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Got too long...

In sum... I am just frustrated because I am back doing what I did in high-school, which is not only annoying after paying for that college education, but extra frustrating since it is actually a step backwards from the work I have been doing the past 5-6 years for the concrete company (which is overstaffed at the moment). I just want to work WITH, let alone FOR responsible, and dependable individuals!

I may need to pay a visit to the recruiter this week. I reckon 40 more pounds or so to go, and I would feel fairly comfortable going to boot camp.

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That is one solution and a good one. Another is to go back to school and get an advanced degree or combine the two. One of my uncles retired as a bird colonel and got both his under grad and masters degree while in the Army.

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It don't look good for the future. Unemployment continues to rise and despite education and experience, it's hard to get a good job. Many folks out there looking. If I were young, (18-22) I would seriously consider the military. They have steady employment, great benefits, good salary, education programs, specialty jobs, and retirement. A friend of mine retired from the USAF back in '96 and he obtained a college degree while in, and traveled all over the world, had a high security clearance job, and was very happy with it. He retired (20 years) with a decent salary and then went and found a job with the USPS. He said it was the best thing he ever did, joining the military.

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I know people where you work and I'm TELLING!

Seriously, I was glad to hear you say that you are happy to have a job regardless of your education.

I know of people who have Masters Degrees who are doing landscaping/lawn maintenance for a living. I know of LEO's who are now mowing lawns for a living and even others who have dropped 100k for an education, who are just scraping by.

As you may recall, my twin and I are in landscaping and have been for over 20 years... I've had people tell me that I am lucky to have my own business in this economy. My reply for the most part is that they are right, I mean I may lose one account, but I can replace it very quickly... I'm not going to be "laid off".

Here is the curve ball... This year, for the first time in the history of our business, we had four clients who just simply stopped paying their bill, now to be honest we have a lot of clients who get several months behind before they pay, but this is because of laziness... One Dr usually sends one or two big checks per year instead of paying every month when the invoice comes in, so at first it was no big deal... After awhile we have a hard decision to make, if we just terminate service there is a real high chance that we will lose that client and honestly, we don't want to lose business, but eventually that is what happens.

Unbelievably, we had to either threaten or actually file theft of service charges against a few of them to get our money... One guy has only a few days left to pay up before they issue a warrant for his arrest. This isn't good for business, but it does let people know that "We ain't playing games with ya", we did the work and were getting our money.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, just saying that things are tight everywhere and we just better be glad that we have a job.

Crpdeth

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Well...i thought obozo had shovel ready jobs to go....

GlockNut
G1N1

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The trouble with this country is we got too many chief and not enough indians. The politicians think they are above the law and any kind of physical work. Perhaps we need a law to force congress to get out and make a living by the sweat of their brow on construction in the heat of the summer in the deep south. Then they will know what it is to make a decent living. I'll bet not one could make a full day at hard labor. It is easy to sit back and direct others to work, but very tough when the politicians themselves would have to get out and get dirty. It would make a good reality show. "Politicians working for a living".

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If a customer is some how unhappy....:mad:

do both you guys say whoa.... it wasn't me it was my twin..... :D

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In this same vein, I've often thought that it would be nice to have one of these big wigs live on what I make for a living, first of all just to see if they could manage their money for a year and secondly, at the end of that year, see if they still think I should be paying in as much taxes as I do...

Sure would make another good reality show...


Crpdeth

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That's not a bad idea. In fact, it's a good one. For more reasons than one. A stable paycheck. A good set of benefits. Great retirement. And your health would improve immensely if you dropped 40 lbs. You would skate through basic....way ahead of the pack.

A friend of mine just got the job assignment in the Navy he was holding out for. A pharmacy technician by trade, he saw his job going by the wayside (cutbacks) about a year ago and started the ball rolling.

I know it's easy for me to say.....but I say go for it. If you don't have many ties here that you are uncomfortable leaving for extended periods of time, you are perfect for the job. At the very least, while you have the idea in your head and are motivated, look into all the possiblities. In a way, I am jealous. Not that I am dissatisfied with what I do for a living or what I have going on in my personal life, but the armed forces is something I always wanted to do. Good luck brother.

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I find the comments on advanced degrees interesting. I do some interviewing for my company. We like to hire new college graduates with minimal experience and the very few that we select, go into our Management Trainee Program with the hope that they will be ready to open a new Distribution Location for us in 3 to 5 years.

The graduates (or graduates-to-be) stop at our booth at the College Job Fair, and if interested, fill out an on-line application. Those that look promising, then are briefly phone interviewed. If that candidate passes muster and is in my Geography I am asked to have a face to face interview them. If I like them, they then go into a pool for a secondary interview and a few will get job offers.

What all these words lead to are, that without exception, everyone I have interviewed is caught between seriously looking for a job or considering Grad School. It seems to be accepted that a Bachelors degree is worthless and you must have an MBA (or Masters). What's next, a PhD to sell insulation?

I think that the job market is creating this atmosphere, but the schools promote it. The longer they keep you in school, the more revenue they derive and then you still come out as an unemployed MBA, saddled with monstrous debt.

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Dude, with your education, any branch of the military would jump at the chance to get you! Look into it now. I would bet that the Air Force would take you, over weight, and all!

