Author Topic: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation  (Read 28889 times)

mm1970

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #200 on: December 13, 2021, 05:13:54 PM »
My last day was yesterday.  I left my phone in the other room last night because I no longer needed to constantly watch e-mail. I woke up this morning with no notifications.

Just utterly surreal…after six years of basically being 24x7 on call and filtering through tons of e-mail every day, it’s all gone. I heard from a good friend who I worked with that they’re all on a call this morning for some problem - if I still worked there, just sleeping in til 930 on a Saturday morning (when we are all supposed to be off) would’ve resulted in me missing stuff.

I’m so excited to start my new role tomorrow - I’ve been consulting for them for a year so I have a decent idea of what I’m in for. My exit interview yesterday was over an hour long - I really hope they take my information seriously, but that remains to be seen. They’re hemorrhaging senior staff at an astonishing rate.
Yay!

boarder42

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #201 on: December 14, 2021, 07:09:50 AM »
Just chiming in to say I’m proud to be a quitter!

Congrats all the rest of you winners!

like quitting for good or changing jobs? if you're quitting for good we have the 2022 or 2021 FIRE cohorts you could come join

4tify

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #202 on: December 14, 2021, 09:53:38 AM »
Already on the list! I decided to go the sabbatical route because I think I’ll still want to work at something, just not for the paycheck.

Axecleaver

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #203 on: December 16, 2021, 12:42:04 PM »
Great thread!

I hit my number in early 2021. We were all remote so I moved permanently to our retirement property, sold our condo for a nice six figure profit, and figured I would resign when we returned to in person work.

In May, 2021 I and four other men around 50 were "reduced in force." So instead of quitting I got 13 weeks of fully paid severance, and unemployment (which they reduced in my check, lol). They reorganized my former team and spread out the management responsibility to the managers they had left. So lower cost for the company and more work for the people they left. A manager should have about seven direct reports to be effective. The largest team was now 130 people for one manager. Have fun approving 130 timesheets, PTO requests, and doing 130 one hour performance reviews at year end.

Keep in touch with my team and since May,
One manager took a promotion to director
One manager took a lateral to another team managing 10% of the people she had before
One manager left for a competitor
The last manager went out on medical leave because she was trying to work 24/7 and meet unreasonable demands.

There are now zero managers left and one director, who told me he's ready to retire, and is calling it in.

With this much instability the team we had is all finding better jobs, or working as little as possible because there's no one left to tell them what to do. Offshoring of jobs is also in the mix and to the surprise of no one, offshore productivity is less than ten percent. They are trying to replace Americans with 20-30 years of experience with new hires in India fresh out of University. So as a result some of those jobs are coming back to US, and they've now got a ton of openings they can't fill (small talent pool).

So I got a wonderful going away present instead of resigning, and team basically disintegrated over the next six months. I lost 40 pounds and went from 10 medications to two. Picked up a PT gig doing 10-20h/week as a 1099, no management and no stress, and I'm adding value.

And finally, they decided to reformat the office space to be completely hoteled. This is where you don't have a specific desk of your own, no lockers or offices, you have to sit at a different place every day. Everyone hates it and can't find anyone when they need to, and I hear the office is a ghost town because no managers to make people work there. They announced back to office a few weeks ago and 95% of people just ignored it.

mm1970

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #204 on: December 16, 2021, 12:53:31 PM »
Great thread!

I hit my number in early 2021. We were all remote so I moved permanently to our retirement property, sold our condo for a nice six figure profit, and figured I would resign when we returned to in person work.

In May, 2021 I and four other men around 50 were "reduced in force." So instead of quitting I got 13 weeks of fully paid severance, and unemployment (which they reduced in my check, lol). They reorganized my former team and spread out the management responsibility to the managers they had left. So lower cost for the company and more work for the people they left. A manager should have about seven direct reports to be effective. The largest team was now 130 people for one manager. Have fun approving 130 timesheets, PTO requests, and doing 130 one hour performance reviews at year end.

