Author Topic: Epic FU money stories  (Read 2798866 times)

GreenSheep

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3000 on: April 01, 2020, 01:38:50 PM »
My friend is a nurse and is in her 50-60s. At her age she is at high risk if she gets infected with COVID-19. She works at a hospital and was not allowed to use enough protective equipment due to potential shortages in future. She quit right away!

They did a great job financially and are going to be just fine.

YES!!! I've been waiting to hear a story like this! Patients will only be worse off in the long run if the people trying to care for them aren't well protected. Hospitals are not the caring, loving places their billboards would like you to believe. They are cold, hard businesses that happen to employ (usually) good, caring people.

ducky19

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3001 on: April 01, 2020, 01:45:55 PM »
My FIL is a nurse by trade, but also a real estate whiz on the side (at one point had ~25 rentals, but has pared it back to 5-6 now that he's in his mid 70's). Yesterday we received a statewide emergency text asking for all medical professionals to sign up to volunteer. My wife immediately called him to tell him off if he was considering it, but he said, "nope, they couldn't pay me enough right now to do that". This from the man who would work an off shift for the bonuses, because... "$50/hour!". Glad he's got enough sense to stay far away from this tragedy. He's long since not needed the money and he's definitely in a high risk age group.

Alternatepriorities

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3002 on: April 01, 2020, 01:48:38 PM »
My friend is a nurse and is in her 50-60s. At her age she is at high risk if she gets infected with COVID-19. She works at a hospital and was not allowed to use enough protective equipment due to potential shortages in future. She quit right away!

They did a great job financially and are going to be just fine.

I have a 65 year old Aunt who is a delivery nurse. Her hospital tried to tell her she they didn't have enough masks for her to wear one in the delivery room... She said she would bring her own... They said she couldn't do that, so she told them to fire her if they wanted to but she wasn't going to work without one. So far they've backed down.

zolotiyeruki

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3003 on: April 01, 2020, 07:43:58 PM »
My FIL is a nurse by trade, but also a real estate whiz on the side (at one point had ~25 rentals, but has pared it back to 5-6 now that he's in his mid 70's). Yesterday we received a statewide emergency text asking for all medical professionals to sign up to volunteer. My wife immediately called him to tell him off if he was considering it, but he said, "nope, they couldn't pay me enough right now to do that". This from the man who would work an off shift for the bonuses, because... "$50/hour!". Glad he's got enough sense to stay far away from this tragedy. He's long since not needed the money and he's definitely in a high risk age group.
Let me guess--he's in Illinois?  I got that "emergency alert" yesterday, and it annoyed the heck out of me.  As far as I can tell, they sent it to every single cell phone in the state.  That sort of thing is for imminent, impending doom-type scenarios.  Tornado warnings, flash flood warnings perhaps.  But not "hey, we need your help!"  Yeesh.

Dicey

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3004 on: April 01, 2020, 11:33:43 PM »
This is a tangent: Hospitals are not accepting homemade PPE. But on the local listserves, medical personnel are pleading for anything they can get and people are making masks for them like crazy. I think the hospitals are worried about liability should a homemade mask prove ineffective. WTF?

YHD

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3005 on: April 02, 2020, 10:02:20 AM »
@Dicey--also public perception.  If all the hospital workers are masked, the patients start to think that they also need to be masked (YES, they do).  And that the hospital is a germy place (YES, it is).  Patient demand for masks will stress the hospital's supply.

Dicey

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3006 on: April 02, 2020, 11:04:57 AM »
@Dicey--also public perception.  If all the hospital workers are masked, the patients start to think that they also need to be masked (YES, they do).  And that the hospital is a germy place (YES, it is).  Patient demand for masks will stress the hospital's supply.
In January, I had to get a TB test for a hospital-related volunteer gig. The intake for the blood draw was through Urgent Care. There were a lot of sick people there. When I got sick in mid-March with what may or may not have been CV, I was determined not to seek medical care unless or until I experienced shortness of breath. Fortunately, that didn't happen. I haven't set foot in a public space in 17 days, but if I absolutely have to, you bet I'll be wearing a mask, even if I have to make it myself.

Alternatepriorities

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3007 on: April 02, 2020, 12:23:24 PM »
This is a tangent: Hospitals are not accepting homemade PPE. But on the local listserves, medical personnel are pleading for anything they can get and people are making masks for them like crazy. I think the hospitals are worried about liability should a homemade mask prove ineffective. WTF?

