Complaint Thursdays

[LabattBlue]

6 minutes ago, Weave said:

NY website still lists a requirement that you mist be actively looking for work to qualify for benefits.  Fortunately for me I have never had to go through the process to know how diligently that was assessed in the past or any knowledge of whether it has changed.  The language the state is using indicates it is still a requirement though.

...but is it simply checking a box, or is it more extensive?

[Weave]

Just now, LabattBlue said:

...but is it simply checking a box, or is it more extensive?

You tell me whether that has changed. You are the one with the belief.

[Radar]

33 minutes ago, Weave said:

Retirements result in lower workers moving up the chain, resulting in lower positions opening, combined with a monstrous demand for products actually increasing the market for labor.

There is actual data supporting both of those.  
 

I need to see data showing people being paid to stay home before assuming that is what is driving it.

Unfortunately, this has become a talking point. I would like to see data as well as the allegations seem to come from one side of the political spectrum and many times seem recited. Not saying there aren't cases but how significant are they?

Edited November 11, 2021 by Radar

[Weave]

2 minutes ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

I would propose another issue is that many people were forced to refigure out how they were living their lives when everything was closed. Some two income households with kids figured out that their actual take home wasn't that different once they eliminated their daycare expense so they just stay home now. Also there are still people being held out of the workforce in the flip side who need daycare but because the daycares cut staff and have had a hard time refilling those positions they can't get their kids in and thus can't work. There are also people who won't return to their previous jobs for a variety of reasons and, because they had to exist without their previous job have found another one that they like better. There are also lots of retirees who work retail or as bus drivers or as substitute teachers etc who have decided they are not interested in doing that right now so those jobs are very hard to fill if not impossible.

Are there some people gaming the system? Yes, there always are some. There are lots of other reasons why we are having a labor shortage right now. Another reason people don't want to talk about is immigration policy. When you want to have a growing economy and you have a flat birth rate the additional labor needs to come from somewhere. You either let the labor in legally as has been done all throughout our history and us the reason the vast majority of us are here now or the labor will find its way in anyway and business will find ways to employ it.

 

For example, Cutting back the guest worker visas made life at the shore very difficult for a lot of businesses this year because high school kids won't work for what they typically pay and they couldn't afford to live at the shore on those wages even if they wanted to. The cheap places where a bunch of high school kids would all split the rent  for a summer and work have been bought, torn down, and replaced with expensive vacation rentals. If an American kid wants to work at the beach over the summer they basically need to be a townie and there just aren't that many of those. Just one example but there are lots. A lot of the choices we have made over the last 30 years are coming to a head right now be it in labor, wages, just in time supply chains, shipping, you name it.

And all of this too.

Its easier to blame the slackers though.

[LabattBlue]

1 minute ago, Weave said:

You tell me whether that has changed. You are the one with the belief.

Back in the day, you used to have to go down to the labor office and meet with someone.  I'm sure that doesn't happen any more, but I'd like to believe you at least have to list the places you have applied to on a weekly basis, and not just "yeah I'm looking".

[Weave]

1 minute ago, LabattBlue said:

Back in the day, you used to have to go down to the labor office and meet with someone.  I'm sure that doesn't happen any more, but I'd like to believe you at least have to list the places you have applied to on a weekly basis, and not just "yeah I'm looking".

Is back in the day 5 years ago?  5 years ago the facility that employed me closed.  I went through the whole process but found a job that started the day after out facility closed, so I never needed to file a claim.  But even then I was told by NY Labor Dept I would need to provide a list online weekly.  There wouldn’t be a need for me to be there in person.  But again, I never had to follow through because I never was actually unemployed.

I really think, absent of data, you are assuming the worst with no data.

[LabattBlue]

Just now, Weave said:

I really think, absent of data, you are assuming the worst with no data.

Okay, we will agree to disagree.  No one is scamming the system, the labor shortage will magically get better, and things will be back to normal in no time flat.  How is that for glass half full? 🤣

 

...and back in the day was 20+ years ago.  😂

[Sabres Fan in NS]

3 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

What the heck has happened to the workforce?  It is an endless stream of help wanted signs everywhere.  I know all these people didn’t disappear from the face of the earth, so I assume they are still on unemployment.  Time to start making sure these claims are valid.  WTF! 😡

In Canada the pandemic time and govenment support programs enabled many workers in unskilled, but needed, positions to train and move on to other things.  There is a shortage of workers here in Canada for those jobs and also in construction and other highly skilled work.

