Bad economy? What bad economy?

stratovani · #1 11-05-2011, 10:00 AM

Due to an increasing demand in medical endoscopes, and our company struggling to meet the demand, we were notified yesterday that as of Monday our working hours will be extended by two hours a day, 3:30PM to 2 AM in my case, along with 6 hours mandatory overtime on Saturdays, 11AM to 5PM for me, until further notice. That makes a total of 16 hours of overtime a week, which means for the first time in my life my gross paycheck will be over $1000.00 a week. Looks like we'll be having a decent Christmas this year! The only drawback is that for the foreseeable future I'll only be working, traveling, eating and sleeping all day long. I'll have to scale back my Internet activities, including less posting on TB. Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes!

Funny economy we live in. Sometimes feast, sometimes famine. Good for some, bad for others.

Dr. Cheese · #2 11-05-2011, 10:04 AM

Hey, I'm really happy to hear that times have been good for you!

i_got_a_mohawk · #3 11-05-2011, 10:06 AM

It's good to see companies are checking on their employees after butt ******* them

Congrats, even in a bad economy, it's a curve, landing (well) ahead of it, is never a bad thing.

Strohsx · #4 11-05-2011, 11:28 AM

Bad christmas for those who have no jobs getting big old "the test came back positive"

MJ5150 · #5 11-05-2011, 06:42 PM

Plenty of work in what I do as well, over 40 hours a week easy if I wanted it.

-Mike

Pilgrim · #6 11-05-2011, 07:04 PM

It's good news and bad news.

Companies who are running short on staff are compensating with overtime. If they felt confident about the economy, they would add more staff - but they're not feeling that confident.

Glad it's working for you - but the good news for the company in general is when they feel OK to start staffing appropriately for the work load.

1958Bassman · #7 11-05-2011, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stratovani

Due to an increasing demand in medical endoscopes, and our company struggling to meet the demand, we were notified yesterday that as of Monday our working hours will be extended by two hours a day, 3:30PM to 2 AM in my case, along with 6 hours mandatory overtime on Saturdays, 11AM to 5PM for me, until further notice. That makes a total of 16 hours of overtime a week, which means for the first time in my life my gross paycheck will be over $1000.00 a week. Looks like we'll be having a decent Christmas this year! The only drawback is that for the foreseeable future I'll only be working, traveling, eating and sleeping all day long. I'll have to scale back my Internet activities, including less posting on TB. Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes!

Funny economy we live in. Sometimes feast, sometimes famine. Good for some, bad for others.

Make sure to do a new W-4 so you can keep from having too much deducted. If you're already getting a huge refund, you're just letting the government use your money- better to get as much as possible now, put it into something that pays a bit of interest and can't be touched until tax time. Legally, four W-4 forms can be filed annually, which lets you take home as much as possible without having to pay when taxes are due.

runmikeyrun · #8 11-05-2011, 10:48 PM

Last two jobs I worked at were 50-60hrs/wk sometimes 70. Mandatory overtime due to staffing cuts. Never saw my daughter, gf left partly because I was never home, no downtime, sleep was all screwed up. Couldn't get a job anywhere else.

I quit because after 3 years I just physically and mentally couldn't do it anymore. Called in one night and said I quit. Now I can't even find a part time job in my field (paramedic) while I'm in school. Feast or famine for sure.

**Staccato** · #9 11-05-2011, 11:00 PM

Well, I've got friends working lots of mandantory overtime, and I've also got friends that can't find work because companies are choosing to push those already on-board, instead of hiring more warm bodies.

Time Monkey · #10 11-06-2011, 12:30 AM

Lets see... in the past 7 months, I have been allowed to work through my lunch breaks for an hour OT everyday, and was given a two dollar an hour raise.

Plus I work every saturday for 6 more OT hours...

I'm only making about $150 more per check cause im bumped up into a new tax bracket and getting raped, but I'm also claiming zero so i should get a pretty damned fat return.

Go economy.

Oh, and another $3 an hour raise potentially monday.

bradjonesbass · #11 11-06-2011, 03:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Staccato

Well, I've got friends working lots of mandantory overtime, and I've also got friends that can't find work because companies are choosing to push those already on-board, instead of hiring more warm bodies.

That's mostly due to the astronomic costs of hiring more people, particularly the rapidly increasing costs of providing health insurance. That is mostly due to government interference requiring coverage for all sorts of things that never used to be covered, and hospitals charging increased amounts due to the high number of nonpayers.

fhm555 · #12 11-06-2011, 04:48 AM

I'm self employed and work at home, but I've seen no decrease in my work load. it's seasonal to be sure, but it's held steady for the last few years.

As far as a crappy economy, I'm wondering what we are going to do when it rebounds.

it's near impossible to get into any of the local restaurants on any weekend night, and most stores are wall to wall shoppers every time I go.

I recently made a quick road trip to south Florida on a sunday, most of which was on I75 from Atlanta to just above Tampa and it was bumper to bumper all the way.

If many more people start eating out/shopping/traveling, we are going to have to do it in shifts.