The Worker Thread

[neoplacebo]

First "real" job was at A&P for the minimum $1.00/hr. I think I usually got about 10 hours/week, about $9.00 after taxes.
$3.00 for gas
$2.00 for a couple of movie tickets with popcorn/drink
$2.00 for a couple of McD burgers w/fries and drink
$2.00 to last the rest of the week.
Life wasn't bad.

Life got better. Best part-time job I had in college was at the original "Peddler" steak house restaurant, which was down the street from my frat house. Started doing general grunt work, then salad prep, then cooking. After not long, my best friend and I were pretty much running it. Not without supervision of the owner, but operationally. We got paid $5.00 (minimum at the time was about $1.25), got a free meal every night, were allowed to drink owner-provided scotch while cooking at the open charcoal-fired grill, hired our girlfriends, and actually got some good business experience.

The restaurant turned into a chain, mostly franchised, and some still exist today.
Like this one.
https://www.peddlerofboone.com/

I once went with my future wife and in laws to The Peddler in Bristol......probably in 79. Not sure if it's still there. It was a damn good steak, though.

[O Really]

May I ask what year you started working at the A&P?

(I remember there was at least one A&P in Connecticut. Haven't seen one in California.)

Would of been about '62 when I got my DL. A&P was the country's largest store back then. It started on the east coast, but began its supermarket business model in southern California, some say copying Ralphs. But your wouldn't have seen one anywhere since 2015ish, and even before that most of their stores didn't use the A&P brand. I was shocked sometime in the early 2010s to find they were one of my firm's clients. Didn't even know there was an A&P company anymore. You had to dig through several layers of ownership to find them.

[billy.pilgrim]

May I ask what year you started working at the A&P?

(I remember there was at least one A&P in Connecticut. Haven't seen one in California.)

Would of been about '62 when I got my DL. A&P was the country's largest store back then. It started on the east coast, but began its supermarket business model in southern California, some say copying Ralphs. But your wouldn't have seen one anywhere since 2015ish, and even before that most of their stores didn't use the A&P brand. I was shocked sometime in the early 2010s to find they were one of my firm's clients. Didn't even know there was an A&P company anymore. You had to dig through several layers of ownership to find them.

We got the dishes and the Golden Book encyclopedias with our Green Stamps


https://www.pinterest.com/pin/341921796718423988/

After looking at the pictures, that's our TV trays, could be that they came from Green Stamps

[Vrede too]

We got the dishes and the Golden Book encyclopedias with our Green Stamps


https://www.pinterest.com/pin/341921796718423988/

After looking at the pictures, that's our TV trays, could be that they came from Green Stamps

21 Best Vintage Candy - Vintagetopia

If you're on the lookout for a memorable gift, Rocket Fizz has something for everybody on your list

Doubles as ear plugs in a pinch.

[Ulysses]

As I recall, my mom was a big fan of such stamps. Might of been Green Stamps, can't quite remember now. It was back in the late 50's-early 60's. She sort of lost interest in them when we moved to SF, perhaps because she realized they were mostly yet another marketing scheme.

[billy.pilgrim]

As I recall, my mom was a big fan of such stamps. Might of been Green Stamps, can't quite remember now. It was back in the late 50's-early 60's. She sort of lost interest in them when we moved to SF, perhaps because she realized they were mostly yet another marketing scheme.

There were all kinds of Stamos. Every grocery store chain had them.

Mom saved Green Stamps and S&H - I think was the other (Winn-Dixie)

Edit: after a Google search - I think S&H were the Green Stamps

[neoplacebo]

As I recall, my mom was a big fan of such stamps. Might of been Green Stamps, can't quite remember now. It was back in the late 50's-early 60's. She sort of lost interest in them when we moved to SF, perhaps because she realized they were mostly yet another marketing scheme.

There were all kinds of Stamos. Every grocery store chain had them.

Mom saved Green Stamps and S&H - I think was the other (Winn-Dixie)

Edit: after a Google search - I think S&H were the Green Stamps

Yeah. It was S&H Green Stamps. I think the "S" and "H" were actually on the stamps. There was a store where you could redeem the stamps just next door to the local Giant grocery store from about 1960 until 66 or so....within walking distance of my house back then. The Giant gave green stamps. The Oakwood grocery store gave tan stamps with a big "K" on them. The green stamp store had towels and sheets and some kitchen type stuff in it. I think the K stamp store, which I never saw or went to, likely just had drugs and stolen cars.