[Sabel79]

16 minutes ago, The Ghost of Doohickie said:

In Canada the pandemic time and govenment support programs enabled many workers in unskilled, but needed, positions to train and move on to other things.  There is a shortage of workers here in Canada for those jobs and also in construction and other highly skilled work.

Point of order: There is no such thing as unskilled labor.  

[Weave]

23 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

Okay, we will agree to disagree.  No one is scamming the system, the labor shortage will magically get better, and things will be back to normal in no time flat.  How is that for glass half full? 🤣

 

...and back in the day was 20+ years ago.  😂

Noone said there is no scamming.  There has always been scamming.  Show me the data it is worse now and you will readily convince me.

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

What the heck has happened to the workforce?  It is an endless stream of help wanted signs everywhere.  I know all these people didn’t disappear from the face of the earth, so I assume they are still on unemployment.  Time to start making sure these claims are valid.  WTF! 😡

IMHO, the issue isn't so much people being on unemployment, it's a combination of both people retiring early / staying home due to health concerns about being in the public & the minimum wage having gone up (practically, even where it hasn't officially).  The latter is likely the bigger driver of the phenomenon.  And there could be other issues as well which come into play to a greater effect than randomly collecting unemployment.

People that were living on $10-12/hr and getting by now find themselves making $15-17/hr with more than they've needed to get by so a portion of them end up having some additional flexibility that they didn't have prior.  Some that were working a full time job & a parttime job can now get by on just the full time job.  For some of those working only 1 job, they find their personal utility is optimized by working fewer hours.  Know anecdotally of several retailers & manufacturers having very high numbers of workers taking time off as sick time or whatever.  These manufacturers & retailers still need to get those hours filled & now need additional workers to cover the gaps. 

And, yes, with literally millions of jobs unfilled, there appears to have been something that structurally affected the labor market.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

19 minutes ago, Sabel79 said:

Point of order: There is no such thing as unskilled labor.  

Sorry.  Not a good choice of word on my part.

[Sabel79]

1 minute ago, The Ghost of Doohickie said:

Sorry.  Not a good choice of word on my part.

 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

15 minutes ago, Sabel79 said:

 

Not my favourite version of that great song.  Topper was forced out by that time and was in a bad place with his heroin addiction.  Terry is okay on drums and I do like his stage name.  By this time the end was coming ... Joe had fixed his teeth and was taking long breaks from Mick and the song writing.  I remember that tour it was in 1982 and they were opening for The Who on their farwell tour, which it ended up not being.  Pete said after The Clash played this very concert that they were actually very good and he thought they would be the next big thing.

I went to see The Clash in a small club in Toronto in 1979 and it was the best concert I had ever been to.  I saw them again a few times along the way, including seeing then at the CNE Stadium in The Great Satan on this very tour.  CNE Stadium has got to be the worst place for a concert ever.  It was terrible, but I love The Clash.  So, I went and was right down in front.  I left after seeing The Clash and could hear The Who as I walked around wondering if this was the last time I would see The Clash live.  It was.

It's hard to believe that it's coming up to 20 years since Joe passed on.

I suppose that's my complaint, but not really since I have my collection at the ready any time I want.

Long live The Clash.  The only band that ever mattered.

Edited November 11, 2021 by The Ghost of Doohickie
more goodly words and things ...

[Sabel79]

7 minutes ago, The Ghost of Doohickie said:

 

It's hard to believe that it's coming up to 20 years since Joe passed on.

 

Oh, man.  This doesn't make me feel old atoll.  

[Sabres Fan in NS]

5 minutes ago, Sabel79 said:

Oh, man.  This doesn't make me feel old atoll.  

I remember that day oh so well.

A grown man nearing 40 in tears at the news.

In just a few weeks it will mark 30 years since the passing of my beloved Freddie.

And last May marked the 40 years since the passing of my beloved Bob.

[SwampD]

3 hours ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Yearly medical conference, this year is Costa Rica. Not much conferencing going on 😂😂 I found this amazing passion fruit Pale ale and an amazing Saison at a local brewery here, I stocked my rental car with a bunch and smuggled them poolside into the hotel 😂

Awesome. I'll be there in February.

