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What was the best and worst job you ever had?

Started by OCGuy81, March 10, 2021, 01:13:45 PM

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kphoger

Quote from: Scott5114 on March 11, 2021, 03:15:31 PM
The average employee in the United States is shockingly ignorant of their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act and other employee-protection laws–probably by design. I made it a point to learn all of the relevant human-resources regulations when I started my first business, just so that when I had employees (ha!) I would be able to abide by them, and it opened my eyes to the abuses that my employer was enacting on my coworkers (funny how they always avoided doing it to me), and they had no clue that the company wasn't actually allowed to do that.

Meanwhile, some employers think their employees are entitled to more than they really are.

I remember when my employer tried forcing everyone to take a lunch break, claiming it was due to state regulations.  I had to go to the HR director with the actual state regulations and show her that it wasn't.

(I also remember working in a state that did require a lunch break, yet I was the only driver who actually ever took one.)
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Male pronouns, please.

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webny99

Quote from: kphoger on March 11, 2021, 04:39:45 PM
Meanwhile, some employers think their employees are entitled to more than they really are.

I remember when my employer tried forcing everyone to take a lunch break, claiming it was due to state regulations.  I had to go to the HR director with the actual state regulations and show her that it wasn't.

It does make sense for the employer to require or at least request it, though, because it's hard to be productive for 9 straight hours. From their perspective, the employee is probably going to get the same amount done whether they take the break or not, so they might as well make it official and not be paying them for it.

kphoger

Quote from: webny99 on March 11, 2021, 04:47:01 PM

Quote from: kphoger on March 11, 2021, 04:39:45 PM
Meanwhile, some employers think their employees are entitled to more than they really are.

I remember when my employer tried forcing everyone to take a lunch break, claiming it was due to state regulations.  I had to go to the HR director with the actual state regulations and show her that it wasn't.

It does make sense for the employer to require or at least request it, though, because it's hard to be productive for 9 straight hours. From their perspective, the employee is probably going to get the same amount done whether they take the break or not, so they might as well make it official and not be paying them for it.

At the time, we would have needed to hire an additional employee in our office, which would have required weeks to months of training, just to cover everyone's lunch breaks.  8 hours of productivity in 9 hours would have been worth it from the company's perspective.  (Also, that was an impossibility back then, as our time was consumed non-stop by answering phones, so there was no sitting at your desk watching YouTube videos for twenty minutes.)
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

bm7

Quote from: kphoger on March 11, 2021, 04:39:45 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on March 11, 2021, 03:15:31 PM
The average employee in the United States is shockingly ignorant of their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act and other employee-protection laws–probably by design. I made it a point to learn all of the relevant human-resources regulations when I started my first business, just so that when I had employees (ha!) I would be able to abide by them, and it opened my eyes to the abuses that my employer was enacting on my coworkers (funny how they always avoided doing it to me), and they had no clue that the company wasn't actually allowed to do that.

Meanwhile, some employers think their employees are entitled to more than they really are.

I remember when my employer tried forcing everyone to take a lunch break, claiming it was due to state regulations.  I had to go to the HR director with the actual state regulations and show her that it wasn't.

(I also remember working in a state that did require a lunch break, yet I was the only driver who actually ever took one.)

My job does that. There's no requirement in Iowa for employers to give employees breaks, but at my job if you don't clock out for a lunch break you'll get written up if it's not your first time.

CoreySamson

Quote from: Scott5114 on March 11, 2021, 03:15:31 PM
Quote from: formulanone on March 11, 2021, 06:41:37 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on March 11, 2021, 01:06:23 AM
Quote from: CoreySamson on March 11, 2021, 01:00:02 AM
The money's good ($15 per game minimum, plus mileage gives you even more)

If the game and setup time lasts 2 hours of real-clock time (i.e. not following the game clock), $15 is barely over minimum wage.

I'd imagine that's a job that 99% of the participants do it for the love of the sport, and the pay (if you don't have to worry about major expenses) is just icing for a teenager.

Quote from: jeffandnicole on March 11, 2021, 08:08:09 AM
Well, when you're 17 and you're basically the boss overseeing a bunch of kids running around a field, what's wrong with it?

Well, he said that it was good money. I wanted to put it into perspective for him. I don't want him to end up getting a job once he's a young adult, use his current job as a yardstick for what is acceptable, and get shafted.

The average employee in the United States is shockingly ignorant of their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act and other employee-protection laws–probably by design. I made it a point to learn all of the relevant human-resources regulations when I started my first business, just so that when I had employees (ha!) I would be able to abide by them, and it opened my eyes to the abuses that my employer was enacting on my coworkers (funny how they always avoided doing it to me), and they had no clue that the company wasn't actually allowed to do that.

In any event, Corey says that $15/game is the minimum, so it's possible he is getting fairly compensated for his time if they are providing additional pay if the game or setup time runs long.
I usually make much more than $15 a game BTW. That's just the minimum for being a linesman for an hourlong 8-year-olds game. Once you start being the center ref, the minimum is $25 per game, and it only gets higher if you ref older kids and teenagers. I routinely can make $100 on just three games on a Saturday afternoon. Mileage also helps, too, as just driving 45 minutes away nets me about $60 more on two $15 games.
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hotdogPi

Quote from: CoreySamson on March 11, 2021, 07:37:08 PM
Mileage also helps, too, as just driving 45 minutes away nets me about $60 more on two $15 games.

