I just got fired

[Scott5114]

Also, if you spend all of your time at work or at home, work is probably your only opportunity to form new friendships.

[kphoger]

Also, if you spend all of your time at work or at home, work is probably your only opportunity to form new friendships.

I basically don't know anyone outside of work and church anymore.  Unless you guys on this forum count.

[hbelkins]

I'm just not a fan of posting my picture on the Internet for the world to see in general. And I've been like that for years.I prefer my anonymity.

I mean, you have that right, and I don't fault you for it...But you're also the only one on this forum whose face has appeared on TV multiple times with a big honking chyron underneath with your name and employer. 

Not to mention that his username here is his actual name (minus the -ayes part, of course), and his profile has the state he lives in and a badge identifying his employer.  For someone who likes anonymity so much, he sure does share a lot of personal information about himself right there in his forum profile.

At first, I thought you were talking about my Facebook profile, and I was going to go on a Zuck rant. My Facebook profile is supposed to list only past employers.

I just wonder how much of this forum's personal information is available publicly to outsiders?

[Max Rockatansky]

If you are specific enough you can find almost everything posted here on a Search Engine.  Even searching for my actual name  on Yahoo got a result for the forum on Page 3. 

The weirdest result I got was an entry on IMDb.  Apparently the podcast I did with Roadwaywiz about the highways in my garage merited an entry for some reason. 

[kphoger]

I just wonder how much of this forum's personal information is available publicly to outsiders?

I'm talking about your forum profile.  You chose a username that's your actual name, and it's publicly visible.  You chose to show the state you live in, and it's publicly visible.  You chose to display a [DOT Employee] badge, and it's publicly visible.  Everything I see to the left of your posts when I'm logged in is still visible when I'm logged out.

It doesn't sound as though you like anonymity all that much.

[Scott5114]

I just wonder how much of this forum's personal information is available publicly to outsiders?

I'm talking about your forum profile.  You chose a username that's your actual name, and it's publicly visible.  You chose to show the state you live in, and it's publicly visible.  You chose to display a [DOT Employee] badge, and it's publicly visible.  Everything I see to the left of your posts when I'm logged in is still visible when I'm logged out.

It doesn't sound as though you like anonymity all that much.

I mean, to be fair to H.B., not every person that has a DOT Employee badge here works for a state DOT—some work for county or city agencies.

Not that a random passerby would know that, of course.

[Max Rockatansky]

I just wonder how much of this forum's personal information is available publicly to outsiders?

I'm talking about your forum profile.  You chose a username that's your actual name, and it's publicly visible.  You chose to show the state you live in, and it's publicly visible.  You chose to display a [DOT Employee] badge, and it's publicly visible.  Everything I see to the left of your posts when I'm logged in is still visible when I'm logged out.

It doesn't sound as though you like anonymity all that much.

I mean, to be fair to H.B., not every person that has a DOT Employee badge here works for a state DOT—some work for county or city agencies.

Not that a random passerby would know that, of course.

And yet, the pieces are there if one was inclined to put the puzzle together.

[wanderer2575]

I just wonder how much of this forum's personal information is available publicly to outsiders?

Personal information posted on an Internet forum might be available publicly?  I've never heard of such a thing.

[kphoger]

I don't know of any way to search for a specific user's forum post without being logged in.

[JayhawkCO]

I don't know of any way to search for a specific user's forum post without being logged in.

Kind of the same thing...

[kphoger]

Sorry, I left out an important letter.

I don't know of any way to search for a specific user's forum posts without being logged in.

[JayhawkCO]

Sorry, I left out an important letter.

I don't know of any way to search for a specific user's forum posts without being logged in.

Maybe not all posts, but anything quoted can come up in a search a la "kphoger site:aaroads.com".

[vdeane]

I just wonder how much of this forum's personal information is available publicly to outsiders?

Pretty much all of it.  Only the member list, specific profile pages, private messages, and a few specific boards are invisible to guests.  Anything that displays to the left of posts or posted in most boards is publicly visible.

[SectorZ]

I just wonder how much of this forum's personal information is available publicly to outsiders?

Pretty much all of it.  Only the member list, specific profile pages, private messages, and a few specific boards are invisible to guests.  Anything that displays to the left of posts or posted in most boards is publicly visible.

Imagine trying to get the scoop on FritzOwl via these forums.

[Max Rockatansky]

I just wonder how much of this forum's personal information is available publicly to outsiders?

Pretty much all of it.  Only the member list, specific profile pages, private messages, and a few specific boards are invisible to guests.  Anything that displays to the left of posts or posted in most boards is publicly visible.

Imagine trying to get the scoop on FritzOwl via these forums.

