[Cool Story Bro] Chronicles of Unemployed Clutchfans

Let's see...

I went to work for a textbook store where the owners spent almost a year telling me that they were planning on expanding and that I would be the manager of the new store. Then they hired another guy to train in our store until he knew enough to store manager in another state. I worked 50 hour weeks at $9/hr. (I only got that much because the manager was a friend of mine) doing anything and everything they asked including shipping out upwards of 200 books a day to individual online buys, returning boxes of books to numerous publishers and wholesalers, and receiving and entering in to our inventory sometimes several boxes of books a day. Not only did I do the job, I got several notices of thanks from the central office commending me on my work. Then, they hired ANOTHER guy as assistant manager without giving me an interview and never offered any explanation as to why I never even got the opportunity. Finally, without notice, they not only told me that they WEREN'T expanding in the Houston market, they were cutting back on payroll and let me go. Since then I've driven all over Houston with little/no luck, sent out seemingly hundreds of resumes and applications, and I'm about to lose my car and I've had to move back in with my family. Hooray recession!

As for my education, I've got roughly 150 hours of college credit with no degree to show for it since I lost a ton of course credit when I transferred to UH. At last count I'm roughly 4 credit hours short of a degree in history with a minor in English. However, since I don't have the little piece of paper saying I've got a degree (despite having nearly enough credit hours to have a Master's degree) I have to check "some college" in the box asking about education, thereby eliminating me from most halfway decent job opportunities.

Glad I got to share. I'm going to go drink a Drano/strychnine cocktail now..

 

shouldn't they have been paying you overtime? $135 per week extra is what they should have been paying you...

 

Well, really just $45 per week "extra", depending on how you look at it.

 

Yeah I got the overtime. I think. They did a direct deposit where they supposedly kept the pay stubs online, only they conveniently forgot to tell us how to log on to the system. So, we were basically stuck with them paying us what we hoped were the right amounts. Shady, I know, and I'm pretty sure they underpaid me, but I don't really have much recourse now. And labor lawyers around? I'd be more than happy with any advice.

 

I used to have a job too, now I'm back in school probably another 3 semesters to go before I have my worthless degree that will get me nowhere.


But I'm not very unhappy with that. I'm not really a 9-5er type.


Still delusions of grandeur in my head about writing some masterpiece or at least making enough fart jokes to get by.


Pluggin' along anyway.

 

time and a half for $9 is $13.50

anything over 40 hours is overtime(in certain states)

10 extra hours per week X $13.50 = $135.00

(on top of $90, I see how you got to the extra $45)

definitely depends on how you look at it, but more importantly, where the poster works...

 

Didn't you do any summer internships? Engineering is a field where it's important to make a lot of contacts with people to help network for jobs and availabilities. If you have no past work experience and have a masters in management it'll be tough to get a job. You're overqualified without experience...no one is going to hire that.
If you don't mind me asking, where did you get your degree from? I'd be pissed that the college didn't prepare me for this situation...yeah it's your job to study and do well, but they should have workshops and career fairs and such to help prepare you for your career.

 

Nobody told you to do internships? There are 2 main ways to get a job immediately out of college, fraternities and internships.

Without job experience of an internship, an employer has no idea what somebody can do outside of college.

They don't know if you are lazy or if you bust your butt to make money for the company.

If there is no job experience, then relying on a large network like a fraternity is another option.

If you have neither of those, then you have to be a fantastic interviewer and networker.

College isn't just about the books.

 

Epic unemployment thread:
http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=136521

 

Being unemployed sucks. Going back to school seems like a worse idea. I don't even have time to look for a job.

 

I'm still waiting for them to call me back

 

Nothing's guarenteed and life ain't fair..

 

It's time to break down and get a foot in your industry at a lower position. Get a feel of job you want and develop contacts and relationships. It keeps your degree relevant over the new graduates that HR would take over you. With your degree and 6 months worth of time breaking in, you and your employer will know what you're capable of. That would be your time to shine and overexcel. I would suggest keeping your eyes open after 6 months. One, it's good to know your career's level of demand. Two, you don't want to get too complacent while letting your skills stagnate. Three, you're technically underemployed and no leverage means the manager has no incentive to boost you up.

It won't help with any debt or bills you got, but it's much much better than the rut you're in now.

 

Are you trying to find a job here or cali. Some companies seem reluctant to approve relocation and travel expenses.

 

I hate this networking bs. When someone needs help they will ask you for leads and stuff when you ask for them to return the favor they just sit on their hands.

 

Sounds like you networked with the wrong people then

 

Why don't you go back to UH and finish those last 4 hours? It will be like one class only.

 

Actually you don't want people to send their census in because the more people don't send it in the more work you'll have and more work means more money.