[Ulysses]

As I recall, my mom was a big fan of such stamps. Might of been Green Stamps, can't quite remember now. It was back in the late 50's-early 60's. She sort of lost interest in them when we moved to SF, perhaps because she realized they were mostly yet another marketing scheme.

There were all kinds of Stamos. Every grocery store chain had them.

Mom saved Green Stamps and S&H - I think was the other (Winn-Dixie)

Edit: after a Google search - I think S&H were the Green Stamps

Then there is John Stamos, who I think played somebody on TV or in the movies. Mostly TV.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stamos

[Whack9]

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus- ... 43f32cc358

Now Gov. Pete Ricketts, who frequently expounds on the value of work, is confronting an intriguing question: Can a governor force citizens to work, even if they apparently aren’t eager or able to do so?

Ricketts is certainly trying every option imaginable to get Nebraskans into jobs, including requiring people to confer with job coaches before seeking unemployment benefits.

“There’s going to be a lot of different things we’re going to have to do to reach each individual and, if they’re not working for whatever reason, get them back into the workforce,” Ricketts said recently.

...

“Jobs help create great financial independence for Nebraskans and their families, giving them the dignity to achieve their dreams,” said the two-term Republican governor, who is part of the Ricketts family, whose estimated $4.5 billion in wealth originated with the creation of the online brokerage Ameritrade.

...

Pat Keenan, who manages three chain hotels in North Platte, Nebraska, said he’s given up plans to open a restaurant near one hotel because “the chances of us getting it staffed are almost zero.”

He added, “I would call 2021 the year of the hourly employee,” he said. “They have more power than they’ve had and more money than they’ve ever had.”

Keenan said it’s time for the federal government to come up with an immigration reform plan that would allow more immigrants to work legally in the United States.

“I think we’re back at the stage where we need an influx of hard-working people again,” Keenan said. “I hate to say it, but it feels like a lot of existing Americans feel a little entitled and have lost their work ethic.”

Can't entice people to work for you? I have a solution - offer more pay and perks. This will make those currently employed leave their current job and work for you.

Nebraska has about 49,000 job openings listed on a state website and 19,000 working-age residents who are not working. About 4,300 people are receiving unemployment benefits.

Don't know what to tell ya, Nebraska.

Money talks.

I think 800,000 dead might have something to do with the labor shortages as well.

[Ulysses]

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus- ... 43f32cc358

Now Gov. Pete Ricketts, who frequently expounds on the value of work, is confronting an intriguing question: Can a governor force citizens to work, even if they apparently aren’t eager or able to do so?

Ricketts is certainly trying every option imaginable to get Nebraskans into jobs, including requiring people to confer with job coaches before seeking unemployment benefits.

“There’s going to be a lot of different things we’re going to have to do to reach each individual and, if they’re not working for whatever reason, get them back into the workforce,” Ricketts said recently.

...

“Jobs help create great financial independence for Nebraskans and their families, giving them the dignity to achieve their dreams,” said the two-term Republican governor, who is part of the Ricketts family, whose estimated $4.5 billion in wealth originated with the creation of the online brokerage Ameritrade.

...

Pat Keenan, who manages three chain hotels in North Platte, Nebraska, said he’s given up plans to open a restaurant near one hotel because “the chances of us getting it staffed are almost zero.”

He added, “I would call 2021 the year of the hourly employee,” he said. “They have more power than they’ve had and more money than they’ve ever had.”

Keenan said it’s time for the federal government to come up with an immigration reform plan that would allow more immigrants to work legally in the United States.

“I think we’re back at the stage where we need an influx of hard-working people again,” Keenan said. “I hate to say it, but it feels like a lot of existing Americans feel a little entitled and have lost their work ethic.”

Can't entice people to work for you? I have a solution - offer more pay and perks. This will make those currently employed leave their current job and work for you.

Nebraska has about 49,000 job openings listed on a state website and 19,000 working-age residents who are not working. About 4,300 people are receiving unemployment benefits.