Hooray for CYA safety! I believe this kind of bogus safety thinking is one of the reasons that this has turned into such a mess. No one wants to take any risk of making the wrong decision on less they can pass that risk off on someone else.

dandarc

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3008 on: April 20, 2020, 11:05:52 AM »
I've got a "stick it to the man" one pending - hoping they come around on "you need to take a pay cut so the company will be more profitable", but I doubt it. Seriously - they didn't even try to frame it in terms of the emergency. I guess I appreciate the honesty.

Regardless, we've actually increased our charitable giving by 4-5 times since the outbreak started. We're up to $500 per week, plus the prior $600 per month now. All to local charities, via our church, which has a long-established tradition of "sharing the plate' with various charities. In light of the pandemic, rather than splitting these donations, we're just aggregating and forwarding on to the selected charity each week, so this has made it very easy for us to donate much more. We're going to continue doing this as long as we can.

solon

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3009 on: April 20, 2020, 12:27:51 PM »
I've got a "stick it to the man" one pending - hoping they come around on "you need to take a pay cut so the company will be more profitable", but I doubt it. Seriously - they didn't even try to frame it in terms of the emergency. I guess I appreciate the honesty.

Regardless, we've actually increased our charitable giving by 4-5 times since the outbreak started. We're up to $500 per week, plus the prior $600 per month now. All to local charities, via our church, which has a long-established tradition of "sharing the plate' with various charities. In light of the pandemic, rather than splitting these donations, we're just aggregating and forwarding on to the selected charity each week, so this has made it very easy for us to donate much more. We're going to continue doing this as long as we can.

+1

I have found that outrageous generosity is easier than I expected, and way more satisfying. Good on ya!

dandarc

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3010 on: May 01, 2020, 10:41:20 AM »
Hinted at a brewing one earlier. Today, a payment was past due. Not unusual - in the past I email "hey this is past due now", they respond "oops - will be in your account tomorrow." And then the payment is in my account the next day. Today though the answer is "all 1099 payments have to be approved by executive team, so I'll try to get you an estimate on when".

So I'm not working any more until at the very least there is an estimate for when I will be paid. Having 2 months of unpaid work at what appears to be significant risk of non-payment is more than enough for me.

Alternatepriorities

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3011 on: May 01, 2020, 11:02:26 AM »
Hinted at a brewing one earlier. Today, a payment was past due. Not unusual - in the past I email "hey this is past due now", they respond "oops - will be in your account tomorrow." And then the payment is in my account the next day. Today though the answer is "all 1099 payments have to be approved by executive team, so I'll try to get you an estimate on when".

So I'm not working any more until at the very least there is an estimate for when I will be paid. Having 2 months of unpaid work at what appears to be significant risk of non-payment is more than enough for me.

Good call. It was before this Covid mess, but I had a client get later and later with payments. I'd know and worked with them for 14 years at that point so I was pretty accommodating. They had always paid eventually. On the last project they promised payment "as soon as we collect from our client"... Well, they never hired the EE staff the project required and eventually their customer pulled the project without payment. I got left with 400+ hours of unpaid invoices. Never again.

dandarc

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3012 on: May 01, 2020, 11:16:58 AM »
@Alternatepriorities - will be interesting to see how long this lasts. The longer it is, the more my rate goes up for them. And the probability of demanding a retainer.

Alternatepriorities

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3013 on: May 01, 2020, 01:41:05 PM »
@Alternatepriorities - will be interesting to see how long this lasts. The longer it is, the more my rate goes up for them. And the probability of demanding a retainer.

Yeah, I typically offer a discount for projects I'll enjoy and to companies I like working for. I haven't raised my rate in five years for my first client because I invoice on Monday and am paid on Friday without fail. They also never question my hours and last year they invited my wife and I to their company Christmas party. I'd much rather work with clients like them. Having FU money gives me the option to take a little less money and tell PITA clients to bugger off.

Madalope

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3014 on: May 05, 2020, 10:08:04 PM »
Hi All,  new here.  I noticed this thread dates back to 2014, but I thought it was interesting enough that I would share my story.