If you registered you once could find his host page.  What a window into madness that was.

[vdeane]

I just wonder how much of this forum's personal information is available publicly to outsiders?

Pretty much all of it.  Only the member list, specific profile pages, private messages, and a few specific boards are invisible to guests.  Anything that displays to the left of posts or posted in most boards is publicly visible.

Imagine trying to get the scoop on FritzOwl via these forums.

He's probably one of the hardest for non-members to scoop, given how his posts are confined to one thread in Fictional Highways.  In any case, how easy one is to scoop here is based on what they share; it's not like Facebook, which will go so far as to create a "shadow profile" of people who aren't even registered to the site with information their tracking has gathered but which people haven't posted themselves.

[webny99]

In the middle of my lunch break today I got a phone call from my temp agency saying their client was firing me. I am absolutely devastated and scared and I was hoping for some moral support.

Sorry to hear that, and best of luck in finding another opportunity.

I am very late commenting here, but I want to add that businesses use temp agencies for two main reasons:

(1) To find labor for temporary projects or seasonal demand shifts
(2) To bypass normal recruitment process and find labor quickly

Both of those reasons are more about risk mitigation in the short term than they are about cost savings in the long term. As such, it's relatively rare, though not unheard of, for employment through a temp agency to work out long-term. And "working out long-term" doesn't even mean that you would continue to work through the agency for that business forever. If things work out well and the business decides they have a permanent job for you, they would most likely end up hiring you on directly, rather than continuing to pay a premium to the agency for your services.

You and most others here probably knew all of that already, but it's worth a reminder that any job obtained through a temp agency is almost certain to be temporary, and that is unfortunately just the nature of the beast.

[thenetwork]

I've worked with a few temp agencies in the past.

Generally, most are decent places.  One reason a temp service works for some is that if you work long enough for a temp service over one or more jobs, you do get some benefits that the job you go to won't  pay for.  So if you stay with a temp service, you could get some benefits sooner than if you got hired from the company(s) directly.

Temp services are also good for some.companies because they can do extended "test drives" for people that may be qualified for a position, instead of hiring a person and risking having to go through the in-house process of replacing the person, if the temp hates the job or if the company feels they don't mesh as well as they'd like.

Advantages to the temp worker is that if they like you for the foreseeable future, the company may bring you onto their payroll sooner so they don't lose them.  Also, if it WAS a temp or seasonal job from the start and your job was completed, you get an edge on other applicants if said company is looking for a permanent position to be filled -- you already have some vetted cred with the company that other applicants won't have.

I have also gone to temp services that don't try that hard to market you to fill a suitable position, and sometimes they will require YOU to check in with THEM daily or weekly to see what they may or may not have.  IMO, that's what they should be doing for you!

Also research the temp services beforehand to make sure they specialize in the field(s) you want.  Some only fill industrial positions, some clerical, some only medical, etc...

[ZLoth]

Right now, I have a target on my back

Yup, as expected. I have thirty days to find a new position at the company I work for. At least I received the help of a recruiter and have a lead on a new position within the company.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm just not a fan of posting my picture on the Internet for the world to see in general. And I've been like that for years.I prefer my anonymity.

I mean, you have that right, and I don't fault you for it...But you're also the only one on this forum whose face has appeared on TV multiple times with a big honking chyron underneath with your name and employer. 

Not to mention that his username here is his actual name (minus the -ayes part, of course), and his profile has the state he lives in and a badge identifying his employer.  For someone who likes anonymity so much, he sure does share a lot of personal information about himself right there in his forum profile.

You're certainly not forced to be friends with anyone you work with, but, in my experience, it's way easier to feel a part of the team at work if you like the people you work with and they like you too.

A large percentage of people who I would now consider close friends are those who I either worked for or worked for me.  Cultivating people who can vouch for you long term on a professional or non-professional level is not bad thing. 

No, but it should be recognized that getting too chummy with coworkers can be hazardous in some cases. If you tell the wrong person you have a non-standard religion, or orientation/gender identity, or political affiliation, or whatever, you can find yourself dealing with a whole lot of shit you wouldn't need to deal with if you'd just kept your lips zipped.

That doesn't mean that you shouldn't ever become friends with people at work, just use discretion and don't assume everyone is your friend when they're not. (And even then, sometimes people you think are your friends will play dirty when you're both up for the same promotion, or you did something they take as a slight.)

Not to mention that the best friends can eventually make the worst of enemies.

At my own company, I've witnessed employees become romantically involved and then break up—even to the point of marriage and divorce.  The work relationship at that point is never good, and most times one of them has left the company.