Keep in touch with my team and since May,
One manager took a promotion to director
One manager took a lateral to another team managing 10% of the people she had before
One manager left for a competitor
The last manager went out on medical leave because she was trying to work 24/7 and meet unreasonable demands.

There are now zero managers left and one director, who told me he's ready to retire, and is calling it in.

With this much instability the team we had is all finding better jobs, or working as little as possible because there's no one left to tell them what to do. Offshoring of jobs is also in the mix and to the surprise of no one, offshore productivity is less than ten percent. They are trying to replace Americans with 20-30 years of experience with new hires in India fresh out of University. So as a result some of those jobs are coming back to US, and they've now got a ton of openings they can't fill (small talent pool).

So I got a wonderful going away present instead of resigning, and team basically disintegrated over the next six months. I lost 40 pounds and went from 10 medications to two. Picked up a PT gig doing 10-20h/week as a 1099, no management and no stress, and I'm adding value.

And finally, they decided to reformat the office space to be completely hoteled. This is where you don't have a specific desk of your own, no lockers or offices, you have to sit at a different place every day. Everyone hates it and can't find anyone when they need to, and I hear the office is a ghost town because no managers to make people work there. They announced back to office a few weeks ago and 95% of people just ignored it.
#1 is glorious, go you!
#2 falls into the category of ...duh

zolotiyeruki

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #205 on: December 16, 2021, 03:26:02 PM »
Dang, Axecleaver, it sounds like you really got out at a good time, and your old employer is circling the drain.

I've always been baffled at the idea of "hoteling."  I get that you could conceivably save on office space if people are part-time WFH and literally do 100% of their work on a laptop, but I've never seen a job like that, and I share an office with a coworker who does 100% software development.

iluvzbeach

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #206 on: December 16, 2021, 03:40:02 PM »
Axecleaver, count your blessings!  That layoff sounds like you "won" this year, certainly over what the rest of the folks who didn't get laid off have experienced.  What a freaking disaster.

okits

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #207 on: December 16, 2021, 06:19:07 PM »
So I got a wonderful going away present instead of resigning, and team basically disintegrated over the next six months. I lost 40 pounds and went from 10 medications to two. Picked up a PT gig doing 10-20h/week as a 1099, no management and no stress, and I'm adding value.

That is some delicious schadenfreude, Axe.  You never know until after if you got out while the getting was good.  Sounds like you did!

elaine amj

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #208 on: December 17, 2021, 11:43:44 AM »
Oh boy Axe - that severance came just in time!! Some companies are just so shortsighted and don’t realize just how much value their employees bring to the table. So glad you hit your FiRE number before all this craziness happened!


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2sk22

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #209 on: December 17, 2021, 04:30:42 PM »
@Axecleaver You should really write this up in the Epic FU topic too! Really glad you got out of that hell-hole.

dignam

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #210 on: December 17, 2021, 07:49:19 PM »
Congrats to everyone making moves and improving their situations.

We've had a couple people leave over the last year, but certainly not significantly more than standard turnover.  The company in general treats its employees well.  Pay is average, benefits are quite good.  Paid time off is excellent at least by US standards; I think I'm up to 7 or 8 weeks now (boss says in my case just treat it like 'unlimited').  We're essentially permanently WFH, but we can (I do) come in to the office when we want.  That said, I have been shopping for jobs just to see what's out there.  I could possibly get another job for maybe 15-20% more than I'm making now, but all things considered I don't think it's worth it for me.  Most are offering roughly what I make now for my experience level.  I think I'm a relatively rare millennial that has had only 1 job post-college (13 years now!).

Friend of mine works for a national auto parts chain, and he sort of checks in on a handful of area stores for his job.  In the last month, THREE of the 6 stores he visits have had their store managers quit. 

Dicey

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #211 on: December 17, 2021, 08:13:36 PM »
Great thread!

I hit my number in early 2021. We were all remote so I moved permanently to our retirement property, sold our condo for a nice six figure profit, and figured I would resign when we returned to in person work.

