Company Size: 10-49 (United States)

When I started this job I was very excited because it gave me an opportunity to work in a rewarding environment. I did not realize they had reduced the previous job title from Chief Operating Officer to Director of Operations kept the same amount of responsibilities but lowered the level of authority. I do almost everything but I am restricted from calling all of the shots that affect final outcomes. At this level the position should pay a min of six figures and have the authority to execute.

Job security is changing in the teaching field. My advice is to be honest and loyal to the job. Principals will respect your work if they are honest people. I think principals should not have a great deal of power over the teachers that work in their building because some or not loyal to the job but use the job for other purposes. There are good principals out there but when you choose principals that don't understand the grade levels then the district will have a problem.

I have been a dental hygienist for nearly 20 years but moved to a new area recently. I was subing in an office near my new home and the boss told me there was one day a week open and offered it to me. Yeah, I thought. The doctors like me, the patients are all requesting to see me again and the office staff really get along with. Then out of the blue (2 months into my job) he tells me he has a friend that he wants to help out and that she has been given my job??!!?? Sometimes these dentists just do things we can't understand. But I am still a little bitter about how he gets to play puppetmaster because he said I would still get to sub when their in a bind!!!!

I have worked for the same practice for 4 years. A surgical clinic consisting of 5 surgeons, 2 of whom specialize in vascular surgery - ever since I was hired I have been praised by patients and other staff members alike (albeit only verbally) as the one who got things done, the one to go to for answers, and the one who did his job well. This resulting advice comes from years of very hard work, very long hours, and the painful reality underneath it all.

The other staff members dump (on average) about 70% of their workload onto me whilst they stand around chatting to patients and amongst one another about their personal lives (getting extremely intimate at times about very VERY inappropriate details)

Pay was never based upon skill, work load, work quality, attendance, or any other criteria based in reality - rather; the other staff members, some who had no more than a high school education were ALL paid more than medical assistants and the physicians assistant. Specifically the main receptionist who had no formal education or training was paid almost 3 times my rate of pay for doing what is comparable to shuffling papers on a desk and pretending to work for 7 hours a day, after which time her workload was promptly given to the back office staff (aka yours truly) to preform on top of all other job duties.

The manager (who happens to be the owners significant other) has constantly been of the "we're just in a phase, things will get better" mindset and dismisses my requests for fair pay and my suggestions with a smug passive aggressive attitude something along the lines of a "if I ignore it it'll go away" attitude. The manager would also gladly throw anyone under the bus to save face or avoid her own short-comings whenever possible, commonly resulting in being told to preform a task; when the doctor found out and brought to your attention that what you were doing was against what they wanted the manager would inevitably deny any involvement in telling you to do said task.

The icing on the cake is the legal corner cutting involved; like the employee handbook that specified that employees were not to discuss their pay in OR OUT of the office REGARDLESS of whether you were on work time or not. A clause which (in the state I am in at least) is SPECIFICALLY and COMPLETELY against the law.

When managers are asking you find ways around laws to exploit workers or give someone less money - RUN, and do NOT turn back EVER!

What's the moral of this story? The medical field is not as straight forward as it seems, office politics and personal grudges between doctors affecting the lives of sick people is not pretty, why should you get stiffed and have to deal with that and not be able to do anything about it?

I have found that working for the Department of Defense offers great job security that is recession proof. The pay is generally higher than civilian employers with some great benefits offered. After three years you are fully vested, and in the meantime you have a great opportunity to learn and crosstrain. Most educational opportunities are not only encouraged, but reimbursed. If you get bored, you can also use the army locations to transfer without loss of time, status, or pay.

This market of computer repair has been flooded with people (young and old) that are horrible "techs" and has lowered the value of the technicians that know what they are doing. We (technicians) should be making 18-21/hour not 15-16/hour...

I was let go from my company, not because I didn't do the job; only because I did my job too well and made my manager look bad in front of the boss. I confided to the higher boss that the manager was not doing his job and kept harrassing me and it came back at the end to bite me. If I would have standed my ground with my immediate manager maybe things would not have gone to this point.

