Outside of a few instances here or there I don't know what most people here do for a living. I won't pretend I always view the bitching about your job thread, but it's always fun when RT posts there. Honestly I just like to pretend he's an "IT guy" for fire alarms. Some lady complains that it's not working and he asks her if the batteries are dead. Lony works in a hotel I think. I assume front desk and has to pretend he didn't notice the lady that walked in came back downstairs an hour later with an envelope full of money. Nobi does roofing... or maybe builds houses. I dunno, all I do know is he can't find anyone to last more than a day. I'd be all over that if he would hire me. I know he wouldn't drug test me! I think UT works in a casino. Not sure doing what. Trying not to picture him in a cocktail dress... but too late.

I'm just lowly custodian scum, but I make almost 50k sweeping and mopping floors so I can't really complain. Whenever I feel embarrassed by my job I just tell people I'm head of maintenance...

Anyways feel like sharing? You don't have to go into too many specifics, but what exactly do you do?

EMT and Supervisor of the communications department in an EMS company.

Oh, the joy of giving 11 years of my life to helping people. It's honestly made me an old person who is cranky way too soon.

Also, 🤯 is a cop. I think UT is self employed, possibly selling cheese on the side.

May 4, 2019 21:20:24 GMT KING KID said:

EMT and Supervisor of the communications department in an EMS company.

Oh, the joy of giving 11 years of my life to helping people. It's honestly made me an old person who is cranky way too soon.

Also, 🤯 is a cop. I think UT is self employed, possibly selling cheese on the side.

Has #metoo affected your ability to do your job? I've read a few articles recently that said men are less likely to give women cpr, etc. for fear of being accused of something. That could've been satire or more towards civilians/samaritans assisting until you guys arrive, but I'm not really sure.

I'll come back to this guys.

Just got out of Endgame. Can't deal...

Lmao 🤯 lmao @ness

Chicks only say #metoo when they brag about me.

May 4, 2019 20:49:11 GMT @ness said:

I'm just lowly custodian scum, but I make almost 50k sweeping and mopping floors so I can't really complain. Whenever I feel embarrassed by my job I just tell people I'm head of maintenance...

Is that literally your job? To clean floors? Who would pay 50k for only that? Do you clean the floors of the White House? I don't believe you. You're being humble. Tell the truth of what you really do. Don't sell yourself short.

May 4, 2019 21:46:14 GMT Emperor said:

May 4, 2019 20:49:11 GMT @ness said:

I'm just lowly custodian scum, but I make almost 50k sweeping and mopping floors so I can't really complain. Whenever I feel embarrassed by my job I just tell people I'm head of maintenance...

Is that literally your job? To clean floors? Who would pay 50k for only that? Do you clean the floors of the White House? I don't believe you. You're being humble. Tell the truth of what you really do. Don't sell yourself short.

I do basic building upkeep. The floors as I mentioned, trash, mowing the lawn, changing light bulbs. It's not the White House, but I guess it's kinda government since it's for the Post Office. I also do any little random task that pops up so that carriers and supervisors don't have to deal with (changing locks for new tenants in apartments, pump up vehicle tires, etc.) but 90% of my job is just making sure the place isn't filthy.

There are more technical maintenance jobs in the Post Office that I am qualified for since they make you take a test and it would be more money, but I'm mostly content to stay where I'm at since it's for the most part routine and stress free. Course if anything happens and I have to leave (only been here 4 yrs), having electrical/real building stuff experience will likely make it easier to find a job, but I also kinda like shrugging my shoulders when something goes down. "I'm just a janitor, dude."

@ness you shouldn’t be embarrassed about your job. It’s a good job and provides for you.

As stated in the ‘bitch about your job’ thread, I am a purchaser for the ‘evil’ Oil & Gas dreadnaught. Mostly electrical but I buy for mechanical as well and pretty much anything they ask for. I bitch about it but it’s mostly the corporate BS I hate. I am actually thankful to still have a job as the market here the past few years has been tough. My department alone went from 40 to 6. For the most part my co-workers are great, the work is fast paced and I learn something new every day.

I envision Emperor working at a radio station or record company for some reason and @admin as mid management for a men’s fashion magazine. iNCY I believe manufactures chop sticks.

May 4, 2019 22:03:38 GMT @ness said:

May 4, 2019 21:46:14 GMT Emperor said:

Is that literally your job? To clean floors? Who would pay 50k for only that? Do you clean the floors of the White House? I don't believe you. You're being humble. Tell the truth of what you really do. Don't sell yourself short.

