A crappy job is better than no job at all….right? How low would you go?

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

You recognized what it was and then you read both his name and the amount. That’s all I need to know.

[Nic Wurzbacher]

Life is short quit yer bitching and QUIT !!!!! Find another job, how old are you. Get over it and move on. Life is not fair. That is Lesson #1.

[Alan Ray, RLA]

BZ Girl….try to remember that all situations are temporary…..yours will change….hang in there until you can start your own shop…

[Anonymous]

I’ll second that. It’s time to end the pity party and grow up. She’s been given lots of good advice and she still wants to feel sorry for herself. Maybe if LA’s and other design professionals weren’t starving right now I could have a little more sympathy. What’s BZGirl going to do when she has a real problem? She should quit the job and see how peachy life is without any income. Maybe then she’ll see just how good she’s got it right now.

[Heather Smith]

Ugh. This whole thread is just…stressful. And I get the feeling I am watching someone on a ledge about to make a bad decision because they don’t get that there isn’t work out there. 🙁 We aren’t being dramatic. It is TERRIBLE and I work in a part of the country that isn’t as bad as some. On one hand it is depressing to me that someone would have to keep a job that makes them so unhappy…on the other hand I see you as jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

 

It sounds like you have your mind made up. I wish you the best of luck. If you decide to stick it out know that you do have control over the way you look at the situation. You can choose to thank your lucky stars you haven’t been laid off or you can continue to stew in your discontentment. Or you can quit.

 

I seriously wish you the best of luck. Just remember most of us don’t get the choice.

[mauiBob]

Aloha Craig,

You goofball! My comments were directed specifically to Thomas and BZ Girl. If you read my original post, it had no mention of Hawaii and anything else about my personal life. Thomas decides to inject the “lets hear your sob story” questions.

And did you read Jersey man and his comments to me regarding “fluff” statements? Am I suppose to just accept it? Well, I do that in the same way that I don’t let some employer run me over! I addressed that situation early in my career and have never looked back.

FYI: this dog already had his day and yes, no job is 100% secure. But, if you made the right financial decisions 12 years ago and bought 2k shares of Apple Computers, eBay and Netflix stocks at rock bottom prices…you can weather any storm that life throws at you NOW! I still recall all the negative comments from critics of those companies! Apple was in chaos and sinking, but I always believed in their products. Ebay and Netflix as startups…who could compete against Blockbuster Video? Critics said: “People want the brick and mortar type of business. Nobody wants to receive Dvds by mail. It will never work.”

Okay, I know I went off in a tangent, but those are some of the lessons I learned. Never listen to negative comments and ways of thinking. Just believe in yourself, listen to your gut feeling and be good to others. Karma has a way of coming back in circles.

[Thomas J. Johnson]

A) “Private” documents shouldn’t be left in public places.

B) Looking at a piece of paper, especially in spreadsheet form, one can take-in the whole document before you even realize what you’re looking at.

C) Many Landscape Architecture firms are “Employee Owned Corporations”. If it is truly employee owned (and it’s not just another feel-good b.s. term used in our profession) and everybody has a stake in its success, shouldn’t the books be open, so that the employees know how the business is being run? 

[Anonymous]

O.K. MauiBob, You’re the Man!

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

I have my opinion and respect yours as well.

Having experienced the exact same scenario in a landscaping company almost twenty years ago, I can tell you that it is all that I need to know FOR ME to draw a conclusion. Nothing positive can be gained from one employee knowing what another is making. If something is not put away it is not good, but even if numbers or names jump off of the page, it takes intent to put them together. Even if a check is in front of you, you’d have to read the name and then continue to read to see and process the amount. Integrity should stop that process before it is complete.

If one is too weak or off guard to resist, I could accept that if he or she understands that it was wrong. If one goes on to let others know (whether they are connected or not), he or she clearly does not recognize the shame from continuing to read and digest this private information which is a clear character flaw in my opinion.

[Trace One]

Public employees have their salaries published on searchable websites. Hiding what employees make only empowers the employer…as is obvious in the case of BZGirl, that is what the employer is trying to do..Hiding salaries allows men to make 30% more than women, as well as many other abuses..

My rule for offices is, if it’s out, it’s your job to read  it, it will only help.

Another thing open salary sites has done is allow equalization processes over professions and states – many many agencies have spent years  now (the first job I had in the eighties was subject to equalization lawsuits) comparing jobs and salaries..

So go for it, BZGirl – if it is out on a desk, in the xeroxer or FAX, whatever, it is your repsonsiblity as an office worker to read it..to share with others.

I will never forget (boring story from past) when we were all getting our yearly review with a planning Dept. head – each of the four planners and techs going in individually to talk to him, and then coming back to our bullpen like single room where we all sat together and got good laughs all the time at everything… We were each seriously cautioned NOT to share salary information with anyone, and promptly went back to our communal room and told everyone else what had happened – it was wonderful..

Salary concealment only empowers employers..And please see the Justice Ginzberg dissent in the Ledbetter case before the Supreme Court – there should be NO statute of  limitation on suing over salary discrimination.

[Thomas J. Johnson]

G –

I completely agree that passing-on someones salary information, especially within the office, would be unethical and of poor character, just like any gossiping. 

The whole foundation of salary secrecy rides on one very delicate cleavage pivot though, employees not speaking to each other…

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Wow Trace, you’re up early for a public employee in S.D… what was it, like 4:30am when you posted this?  😉 Sure you’re not on the East coast…? 😉

[Trace One]

Mr. Johnson, I am an early riser..Aren’t all gardeners? don’t ask me to a southern european dinner that starts at 9pm, tho..there is nobody home at that time of night..

 

 

[Thomas J. Johnson]

I like that… too bad we’re not wild (or free)… we’re controlled by bogus student loans, pyramid scheming shell-game playing financial institutions and employers who know how to use the two to manipulate and take advantage of it’s employees, keeping us perfectly poised on the fulcrum of dependency. It can be a sad existence indeed. Death is liberating.

[Anonymous]

I’m not sure why your post was deleted Trace One, but I’ll respond to it anyway.

 

Thanks for pointing out Thomas’ writing ability. Although I don’t always agree with everything he posts. I always appreciate his ability to express his thoughts. By the way you can hold your own as well when it comes to written communication. I realized along time ago that I was totally out classed by some of you folks on Land8 when it came to writing ability. I just hope that I’m a better designer then you guys 🙂 

Any who.

 

Whenever I start feel down or upset about my problems, I take a step back and inventory what’s good in my life. Here it goes:

1)     I live in a place where my police and governmental officials aren’t being found without their heads.

2)     I can go where I want to go when I want to (provided I have enough money).

3)     I can pretty much say what I want to say.

4)     I’m not hungry or cold.

5)     I have people that love me.

6)     Occasionally I get paid for designing landscapes.

7)     Nobody’s shooting at me.

 

 Really, what do I have to complain about? Life is good.

 

If you have a paying job right now life is absolutely great. Please! BZGirl is not a victim. She has the option of sucking it up and collecting a check or hitting the bricks when ever she wants.

 

O.K. if we don’t call it self-pity can we at least call it whining? It seems to me she knew the answer to her question on her original post. Stay and get a little piss in your face to get a check or leave and stand in line with a bunch of starving unemployed LAs.

[Author]

Posts