I have worked in the Information Tech field for over 24 years in varying capacities.  If anyone is familiar with it, you know most positions pay pretty well but there is stress that goes along with the position.  I am 52 now and back in October 2019 I had been growing increasingly stressed by the constant changes Management and ownership of the company was having on my personal life.  Bi Weekly meetings on performance.  Constant micro management to such an extent that I was told I left 1 minute early and was not a team player?  Even though I had freely started my shift 30 minutes early daily of which didn't seem to show dedication.  Add to that that my boss was 20 years my junior without essential management / people skills.  I worked with a group of people who didn't pull their weight and I felt more of the higher level work was thrust upon me, then to cap it off, they changed the way I could organize my schedule so that I was not in control of my day to day workload.   I had mentally told myself that I wanted to quit.   I had saved and invested over a 25 year plan.  Made the right decisions, paid off my home, no car loans, no debt except insurance and utilities.  It occurred to me I could easily resign and take some mental time to do nothing which I haven't experienced since I was a teenager.  I longed to read, listen to music, experience more quality time without the dark cloud of deadlines, a work problem unsolved which lingered in my mind all the time.  I even went to the point of writing my resignation letter but by the next day, I would have a cup of coffee, then put the fantasy away.   One day in a meeting, my performance was again being questioned and I just mentally decided right there and then, it's time.  I stood up to my boss and said, "I am sorry, but I am resigning now".  I walked out of the office, then back to my desk, packed up my laptop and most of the things I had and quickly said goodbye to my co-workers nearby and walked out.  My boss ran out and talked to me asking if this is truly what I wanted to do, and I said it wasn't personal, but I was deeply unhappy.   
If you are not happy with the day to day, and not feeling proud on your drive home and mentally ok without thinking about work after your day is over, you will be weighed down.  Having saved and invested for years with cash reserves that I could live on, I always kept that in the back of my mind that I can use it.  If you can make the change for well being, do it.  It may open other avenues for you.  I am still on a long sabbatical for 7 months now and I still do not want part of a day job at present.  I honestly do not know if I want to go back anytime soon.  That's my story.  Best

markbike528CBX

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3015 on: May 05, 2020, 10:50:34 PM »
Madalope, nice first post.

RWTL

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3016 on: May 06, 2020, 04:00:40 AM »

dandarc

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3017 on: May 06, 2020, 07:38:32 AM »
+1. Hope to read more from @Madalope.

Aegishjalmur

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3018 on: May 06, 2020, 07:52:59 AM »
Awesome Madalope. I just wish you had a camera to record the look on your bosses face when you did that.

mm1970

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3019 on: May 06, 2020, 12:26:50 PM »
That is an awesome story!

achvfi

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3020 on: May 06, 2020, 01:23:46 PM »
@Madalope, Inspiring story. Congrats on strength of your position.

foghorn

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3021 on: May 06, 2020, 01:24:07 PM »
Great story - and inspiring.  Well done.

Psychstache

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3022 on: May 06, 2020, 01:58:19 PM »
Awesome Madalope. I just wish you had a camera to record the look on your bosses face when you did that.


Don't worry, I found the footage of his last day on the internet:



desk_jockey

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3023 on: May 06, 2020, 05:09:41 PM »
"I am sorry, but I am resigning now".  I walked out of the office, ... , and I said it wasn't personal, but I was deeply unhappy.   

Stories like this are why I keep coming back to this thread.

alcon835

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3024 on: May 06, 2020, 07:34:41 PM »
*Slow Clap*

Well done. Very well done!

BlueHouse

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3025 on: May 08, 2020, 01:36:46 PM »

 On the last project they promised payment "as soon as we collect from our client"... Well, they never hired the EE staff the project required and eventually their customer pulled the project without payment. I got left with 400+ hours of unpaid invoices. Never again.

I've had a few companies I work with write this language into my contract.  I immediately take out a pen and cross it out.  My work for them is not dependent upon their relationship with anybody else.  I wish more people understood that contracts are simply agreements between two parties and that both of those parties have equal standing and equal ability to change any part of a written contract.  It feels so good to do it too, especially when the contracts admin on the other side is relatively young and doesn't know that it's allowed. They're shocked that I would have the audacity to cross out their printed form!  Ha!   I feel as if I'm teaching them a valuable life lesson by seeing this in action. 

markbike528CBX

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3026 on: May 08, 2020, 03:21:01 PM »

 On the last project they promised payment "as soon as we collect from our client"... Well, they never hired the EE staff the project required and eventually their customer pulled the project without payment. I got left with 400+ hours of unpaid invoices. Never again.

I've had a few companies I work with write this language into my contract.  I immediately take out a pen and cross it out.  My work for them is not dependent upon their relationship with anybody else.  I wish more people understood that contracts are simply agreements between two parties and that both of those parties have equal standing and equal ability to change any part of a written contract.  It feels so good to do it too, especially when the contracts admin on the other side is relatively young and doesn't know that it's allowed. They're shocked that I would have the audacity to cross out their printed form!  Ha!   I feel as if I'm teaching them a valuable life lesson by seeing this in action.
I’d pay to see the video of the admin as they “but..but...but.. sputter.... “

I once had to tell a young guy that I was NOT going to take a picture of every sample as it was placed in the instrument (20 samples, each measured 5 times) .  “But my boss says so”, answer: he is not MY boss :-)   There also was a cultural divide , kid was Japanese, I was old, cranky American.  I told him if his boss wanted it that bad, HE should do it. He did the first night, then tailed off.  My camera was a 12Mpixel, 4MB/pic macro lens.