I do basic building upkeep. The floors as I mentioned, trash, mowing the lawn, changing light bulbs. It's not the White House, but I guess it's kinda government since it's for the Post Office. I also do any little random task that pops up so that carriers and supervisors don't have to deal with (changing locks for new tenants in apartments, pump up vehicle tires, etc.) but 90% of my job is just making sure the place isn't filthy.

There are more technical maintenance jobs in the Post Office that I am qualified for since they make you take a test and it would be more money, but I'm mostly content to stay where I'm at since it's for the most part routine and stress free. Course if anything happens and I have to leave (only been here 4 yrs), having electrical/real building stuff experience will likely make it easier to find a job, but I also kinda like shrugging my shoulders when something goes down. "I'm just a janitor, dude."

This sounds exactly like what my grandpa on my mom's side did as a second career after retiring from teaching/coaching. Always sounded like a pleasant existence. Get to do little odds and ends projects around the facilities that make you feel productive, and you're plugged into a renowned institution like USPS. Color me kinda jealous, to be honest.

I'm currently a controller for a railroad signaling company, pulling in just north of $70k/yr. That was my Pittsburgh, PA pay though. Relocated to Boston, MA and got zero salary readjustment from the company. So now living in an area that's 200% more expensive and effectively making like 50% less. Or some math like that.

Prior to current gig, I was in project management (such a broad, vague category) for the same railroad signaling company and also their competitor before being recruited away.

Prior to railroad, I was in mining. Graduating with a degree in television production apparently made me perfectly suited to be a mining company's HSE coordinator. Honestly, they were just looking for a young naive fall guy to play the "pity me" card during federal inspections. Turns out I've got enough of a decent head on my shoulders that I figured out how to BS my way through HSE and find myself in some site management roles and then later business development.

In an alternate life, I am a cop for City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police and enjoying it more than any friends or family ever thought I would or want me to.

I work at a mine as an assayer, which means I work in the chemistry lab.

The mine, like many, is unionized for the majority of the workers and that means a pretty good wage. I'm a salaried employee, that works shift work. I enjoy getting 5 days off at a time, and even don't mind the 5 night shifts per a month I have to work.

I think my salary is 75/year. But with shift premium and holidays worked pay and some mandatory overtime I make about 100.

The lab is run by the metallurgy department, who don't understand the job and also ignore the lab. I both loathe and cherish the fact the lab is ignored. But we don't do quality work,and do piss poor methods and do way less than we should and could do.

I am passively looking for a different job, but also don't know how much I want to care. I get paid a reasonable wage to do 6 hours work in a 12 hour day, but I feel like this can't last and because my boss is an idiot and doesn't understand what we should be doing the job will be automated within a decade so I feel like I should get out.

I'm a security guard at a library. Presently i'm getting yelled at by people who can't understand why they can't bring in their loose needles and hatchets

May 4, 2019 23:04:51 GMT Mr. Canoe said:

I'm a security guard at a library. Presently i'm getting yelled at by people who can't understand why they can't bring in their loose needles and hatchets

Your avatar is very fitting for this post.

I make a whole $9200 from Social Security Disability. I am truly living in the life of government assisted luxury and all like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on my timepiece, jet planes, islands and tigers on a gold leash up in here boyz.

I'm still waiting on one of you boys to come down here and strap on a rig and help me build a house. Even if it's a train wreck at least we would have a funny story to tell everybody on PW, "Hey remember that one time I fell off a roof and broke my leg?". :lol:

You pay me and I’ll do it shinobimusashi

Director of Marketing. Good gig.

Assistant Store Manager with a big Aussie retailer. Base salary is a cut above $84k. With bonuses I’ve pulled $100k the last few years.

May 4, 2019 20:49:11 GMT @ness said:

Outside of a few instances here or there I don't know what most people here do for a living. I won't pretend I always view the bitching about your job thread, but it's always fun when RT posts there. Honestly I just like to pretend he's an "IT guy" for fire alarms. Some lady complains that it's not working and he asks her if the batteries are dead. Lony works in a hotel I think. I assume front desk and has to pretend he didn't notice the lady that walked in came back downstairs an hour later with an envelope full of money. Nobi does roofing... or maybe builds houses. I dunno, all I do know is he can't find anyone to last more than a day. I'd be all over that if he would hire me. I know he wouldn't drug test me! I think UT works in a casino. Not sure doing what. Trying not to picture him in a cocktail dress... but too late.

