Shop Time w/T.W. Friends

Throw some chicken quarters on the top, cook kill 2 birds with one burn. Amirite @Kilo Charlie

 

This is a family decision for sure. I have had two jobs since 1989.
Now, what I can tell you from experience...
Money is not what it is about. You have to make enough to support your standard of living is all. If you have a yacht you need a lot of money. If you have a jon boat with a trolling motor? Not so much. If the money is okay to support you and your family then great.

I have some really rich friends (and some really poor friends too), guys I have known most of my life that really hit it big and came from humble beginnings.
I would not trade my life for theirs as we are much happier than them. One of them, a billionaire, was killed a few years ago when his helicopter crashed coming back from Bahamas to Florida. He had been married four times.
Another friend has had to hire a full time security team because people are threatening to kidnap his granddaughter (she is three) for ransom.
So, money is not what it is cracked up to be. Just need enough for the standard of living you desire.
So, pick the fun one!

 

It isn't about the money at all, if it were I'd been gone from here a long time ago. I have some rich friends, and relatives. Some of them are the most unhappy people I know. Some of them will give you the shirt off their back just because they can and that is who they are.

 

I quoted + cut the above for kind of my own organization because this subject is important to me.

I apologize in advance, this turned out long...

Let me start by saying I did life wrong.

Times were hard & jobs scarce when I was young so when I got my first factory job I was so thankful to have a steady and reasonably paying job it was years before it occurred to me that some people actually enjoy their work and look forward to doing it. (..never claimed being swift.. )

You lead off saying "I love my job", that has a value beyond actual dollars.
You also seem to have a lot of freedom (your boss trusts you), also a value.

"Mill" and "Pallet Place" are both production jobs, essentially factories.
I spent my whole working life in factories and worked hard to get away from the production jobs because if you happen to be a thinker they are mind numbingly boring -- especially if you spent the last 28 years making your own decisions & solving your own problems.

Where you are now you might say "boss, I'm ahead of schedule on everything we owe, may I leave at noon of Friday?"
In a larger production place it generally doesn't work that way. It is all about "following policy" giving notice, getting approval (or denied), being "fair" to the other numbers on shift oops, sorry - employees...

Which brings us to co-workers...
Bigger places have lots of rules, they have to because (and I don't like saying it) larger amounts of employees (aside from being a giant pain in the @$$) can't generally be trusted to do the right things.

One of my former tenants was a police officer, he told me "if we could get rid of about 10 families in town it would take away 85% of our calls".

Unfortunately factory rules (and management styles) are usually structured around those 10 families -- it is absolutely maddening for a responsible person to have to listen to the same "issues" being discussed over & over & over & over...


Did you notice how he asked if you would want overtime?
He said: "I understand completely". Rusty says: "Yeah, right."

I don't know the fellow and am not the least bit qualified to make a comment on his integrity however the facts are - production needs to make orders and it takes man hours.

My opinion:
Every factory I have ever even talked about used the term "mandatory" in front of the word overtime if needed - if you go to a production place they expect you there if needed, it is just part of the factory gig.

On the other hand they are quick to cut hours if orders are light - and so will be your paycheck.

401K:
A typical employer contribution is 3%-6% match -- good money for sure but remember the bulk of the money input comes from you. You can (should) save & invest on your own too.

I'll close with a personal anecdote:

My previous employer (who strove to be the cheapest in everything they did) contributed $00.001 per employee dollar.
Yes, that is correct, 1/10 of one cent for every dollar I put in.

TEN CENTS for every hundred dollars I put in...

 

Well said my friend. I think one reason I haven't jumped to go talk to either of them is I like it where I am and I do have a lot of freedom here. If something happens here I know I can go talk to either of them and see what they have to offer, which I still may do just to see but don't have to do anything right now.

 

I'd like to thank all of you for the advice today, and everyday. Your opinions matter to me, if they didn't I wouldn't ask stuff here. I appreciate each and every one of you

 

Think I’ll keep it that way & promise to never ask you for a job.

 

You are in a great position in that you have a huge variety of marketable skills that you can take anywhere at any time to a wide variety of industries.

The one thing I did have at the old job was a very long leash -- and also a good boss who trusted me and left me alone to do my work. Just had breakfast with him this morning actually.

When they railroaded him and brought in the new guy (to reinvent the wheel) my reasons to stay diminished substantially.

And boy did they ever sell that poor dude a bill of goods too, they promised him full support -- and gave him a $250 budget...

 

Very well saiid.
I havent enjoyed a job that I've had in 29 years, which is probably one of the reasons I value my time off so much.

 

I sure did enjoy fishing with you the other day, until you fell in

 

Be like Bobbin’ for fish kinda

 

I've done a hefty amount of life wrong too. This is very insightful. Thanks for sharing.

 

If you’re still here you didn’t do half bad…..just sayin’

 

Glass half full

Optimist - the glass is half full
Pessimist - the glass is half empty
Engineer - the glass is larger than needed @hiPSI

 

I paid full price for my life lessons, no need for others to have to.

 

Same here!

 

I was in the same job conundrum 3 years ago. I only had one “real” job which was 40 hours a week, but I worked on small engines every day after work, and all day Saturdays and Sundays. It took me a while to work up the nerve to leave, but a much better paying job allowed me to give up HAVING to work on small engines, and has allowed me way more time to spend with my family. It was absolutely the right move for me, and I wouldn’t go back to the way it was before. But for me, thinking how what I was doing wasn’t working was the first step.

 

The last time I ate donuts was when they were selling at $6.99/doz.

 

I read it somewhere “Find a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

 

Mrs. Dunsters are still 6.99!