Alternatepriorities

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3027 on: May 11, 2020, 11:38:20 AM »

 On the last project they promised payment "as soon as we collect from our client"... Well, they never hired the EE staff the project required and eventually their customer pulled the project without payment. I got left with 400+ hours of unpaid invoices. Never again.

I've had a few companies I work with write this language into my contract.  I immediately take out a pen and cross it out.  My work for them is not dependent upon their relationship with anybody else.  I wish more people understood that contracts are simply agreements between two parties and that both of those parties have equal standing and equal ability to change any part of a written contract.  It feels so good to do it too, especially when the contracts admin on the other side is relatively young and doesn't know that it's allowed. They're shocked that I would have the audacity to cross out their printed form!  Ha!   I feel as if I'm teaching them a valuable life lesson by seeing this in action.

They were very much in breach of contract. I knew there was a risk of things going down the way they did, but tried to keep the project alive for their customer's sake as well as the friends I had who worked for the client, but didn't have any control over company spending... I learned some very valuable lessons about top heave business models and having the management of an engineering firm skew heavily from one discipline while trying to manage three. I've certainly wasted 400 hours for less cause in my life.

Ethel

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3028 on: May 28, 2020, 06:15:04 PM »
Ugh... is it an Epic FU story if you really, really don't want it to happen? Because I might have one in my near future.

I really like my employer. Great boss, great colleagues, fun job, good money. Even the higher-ups are genuinely decent people.

But...

We went through a much needed restructuring earlier this year. Two bloated departments (relics from the company's start-up days) were split into a dozen. But my work unit, which is of comparable size to the newly formed departments, has been in limbo these past five months.

And now there's talk of splitting us up and dividing us among the other departments. It makes no sense. We provide a specialized service (think IT maintenance, except it isn't because I don't want to give too many identifying details). We need a team to balance workload and train younglings junior employees. We each have our area of expertise within our specialization. We work well together.

Problem is we're the newest work unit in the company (though already three years old). And my boss who formed it always got quite a bit of pushback, mainly from one manager for reasons I don't get, even though the numbers and client feedback prove that we're essential to project success.

Honestly, this unit was the reason I joined the company in the first place. If it's dissolved, I don't want to remain here. I don't want to be a random department's pet IT gal. But among all the places I've worked at, this is (was?) hands down the best. If only they stopped being stubborn goobers.

I was honest with my boss today and said that if our team was dissolved, I wouldn't stay - not as an ultimatum, but so that she isn't blindsided if/when I quit. She's been struggling to keep us together and I hate to lay more pressure on her, but yeah...I'm quite discouraged by how this is going.

I have a couple years worth of expenses saved and I'm confident that I'd be able to land a job fairly quickly. But I would hate to leave.

markbike528CBX

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3029 on: May 28, 2020, 09:43:55 PM »
...I really like my employer. Great boss, great colleagues, fun job, good money. Even the higher-ups are genuinely decent people.

But...

Honestly, this unit was the reason I joined the company in the first place. If it's dissolved, I don't want to remain here.

I was honest with my boss today and said that if our team was dissolved, I wouldn't stay - not as an ultimatum, but so that she isn't blindsided if/when I quit. She's been struggling to keep us together and I hate to lay more pressure on her, but yeah...I'm quite discouraged by how this is going.
.......
If you haven't already, try to spin this to the boss as backing her play to keep the team together.
She can say, if you split the team up, the former parts of the team won't be there to pick up the pieces.

I'm reasonably confident that a boss I had played this card.  SemiBigCorp HQ Question : How many of the 15 very core people would move to SemiBigCorp HQ?  Boss answer:  maybe one :-)
SemiBigCorp HQ: well we guess you can stay at current location.


engineerjourney

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3030 on: May 29, 2020, 08:06:20 AM »
Not necessarily a full FU story since my management is actually awesome and didnt push back at this BUT I am now using 2-3 hours of PTO every week (which pretty much uses up my monthly accrual) to deal with being a two full time working parent household while not having childcare for two kids under 5.  It will put me on some list the director keeps of 40.0s (people that dont give free OT to the company) but I don't give a shit because I have enough money I can go on an unpaid leave of absence if they want to push me!  Based on my supervisor and manager I dont see this getting to the FU point but I am able to make this decision without the fear of repercussions that others might have because of my FU money.  FU money for the win!

achvfi

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3031 on: May 29, 2020, 09:29:10 AM »
Not necessarily a full FU story since my management is actually awesome and didnt push back at this BUT I am now using 2-3 hours of PTO every week (which pretty much uses up my monthly accrual) to deal with being a two full time working parent household while not having childcare for two kids under 5.  It will put me on some list the director keeps of 40.0s (people that dont give free OT to the company) but I don't give a shit because I have enough money I can go on an unpaid leave of absence if they want to push me!  Based on my supervisor and manager I dont see this getting to the FU point but I am able to make this decision without the fear of repercussions that others might have because of my FU money.  FU money for the win!

