I really like that last one.
I feel like my salary doubling would more than make up for having to take the extra two weeks leave off unpaid, and I would probably have better healthcare stateside for the amount the government takes off me for bad healthcare. Britain is very poor in comparison and we run on cope.
Exactly. There are lots of things you might not like about the place, but it is impossible to argue against the fact that people are just richer here. I knew there was a difference but only now that I have been seriously looking I've noticed how massive the difference is.
My salary has gone up 55% in five years without a promotion, 30 holidays, and I have the fully paid sabbatical thing after 10 years as well, but at the same time I’m having to use company provided Bupa to get my knee sorted despite the NHS, and I could well be out of a job by Christmas and back at the bottom of the ladder. There are uncertainties in our job market like the Americans which aren’t good and even when I compare to my own colleagues employed by the European branches and I’d absolutely take a £10k decrease for the extra security.
The construction industry is volatile but both sides are out there.
I am definitely on the luckier side of the time off scale for a US company. Newbies at my place get:
3 weeks holiday
6 standard days off (major holidays)
4 floating holidays (instead of the shitter holidays)
5 days of sick that you can accrue up to 15 days.
At 5 years and then 15 you get an extra week off. Closing in on that 5th week![]()
Only the cheese eating surrender monkey side of the family.![]()
Got to pick one unfortunately.
I am also looking for jobs in the US and might stay for a year or two longer if some of the better stuff I am applying to pans out.
I think the horror show employment is largely just for things like bar / waiting staff and other jobs that people tend to go into when they're leaving school.
That's where you're probably better off being in the UK / Europe. Because atleast they're guaranteed minimum wage, rather than having to hope you get good tips.
Once you're into a proper career the ability to earn top money probably does make having a bit less holiday and having to fund medical insurance a good deal.
Those good jobs will come with medical insurance. Although you still have to pay bits of it, of course. And fuck arguing with insurance companies while you're sick.
I was in Seattle last week. One of my American colleagues was telling us about a time when he took an uber to the hospital instead of an ambulance because the ambulances are all private and too expensive. And that's someone who, I assume, is on very good money.
There's also just loads of mentalists/drug addicts in the street and Seattle probably isn't anywhere near the worst for that.
Yeah, DC's the only city I've come across where the homeless problem seems better disguised. Granted, I spent most of my time around the national mall but I didn't even see them riding the rails.
The opioid crisis is completely out of control in the US and it is on the way here too.
The "war on drugs" has directly caused this too. Apparently the Yanks leant on The Taliban when pulling out of Afghanistan and said that if they stop the drug dealers, they'll leave them to run the country in peace. In steps China to start a 3rd Opium War and here we are.
Just so we are clear, if you are a tipped employee and you don't make enough in tips, your employer is mandated to pay you minimum wage. Every single waiter in here is, at the very least, on minimum wage. The vast majority are above that. I was earning 3x minimum wage when I waited tables.
The healthcare system is a mess, I will give you that. It is high quality though.
I genuinely believe that 80% of the issues with American healthcare would be solved simply by forcing healthcare providers to publish their prices. The remaining 20% would be fixed by ricocheting the FDA into space.
I pay ~$300 per month for insurance. Then I think that my max out of pocket per year is something dumb like $5,000. As long as you budget for that every single year, you will never have to worry about healthcare.
As for the lad taking the Uber, if you can make it to the hospital in an Uber with whatever you have, then you should be doing that instead of calling an ambulance no matter what country you are in.
Last edited by Pepe; 26-05-2024 at 05:00 PM.
We’re not the target audience here. What percentage of Americans can’t afford that $300 per month.
I feel inequality is bad over here so my head would explode over there.
Following on from a meeting on Friday, I've just been offered 2 days of my week as WFH![]()
Spikey already nailed it, man.
Counteroffer to also go work on the weekend.
Remember the useless woman at my work? Well, she was 'signed off' for unknown reasons in mid-March, mere days after passing her probation, and hasn't been back since. She kept getting two-week extensions to her absence (presumably doctor's notes), all her tasks were divided among other people and to be honest I had completely forgotten about her. It's been made clear that she isn't ill as such, but is 'signed off'.
Today news arrives that she's back tomorrow. She's been off for I reckon ten weeks, maybe eleven. The boss has given explicit instructions that she is just going to sit there, isn't going to be given any work and nobody is to delegate any tasks to her.
Presumably he's setting her up to be made redundant? The whole thing is absolutely bizarre. I have no desire to talk to her or have anything to do with her, clearly she's a cynical scrounging bitch.
She's going to helpfully delete some more key files before the weekend.
He can sack her for any reason if she's been there less than 2 years, as long as it's not discrimination against a protected characteristic.
Unless she has a related disability, that can include being sick too much.
He absolutely would sack her if he could, so there must be some complication or time limit on it.
Serves him right for appointing her in the first place.
He had a lunge at her big nipples and she said no so she'll have a job for life with ever decreasing responsibilities.
I think big nipples is a different woman.
Yeah, that's the stereotypical loud and opinionated Italian woman. This one is the dizzy cunt.
It's some office.
Loud and opinionated Italian woman
Dizzy cunt
Short arse Romanian legend
The Arab (who has been off sick with toothache all week)
The laziest Russian in the world
Nice Indian guy
A guy who says 'Cool beans' non-ironically
Me
RIP Barney
Just realised Mike named his dog after him. Forum legend.
I'm a twit
I use my personal phone for work (calls, emails etc). They've changed the sec policy now so if you want to do that you have to enroll your device in the COMPANY PORTAL so they can get full control over it. Obviously that means one thing; full uninstall of all work apps.
It's actually really refreshing to only see work stuff on a laptop.
Quick one:
I had 3 days off in Jan due to illness. I was paid sick pay. Apparently they have now told me I shouldn't have been, and they have to dock this from my upcoming wages (of which I'm already losing 4 days pay due to this Uevitis issue). I asked if they could just take 3 days of my now active yearly sick pay away to cover it. Nope, not happening.
So essentially they've blamed me. I did the return to work and whoever processed it did it wrong. I'm now being docked for this, for some fucking reason. Are they right to do this?
Never had a situation like this so I've no idea what the process is.
Quit or at the very least start looking elsewhere?
I'm signed off right now due to this eye issue, can barely see out me eye. Once its healed I'll be looking elsewhere.
Found this, so yeah we have no rights if this happens. Love it.
https://www.davidsonmorris.com/overpayment-of-wages/
Do you have a paper trail for the return to work bit? I'm guessing not.
Just an internal system stating I did a return to work. Oddly the person handling this on behalf of HR and me is the assistant manager...who did the return to work with me and no doubt fucked it himself.
Its a charity where I work, was a very top place to be tbf. Since he came in, with only a history of retail...yeah things have taken a turn for many employees, many not happy. As Magic says, prob time to look elsewhere.
My mate was overpaid for years and never let on. He got caught and ended up coming to an agreement of paying it back like £1 a month for basically forever. He handed his notice in at the end of the meeting to get it sorted.
I'm a twit
So resolution to this:
I asked for it to be split over several months. Turns out they overpaid me 48(!) hours of sick pay. So roughly seven days.
Got a big lol no get fucked. Repeated threats of 'we can make you pay it all on next pay packet'. Ended up with pay 2 days worth this month, and then the other 5 days worth next month. Essentially take it or leave it, get fucked.
So I'm down 6 days pay this month (4 off due to eye issue), 5 days pay next month. All due to their error. What a system lads, love it.
Are they public or private sector?
Just don't go off sick. Turn up, make everyone else sick and achieve nothing at all while you're there.