I'm just lowly custodian scum, but I make almost 50k sweeping and mopping floors so I can't really complain. Whenever I feel embarrassed by my job I just tell people I'm head of maintenance...

Anyways feel like sharing? You don't have to go into too many specifics, but what exactly do you do?

You'd be taking a pretty good pay cut to come work for me bubba. :lol: The most I could pay somebody with no experience is $10 an hour and it's assholes and elbows in the Texas heat putting heavy wood in the air. At least you would get plenty of sunshine and I'd smoke a hooter with you at lunch.

I build houses from the ground up, from the walls to the roof then all the soffit/fascia/siding. I don't do shingles or sheetrock just the wood. Then I'll drop back and trim the inside, all the crown/base molding, closet shelves, window sils, set all the doors and do all the fancy woodwork in the ceilings etc. Sometimes I'll do remodeling or add-ons in between houses but haven't been doing much of that lately since I've got houses backed up waiting on me.

It's crazy to think back now how things were kind of hit and miss when I first broke out on my own 2011-2012, went through a rough patch in 2013 after my sis died, was building 2 houses at the same time when that happened and had to pull off for a few weeks to take some time off, wasn't really ready to go back to work and ended up having a meltdown and threatening to whoop the contractors ass. But man these last few years I've really taken off and have become THE guy around here, it's just been one house after another. I just need more manpower. I'm getting wore the fuck out. Mentally and physically. I'm so wore out I went to the gym to do shoulders last night and just left after I did my warm ups, just didn't have it in me.

Senior sales director for a consumer packaged goods company. Race director. Part time catering and bartender.

I have a permanent job as a bartender at a club and I’ve ironically never had a drink in my life 😂. It’s not like the US where you have to rely on tips etc.

I never have been a morning person so working evenings suits me well, WWE airs live in the daytime here and most of my co-workers are cool so that’s the upsides to it. For the most part it’s the same regular customers in the 40-80 range so you get to know people, had quite a few regulars die over the years which has been sad.


When I lived with my dad in NT briefly I was handing out resumes all over town, nicely dressed etc. I get home and my dad decides to go the local club socially, i get dressed back into normal clothes.

Dad: put your resume in here.
(I had my RSA/RCG certificates just as something to have)

Me: I don’t even drink, I wouldn’t know the names of things etc.
(plus I just got changed out of the nice clothes I had on)

Needlessly to say I did anyway, they didn’t ask me anything in my interview and told me to start the next day.

When I came back to NSW for good I got the job I have now.
——-

I either bartend which is self explanatory or am a poker machine attendant.

I think it’s different in some other countries where you only have a moral responsibility to cut someone off but in Australia it’s a legal requirement. Say I serve someone too much, they fall over and crack their head. Work gets sued/fined I get fired and fined $10,000 personally.

People love being cut off and I get verbally abused on a regular basis with the occasional violence or death threat thrown in. Only had one person who I seriously thought was going to hit me though.

I went to reception to talk to security about a guy, unknown to me the guy follows behind me and I turn around and he gets directly in my face telling me how I’m every obscenity under the book and he’s going to smash my face in. Security escorts him out as he tells me he’s going to wait for me in the car park 😂🤦🏻‍♀️.



Poker (Slot) Machine Attendant
I fix faults in the machine when they play up (notes jammed etc) and players can page me to get complimentary soft drink/coffee or alcoholic drinks they have to pay for. Sounds chill but there’s 150 machines to attend to and gamblers aren’t patient people/the almost non-stop pager beeping is infuriating.


Posted in right thread this time

Disabled, get SSI, so basically, I'm paid a reasonable but not moderate amount to do all the things I enjoy (within a budget), but also be in full time pain on top of other medical maladies. Not great, but there's harder livings.

May 4, 2019 22:14:17 GMT iron maiden said:

@ness you shouldn’t be embarrassed about your job. It’s a good job and provides for you.

Agreed. Ness has a cool job! And he made a cool thread! I am fascinated by what you all do.

May 4, 2019 22:14:17 GMT iron maiden said:

I envision Emperor working at a radio station or record company for some reason and @admin as mid management for a men’s fashion magazine. iNCY I believe manufactures chop sticks.

:lol:

Before I reveal my method of making money, I must know why you think I work in the music industry. I am very intrigued!