That's fantastic! Cheers to FU money.

I am in similar situation. For last couple of years, I am using up most of paid time off I have available. Vacations, sick time, volunteer time so on. This year I also have parental leave. Together with this additional time off I am working only 3 days a week.

4 days a week, I am available to help with kids and spend time together. Our family is loving it.

If a benefit is provided to me I am going to use it. I see many people barely use their time off, set up imaginary hurdles afraid of consequences. FU money helps not giving shit.

Uturn

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3032 on: May 29, 2020, 11:35:52 AM »
It will put me on some list the director keeps of 40.0s (people that dont give free OT to the company)

When I signed on with the company, they agreed to pay me $x/yr for 40hr/week.  If they want 40+, they can pay me $x+.  But it really should be a bit of give and take.  If there is an emergency, I will work extra.  Then when I need to go to the doc or some other errand, I expect to not have to use PTO.

FireLane

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3033 on: May 29, 2020, 03:39:54 PM »
It will put me on some list the director keeps of 40.0s (people that dont give free OT to the company) but I don't give a shit because I have enough money I can go on an unpaid leave of absence if they want to push me!

Your company penalizes people for using the benefits they earned and not working more than the hours they agreed to work? I'd tell them to screw themselves and be out of there pronto!

saguaro

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3034 on: May 29, 2020, 04:43:02 PM »
If a benefit is provided to me I am going to use it. I see many people barely use their time off, set up imaginary hurdles afraid of consequences. FU money helps not giving shit.

When I was at the Big Company there were tons of people who would not use their time off to the point they would lose the time and this was when the vacation time was allowed to accrue up to a couple of years and they still lost it.  One time I mentioned I was going on vacation and coworker said "Really?  That's not the Big Company way"  and my response was "Big Company gives me these benefits and I am going to use them".   Big Company's benefits were generous and no way was I not using them.

Incidentally I never had a problem requesting vacation time, I always gave sufficient notice and worked around any really busy times which worked for me as well as for them.  I didn't have the FU money at first but Big Company's paychecks paved the way to stash that FU money that enabled me to jump the Big Company ship years later.

mm1970

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3035 on: May 29, 2020, 04:50:25 PM »
It will put me on some list the director keeps of 40.0s (people that dont give free OT to the company)

When I signed on with the company, they agreed to pay me $x/yr for 40hr/week.  If they want 40+, they can pay me $x+.  But it really should be a bit of give and take.  If there is an emergency, I will work extra.  Then when I need to go to the doc or some other errand, I expect to not have to use PTO.
Yup

Dicey

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3036 on: May 29, 2020, 04:56:34 PM »
My last pre-FIRE company was based in the fine state of Georgia. They tried to institute a use-it-or-lose-it vacation policy. I noped the fuck out on them, pointing out that I was their person in CA, and in CA, that's not legal, and they had to follow CA rules for CA employees. I made a lot of new CA friends when the company finally wised up. Later, one of these friends was let go after many years of excellent performance. I think his downfall was that he made his job look too easy, he was that good. During the severance negotiations, he said, "And of course, you will be paying me all of my back vacation pay..." "What?" they cried. Yup, in CA, the onus is on the employer to keep track of all vacation monies owed. We were part of a company that had been purchased and absorbed by the current parent company. Nobody kept any records back then. If you took time off, you just told your boss and arranged for someone to cover you. There were no official records. My friend got quite a nice severance package in the end. Serves those fuckers right.

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3037 on: May 30, 2020, 11:14:14 AM »
If a benefit is provided to me I am going to use it. I see many people barely use their time off, set up imaginary hurdles afraid of consequences. FU money helps not giving shit.

When I was at the Big Company there were tons of people who would not use their time off to the point they would lose the time and this was when the vacation time was allowed to accrue up to a couple of years and they still lost it.  One time I mentioned I was going on vacation and coworker said "Really?  That's not the Big Company way"  and my response was "Big Company gives me these benefits and I am going to use them".   Big Company's benefits were generous and no way was I not using them.

