Minor things that bother you

[kphoger]

I fully admit this is going to sound ridiculous to you, but it's true—you either mostly know people who are more well off than average, or Wichita is an outlier among American cities.

Nope, not ridiculous at all.  While I am by no means personally better off than average, it's quite likely that the people I know are.

Out of curiosity, I looked up the numbers.  Our household income is right around the median for Wichita, but our household size is twice the average.  And I strongly suspect that not a single we know over age 25 earns less than either my wife or me.  Now, a couple of families have a stay-at-home mom who doesn't have a paying job, so that might throw off the numbers a little.  (My wife is a stay-at-home mom but also works from home.)

[Scott5114]

See, I can take time off from work so easily, that this is not an advantage.  I don't think I've ever been turned down for a time-off request.  Not in the dozen years, at least.  I just need to make sure I'm not taking off at the same time as my nearest co-worker, and then nobody bats an eye.  In fact, I earn more time off than I know what to do with most years.

Hourly vs. salary, benefits, and workplace policies factor into this too. I've worked jobs where getting off is easy, but it's hourly, so the incentive to not do so is that you lose 8× your hourly rate in pre-tax pay. That makes it pretty unappealing to miss work just to be able to supervise a plumber working on your house or whatever. I've also worked jobs where the manager would not approve any time off unless you had vacation time to cover it. And I've also worked jobs where they would just flat out not approve any time off ever, and if you wanted time off you basically had to call in sick and keep track of how often you had done that to avoid running afoul of the attendance policy.

None of my social circle is in the same type of industry as the one I work in.

This is true of me now, but that's because the industry I work in now is very small. When I worked at a casino, most of my social circle was people I met at work.

I'm actually in the situation now that most of my social circle is not in the same state as the one I live in. In fact, most of them are not in a state that I've ever lived in—my friend from California recently invited me to join his local D&D group, so now most of my social circle is Californians. I only have two Nevadan friends that I talk to one-on-one on a regular basis, and one of them lives in Carson City.

[kphoger]

Hourly vs. salary, benefits, and workplace policies factor into this too. I've worked jobs where getting off is easy, but it's hourly, so the incentive to not do so is that you lose 8× your hourly rate in pre-tax pay. That makes it pretty unappealing to miss work just to be able to supervise a plumber working on your house or whatever. I've also worked jobs where the manager would not approve any time off unless you had vacation time to cover it. And I've also worked jobs where they would just flat out not approve any time off ever, and if you wanted time off you basically had to call in sick and keep track of how often you had done that to avoid running afoul of the attendance policy.

I should clarify.  I'm hourly.  But I've been with the company long enough that I earn five weeks of PTO per year.  And I can only carry forty hours over from year to year, so it's either use it or lose it.  So, in my situation, I am incentivized to use my time off, but I'm just not the type of person who actually does unless I have a really good reason.  Suffice it to say that I never have five weeks' worth of good reasons per year.

[Scott5114]

I should clarify.  I'm hourly.  But I've been with the company long enough that I earn five weeks of PTO per year.

Wow! The most PTO I ever got, with 10 years of service, was 40 hours per year (awarded as a lump sum on my anniversary date every September).

I don't get PTO at all now, but I'm also not strictly hourly (it depends on what kind of work needs to be done), and Jake doesn't really care what I do when as long as the weekly sign order gets put in with the manufacturer every Thursday. If I want to go on a vacation or something, I can, I just have to take my laptop with me and make time to get the order in on Thursday night. (This meant I had to put the order in while on the Strip once, before I lived here. That wasn't fun.)

[Rothman]

Hourly vs. salary, benefits, and workplace policies factor into this too. I've worked jobs where getting off is easy, but it's hourly, so the incentive to not do so is that you lose 8× your hourly rate in pre-tax pay. That makes it pretty unappealing to miss work just to be able to supervise a plumber working on your house or whatever. I've also worked jobs where the manager would not approve any time off unless you had vacation time to cover it. And I've also worked jobs where they would just flat out not approve any time off ever, and if you wanted time off you basically had to call in sick and keep track of how often you had done that to avoid running afoul of the attendance policy.

I should clarify.  I'm hourly.  But I've been with the company long enough that I earn five weeks of PTO per year.  And I can only carry forty hours over from year to year, so it's either use it or lose it.  So, in my situation, I am incentivized to use my time off, but I'm just not the type of person who actually does unless I have a really good reason.  Suffice it to say that I never have five weeks' worth of good reasons per year.

That last sentence is rather sad.