Mileage pay is set to exactly the cost of driving. Unless you have a low cost per mile car or you chain trips before or after work (e.g. the game and your doctor's appointment are 30 miles from home but only 5 miles from each other, and you do both in one trip), you're not getting any net money here.
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Scott5114

Quote from: CoreySamson on March 11, 2021, 07:37:08 PM
I usually make much more than $15 a game BTW. That's just the minimum for being a linesman for an hourlong 8-year-olds game. Once you start being the center ref, the minimum is $25 per game, and it only gets higher if you ref older kids and teenagers. I routinely can make $100 on just three games on a Saturday afternoon. Mileage also helps, too, as just driving 45 minutes away nets me about $60 more on two $15 games.

$15 for an hour's worth of work isn't bad–does that include any sort of pre- and post-game setup work, time spent during the game when the clock isn't running, etc.?

Quote from: 1 on March 11, 2021, 07:40:54 PM
Mileage pay is set to exactly the cost of driving. Unless you have a low cost per mile car or you chain trips before or after work (e.g. the game and your doctor's appointment are 30 miles from home but only 5 miles from each other, and you do both in one trip), you're not getting any net money here.

This is correct, of course, but being that he's a roadgeek presumably without a whole lot of miles under his belt, there is the potential benefit of having a reason to clinch roads and counties that he hasn't yet. When I was his age, traveling to other cities for away football games carried the same perk that offset the time it ate out of my schedule. So essentially he's getting to roadgeek on somebody else's dime.
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CoreySamson

Quote from: 1 on March 11, 2021, 07:40:54 PM
Quote from: CoreySamson on March 11, 2021, 07:37:08 PM
Mileage also helps, too, as just driving 45 minutes away nets me about $60 more on two $15 games.

Mileage pay is set to exactly the cost of driving. Unless you have a low cost per mile car or you chain trips before or after work (e.g. the game and your doctor's appointment are 30 miles from home but only 5 miles from each other, and you do both in one trip), you're not getting any net money here.
I'm fairly sure that I when I get mileage from that soccer organization, it's more than the cost of driving. Doing a little math here:
[$30 (mileage)+$15 (pay per game)] x 2 games = $90 (this was approximately my paycheck from when I went over there a few months ago)
$90 - $30 (total pay for games) = $60 (total mileage)

The soccer complex in question is 40 miles away, so total trip is 80 miles. My car gets about 30 mpg and gas is about $2.40 per gallon, so:
80 / 30 x 2.4 = $6.40

Assuming I save half of the mileage money for car repairs and upkeep, that gives me:
$60 - $6.40 - $30 = $23.60 (total earnings from mileage)

Quote from: Scott5114 on March 11, 2021, 07:55:05 PM
$15 for an hour's worth of work isn't bad–does that include any sort of pre- and post-game setup work, time spent during the game when the clock isn't running, etc.?
I only get paid for refereeing the games and checking that the players have legal equipment (shinguards, acceptable cleats, etc.) Other duties are usually handled by either the ref assignor or members or coaches of the soccer club I'm reffing at. It's a flat rate per game instead of being based on time spent, which is nice. Sometimes, especially during tournaments, you get other perks, such as free lunch and Gatorades, which sweetens the deal.

Buc-ee's and QuikTrip fanboy. Clincher of FM roads. Proponent of the TX U-turn.

My Route Log
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Now on mobrule and Travel Mapping!

Scott5114

The 2021 standard IRS mileage rate, which incorporates gas and maintenance costs, is 56¢/mile. This is the rate you would be allowed to deduct mileage at if you owned a business and were deducting business mileage. So for an 80-mile trip, the federal government would consider fair compensation to be $44.80.

Flat rate can be nice or it can be not so nice, depending on duration of the game. If a game can be started and closed out in 60 minutes or less, that's not bad. But if a game regularly runs over an hour due to time-outs, penalties, etc. the way that every other sport does (I don't know much about soccer), it could become a very bad deal. Note that even if you are paid as a flat rate per game, FLSA says the federal $7.25/hour still applies, and they have to provide adequate compensation such that amount paid ÷ hours worked ≥ $7.25. (The only exception is to someone who is a "bona fide professional", which covers things like managers, supervisors, or lawyers, probably not soccer refs.)
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

formulanone

#34
Usually the time keeps ticking away in soccer, and a little extra time is added in for compensate for injuries, goals scored, out-of-bounds, or a lost ball. There's 10-15 minutes at halftime and some quarter time breaks for the younger kids. Usually the youth-league (like AYSO) will just stick to the defined game time and not be so picky of the exact amount of extra time...which really doesn't make it much more off than pro-level time accounting. So it varies by just a few minutes, unless bad weather changes things.

In the case of AYSO, most folks are donating their time to coach and the entry cost for your kid to play (with a uniform) is about $100 a season. So there isn't a ton of profit leftover to pay everyone; I've been a side judge a few times and that pays nothing at all.

This is what I see from the sidelines when my kids play, it's not completely accurate.

TheHighwayMan3561

Minnesota plays two hard-time halves with no extra time added. Threw me off the first time I did a game this past fall.
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roadman65

NE 2 how come you aren't contributing here? I figure you must be a school teacher being you love to correct people on mis spelling and Grammar.   

Or are you a Pastor, being you love to give lessons to others on morality?

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