Incidentally I never had a problem requesting vacation time, I always gave sufficient notice and worked around any really busy times which worked for me as well as for them.  I didn't have the FU money at first but Big Company's paychecks paved the way to stash that FU money that enabled me to jump the Big Company ship years later.

Pfft to the Big Company way. Any Big Company that has an official "Way" is to be avoided at all costs.

Buffaloski Boris

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3038 on: May 30, 2020, 12:36:59 PM »
If a benefit is provided to me I am going to use it. I see many people barely use their time off, set up imaginary hurdles afraid of consequences. FU money helps not giving shit.

When I was at the Big Company there were tons of people who would not use their time off to the point they would lose the time and this was when the vacation time was allowed to accrue up to a couple of years and they still lost it.  One time I mentioned I was going on vacation and coworker said "Really?  That's not the Big Company way"  and my response was "Big Company gives me these benefits and I am going to use them".   Big Company's benefits were generous and no way was I not using them.

Incidentally I never had a problem requesting vacation time, I always gave sufficient notice and worked around any really busy times which worked for me as well as for them.  I didn't have the FU money at first but Big Company's paychecks paved the way to stash that FU money that enabled me to jump the Big Company ship years later.

Pfft to the Big Company way. Any Big Company that has an official "Way" is to be avoided at all costs.

And they deserve a union to deal with as a bonus.

Plina

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3039 on: May 30, 2020, 12:45:09 PM »
If a benefit is provided to me I am going to use it. I see many people barely use their time off, set up imaginary hurdles afraid of consequences. FU money helps not giving shit.

When I was at the Big Company there were tons of people who would not use their time off to the point they would lose the time and this was when the vacation time was allowed to accrue up to a couple of years and they still lost it.  One time I mentioned I was going on vacation and coworker said "Really?  That's not the Big Company way"  and my response was "Big Company gives me these benefits and I am going to use them".   Big Company's benefits were generous and no way was I not using them.

Incidentally I never had a problem requesting vacation time, I always gave sufficient notice and worked around any really busy times which worked for me as well as for them.  I didn't have the FU money at first but Big Company's paychecks paved the way to stash that FU money that enabled me to jump the Big Company ship years later.

Here you get a talk with your manager if you haven't set your vacation time wishes before a specific date. My manager asked if I didn't want to have vacation because I had not set the dates for the summer. I had just been postponing as I don't know how the travel restrictions will be for the summer.

partgypsy

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3040 on: May 31, 2020, 07:23:08 AM »
Been enjoying all these stories. It's interesting to hear the covid related stories. My little brother works as installer. His company didn't shut down though seems dubious that they were essential. He took a month off with annual leave and unpaid leave but his management was really putting pressure for him to come back so he's working since end of April/beginning of may. There have been individual jobs where he has shown up, multiple people working in an enclosed place, masks around their neck and he calls the client and let's them know the install will need to be rescheduled. They are not happy, but it seems if clients and bosses don't care about unsafe situations the employee needs to speak up.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2020, 07:25:56 AM by partgypsy »

partgypsy

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3041 on: May 31, 2020, 07:52:34 AM »
I had 2 f you situations in my life. One where I was just out of college doing an interesting demanding job and it was a great learning opportunity. Being one of two people running clinical trials for a drs office.  At one point I flew down to be trained and kick off (one of main studies I was coordinating was being expanded to multiple sites,to meet the entire team). I also helped design the data collection forms and be a resource for the rest of the team. Anyways the company vp that was sponsoring the study lets me and new hires know that they are paying our Drs offices x (11 k more than I was getting) for our salary, or to relieve us of any other duties (only supposed to do that study) and if not getting that money, let him personally know. I didn't care about getting full amount (it seemed like so much money!), and I was still happy to help the office in other duties but thought I could use it to negotiate a raise. When I return from trip the manager puts me off, says can't talk about compensation except at annual time (6 months from then) so I wait. Before the annual performance reviews there's a general meeting explaining bc of Medicare changes they will not be bringing in as much and everyone should not expect any raise this year. I go into meeting, he says the same thing, bla bla and I say this doesn't apply to me because company a is funding my salary. And what they told us. And I say what would be fair is a 4k raise and Im ok continuing my other duties as well (because I knew I could handle the workload). And the middle-aged manager blows up "that's bullshit! I don't know what you heard but you heard wrong".  And says 5% raise, take it or leave it. Anyways I was flabbergasted that he called me a liar to my face. So I sat on it a week, and met with him and said "I thought about your offer and I'm going to leave it." And then he was upset (his face turned pale). Anyways in my one week notice time I get a personal call from the VP of the company asking me to stay, offering more than I asked for. At that point though I had made up my mind to leave. Other issue they wanted me to agree to stay on for the duration of the trial (2-3 years) and I knew I was applying to grad school the following year and couldn't do that.  I did hear from the grapevine that the manager got in trouble because that's when the company realized they were pocketing the money. I don't feel bad at all because he handled the situation terribly.  I'm actually a pretty risk averse person. But it was the principle of the thing.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2020, 08:20:39 AM by partgypsy »

Ethel

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3042 on: May 31, 2020, 01:55:12 PM »
...I really like my employer. Great boss, great colleagues, fun job, good money. Even the higher-ups are genuinely decent people.