I have been in the construction equipment parts industry for a little over a year and a half. I was hired with NO experience at all and now I have been told that I am better than a couple of people they had before me with 10 years experience. This company is small and they take almost $400/month out of my check twice a month. I have a 4 year college degree and I do believe that I am worth more than I am paid and I feel that I am not going to be able to stay here if I don't start being appreciated. I wish there was a company I could find that treats their employees like they should be treated and not like they are a burden.

I have a boss who will fall all over themselves over one particular customer. For example, managers are not allowed to eat in the public dining room anymore because aforementioned customer complained that managers should get up to help "serve" him while they are on break. I do not get a paid break and my 30 minutes that I spend off the clock are my own to do with as I please. At least I thought so. Also, this particular customer wasn't charged for an extra piece of cheese that he wanted on a sandwich. When I told him that I needed to charge him for the cheese, he replied that it was illegal for me to charge him for anything "extra" like that after the order was rung up and paid for and that I needed to take a lesson in customer satisfaction. Appearantly he didn't care that he wanted me to "steal" a piece of cheese for him. He even demanded that I get the store owner down there to talk to right away. I went and called the store owner who told me to just let him have the cheese for free. When I told the customer that the store owner was on his way, the customer wanted to pay for the cheese after all! What nerve! I happily told the customer to "keep" his money. I have to take garbage like this all of the time from both employees, customers and fellow managers. I don't feel like smiling anymore and when I do get a chance to speak with a customer in the dining room my boss is looking at me like I am wasting valuable "time" and I should be "working" instead of "socializing". I don't feel like I am respected by anybody and everyone always gripes to me about everything. I keep my mouth shut because in the past any replys that I made to ANYTHING were gossiped about and distorted. When looking for a job, watch and see how employers treat fellow employees and customers before applying for a job. If you feel uncomfortable after that, then by all means, do not apply for a job.

All flooring installers need to come together on a fair wage increase. Many of us have not seen an increase in pay in over 20 years and in some cases have taken a cut in pay. We recieve no benifits, no paid holidays. If we don't work we don't get paid. Most of us have to buy our supplies and recieve no reimbursment and I'm sure you all have noticed that the price of gas and vehical matainence, materials, tools, and the cost of living has more than tripled since many of you started in this trade. All involved in the business end of the trade have raised their fees to help cover rising costs: deliveries, the price of padding, carpet, etc.. The company you work for raises its price accordingly to stay in business but what about the people who actually do the job? Nothing. Not a penny increase in 20 years and in many cases are getting less for doing even more like vaccuming, now considered to be part of the installation, moving furniture for an extra $.50 a yard. That's only $50.00 per 100 yards the size of an average 3 bedroom house. That's quite a bit of furniture to move and be responsible for an extra $50.00 not to mention the extra time on the clock and we don't get paid by the hour. It just seems to me that we are paid like laborers that don't have to think just work. But the reality is that we have to get the material to the job, figure out how to make it work, then put it in according to specs, own the tools and have the know how and skills needed to do it and all in a timely fashion or we wouldn't even make minimum wage. So people please hear me if we all demand an increase we will get it but we all need to stick together and be firm or it won't work and we will start getting less than $3.00 dollars a yard for berber like many of us do now. Which, I started laying carpet 25 years ago was the standard rate and was increased to $4.00, then $5.00 less than ten years later. Now I'm lucky to get $2.85 a yard. What happened to change the pay scale? an endless supply of foreign workers that are willing to let the shop owners take advantage of them or convince them that they will get more big jobs for taking less money which in many cases seems to be true but they fail to realize they are cheating themselves as well as all in the trade because the work needs to be done and if they would stand their ground and demand the same wage they will get it. So please all installers start talking to your co-workers about demanding a raise it is way overdue and we deserve it and you'll see start talking and it will come. Thank you my brothers.