Don't know what to tell ya, Nebraska.

Money talks.

I think 800,000 dead might have something to do with the labor shortages as well.

Well, "forcing people to work" sounds rather chilling and authoritarian.

However the way I read it, he's threatening to cut off unemployment benefits for those who refuse to get job counselling. I've been on unemployment more than I'd like to admit, and sometimes it involved mandatory job counselling. The sessions were sort of a joke but I could see the point, sort of. The difference being that when I got that mandatory counselling, I was already receiving UI benefits. The Neb Guv wants to make it prerequisite, which is turning it up a notch, perhaps a notch too far.

And I 100% agree that the better way to attract employees is to offer better benefits as well as a living wage. The carrot being preferable to the stick.

Personally I've worked both hourly and salary, and even ran my own consulting business for a few years. The downside to salary is that you can be required to work more than 40 hrs/week without any extra compensation. Although in the 90's one employer told me they were not enforcing that, something to do with it being illegal. I worked long hours anyway, because it was actually fun.

[neoplacebo]

I know. I ran a consulting business right next door to yours. I told everybody that came in the door not to consult with you. And I didn't even charge them.Virtually all of them thanked me profusely later on. It's how I got started in the diamond mine thing. I advise you not to consult.

[Ulysses]

I know. I ran a consulting business right next door to yours. I told everybody that came in the door not to consult with you. And I didn't even charge them.Virtually all of them thanked me profusely later on. It's how I got started in the diamond mine thing. I advise you not to consult.

I thought I smelled a rat next door.

[Whack9]

60 Minutes segment on Greenville and the worker shortage

People like to spout off Adam Smith's Wealth Of Nations in regards to our economy without having actually read it. If they had read it, they'd understand the power dynamic between the employee/employer goes both ways and its equally as important that the employee have power in the relationship as well. Sometimes that power dynamic shifts, and it's currently shifted in favor of the employee.

Also - some of the commentators mentioned the data doesn't support gov benefits keeping people from working. I think SC cut the extra covid benefits anyway.

1/7 jobs are now remote. Prior to the pandemic, 1/64 were. People appear to be moving towards remote opportunities.

A local business owner even stated most of his former employees are currently employed. Not sitting at home collecting benefits as most would like us to think.

The onus is now on employers to adapt.

[neoplacebo]

Capital is useless without labor. i forget who said that. Probably Marx. But it's true, and the greedheads know it. They just shop for the cheapest labor and find it; as they always have.

[Ulysses]

Capital is useless without labor. i forget who said that. Probably Marx. But it's true, and the greedheads know it. They just shop for the cheapest labor and find it; as they always have.

And unfortunately that chiseling shows up in the products.

[O Really]

Capital is useless without labor. i forget who said that. Probably Marx. But it's true, and the greedheads know it. They just shop for the cheapest labor and find it; as they always have.

Yes, and generally step on their own dicks in the process. Textile and apparel industries used to boom in New England, and then they all went south for cheap submissive labor too stupid to join unions. And the industry thrived there for a while. Until they decided the Chinese could do it cheaper still. Now there are essentially no textile/apparel companies in the US, and no practical way to get it back. And quality is mostly crap.

[Ulysses]

Capital is useless without labor. i forget who said that. Probably Marx. But it's true, and the greedheads know it. They just shop for the cheapest labor and find it; as they always have.

Yes, and generally step on their own dicks in the process. Textile and apparel industries used to boom in New England, and then they all went south for cheap submissive labor too stupid to join unions. And the industry thrived there for a while. Until they decided the Chinese could do it cheaper still. Now there are essentially no textile/apparel companies in the US, and no practical way to get it back. And quality is mostly crap.

Is that why nothing new seems to fit?

[O Really]

Is that why nothing new seems to fit?

No, that's because they change the sizing scale.
Or you got fatter. IDK

[Ulysses]

Is that why nothing new seems to fit?

No, that's because they change the sizing scale.
Or you got fatter. IDK

Oh, well, it couldn't possibly be the latter.

Perhaps I need to learn how to make my own clothes?

Nah, too much work.

[Vrede too]

(signature: obsessed gibberish)

Awww. , Useless.