But...

Honestly, this unit was the reason I joined the company in the first place. If it's dissolved, I don't want to remain here.

I was honest with my boss today and said that if our team was dissolved, I wouldn't stay - not as an ultimatum, but so that she isn't blindsided if/when I quit. She's been struggling to keep us together and I hate to lay more pressure on her, but yeah...I'm quite discouraged by how this is going.
.......
If you haven't already, try to spin this to the boss as backing her play to keep the team together.
She can say, if you split the team up, the former parts of the team won't be there to pick up the pieces.

I'm reasonably confident that a boss I had played this card.  SemiBigCorp HQ Question : How many of the 15 very core people would move to SemiBigCorp HQ?  Boss answer:  maybe one :-)
SemiBigCorp HQ: well we guess you can stay at current location.

My boss plays the politics game much better than I so I'm sure she'll use this as ammunition when the time comes. I've been her semi-official second-in-command since I started here and have the most technical experience. The rest of our team are mostly junior employees, so me leaving would be unpleasant for the company. I don't think they'd make us a department just to keep me, but it might tip the scales a little.

I don't know if the others would leave. The juniors would likely stay because all in all, this is a better company than most for someone fresh out of college. Dissolving the team would be pretty much a demotion for the rest of us.

It's nice to know that I don't have to swallow that indignity even if I'd be sad about quitting.

mm1970

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3043 on: June 01, 2020, 11:00:24 AM »
My last pre-FIRE company was based in the fine state of Georgia. They tried to institute a use-it-or-lose-it vacation policy. I noped the fuck out on them, pointing out that I was their person in CA, and in CA, that's not legal, and they had to follow CA rules for CA employees. I made a lot of new CA friends when the company finally wised up. Later, one of these friends was let go after many years of excellent performance. I think his downfall was that he made his job look too easy, he was that good. During the severance negotiations, he said, "And of course, you will be paying me all of my back vacation pay..." "What?" they cried. Yup, in CA, the onus is on the employer to keep track of all vacation monies owed. We were part of a company that had been purchased and absorbed by the current parent company. Nobody kept any records back then. If you took time off, you just told your boss and arranged for someone to cover you. There were no official records. My friend got quite a nice severance package in the end. Serves those fuckers right.
This sounds familiar.  Long ago and far away, my CA company was acquired by a company in NC.  The NC company had a use-it-or-lose-it policy.  Our HR informed them of CA law.

So, they couldn't do that with us.  Eventually, they adjusted the vacation policy a few times.  They allowed people in NC to "carry over" 40 hours (basically, otherwise everyone was taking vacation in June before the July FY start).  They instituted a "cap" on everyone, where you would not accrue more hours.  I never got close to that cap.

Sometimes, I liken various company cultures to an abusive boyfriend or marriage.  They make you thing that there is something wrong with you, but you are afraid to leave.  My group at that company was fine, actually.  I trained my boss early on with my policy of "I will work extra when needed, but I will not do it just because.  And, if I end up working overtime for 3 weeks straight and need time off, I WILL NOT take vacation.  This is a 2 way street buddy."

Note, this was not the norm in the other part of the company.  They were hard core.  My best friend would tell me about how she'd be putting in 100+ hours in 2 weeks, and by Friday wanted to take a few hours off for an appointment or to go play with her nieces, and her boss would have her take vacation when she asked.  It took a few years, but I told her "you know, the online timecard system does not care when you work.  As long as it says >80 hours in a 2 week period, you get paid.  Your boss isn't looking that closely, and you are salaried."

Years later, I ended up working with a guy from HQ.  This is how hard core HQ was in that group that my friend was in.  They referred to us as something like "COMPANYX Beach division".  Because most people at our office worked 45-50 hours, not 60-75+ hours a week, we were considered slackers.

Zaga

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3044 on: June 02, 2020, 06:01:25 AM »
My company just instituted early out every Friday.  We can leave at 1 if we have 40 hours in, and OT is strongly discouraged.  I love it!