In May, 2021 I and four other men around 50 were "reduced in force." So instead of quitting I got 13 weeks of fully paid severance, and unemployment (which they reduced in my check, lol). They reorganized my former team and spread out the management responsibility to the managers they had left. So lower cost for the company and more work for the people they left. A manager should have about seven direct reports to be effective. The largest team was now 130 people for one manager. Have fun approving 130 timesheets, PTO requests, and doing 130 one hour performance reviews at year end.

Keep in touch with my team and since May,
One manager took a promotion to director
One manager took a lateral to another team managing 10% of the people she had before
One manager left for a competitor
The last manager went out on medical leave because she was trying to work 24/7 and meet unreasonable demands.

There are now zero managers left and one director, who told me he's ready to retire, and is calling it in.

With this much instability the team we had is all finding better jobs, or working as little as possible because there's no one left to tell them what to do. Offshoring of jobs is also in the mix and to the surprise of no one, offshore productivity is less than ten percent. They are trying to replace Americans with 20-30 years of experience with new hires in India fresh out of University. So as a result some of those jobs are coming back to US, and they've now got a ton of openings they can't fill (small talent pool).

So I got a wonderful going away present instead of resigning, and team basically disintegrated over the next six months. I lost 40 pounds and went from 10 medications to two. Picked up a PT gig doing 10-20h/week as a 1099, no management and no stress, and I'm adding value.

And finally, they decided to reformat the office space to be completely hoteled. This is where you don't have a specific desk of your own, no lockers or offices, you have to sit at a different place every day. Everyone hates it and can't find anyone when they need to, and I hear the office is a ghost town because no managers to make people work there. They announced back to office a few weeks ago and 95% of people just ignored it.
Badass!

TomTX

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #212 on: December 23, 2021, 12:08:51 PM »
Still lowkey YOLOing applications in. The one today would likely more than double my salary, and is 100% remote.

Paper Chaser

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #213 on: January 05, 2022, 05:46:15 AM »
WaPo had a pretty interesting article over the holidays that I'd overlooked. It's full of interesting stuff about the economy and labor force in general throughout the pandemic. The things that stood out to me are the 1.5 million more retirements than expected, and the reduced willingness to work in every age range except 16-24 years old:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/29/job-market-2021/?utm_source


Apples

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #214 on: January 05, 2022, 08:19:29 AM »
Hmmm, but I hear from all the boomer parents (I'm a millennial) that young kids don't want to work these days.  (joking tone)

Thanks for sharing that article, that's really interesting.

zolotiyeruki

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #215 on: January 05, 2022, 08:30:34 AM »
I had a thought the other day:  The US labor participation rate over has increased from about 59% in the 60's to a peak of about 67% around 2000, and was around 63% before Covid hit.  It's now around 62%.  At the same time, there has been a lot of talk about wage stagnation over the last several decades.  Could there be a causal link between the increased number of people (especially women) in the workforce and wage stagnation?  It would seem to be borne out by the sudden increases in wages we're seeing now, with a substantial labor shortage.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to the participation rate over the next five years--how many of those who left the workforce were simply accelerating their retirement date by a few years?

Just Joe

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #216 on: January 05, 2022, 01:32:57 PM »
Seems like Office Space 2.0 could be written from some of these stories.

Channel-Z

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #217 on: January 08, 2022, 03:56:58 PM »
60 Minutes (USA) is promoting a "Great Resignation" piece for this Sunday, January 9.

Sibley

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #218 on: January 08, 2022, 08:17:09 PM »
Bit of anecdotal evidence. Heard from a friend, we worked together, one company back for me. That company had a turn over problem before covid. Their pay, at least initially, was competitive, benefits not bad, but they didn't do bonuses (except for the executives of course), and their culture left much to be desired. Pre covid, I believe the turnover at the corporate office was around 15-20% per year (we're talking around 250 people in corporate).

For 2021, their turnover rate in the corporate office was about 40%, and it sounds like that trend is continuing into 2022.

