I don't care", I somehow decided that the appropriate wording was: "Whatever"--- because no matter what I said or thought did not matter to anyone there. 

It took an extended extended break from there, and a real health crisis with my dad, to make me feel that way. I suddenly went back to work and saw things through so 'different' eyes. When did it happen that no one cared about the employees? The phoniness of so many people came out---and the backstabbing and gossiping. The cliques became so evident to me. If you were in the correct clique, you got everything!! and things that you did not want. You could not do anything wrong... For me, as not being in a clique, being more of a loner and not agreeing with a lot of the bull junk that was going on around me, I got the worst of it. I stood my ground a lot. I gave in a lot, but I became a beaten person. I hated what I had become.. perhaps I had allowed it to happen to me, but honestly, that place was not for me. 

Why did I not leave?  Many reasons...I was older than most people in the field. I had been around the block so to say. I saw my field grow and advance. I was a dinosaur. I also was working in a very small speciality. Very few departments around. I did not have to work week-ends or nights, or take call. Those jobs are very difficult to find. Also my salary was not bad. I had been at this one place for so long, it was impossible to count 13, 14, 15, years. 

I knew people around the hospital. I was also going through taking care of my dad. It was very complicated...I was kind of at the end of my rope. 

@Tallyollyopia, I did go into counseling for all of this. It was easy for them to see that I was being harassed. It was obvious, I had proof of it...It was very obvious. It was also obvious that this place was a toxic environment for me. I could not leave, and I felt trapped. 

When I had a break from that place--- everything became evident to me. I saw things with fresh eyes. I disliked things so much.. I seriously thought of leaving, at that point. but then, because my dad had just died, I did not feel it was a good time to make so many changes. I had to discover myself first, before I changed jobs. 

I used to go in everyday saying, "X amount of days until Friday"...and "I can do this", "Put on a fake smile--act--academy award winning performance"...and during the day, "X many hours until I can leave"...

Problem was, we never, I mean, never got our breaks. We could never plan on having lunch at a set time--that is if we go lunch at all. We never left on time. Anywhere from 15-60 minutes past our end of shift...and sometimes it turned out to be an 1 - 1.5 hours. We did not get overtime. We got "comp" time if we were lucky...Comp time never worked out because it had to be when the supervisor 'sent you home'..you never knew when--and that time was straight time. 

It was all so dysfunctional.  The supervisors, people in charge, were all saying the 'correct' things, but the bottom line was they said things but never went by what they said. When you pointed things out to them, forget it...you were then tagged as a 'bad egg"... and a troublemaker. 

It was disgusting to work there. The moral was horrible, yet, the happy face had to come out..it was such a sham. 

No one was sincere. Blow ups were rampant. When my supervisor, had one, watch out--the workroom door closed, she actually threw the appointment book and a pencil, across the room, started screaming at any one around, and then turned bright red, and burst into tears...It was horrible. and that was not the only person who had meltdowns. 

Working in the medical field, you would think people would be more understanding and helpful to each other...as much as we were trying to be helpful and kind to our patients...but no...people were getting written up for stupid things, people were getting fired left and right. It was being run like a big business with dysfunction people in charge. It was horrible....People were such hypocrites..incredible..

I was actually embarrassed and disrespected, right in front of several patients. Patients were telling me they were so sorry for me...that is how bad it was.. report them,, yes, I did.. to human resources. It had to be the first step. They became sickening sweet with the backside comments then.. they dared me to go further, and once the word got out I was a 'bad person'..... I had to go to HR first before I followed through with the labor board or thought of suing. 

I am so grateful that I am not there anymore. I actually am much happier to be away from that toxic environment. 

I lasted through a lot of tuff times there, and I never gave up.. but then it just got too much for me. When you see things with different eyes, and see the wrong, then it is time to leave..

Donutte, I am so glad you are aware that it is time to leave. Please leave before things get worse. 

You are young, think of your future...