May 4, 2019 22:20:30 GMT 🤯 said:

I'm currently a controller for a railroad signaling company, pulling in just north of $70k/yr. That was my Pittsburgh, PA pay though. Relocated to Boston, MA and got zero salary readjustment from the company. So now living in an area that's 200% more expensive and effectively making like 50% less. Or some math like that.

What exactly do you do as a controller? I was under the impression that there aren't that many trains in America, only long distance ones. How big is the rail network that you manage?

May 4, 2019 22:45:55 GMT nazzer said:

I work at a mine as an assayer, which means I work in the chemistry lab.

Fascinating. I wouldn't expect a mine to need a chemistry lab. Could you go into more detail as to what you actually do? That way PW will know more than your boss.

May 4, 2019 22:20:30 GMT 🤯 said:

May 4, 2019 22:03:38 GMT @ness said:

I do basic building upkeep. The floors as I mentioned, trash, mowing the lawn, changing light bulbs. It's not the White House, but I guess it's kinda government since it's for the Post Office. I also do any little random task that pops up so that carriers and supervisors don't have to deal with (changing locks for new tenants in apartments, pump up vehicle tires, etc.) but 90% of my job is just making sure the place isn't filthy.

There are more technical maintenance jobs in the Post Office that I am qualified for since they make you take a test and it would be more money, but I'm mostly content to stay where I'm at since it's for the most part routine and stress free. Course if anything happens and I have to leave (only been here 4 yrs), having electrical/real building stuff experience will likely make it easier to find a job, but I also kinda like shrugging my shoulders when something goes down. "I'm just a janitor, dude."

This sounds exactly like what my grandpa on my mom's side did as a second career after retiring from teaching/coaching. Always sounded like a pleasant existence. Get to do little odds and ends projects around the facilities that make you feel productive, and you're plugged into a renowned institution like USPS. Color me kinda jealous, to be honest.

Makes sense as the postal custodian job is generally seen as a final stop to retirement for a lot of broken down carriers. A good chunk of them are old timers. Money-wise I do appreciate I am making a considerable amount for the job I do. I've looked up custodian jobs on the private sector and seems to be $9 MAX across the board unless you're a supervisor for a team and even that's only like $12. I'm sure the pay has a lot to do with it being a union job. At least until they eventually automate the job and replace me with a roomba.

Also does your job have anything to do with the railroad crossing do not cross bar/lights? There's a crossing near me and there was one morning where it flashed, but no train came by. Bar went back up and by time the light was green it did it again. No train. A few people got frustrated and just drove past it. Like what's up with that? Is someone fucking around?

Ahh, I'm such a dooosh bag. I guess I should've elaborated more as the job title can be misleading or unclear.

I'm the kind of controller that's more like a financial/business analyst, accountant, etc. Deal with setting and managing project budgets, vetting estimates for bids/change orders, etc. Nonsense money stuff. And despite having no prior background education-wise or work experience-wise in accounting or finance, I got promoted to the lead role on the largest job my company's ever been awarded. And working with executive management right now (one of whom apparently gets paid 1.5M EUR/yr) on a $300M change order.

Seeing behind the scenes of how a company fiscally operates (or hearing an exec brag about the big bucks he makes) simultaneously infuriates me that they don't pay me more and but also makes it hard to care too, too much about my work... because so much of financial reporting is fiction.

Anyway...

No idea about that crossing, @ness. America has a terrible cultural and technological setup where people are always in a rush to cross crossings, and the tech present even at the busiest crossings is easily circumvented.

I think it depends on the amount of traffic a crossing sees too, that determines the crossing tech. For instance, there are a lot of crossings out in the sticks that are just marked with a sign. That's it. Might not even have a bell or audible alarm. And you'd be surprised how silent and fast most trains are. That's how a lot of maintenance workers and drunks get themselves in life-ending trouble.

Then meanwhile, strangely, somewhere like Russia has crossing protections that shames America. They've got like these plates that raise outta the road to totally block the crossing. No circumvention possible. Since it's Russia, I presume that's less about safety and human lives though and more about Russians not wanting to lose or waste whatever cargo the train was hauling.

Emperor, to answer your question, there are three types of rail lines: freight, mass transit, and metro. Freight is operated by UP, CSX, etc. and are usually very long trains that carry no human passengers and as such have fewer safety restrictions and can travel through more dark territory. Mass transit is like your interstate Amtrak or more local commuter rail networks. Smaller trains that carry passenger traffic greater distances than metro. Then metro is your city subways that run very short trains carrying people around generally a much smaller geographical footprint than commuter rail networks.