But there are a lot of others who have developed friendships that outlasted their mutual employment.  My closest co-worker and her husband (who used to be my boss) still hang out with a field tech who hasn't worked for us in more more than a decade—and my former boss now works for him elsewhere.

People getting into relationships at work isn't always something that blows up or even violates office policy.  At my current office the rule is that a superior can't date a subordinate.  Given that there is a lot of different departments there is a lot of leeway.  Supposedly if a relationship were to develop in the same department HR would just transfer one person (if available).  That of course requires both parties report said relationship to HR.

I did see this play out with our current Director.  His wife worked in the same department but held a role of equal stature prior to his promotion.  Rather transfer her to another department the decision was made to transfer her department to Operations. 

A coworker I started with actually met his wife at work.  They started dating nine years ago but kept things to themselves.  Nobody really knew (besides me) until they got married. 

In the past I dated two women at prior jobs.  The first employer didn't have any rules about dating where the later one stipulated it couldn't be out of the same office location.  Neither relationship had notable consequences at either employer, both were known.  There wasn't any violations of conduct afoot and keeping things on topic at work certainly didn't hurt.

[JayhawkCO]

I was dating a girl I worked with when she got promoted to being a manager. It was against the rules technically, but given that it was the restaurant biz, it wasn't enforced.

[Rothman]

Dating in the workplace just seems a recipe for disaster.  Heck, I dated a woman from our close-knit decent-sized group of friends and our breakup wasn't the greatest for the group.  Can't imagine what would happen in the workplace if there's a bad breakup.

[Max Rockatansky]

The second co-worker I dated was someone I was in a relationship for several years with.  I was her training buddy when she was new, and we hit it off because we had a lot of common interests.  The reason we broke up was that she wanted to move to the Midwest for career opportunities whereas I still doing well for myself in Arizona.  She knows my sister pretty well and is still pretty good friends with her.  I wouldn't say we left things on unfriendly terms as I still talk to her now and then. 

The first person I dated at work was a cash office auditor.  Given I was in LP we talked quite a bit because she had to deliver cash short variances to my office daily.  She asked me if I wanted to go to lunch one day and things kind of progressed from there.  Things weren't exactly a secret given seven other people worked in that LP department at the time (including four off duty MCSO deputies).

I wasn't as serious about the things as she was since I was 22, working full time and in college full time.  She was 30 and wanted to move things along faster than I was comfortable with (she was worried about not having kids in particular).  In fact, she really caught me off guard when she asked me to move in with her.  Had I been out of college I might have taken her up on it and pursued things more seriously.  Gradually we just stopped dating and that was that. 

I don't know, neither person I dated at work was unstable or wasn't trying to build a viable career for themselves.  I've seen work relationships blow up in the faces of other people plenty of times.  Usually one of those parties (if not both) had other issues related to job performance.

[kphoger]

At my own company, I've witnessed employees become romantically involved and then break up—even to the point of marriage and divorce.  The work relationship at that point is never good, and most times one of them has left the company.

People getting into relationships at work isn't always something that blows up or even violates office policy.  At my current office the rule is that a superior can't date a subordinate.  Given that there is a lot of different departments there is a lot of leeway.  Supposedly if a relationship were to develop in the same department HR would just transfer one person (if available).  That of course requires both parties report said relationship to HR.

Did I fail to mention that the lady who got married to a co-worker and then later divorced was HR?  In fact, she and the gentleman were my two bosses (it's a small company, so responsibilities are divided up in strange ways, but I work in conjunction with both 'departments').  She then left the company, and he started spending a lot of time with her replacement—so much so that her husband ended up divorcing her.  He has now since left as well (career change), but company Christmas parties to which some or all of them still get invited are kind of awkward.

[Max Rockatansky]

At my own company, I've witnessed employees become romantically involved and then break up—even to the point of marriage and divorce.  The work relationship at that point is never good, and most times one of them has left the company.

People getting into relationships at work isn't always something that blows up or even violates office policy.  At my current office the rule is that a superior can't date a subordinate.  Given that there is a lot of different departments there is a lot of leeway.  Supposedly if a relationship were to develop in the same department HR would just transfer one person (if available).  That of course requires both parties report said relationship to HR.

Did I fail to mention that the lady who got married to a co-worker and then later divorced was HR?  In fact, she and the gentleman were my two bosses (it's a small company, so responsibilities are divided up in strange ways, but I work in conjunction with both 'departments').  She then left the company, and he started spending a lot of time with her replacement—so much so that her husband ended up divorcing her.  He has now since left as well (career change), but company Christmas parties to which some or all of them still get invited are kind of awkward.

I have a related HR story that is particularly juicy but I can't really share publicly.  I'll just say that HR people aren't exactly always beyond reproach with questionable interactions with co-workers.