What are you thinking about?

[TOUCAN]

I think I am about to lose my job. Which sucks, but I am resigning myself to it being okay. I know speculation isn't great, but, I have some things that have happened in recent months that makes me think that I am going to be cut.

1.) I used to be in charge or would assist with some specific reports and tasks. I am no longer a part of that process. 
2.) Was told I'll be trained on more things over the past several months. Those trainings never occurred.
3.) In the midst of a merger between 2 companies. Not all will be kept.
4.) In my department, I have the least (none) individual responsibilities/tasks. I'm a worker bee.
5.) I have been there the shortest time, and am the lowest ranking person in the department. I've been there less than a year.

I am indeed stressed, but I am an optimistic person. I have lowered my expectations to nothing so if I am indeed laid off, I expect it.

[Ty21]

21 minutes ago, TOUCAN said:

I am indeed stressed, but I am an optimistic person. I have lowered my expectations to nothing so if I am indeed laid off, I expect it.

Have you started looking at your next option in case what you think is happening is happening?

[Sugashane]

1 hour ago, TOUCAN said:

I think I am about to lose my job. Which sucks, but I am resigning myself to it being okay. I know speculation isn't great, but, I have some things that have happened in recent months that makes me think that I am going to be cut.

1.) I used to be in charge or would assist with some specific reports and tasks. I am no longer a part of that process. 
2.) Was told I'll be trained on more things over the past several months. Those trainings never occurred.
3.) In the midst of a merger between 2 companies. Not all will be kept.
4.) In my department, I have the least (none) individual responsibilities/tasks. I'm a worker bee.
5.) I have been there the shortest time, and am the lowest ranking person in the department. I've been there less than a year.

I am indeed stressed, but I am an optimistic person. I have lowered my expectations to nothing so if I am indeed laid off, I expect it.

Looking and applying elsewhere would be the smart thing. If nothing happens then you can pull out of any job offers or if you find a job you like more (or that simply has better pay/benefits) you can site the above reasons as why you looked for other employment.  I'm not one to advocate for job jumping every year but I will say there is no reason to give jobs undue loyalty. Most have reduced benefits, tossed out pensions over the years, and their "raises" are borderline disrespectful. 

[Dr LBC]

On 4/12/2024 at 5:35 AM, minutemancl said:

In the nicest way: get used to it lol. My immune system (I thought) was incredible. The first ~9 months my kid went to daycare, I was sick just about every other week. It was awful. I had to take some sick time at work, which I never do, and it entirely threw off my gym schedule. And even now, after that 9 months, he still comes home with some gnarly stuff every once in a while. Just this last weekend, the kid could not sleep at all the entire night and we found sores on his hands, feet, and mouth. HFM. He made a super fast recovery thank god, but those few days were hell (and of course, we had to take a few sick days from work to take care of him since he couldn't go back to daycare). That may have been the worst he's ever felt, the poor guy.

Yeah, our youngest takes down the whole house at least 4x per year... and he's been fully immersed in elementary for 2 years now.  I had pitching, and since at the time we were on the heels of coming out of the worst of COVID my wife almost bit on it, that I'd install one of those biohazard emergency showers in the garage and force the little gremlin (yes, I'm referring to my son as a gremlin, come at me) to strip down and shower before entering the house, though in retrospect the one of either my wife or myself would have risked inoculation anyway just being in a car with him.

The lone positive I've found - though this may be more a case if/when you have multiple kids - is that it's a heckuvalot easier to convince the older ones to eat fruits and vegetables because the vitamins help ward off their brother from getting them (as) sick.

[Dr LBC]

5 hours ago, Sugashane said:

7 hours ago, TOUCAN said:

I think I am about to lose my job. Which sucks, but I am resigning myself to it being okay. I know speculation isn't great, but, I have some things that have happened in recent months that makes me think that I am going to be cut.

1.) I used to be in charge or would assist with some specific reports and tasks. I am no longer a part of that process. 
2.) Was told I'll be trained on more things over the past several months. Those trainings never occurred.
3.) In the midst of a merger between 2 companies. Not all will be kept.
4.) In my department, I have the least (none) individual responsibilities/tasks. I'm a worker bee.
5.) I have been there the shortest time, and am the lowest ranking person in the department. I've been there less than a year.

I am indeed stressed, but I am an optimistic person. I have lowered my expectations to nothing so if I am indeed laid off, I expect it.

Expand  

Looking and applying elsewhere would be the smart thing. If nothing happens then you can pull out of any job offers or if you find a job you like more (or that simply has better pay/benefits) you can site the above reasons as why you looked for other employment.  I'm not one to advocate for job jumping every year but I will say there is no reason to give jobs undue loyalty. Most have reduced benefits, tossed out pensions over the years, and their "raises" are borderline disrespectful. 