Dicey

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3045 on: June 02, 2020, 06:40:33 AM »
My company just instituted early out every Friday.  We can leave at 1 if we have 40 hours in, and OT is strongly discouraged.  I love it!
Enjoy it!

mm1970

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3046 on: June 02, 2020, 10:36:24 AM »
I hadn't been thinking of this as a FU story, but @partgypsy made me realize my current situation probably is.  At the start of Covid, the DH's company sent out a lawyer-ed up letter outlining the precautions all public facing employees MUST take.  Letter in hand, DH went to his manager to request the disposable masks, hand sanitizer, gloves and cleaning sprays clearly listed as requirements to perform his job.  His manager replied that the company would not be providing anything on the list.  It was DH's responsibility to source, pay for and consistently utilize the required safety equipment.  The DH quit the next day with my blessing. 

Now that the state and local shelter in place orders are being loosened, the manager has been in touch (repeatedly) demanding DH return to his post.  The manager can't seem to wrap their head around the fact that 1) we had't applied for unemployment assistance (he quit, we knew he wouldn't qualify) and 2) that he wasn't ready and willing to beg for his job back after 6+ weeks without a paycheck.  The DH is enjoying himself at home and we're considering this experience to be a pre-FIRE smoke break.
This is pretty glorious.

BicycleB

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3047 on: June 02, 2020, 10:47:25 AM »
I hadn't been thinking of this as a FU story, but @partgypsy made me realize my current situation probably is.  At the start of Covid, the DH's company sent out a lawyer-ed up letter outlining the precautions all public facing employees MUST take.  Letter in hand, DH went to his manager to request the disposable masks, hand sanitizer, gloves and cleaning sprays clearly listed as requirements to perform his job.  His manager replied that the company would not be providing anything on the list.  It was DH's responsibility to source, pay for and consistently utilize the required safety equipment.  The DH quit the next day with my blessing. 

Now that the state and local shelter in place orders are being loosened, the manager has been in touch (repeatedly) demanding DH return to his post.  The manager can't seem to wrap their head around the fact that 1) we had't applied for unemployment assistance (he quit, we knew he wouldn't qualify) and 2) that he wasn't ready and willing to beg for his job back after 6+ weeks without a paycheck.  The DH is enjoying himself at home and we're considering this experience to be a pre-FIRE smoke break.

What a fun story!

Wait, it could have also saved your lives. Now that's epic.

goat_music_generator

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3048 on: June 02, 2020, 11:59:29 AM »
I hadn't been thinking of this as a FU story, but @partgypsy made me realize my current situation probably is.  At the start of Covid, the DH's company sent out a lawyer-ed up letter outlining the precautions all public facing employees MUST take.  Letter in hand, DH went to his manager to request the disposable masks, hand sanitizer, gloves and cleaning sprays clearly listed as requirements to perform his job.  His manager replied that the company would not be providing anything on the list.  It was DH's responsibility to source, pay for and consistently utilize the required safety equipment.  The DH quit the next day with my blessing. 

Now that the state and local shelter in place orders are being loosened, the manager has been in touch (repeatedly) demanding DH return to his post.  The manager can't seem to wrap their head around the fact that 1) we had't applied for unemployment assistance (he quit, we knew he wouldn't qualify) and 2) that he wasn't ready and willing to beg for his job back after 6+ weeks without a paycheck.  The DH is enjoying himself at home and we're considering this experience to be a pre-FIRE smoke break.

A+. Excellent.

I mean, it's unfortunate that you had to pull the trigger on this, but great to feel secure enough that you can.

Dicey

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3049 on: June 02, 2020, 12:25:40 PM »
I hadn't been thinking of this as a FU story, but @partgypsy made me realize my current situation probably is.  At the start of Covid, the DH's company sent out a lawyer-ed up letter outlining the precautions all public facing employees MUST take.  Letter in hand, DH went to his manager to request the disposable masks, hand sanitizer, gloves and cleaning sprays clearly listed as requirements to perform his job.  His manager replied that the company would not be providing anything on the list.  It was DH's responsibility to source, pay for and consistently utilize the required safety equipment.  The DH quit the next day with my blessing. 

Now that the state and local shelter in place orders are being loosened, the manager has been in touch (repeatedly) demanding DH return to his post.  The manager can't seem to wrap their head around the fact that 1) we had't applied for unemployment assistance (he quit, we knew he wouldn't qualify) and 2) that he wasn't ready and willing to beg for his job back after 6+ weeks without a paycheck.  The DH is enjoying himself at home and we're considering this experience to be a pre-FIRE smoke break.

What a fun story!

Wait, it could have also saved your lives. Now that's epic.
Epic indeed!