Posted on 03/02/2009 9:28:20 AM PST by Red in Blue PA
What is sad is that some posters here seem to be falling into the ‘class envy’ that Obama is counting on to destroy this country and capitalism!
?? $70K in Tempe AZ isn't monstrous, it's solidly middle class wages.
12 years ago I did this to myself - voluntarily.
I quit a job in Sales Management (national responsibility and a large staff) and took a job as a bartender in a casino. I now work prime-time in the casino’s premier restaurant.
I’ve never been happier.
No offense to the guy, but why were they calling him an exec if he’s only making 70K annually?
Not an exec. He wasn’t a VP and I made $70K as a systems analyst for a fortune 500 company; I was not even close to being a VP or exec. Our security manager was at about the same salary as I was at.
I now do something entirely different at 25-30% less than what I was making and I am definitely happier. Most execs are corporate weasels who will fire as many as possible before the wave hits them and most have worked out their own separation packages that enable them to retire or move on to an equal job somewhere else regardless of any malfeasance or poor performance on their parts. Most of the smart execs generally don’t have that problem because they find other ways to adapt the company to bad times. They realize that massive downsizing and taking government bailouts rarely if ever work to the benefit of the company.
I know a dozen men in this situation. Most of them were IT managers (my field) and have reached their mid 40s to early 50s. Some of them were laid off during the IT contraction after year 2000 and have found only contractual work since. Some have been laid off multiple times. The majority of them were in companies associated with manufacturing and/or the auto industry.
Even when they brush up on their technical skills and try to get back in the field on a technical level, they find a lot of slammed doors. Employers (i) find out their previous positions through references or common knowledge; (ii) say they are over-qualified; (ii) don’t think they’ll be happy with a lower level job and will leave; (iv) think they are too old to deal with new technology; (v) the list goes on.
Most of these men have or are in the process of re-inventing themselves somehow. Some have given up.
In the last few weeks we’ve seen a whole round of new layoffs in IT...some from full-time employees of companies and a lot from long-running contractual employees.
Mid-40’s, managerial, manufacturing background...its the kiss of death.
(1) Get a teaching certificate, go into public school teaching, fight the unions; help free our children from the political correctness of public education and get paid for it as a professional.(2) Get into a social work position and do the same. (3) Hook up with any job in the public sector with the notion of changing it from what it is to what it should be. File an age discrimination complaint if you are fired as a rabble rouser.
Change things from the inside and make money too (albeit will be less that what one was making in most cases)
” I now work prime-time in the casino’s premier restaurant.”
Just for giggles, what percentage do you now make compared to your previous job? Did it go up/down 10%, etc.
Down significantly in dollars.
Up in purchasing power.
(Cough! Cough! ..... Ahem!)
Well, Mark Cooper, welcome to my world. This is what you did for me a few years ago. Does it feel good?
Sorry, guy, but it’s not made up. It’s happening to people I know. I see people losing businesses, executive jobs, homes. A fellow in my neighborhood committed suicide about three months ago when it happened to him.
Oh, and here’s the interesting thing: the apartment complexes are getting filled up with people who lost their homes. New foreclosures are going to mean these folks have nowhere to live.
Yes, I know. Rush talks about this all the time. And really, I'm okay but I'm not so confident about my neighbor. He might need some help.
Thanks. I read my post and it didn’t seem like I was accusing the people in the article of complaining, just commenting on previous times when people had to turn to lower paying jobs. For every news story like this I read I hear kids getting out of college complaining that there aren’t any jobs out there for them. Correction: there are jobs but only those they see as “beneath them.”
Let me ask you something: do you hold an executive position? No? Then how would you know how easy it is for an executive to get a new job?
I was married to a Fortune 100 executive. He had done wonderful work for the company and was very highly regarded in his field. When his division was closed it took nearly a year for him to find a new job. And this was in normal times, not during a recession, depression, or even an economic downturn.
I have a cousin who was highly placed in the corporate world. When his company was taken over, it took him years to find more work. He tried everything; I have never seen anyone try so hard to find a job. Meanwhile he was secretly working at menial jobs (like a $9 an hour stock boy at Office Depot) to buy food and pay child support. At last he gave up looking for a good job and started a business. It went very well for several years, because it used to be that when you had talent, a great idea, and were willing to work 18-hour days seven days a week, you could succeed. But that was then, this is now.
I could tell you about several other executives in my immediate circle of acquaintance who were very competent, but lost jobs in their late forties and early fifties and could not get another. I would bet my next house payment that the story is true.
You do realize, don't you, that local governments are not only not hiring new teachers and social workers, but are laying them off? The public sector is tightening up as revenue from property taxes is going away.
I hear that.
While 30,000,000 illegals and 40,000,000 on welfare live off of the fat of the land via taxes.
Go Zer0!
My apology to you dear lady for seeming so insensitive to your now thankfully past troubles. You said your husband has found a new position, that is good news. My advice to you would be to establish a consistent month to month savings plan so the next go around won’t be so traumatic.
I am seriously looking at taking some night classes in a trade since I don't know how well my company will be in the coming future. There have been some very disturbing signs for the short term. The electrician type stuff appeals to me the most out of what I see. There is a small engine rebuilders class too. I haven't torn into an engine in about 20 years though. At times I miss turning a wrench and loathe technology.
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