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I have been absolutely swamped at work this past month. I've been pulling overtime nearly every single day (California does overtime anytime you go over 8 hours in a day, and then resets if you go past 40, wiping out a whole lot of money if you only work a little over 40). Normally this time of year is completely dead and we all have to use our accrued vacation time due to weeks of little-to-no work. Several of us were actually looking forward to it. We're all running a bit ragged and could use the respite of several uneventful weeks. But no, not this year. This year we're slammed right up to Christmas week, and then we come back right after new years. Honestly, at this point, I'd rather have barely any money than more of this damned job. It gets worse and worse, ever more ethically questionable, and with less and less to show for my efforts.
I read an article recently about how only a few decades back, surveys had like an 70-80% contact rate, and a similar rate of completions from that number. When I started doing what I do, we often hovered around 15% contact. Below that was bad, above was decent. Now, we often end up in the mid to low single digits for contact. By contact, we mean someone answering the phone who is either the name listed, or is willing to take it. And then you have to screen out that meager amount with scads of demographic questions. It's an ever more difficult job, made worse by a number of phone companies incorrectly labeling our number as a likely scam. Our polls are often heavily biased and written by a retarded monkey of dubious grammatical training, but not scams. But people are way less likely to pick up the phone when we show up as a potential scam.
Worse, even with overtime, after working at my job for more than 3 years now, and being one of the more seasoned supervisors, I still make less than the starting wage for the likes of In 'n Out and Best Buy. Due to California labor laws, our branch is consistently the costliest to run. We'd have been shut down ages ago if we weren't the best. But I, along with several of the other top people of the place, rather wish it would. This job is soul crushing, and worse, takes so much time and energy that none of us have anything left at the end of the day to look for anything else. Our assistant director didn't used to drink until he started his position. Now he drinks heavily. Smokes like a chimney. I hate the place so much.
There's a slight bit of despair that lingers over us. We all desperately want to get the hell out, but have neither the money nor the opportunity to do so. The job market in this town is garbage. There are three kinds of jobs that have openings, and that's it: nursing, fast food, and retail. Granted, at this point I'm starting to think maybe working In 'n Out would be less stressful and pay better.
I read an article recently about how only a few decades back, surveys had like an 70-80% contact rate, and a similar rate of completions from that number. When I started doing what I do, we often hovered around 15% contact. Below that was bad, above was decent. Now, we often end up in the mid to low single digits for contact. By contact, we mean someone answering the phone who is either the name listed, or is willing to take it. And then you have to screen out that meager amount with scads of demographic questions. It's an ever more difficult job, made worse by a number of phone companies incorrectly labeling our number as a likely scam. Our polls are often heavily biased and written by a retarded monkey of dubious grammatical training, but not scams. But people are way less likely to pick up the phone when we show up as a potential scam.
Worse, even with overtime, after working at my job for more than 3 years now, and being one of the more seasoned supervisors, I still make less than the starting wage for the likes of In 'n Out and Best Buy. Due to California labor laws, our branch is consistently the costliest to run. We'd have been shut down ages ago if we weren't the best. But I, along with several of the other top people of the place, rather wish it would. This job is soul crushing, and worse, takes so much time and energy that none of us have anything left at the end of the day to look for anything else. Our assistant director didn't used to drink until he started his position. Now he drinks heavily. Smokes like a chimney. I hate the place so much.
There's a slight bit of despair that lingers over us. We all desperately want to get the hell out, but have neither the money nor the opportunity to do so. The job market in this town is garbage. There are three kinds of jobs that have openings, and that's it: nursing, fast food, and retail. Granted, at this point I'm starting to think maybe working In 'n Out would be less stressful and pay better.