2 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

Just a guess on my part, but I’d say it is over 75% of the problem. 

2 hours ago, Weave said:

Retirements result in lower workers moving up the chain, resulting in lower positions opening, combined with a monstrous demand for products actually increasing the market for labor.

There is actual data supporting both of those.  
 

I need to see data showing people being paid to stay home before assuming that is what is driving it.

1 hour ago, Weave said:

And all of this too.

Its easier to blame the slackers though.

I hear CEOs talk off camera every day. While unemployment benefits are a factor (which has since ended), it is no where near >75% of the problem, according to them.

Lot's of people just choosing to not work and lack of immigration are a bigger reason.

I think they should make a law where everyone who wanted to put up that ridiculous wall should have to force their lazy, stupid, spoiled kids to work so that I can get a fresh towel when I stay at the Hampton Inn.

Edited November 11, 2021 by SwampD

[Sabel79]

A thing I just thought of that is also a big factor: There’s a bit of a childcare crisis going on right now… 

[Wyldnwoody44]

4 hours ago, SwampD said:

Awesome. I'll be there in February.

I spent about 8 days driving around and exploring before the conference, so if you need/want any pointers or have any questions just shoot me a PM and I'll help the best I can. 

[Eleven]

5 hours ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

Here's another issue to chew on. Businesses don't want to hire people full time because they have to give them benefits over 28.5 hours per week.  The hours still need to be worked, but now it takes 2 people or 3 people to fill the role instead of one and now they aren't able to get those 2 or 3 people.  Employees hate those types of jobs because they get jerked around on hours and aren't able to actually make money to live on so it's a waste of time and they are constantly looking for an upgrade.  Another example, a kid at our local ACME used to work at the Wawa across the street.  I noticed that he switched places so I asked him why.  The Wawa was paying new hires $5 an hour more than they were paying him and he was only getting 8 hours a week at the Wawa.  He moved to the ACME, got a raise and is now getting 16 hours a week.  Meanwhile, the Wawa is "short staffed" because they still need to fill those 8 hours and they won't give them to anyone who actually works there.

When this started a couple years ago the local Wal-Mart cut all of their employees hours and handed them pamphlets for the local food pantry and instructions on how to apply for food stamps.  The Wal-Mart did that.  The employees didn't want or need to be on the programs previously and they wanted to work but because the Wal-Mart didnt want to have health insurance that was the decision they made.  The Wal-Mart has been "short staffed" and a mess ever since and that was well before Covid happened. Before you tell me that's fake news, I volunteer at the food pantry, I saw the things they handed to people and it was a lot of them.

Offer people an actual job instead of 8-12 hours a week and then complaining that you can't find 3 people to take these garbage shifts when you really only need one.

 

4 hours ago, Sabel79 said:

A thing I just thought of that is also a big factor: There’s a bit of a childcare crisis going on right now… 

 

Both of these.   If you have children, working your two 25 hour jobs, neither of which has health benefits, isn't an option right now.

[LabattBlue]

Went to a Wendy’s near me to try their new breakfast items. I ordered a combo that was listed on their menu board for $5.39.  I get to the window, and the woman says that will be 6.95.  I said the combo is $5.39.  She said yeah, but that doesn’t include tax.  I gave her a WTF look, and just drove away. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

It's bloody Thursday again?

Another week almost shot to hell.

That's a complaint, I suppose.

[ubkev]

1 hour ago, LabattBlue said:

Went to a Wendy’s near me to try their new breakfast items. I ordered a combo that was listed on their menu board for $5.39.  I get to the window, and the woman says that will be 6.95.  I said the combo is $5.39.  She said yeah, but that doesn’t include tax.  I gave her a WTF look, and just drove away. 

Tax is 29%?

[LGR4GM]

What a shitshow of a meeting I had the other day. Got yelled at for asking a supervisor a question after they tried to take over the meeting I was running. Love it when ppl freak out when they lose any ounce of control. 

[LabattBlue]

2 hours ago, ubkev said:

Tax is 29%?

Exactly my point.  Maybe there was an upcharge because I was getting a Diet Coke instead of coffee, but she couldn't even comprehend what I was asking. 😂