LaineyAZ

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #219 on: January 09, 2022, 06:55:30 AM »
Bit of anecdotal evidence. Heard from a friend, we worked together, one company back for me. That company had a turn over problem before covid. Their pay, at least initially, was competitive, benefits not bad, but they didn't do bonuses (except for the executives of course), and their culture left much to be desired. Pre covid, I believe the turnover at the corporate office was around 15-20% per year (we're talking around 250 people in corporate).

For 2021, their turnover rate in the corporate office was about 40%, and it sounds like that trend is continuing into 2022.

Did your friend say what they attributed the high turnover to?  Was it a large number of early retirements, or a refusal to increase pay and benefits or something else?

Much Fishing to Do

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #220 on: January 09, 2022, 07:44:03 AM »
So I assumed the start of covid had a "Great Retirement" that encouraged a ton of those who were FI to go ahead and retire, whether it started with them being sent home and deciding to not come back or look for another job or life in the covid world encouraged them to pull the trigger.  And then I assumed the "Great Resignation" I was hearing about was just people leaving current jobs to move to a new job to take advantage of a different WFH offer or a better paying job (unfortunately it really does seem like the only way to ever get a large raise in a big company is to leave it for another).  But yesterday on a planet money radio clip they were talking to people that were taking time off just because they wanted to and could afford to (for a little while at least).  I guess the current environment of covid exhausted YOLO, better savings accounts, and the apparent ease of getting a new job when you do need one encouraged this move or a grander scale than you usually see it. 

StarBright

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #221 on: January 09, 2022, 09:21:35 AM »
WaPo had a pretty interesting article over the holidays that I'd overlooked. It's full of interesting stuff about the economy and labor force in general throughout the pandemic. The things that stood out to me are the 1.5 million more retirements than expected, and the reduced willingness to work in every age range except 16-24 years old:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/29/job-market-2021/?utm_source

I live in crazy town but word of mouth has it that even getting 16-24 year olds is increasingly hard here.

Our school district had waived class attendance requirements on remote days if you had a job, which helped bolster service employment locally through the first half of 2021 (we ran staggered in person schedules).

A lot of local fast food places were running with one adult and several high school students. When school started full time, a ton of places had to close while they scrambled for workers.

And as COVID has gotten more contentious, parents aren't letting their kids work anymore. Just a couple of days ago we had a 16 year old hostess who was assaulted by a customer when he waited too long for a table. He pushed her and ripped her mask off. 

It is anecdotal of course, but between folks I actually know, and people that post to town social media, parents are forcing kids to quit their jobs for their safety.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2022, 08:18:09 AM by StarBright »

Sibley

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #222 on: January 09, 2022, 09:31:15 AM »
Bit of anecdotal evidence. Heard from a friend, we worked together, one company back for me. That company had a turn over problem before covid. Their pay, at least initially, was competitive, benefits not bad, but they didn't do bonuses (except for the executives of course), and their culture left much to be desired. Pre covid, I believe the turnover at the corporate office was around 15-20% per year (we're talking around 250 people in corporate).

For 2021, their turnover rate in the corporate office was about 40%, and it sounds like that trend is continuing into 2022.

Did your friend say what they attributed the high turnover to?  Was it a large number of early retirements, or a refusal to increase pay and benefits or something else?

Pay not worth the BS. And the pay was decent. At least when I left, the c-suite had some guys who really didn't like remote work, including a few of them going into to the office everyday throughout 2020. They were trying to bring people back in Aug 2020. Combined with the perpetual understaffing, a beyond ridiculous list of major projects (replacing every single piece of software, company wide, within 5 years - and we're talking an insurance company with 5+ claims systems), and a handful of "missing stair" assholes in leadership positions.... lot of BS.

Sibley

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #223 on: January 09, 2022, 09:33:30 AM »
WaPo had a pretty interesting article over the holidays that I'd overlooked. It's full of interesting stuff about the economy and labor force in general throughout the pandemic. The things that stood out to me are the 1.5 million more retirements than expected, and the reduced willingness to work in every age range except 16-24 years old:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/29/job-market-2021/?utm_source

I live in crazy town but word of mouth has it that even getting 16-24 year olds is increasingly hard here.

