BZ Girl

Hi Lola! I am in  the EXACT same situation as you. I have passed every section except E. I had a good 4 years left to get this one section taken care of, so when i found out i was pregnant, i figured i would just take the next year off and start up again once the baby madness calmed down a bit. I’m with you- being forced to take the test in…[Read more]

Great article. This is one of my chief frustrations when i am designing children’s play spaces…all of the over-sanitized, super-safetyfied ‘rules’ have completely eliminated all the risk and wonder and excitement that should be in a playground!! Child psychologists have been saying for DECADES that children need to take calculated, measurable…[Read more]

I have a friend who is in this very situation you just described. He has passed all sections except section D, which i believe he has taken 3 times now. ‘Wow’, you might be saying ‘this guy sure doesn’t know construction very well. He must be pretty dense to take it 3 times without passing.’ But this guy owns his own design build firm!! He, of all…[Read more]

Thanks Henry! This was very helpful. I found that our state dept. of labor has a payday law that expressly prohibits witholding wages from a paycheck, unless it’s court-ordered (like child support), state or federally required (like taxes), or is expressly agreed to in writing with a document signed by the employee. Since my situation falls…[Read more]

Thank you all for your encouragement…it’s needed! Despite their verbal agreement to my offer to be voluntarily laid off, apparently my former employer is now changing their tune and saying that i resigned. They gave me a formal letter with my last paycheck that said ‘we accept your resignation’ yadda yadda yadda. Which I’m guessing would…[Read more]

Yeah, I think it’s definitely been very helpful. Even when you are working in an office with other people, sometimes you can still feel disconnected and completely alone despite being surrounded by coworkers. Logging on to Land8 and hearing other people’s perspectives and advice is infinitely valuable when i really have nowhere else to…[Read more]

strangely entertaining indeed. some helpful posts, some not. entertaining nonetheless!

Thanks Barbara! This is great advice. I appreciate your thoughts!

I agree with Tanya. I think it is incredibly relevant, and very timely to this discussion! I enjoyed reading all the response comments. Sounds like a lot of my thoughts are being echoed by women architects.

But she’s not interested in strategizing how to proceed, she just wants other women to support her conclusion.
 
In asking to hear about other’s experiences, i was intending to glean insight into how others have handled similar situations, and perhaps get a few new ideas on effective strategies. Sorry if i didn’t spell that out in the original…[Read more]

“So where do you draw the line of dignity? At what point do you say, NO i will not be a doormat and allow myself to be blatantly trampled on all for the sake of the sacred cow, the ever-coveted ‘at least you have a job’? At what point do you stand up for yourself and your self respect? Or should i just lay down like a good little doormat and take…[Read more]

Yeah, doing punch lists on a new construction job is always interesting. In the five years i’ve been working, only ONCE have i encountered another female on site. Sometimes the superintendent listens to me and takes my comments seriously and responds, sometimes they don’t. I’ve never experienced any blatantly obvious discrimination- no one has…[Read more]

in terms of job protection (i.e. not being laid off), i feel like the ‘married with kids’ crowd have an upper hand, at least in offices that claim to be ‘family friendly.’ I can relate to maui bob’s experience though, in that the ‘married with kids’ coworkers are the last ones in the office in the morning, first ones out in the afternoon, and…[Read more]

Are you hiring?? I want a boss like you!!!!!

i’m digging your proposal #6. I have been telling my husband for months now that my right shoulder hurts by the end of the day, and i’m quite sure it’s b/c my ergonomics are out of whack. The office of course went to Office Depot and bought the cheapest chairs possible, which do not adequately accomodate different body types. My husband, who works…[Read more]

Pardon me for accidentally seeing his paystub when i went to pick up my copy off the copier. That’s life in a small office. And no i did not tell everyone in the office what his salary is. I’m not on an ‘us against them’ tirade. I’m not trying to overthrow anyone, or stir the pot to gain allies on one side or the other. I haven’t been going to my…[Read more]

Why is it a bad thing that they hired someone else? The hiring of another person should be a sign that the company is growing, which is what you want is it not?
 
That was the whole point of my outrage. The company is NOT growing, the demand for our services has NOT increased, they just hired this guy out of the wild blue yonder. They told us ‘…[Read more]

I have to say i am somewhere in the middle between mauibob and thomas. I have lived in both worlds and see the benefits of both. I actually did live in Hawaii for 2 summers, in a tiny ass apartment not much bigger than my current bathroom now, working at the old $8 an hour job with no benefits…and i can’t remember a happier time in my life.…[Read more]

thanks mauibob! i fully acknowledge that my disgruntled attitude is discoloring my perception of why they hired this new guy. At this point, i probably wouldn’t care WHY they hired him. Just the fact that they hired him, fully knowing that the majority of the firm members- lowly peons AND principals- were against it, totally chaps my rear. It just…[Read more]

All very good points Andrew. I realize that there’s no way i’ll be able to go up against larger, more established firms. But i don’t want to go up against them. The types of jobs all the firms in town are going for is not what i’m interested in. I have a specialty/niche (not residential!) that i’m interested in that i know all the other firms…[Read more]