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A culture of beer and overtime

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Re: A culture of beer and overtime

#171

Post by swayvil »

duncan_bayne wrote: post #83

In business, people will push for all they can get. That includes you, after all, I presume you negotiated a good salary and conditions? Two examples from my past: The law here in Victoria changed, and I (as a contractor) became a payroll tax liability to the company that hired me. So their CFO scheduled a meeting with me and informed me that he expected me to lower my rate to take into account the payroll tax. I sai…

In nature, the animals will push for all they can get - red in tooth and claw etc.

No thanks, we are above that shit.

Re: A culture of beer and overtime

#172

Post by swayvil »

notacoward wrote: post #138
justin66 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I worked back to back all-nighters You don't think this whole scenario you've described represents a victory for you, do you?

It did in the sense that doing it once stopped the bitching. Since I clearly had both the ability and will to do such things when needed, my failure/refusal to do them at other times could not be construed as lack of those characteristics. Obviously there was a cost, and continuing to put in long hours under less exceptional circumstances would have been a very different matter, but that one time had an effect that I…

I have the ability to eat dog shit, but...

Re: A culture of beer and overtime

#173

Post by peteretep »

sergiotapia wrote: post #43
patio11 wrote: post #5

n.b. It was time to leave, and the HR lady came to me and said I would have to sign a release letter and send it back within 2 work days (the following Monday was a holiday), otherwise I would not get any of the remaining pay I'm not familiar with the law in Canada, but I rather suspect that it's similar to America, so a bit of advice for the young and impressionable: virtually no threat to not pay an employee wages…

Luckily my father advised me on this as soon as I started working. _NEVER_ sign anything. At one point early in my career a scummy employer wanted to fire me without reason, but did not want to pay the salary plus benefits required by law for wrongful termination. I was asked by a lacky to sign the 'I quit' paper, essentially resigning my benefits. Lesson here: Do not sign anything without asking a lawyer about it or…

Can't speak for the law in the US, but my impression is that in general, if the company has told you you need to sign something to continue to be employed (or get a pay rise, or whatever), and you continue to come in to work, or accept the payrise, then you've accepted that contract.

What I'm saying is: don't assume you haven't accepted a contract just because the company doesn't have your signature on a piece of paper.

Re: A culture of beer and overtime

#174

Post by Domenic_S »

jacques_chester wrote: post #61
Domenic_S wrote: post #24

I'm starting a new policy of not reading posts like this unless they say who the offending company is.

If you agree to indemnify them against defamation claims, I'm sure lots of people would be happy to name names.

I don't think that's an issue. What's the company going to do, prove what a great place to work they are by suing a former employee?

I just think that if you're so moved by your experience that you need to write a blog post about it, you should say who you're writing about so others may try and avoid your fate.

Re: A culture of beer and overtime

#175

Post by Domenic_S »

throwaway1979 wrote: post #135
patio11 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glad to help. I mostly give advice like this because I'm keenly aware that when I was young and stupid I was often a doormat in e.g. dealing with companies, and despite years of socialization which had suggested to me that being a doormat was praiseworthy, things started to get better in a hurry after I abandoned my default presumption of doormathood. In your future professional dealings, and those of the peanut gall…

Sorry for being thickheaded. I want to clarify the point of contention. The way I understand it ... the company wanted him to sign the release without "any real consideration". The claimed consideration was the employer would pay the employee his owed wages. I totally understand that this is not real consideration - they owed the employee this anyways. But what kind of consideration should/could he have expected?

I've seen "severance" offered in exchange. E.g. we'll pay you what we owe you, but if you sign this we'll give you an additional month of salary.

Re: A culture of beer and overtime

#176

Post by vadman »

jmgtan wrote: post #128
vadman wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate a bit? I know the Japanese generally work long hours, and would love to hear an eyewitness' account of how things are done there and how you were dealing with the status quo (i.e. what you told your bosses, did you experience peer pressure).

Well we normally have a time in (9am) and this is usually enforced via a fingerprint scanner and a physical attendance check by one of the admin person. There are 3 checks a day: morning, lunch, and 3pm tea break. Lunch break strictly starts at 11:45am until 12:45pm and tea break starts at 3:30pm until 3:45pm, any tardiness even 1 minute late would be reprimanded by one of the senior managers. We work until 6pm, well…

Very interesting, thanks.

The fact that they monitor 1-min deviations from prescribed time really seems outlandish to me. Makes me view my chill startup job (45-55 hours a week) in a new light.

Re: A culture of beer and overtime

#177

Post by jarrett »

smileysteve wrote: post #157
jarrett wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You Were Fired. I don't think you can fairly say a person was fired simply because s/he quit following a dispute with the boss. Maybe the person would have eventually been fired, had s/he not quit. But that's pure speculation. There's the cliched "you can't quit, you're fired"/"you can't fire me, I quit" scenario. I think the question of who terminated the relationship is less clear there. But that doesn't seem to…

Re: Fired / Being fired. The distinction only matters as to whether the OP has leverage over severance or goes after unemployment. OP's future prospects are hurt either way if the next job calls that PM as a reference -- and slightly by this blog post.

There are times when one must truthfully disclosed previous firings. E.g. a form that says "Have you ever been fired," and later has a warning that falsifying the form can result in penalties.

These are the scenarios I was thinking of. They're the reason the distinction matters.

Re: A culture of beer and overtime

#178

Post by ilbe »

What a horror story, I've been at a company with red flags, and left due to that fact, but have not seen anything to this extent. I will keep it in mind as a warning. Sounds like the PM has a psychological disorder.

Re: A culture of beer and overtime

#179

Post by jtbigwoo »

jacalata wrote: post #103
yummyfajitas wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do they save money? If you use your 2 weeks of vacation, they send you a check for 2 weeks pay at the end. The exact same thing would happen if you cashed out your vacation days, albeit with slightly different paperwork.

No. He offered to work two weeks, which would have meant they owed him two weeks of pay plus two weeks of vacation days. Instead he took two weeks of vacation pay and no pay for work.

IANAL, but this practice is illegal in many places. If your days off are called something like "vacation days" or "PTO", they're regulated by the government. Generally the company has to pay them out after leave and the company can't make you work them. If they're called "personal days" or something similar the company usually doesn't have to pay you for them when you leave.

This case was probably wage theft. If it was within the last few years, the government would probably like to hear about it. Most states have a department of labor or something similar that investigates this sort of thing.

Re: A culture of beer and overtime

#180

Post by hoopism »

Whether you consumer beer or alcohol or not it's usually enlightening to attend these events. I've gotten more insight into the companies and dept I work for by socializing after hours than all the "regular" work hours.

I hear people often complain about communication... they rarely attend these functions. It's not their fault I guess... but it's a reality.

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