Our school district had waived class attendance requirements on remote days if you had a job, which helped bolster service employment locally through the first half of 2021 (we ran staggered in person schedules).

A lot of local fast food places were running with one adult and several high school students. When school started full time, a ton of places had to close while they scrambled for workers.

But as COVID has gotten more contentious, parents aren't letting their kids work anymore. Just a couple of days ago we had a 16 year old hostess who was assaulted by a customer when he waited too long for a table. He pushed her and ripped her mask off. 

It is anecdotal of course, but between folks I actually know, and people that post to town social media, parents are forcing kids to quit their jobs for their safety.

Good. If the adults can't behave themselves, then the kids should be pulled out. The adults can suffer the consequences.

CoffeeR

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #224 on: January 09, 2022, 12:25:20 PM »
So I assumed the start of covid had a "Great Retirement" that encouraged a ton of those who were FI to go ahead and retire, whether it started with them being sent home and deciding to not come back or look for another job or life in the covid world encouraged them to pull the trigger. 
Maybe. I do not know. One personal data point. I had planned years ago to retire middle of 2020. In my case the pandemic caused me to add a year and leave my job mid 2021 since I was stuck at home and I might as well work. I think there are a lot of different trends that converged during the pandemic. For example, clearly there is a labor shortage, but demographers where pointing to labor shortage coming before the pandemic. The pandemic simply speeded up a lot of natural trends and the end if pandemic will not resolve some of these issues/trends.

fuzzy math

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #225 on: January 09, 2022, 12:37:31 PM »


Employers got way too used to being able to take advantage of employees, driven by the recession. I remember back then working for a large insurance company and being told that we should come to work everyday with "an attitude of gratitude".

Until Aug 2020, I was working for a large hospital system in finance. When the pandemic hit and we were sent home they furloughed roughly 60% of staff. As director I was not allowed to be furloughed and was expected to take my staff's work as well as my own (while homeschooling my kids) then we were told there would be no annual bonus. Despite the hospital system receiving lots of stimulus dollars.
I resigned in Aug to "stay home with my kids". (was planning to FIRE soon anyway)
In May 2021 they call me back and tell me they could never replace me, would I be willing to do part time work from home to help get budget done and some other items.
I became an independent contractor for them, tripled my rate and work 15 hours per week doing the EXACT same job I quit in Aug 2020. Just signed a second contract because they still can't find a replacement. I laugh all the way to the bank when I deposit my contractor checks.

This belongs in the Epic FU money story thread!!!

And good for you for hitting them where it hurts. I'm a hospital employee and am still pissed that I was furloughed a week, put on essentially low census status for a couple months (had to sign up for door temperature screening shifts to not lose a ton of PTO but still ended up burning some PTO), lost my raise but got it added back 6 months later... I'm sure there's more that happened too. My hospital is stuck paying travelers 450% of their regular staff shifts. Lots of people quit. Lots went to travel. I'm sure they still can't connect the dots though

frugalnacho

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #226 on: January 10, 2022, 08:08:27 AM »
Add me to the list! I resigned on Friday, and my last day will be January 21. Not FIRE yet though, I have started a company with a colleague which should bring me to FIRE.

More details in my thread: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/i-want-to-quit-my-job/

ScreamingHeadGuy

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #227 on: January 10, 2022, 02:59:33 PM »
Add me to the list! I resigned on Friday, and my last day will be January 21. Not FIRE yet though, I have started a company with a colleague which should bring me to FIRE.

More details in my thread: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/i-want-to-quit-my-job/

Fuck yeah!

gooki

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #228 on: January 10, 2022, 06:43:06 PM »
Good shit.

exige

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Re: Y'all are a bunch of quitters - The Great Resignation
« Reply #229 on: January 11, 2022, 12:40:51 PM »
Signed my offer letter today and will be putting in my 2 weeks on the 17th... Sad my current CTO brought me into this company almost 3 years ago and it was a great opportunity and I considered him a good friend. But between the election and the pandemic he is not even remotely the same person and it was all handled Very very poor.

Oh well on to better things! (benefits and 401k starts day 1 SWEET)

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!