While for sure lacking compared to say especially Japan or Nordic European countries, America does have a lot of rail in the commuter and metro formats. They're generally around major population centers. Domestically, we do a lot of work in NY/NJ, Philly, Chicago, DC, LA, San Francisco. Some smaller jobs in North Carolina, Dallas, and Denver. We're in and out of Toronto and Montreal (even though that's Canada, still considered part of the America business unit). And the company has been trying to expand its footprint in Boston. Hence my relocation last year.

But, being a global company, we work everywhere with sub legal entities based everywhere. I've controlled projects in Brazil, Italy, India, Denmark, Korea, China, and Saudia Arabia... working with colleagues HQ'd in Brazil, Italy, France, India, China, and Australia. We're pivoting our businesses model to be more turnkey, but based on the "old way" I'd suspect the international projects probably compromised 50%-70% of the company's financial results while USA made up the rest. So, in USA vs. The World terms, lots of rail money to go around here even if we're not as rail friendly per se as the rest of the world on average.

Hope that helps shed some light?

May 4, 2019 22:45:55 GMT nazzer said:

I work at a mine as an assayer, which means I work in the chemistry lab.

Fascinating. I wouldn't expect a mine to need a chemistry lab. Could you go into more detail as to what you actually do? That way PW will know more than your boss.[/quote]


The mine is a copper mine and the process molybdenum as a secondary product. So they need to know how much of that is in the rock. These elements are present as minerals, so we use methods involving various amounts of heat and various acids to digest the rock so the elements are in liquid form. Then we read the samples on an AA (atomic absorption spectrometer), or do titrations to determine amount. We do analysis on pit samples (samples from the rock which will get dug up to come into the mill, this let's the mine know what rock has copper and what rock is waste), as well as samples through the day on various parts of the mill for trouble shooting, and composite samples each day.

We also have an XRF instrument, which my bosses thought was an XRD when they bought it. They thought it would tell them mineral content and it will only tell elemental content. It was such a hilarious conversation. I'm the only person on site who understands the instrument and am trying to get them to see some things we could do with it, it they don't seem to understand.

I had agreed to do mineralogy using a light microscope, but they haven't bought a microscope. Which I really don't understand. I have experience from my last job in mineralogy and have the ability to identify minerals on a light microscope, and there is often situations where this would be needed there.

May 5, 2019 5:01:57 GMT theend said:

Senior sales director for a consumer packaged goods company. Race director. Part time catering and bartender.

#CPG4Lyfe

May 5, 2019 5:01:57 GMT theend said:

Senior sales director for a consumer packaged goods company. Race director. Part time catering and bartender.

Based on some of your past posts, I've always assumed you worked in Big Tobacco... do cigarettes count as consumer packaged goods?

And c (and RagnarokMike), sorry to hear about the disability. In c's case, I've been under the impression that you've been collecting multiple PhD's over the past two decades. Are those anything you can leverage into insanely sweet big money consulting gigs?

I been doing school part time around my health. Finished a master degree at a tier 1 school and set up to start a PhD but health got too bad to continue school. Been about two decades of school because I would work until my body gave up, spend a few years recovering, then repeat. The time I spend in recovery I pick up new skills which is how I got my masters at a tier 1 school despite this.

Also I am in the disability catch 22. Let's say I could do a consulting job, and get 2,000 for a month's worth of work. I would then lose my insurance, and my medical expenses are over 2k a month. What I do is volunteer my time when my health is good to academic research, mentoring and tutoring. Because it is volunteer, if I am laid up in bed for a week or two with no warning I do not feel bad. If my health stabilizes a little bit more I will be teaching community college but right now things are too unstable for that.

Emperor I have no idea why I think that other than you seem to be fairly knowledgeable about music. It’s just a lark I guess.

pi I could argue that I don't work for big tobacco but medium to large tobacco as the company isn't in the cigarette game. Our big product this year is actually a non tobacco nicotine productand I am heading up the consumer call center on that under my umbrella.

I spent a decade working for Reebok. Working branding and sales. Then transitioned oddly enough into tobacco and cigars. Before that I did sales for Kellogg's, binney and Smith ( Crayola and silly putty) and becton Dickinson ( blood glucose meters). Now I do little to no actual sales. Being a director is definitely more directing than selling.