((hugs))

 

[raina21]

I'm thinking about getting a harness for Tesla. Does anybody have any recommendations about what kind to get? He has very long fur so I don't think the ones that are velcro will work, as I don't want his fur getting caught in it all the time.

 

[foxxycat]

This is the one I got


But I haven't had luck getting her used to it. the bright orange was cheaper than the other colors so that's why I bought it. If your cat is 12-13 lbs I recommend size small instead of xs.

Artiemom-I am so sorry you had to tolerate such bs. That's what I am afraid of if I go into a female driven workplace. I never can tell who is being honest or how to read faces. I just feel so much more comfortable with men.

 

[raina21]

This is the one I got

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ARMGR02/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But I haven't had luck getting her used to it. the bright orange was cheaper than the other colors so that's why I bought it. If your cat is 12-13 lbs I recommend size small instead of xs.

Artiemom-I am so sorry you had to tolerate such bs. That's what I am afraid of if I go into a female driven workplace. I never can tell who is being honest or how to read faces. I just feel so much more comfortable with men.

Hmmm. I dont know, I'd prefer if it didn't have to slip over his head. I'm also a little worried he'll try to escape the harness that I do get him.

 

[foxxycat]

I saw a new section on the forums for paid subscribers=anyone know about this? What is this super secret forum? Wonder what is in it? Anyone want to elaborate? I can't find anything about becoming a paid subscriber. Would this affect how people can search out information? Would google search still bring up search results even without a paid subscription? 

 

[margd]

 
I saw a new section on the forums for paid subscribers=anyone know about this? What is this super secret forum? Wonder what is in it? Anyone want to elaborate? I can't find anything about becoming a paid subscriber. Would this affect how people can search out information? Would google search still bring up search results even without a paid subscription? 

This link might answer a few of your questions.    http://www.thecatsite.com/a/becoming-a-tcs-supporter-through-a-paid-membership  

The Premier Lounge has actually been around for awhile now although it's not mentioned as a benefit in the above article.  I've often wondered what goes on in there.   I had never signed up because I thought I had to pay $60 up front but in checking my facts, I see you can pay $20 for a three month membership.  Done and done.  I'll let you know what I find out!

 

[kittens mom]

 
I saw a new section on the forums for paid subscribers=anyone know about this? What is this super secret forum? Wonder what is in it? Anyone want to elaborate? I can't find anything about becoming a paid subscriber. Would this affect how people can search out information? Would google search still bring up search results even without a paid subscription? 

Really , I pay 20 bucks at a time. I'm not real regular as I don't get a reminder. I mostly do it to help support the site.

 

[Kat0121]

 
This link might answer a few of your questions.    http://www.thecatsite.com/a/becoming-a-tcs-supporter-through-a-paid-membership  

The Premier Lounge has actually been around for awhile now although it's not mentioned as a benefit in the above article.  I've often wondered what goes on in there.   I had never signed up because I thought I had to pay $60 up front but in checking my facts, I see you can pay $20 for a three month membership.  Done and done.  I'll let you know what I find out!

I've been a paid member for a while and whenever I go look at the premier lounge, it says that there are no posts. I don't know if that is because there really ARE no posts or because it's still locked somehow? 

 

[margd]

 
I've been a paid member for a while and whenever I go look at the premier lounge, it says that there are no posts. I don't know if that is because there really ARE no posts or because it's still locked somehow? 

That's what I've seen as well but I assumed it was because I'd just plunked down my $20. It's odd you're getting the same response. There is obviously something going on in that forum.  On the Forums page it says there are 5690 threads and 143,551 posts in the Premier Lounge.   

 

[Kat0121]

 
That's what I've seen as well but I assumed it was because I'd just plunked down my $20. It's odd you're getting the same response. There is obviously something going on in that forum.  On the Forums page it says there are 5690 threads and 143,551 posts in the Premier Lounge.   

It's the TCS version of Area 51!  

  Everyone knows that it is there but you need top secret clearance to get in 

  I think that @Anne  would be the best person to ask about this one.