Conversely, if you do receive an offer or are even enter advanced stages (scheduling 2nd interviews, etc) of the recruitment process, this does give you more (at the very least, "perceived") leverage to point blank ask your superiors to lay it on the table as to what the situation is.  It's not a guarantee as all companies are different, but sometimes the perception of losing an employee can shift the company's (or at minimum management's) view as to how expendable they are.  Especially with corporate culture, but just in general, the larger a company gets the easier it is for cogs to be taken for granted - and sometimes the higher-ups need a little reminder.

(And, mind you, this is something I encourage my students who are often working the minimum-wage-level gigs as teenagers to do even when they have a job they're mostly satisfied with.  If the place of work truly values you, even if it sometimes takes giving a manager a not-so-subtle reminder that you can be desired elsewhere as well, they can make concessions to keep you.  I try to remind my students that doesn't mean you're going to get a pay-bump, but it could at least mean more consideration when it comes to scheduling, and so forth.)

[minutemancl]

6 minutes ago, Dr LBC said:

Yeah, our youngest takes down the whole house at least 4x per year... and he's been fully immersed in elementary for 2 years now.  I had pitching, and since at the time we were on the heels of coming out of the worst of COVID my wife almost bit on it, that I'd install one of those biohazard emergency showers in the garage and force the little gremlin (yes, I'm referring to my son as a gremlin, come at me) to strip down and shower before entering the house, though in retrospect the one of either my wife or myself would have risked inoculation anyway just being in a car with him.

The lone positive I've found - though this may be more a case if/when you have multiple kids - is that it's a heckuvalot easier to convince the older ones to eat fruits and vegetables because the vitamins help ward off their brother from getting them (as) sick.

Do you even love your kids if you don't give them relatively mean, but ultimately affectionate, titles? My son is either a troll or goblin, depending on how he is acting that day lol.

[Dr LBC]

21 minutes ago, minutemancl said:

Do you even love your kids if you don't give them relatively mean, but ultimately affectionate, titles? My son is either a troll or goblin, depending on how he is acting that day lol.

To be fair, I've called my daughter "Monster" since she was a 6 - it just is a bit more of an affectionate title now that she can legimately neutralize (and twist into pretzels) her twin brother 6 years later.  I go the opposite route with her brother, who gets irrationally upset when I call him "dear," so naturally I needle him with that term of endearment multiple times per week, usually when I want to needle him into doing something.

[TOUCAN]

9 hours ago, Ty21 said:

Have you started looking at your next option in case what you think is happening is happening?

Yup. I have looked at jobs, I’ll have 3 months potentially give or take to find something within the company if I want to stay, but I have a list of things I won’t do there. Otherwise I’ll take my severance and find a different company to work for

[MWil23]

15 hours ago, minutemancl said:

Do you even love your kids if you don't give them relatively mean, but ultimately affectionate, titles? My son is either a troll or goblin, depending on how he is acting that day lol.

One of my kids I’ve called “Bug” since she was a baby (short for cuddle bug).

Another I’ve called Daffy because of the hot temper, as well as “Bean”, and I don’t even remember the origin there.

[skywindO2]

15 hours ago, TOUCAN said:

Yup. I have looked at jobs, I’ll have 3 months potentially give or take to find something within the company if I want to stay, but I have a list of things I won’t do there. Otherwise I’ll take my severance and find a different company to work for

I'm sorry you're going through that but hopefully you bounce back strong. Changing companies is usually considered the best way to get a pay raise but resetting benefits and PTO accrual always sucks.

[TOUCAN]

I have an update.

I was retained, and given an increase.

[MacReady]

I think I have a peanut allergy.

I remember 10 years ago I got hooked on peanuts and I was eating so many peanuts at night, but then my testicles started getting swollen and the only thing I could think of was peanuts. So I stopped eating peanuts and my testicles stopped swelling up.

I shook it off and started eating peanuts a few years ago and I started having crazy acne and other than when I was 16 I never had bad acne. Stopped eating peanuts and that cleared up.

Fast forward to today and I got a bag of peanuts at Sam’s club about two weeks ago and then another bag after that was gone and I’ve been eating them for a week and I woke up yesterday and I’m having difficulty breathing and both sides of my neck are swelling up and it hurts when I breathe in deeply, but it’s like it’s from my back that’s causing the breathing problem.

Does this sound like it’s possibly a peanut allergy or do I have mesothelioma?

[skywindO2]

When facing a potential life threatening medical issue, I'm not sure the fellas on a dying football forum are the first people I'd seek advice from. 

[CBears019]

6 hours ago, skywindO2 said:

When facing a potential life threatening medical issue, I'm not sure the fellas on a dying football forum are the first people I'd seek advice from. 

Don’t listen to him.  We’re like the old guys at a barber shop.  We can solve all the world’s problems in just an hour or two.  
 

but yeah, maybe don’t eat peanuts and go see a doctor.

[minutemancl]

I haven't watched Hot Ones in a while, but I had to watch the Conan one. Conan is still the king.