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I was a controller/Bus Mgr for many years and my question is what have you lost. Let the problem payers go to your competition. The guy that pays twice a year I would put an interest clause in my contract and make him initial it and charge him. If he objects I would tell him you aren't his bank.

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Crp, I had a client once who had a similar situation with getting paid. I set him up with a computer program which would report every one of his clients to the credit bureaus every month. Those who paid on time got a good report every month. Those who were chronically late got a "late payment" report for a month or two before getting a "paid in full" report. Each client got a copy of the report each month with their invoice. The word got around pretty quickly and payments started coming in on a more timely basis.

He lost a couple of clients, but gained several more to make up for those.

Pops

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This is pretty much exactly a story of my life, except I was in the Army for 27 years and I did not take advantage of going to college.

James, I would recommend that when you see the recruiter, have him/her see if your qualifications and education can lead to you becoming an Officer in what ever service that you might choose. Life will be a lot easier and the pay better, too!:D

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I spent 20 years in the military and wouldn't trade it for anything. I've been all over the world and have made friends I'm still in contact with and I've been retired for thirty years. My son retired with twenty four years in the US Coast Guard. Go for it, but get the weight off first and get in shape.

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Thanks everyone :D

I believe it is because of our affluence as a country. It seems these days practically everyone goes to college (a slight exaggeration, but at the same time very true), and it is supply and demand- as bachelors become so common I need to enter a pool of smaller supply, to increase my demand, IE the masters. I am considering graduate school though because my degrees in particular are worthless [in their fields] without a masters, both history and international studies- I would need a masters or above really to enter the fields competitively, or teach (something I am also considering).

I think I probably have a chunk of time anyway after the surgery, I assume there is a period after that they don't want to deal with you ;) which is fine. I know some recruiters would sign me up right now, but I have no intention of entering boot camp at the bottom of my group because I was overweight and, largely, out of shape.

Now I'm the first to argue that overweight doesn't equal out of shape, and I'm not in terrible shape, but I'm not in great shape either. I will never be as light as the military says I need to be, but I would like to be more like 220ish before I start pushing the limits of entry. (Hovering around 260 right now, a drop of 90 :D).




EDIT: My sort of tentative plans right now are to keep up the grind, try and lose more weight. Hopefully by the time I have lost the weight (hope it happens :D) I will have some money saved up and will be in a good position to make the decision- military or graduate school.

However, I am looking for management work to boost the resume (and pay and what not). I feel like after four years of college, with my credentials (Eagle Scout, was a state officer for College Republicans, JROTC, run my own business, etc) I should be qualified for some sort of management/assistant manager (was trying for our liquor stores [they are all state ran here in WA so it is different] but no openings that I can find thus far).

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Here's my own little rant, on the subject of today's economy and government:

The Department of Labor here (GA) keeps making errors with my case, from scheduling my meetings at the same time as others' or just not recording the fact I have a meeting, to neglecting to authorize my benefit checks. The excuse every time is "We're processing four times the people through here that we used to."
They've got a room full of people needing jobs there, every day. HIRE SOME MORE HELP!

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2 words...Nursing School. May not be very cool, then again, I get to treat gunshot wounds & traumatic amputations all day! Lots of schools have 12 month BA to BSN programs, & salary isnt bad (40-50k, depending on location). Plus, you only work 3 days a week. By the way, what surgery are you having?

Chris

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Man I feel your pain. I graduated in May and I don't have a job at all. I don't have the same options that you do because of my age and family. I'm 33 and have 3 kids under 11 years old.

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James, let me tell you as someone who has "been there, done that"... If you have the "want to", there is nothing holding you back, but you...

Here's the plan that I use any time I want to start shedding lbs and it works, Bro.

Eat like a King for breakfast, like a Prince for lunch and like a Pauper for dinner... In truth, I fight excess weight even in the laborious business that I run, but if I "cut it off" at 3:00pm (five hours before my bed time... You could adjust your cut off time by that), I have no problem shedding the poundage. The hardest part is the first two evenings and I may find myself cheating by having a few crackers or something, but honestly, it does get easy and before you know it you are wondering why your pants don't fit anymore.

Anyway, just something to think about.


Crpdeth

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Now that's an idea! Maybe I'll suggest it next time I go to the unemployment office. The local UE office here is TERRIBLE! It's like watching a monkey try to pull it's head out of it's a**. These people couldn't find their butts with both hands and a hunting dog. You go there and it's hurry up and wait and wait and wait some more. It's as bad as when I was in the Air Force. Worse maybe. At least in the Air Force there was someone that knew what they were doing. I can't remember how many jobs I've applied for through them (where you fill out the application and they hand it in for you) and I've not heard back from ANY of them! I'm not even entirely sure that they're actually sending the applications where they need to go. What a joke. The NC Employment Security Commission...your tax dollars at work:rolleyes::rolleyes:

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When it's crowded, they give the people in line a number. This makes the line go away. Then they call out the numbers, but if somebody walks in they find out what they need immediately, while not calling out numbers. Then when they finally get to your number they see what it is you're there about. Efficient?

Glad I'm now a student! No more revisiting places that aren't hiring (still, after 6 months) and when I'm done maybe I'll have a job I like more and that will make more money!