RAW

September 27, 2004

RAW Choice Cut: Moby - "Porcelain"

The original topic of this RAW column was work. Nothing more, nothing less. It was basically me putting the complaints everyone I know (who's working full-time) into one big place where we could all read it and take solace in the fact that all of us were fighting some kind of battle at work. Then as I was typing it, I realized that for every con that someone had their job, they had a pro that someone didn't have that balanced everything out. Even me. After hearing some of the horror stories that other people are dealing with at work, my job comes out smelling like roses. But even with all this, there are two things I do want to talk about, and they both deal with money.

"All and all, you're just another brick in the wall." - Pink Floyd

I will neva eva, eva eva, eva eva, eva eva, eva eva work another salaried job unless two conditions are met: 1) It has to be written in my contract how many hours a day/week I'm expected to work. For me to work a week where I've pulled in between 45-50 hours by a Thursday isn't uncommon. 2) My job responsibilities have to be CLEARLY defined. There's times where I'll be given someone else's job responsibilities and expected to do it just as good as they do. You want to be taken advantage of quickly? Work a salaried job where neither of these two conditions exist. In another one of those conversations I've had with mom about this she told me, "be glad you found this out at a young age." She used to have a salaried job and she didn't mind it until she sat down and did some math. Turns out for the hours and amount of work she was doing, she was getting paid less (both hourly and annually) than she was when she was unsalaried. Yeah, after a year she went back to her old job with the quickness. While salaried jobs maybe seen as a position of "respect and security," you got to remember you'll only want to do extra work when you get paid for it.

"Can't pay my rent, cause all my money's spent, but that's okay cause I'm still fly" - Big Tymers

Okay. Somewhere between fourth grade and graduating college, someone SERIOUSLY distorts the value of a dollar. For the sake of making a point, I'm gonna tell everyone I make $35,000/yr. Now I see this as a fairly decent amount - only because I know that no Business Management major living in the southern United States, with no prior full-time work experience, should make more $32,000/yr - and that's being generous. Now with all this information, I don't see this as "a lot" of money. Now this is where things get twisted.

On one hand, when my parents moved into the house we've been living in for the past 17 years my parents were making a combined $37,500. By some act of God, they supported themselves, a 3 yr old, and a newborn. Now I realize that all this happened in 1987, but considering that my sister & I both went to private school and never lacked any want or need, I'm not writing this off as a small feat. Then there's my Team Leader at work. Jesus is a Guatemalan immigrant with an Eight Grade education (he's sharp as a knife tho). If he works at least 40 hrs/wk he should make in the neighborhood of $21,000/yr. His wife, Alejandra, works as a Machine Operator on the other side of the plant and she should make around $19,000/yr. Now Alejandra is "full of baby" (seriously, this kid should come out walking), yet neither one of them are stressing over money. They're sitting quite nicely. Nice house, nice car, both of them dress very well. These two situations are making me reverse my thinking on a conversation me and a group of Ambassadors had - we were all set on thinking that two people making $40,000/yr EACH could live like kings. Shit, I'm starting that this can be done on $40,000/yr combined.

Then on the other hand, you have us. All of us who graduated and have jobs are making anywhere between $20k and $49k, yet the majority of us have found some way to complain about our financial situation. People, we could have it A LOT worse. And considering that most of us still live at home or with family, I'm a little confused at this. And for those of us living alone, I'm not buying the "rent is expensive" excuse. Maybe if we all decided to "live within our means" we'd be more content with our money right now. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you have to.

T_Piddy: Where'd all that come from? Aiming all that at someone particular?

Terence: No, not really. Just tired of hearing all of us, including myself, saying we could do this and that if we had more money. We all have plenty enough as is. I'm thinking we just need to be a little smarter in how we spend our disposable income *tapsPiddy'sWCWTitlebelt*

T_Piddy: You put your dirty little hands on my belt one more time, you're gonna draw back a nub.

"I wanna feel like I'm close to something real. I wanna find something I've wanted all along…somewhere I belong." - Linkin Park

One more work related note, then enough from "the real world." When I first started work, my boss told me that the job wasn't gonna be fun until I became part of the family. Now considering that I had been there maybe 3 days at the time I was a little confused as to what he was talking about. Now that I've been there 4 months, I can somewhat understand what Mike was talking about. Now, keep in mind, the job still isn't fun - but I do like the people I work with. Well the other day, I had one of those family moments Mike was talking about. One of my original team leaders (I've been on both sides of the plant, 2 lines on each side, so I've had 5 team leaders (one quit, Jesus is her replacement)), Marlene, invited me to a baby shower for her sister-in-law, Alejandra (Jesus and Alejandra are married - Alejandra and Victor are brother and sister - Victor is married to Marlene). I thought this was quite a nice gesture. Gave me warm fuzzies inside - especially considering I haven't really worked w/ Marlene, Victor, and Alejandra too much in the past 3 months. I only get to see them in passing and the only one I can hold a full conversation with is Marlene and Jesus (Victor knows a little English and Alejandra…well, let's just say there's a lot of broken Spanish and drawing of pictures to communicate). It was a cool feeling, made me feel really welcome there.

(T_Piddy: Baby shower full of young Hispanic women who's biological clocks are starting to tick louder and louder with every passing day? *rubshandstogether* This should be fun… ;-))

"Slide, slide, but that's the past. I got something brand new for that ass." - Coolio

Because I always like trying new things w/ my columns, I'm gonna come up with small thoughts on topics pulled straight out of people's profiles - just for shits and giggles.

boys can be stupid, but ya know, girls can be much stupider :-P (or more stupid, or however the crap you say that ;-))

The thing that makes me smile the most about this is the fact this came out of a girl's profile. It's good to see that at least someone from the fairer sex sees that they really have issues with using logic and common sense sometimes.

"Well, it seems to me that the best relationships--the ones that last-- are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is...suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with."

While I'd love to agree with that statement wholeheartedly, it only holds true if after your switch is flicked, you can somehow manage to flick the other person's switch too. Easier said than done…

You know, it's kinda of funny I like doing this online journal, thing :-) hahah

Just wanted to give Miss Sarah a shoutout and a link. Considering I've gotten mention in a few of her entries, it's the least I could do

"I would be happy just to hold the hands I love, on this winter's night with you." - Jewel & Sarah McLachlan

Does anyone else feel like fall got here a little earlier than usual? It's either that or I just really have been zoning out for the past few weeks. Football season is in full swing. The days are getting shorter. And the wind has is starting to get that "smell." Everyone knows the smell. It's the smell that brings back memories you had pushed back into the dark recesses of your mind. After a while everyone gets all depressed, then the "winter blues" kick in. I start thinking too much, listening to Jewel and Sarah McLachlan all the time, and some random female will walk into the picture and cause chaos. When that happens look for me to start turning out these things damn near daily. Figured I'd give everyone fair warning since I by the time I sit down to do another one of these, it'll probably be winter :-)