Looks Like My Vacation Is Coming To An End
 

Back in April, I and 150 of my best friends were laid off from my company of 4 years. We designed and manufactured seating for commercial aircraft. I was really undecided as to whether or not I wanted to go back to work, so I spent the last several months playing a lot of golf and enjoying a self-imposed sabbatical.

Through an unusual series of events, I was made one of those job offers I couldn't (or, shouldn't) refuse, so it's back to work in 2 weeks for a military subcontractor. It's my understanding (but not officially confirmed) that I'll be working on the new Air Force One. So at least it'll be an interesting program, and to be honest, I'm really tired of shelling out a shitload of money for COBRA insurance every month. Aerospace is a small industry, so I'll be reunited with some old friends from Patriot and F-35 days.

My golf game will suffer. 1st World Problems.

:kimblair:

https://sayingimages.com/wp-content/...golf-memes.png



https://www.memesmonkey.com/images/m...a3f9eb2cd.jpeg






https://socalgolfer.org/wp-content/u...ke-image-1.jpg

Mike, I know a couple of insurance brokers who can get you much better rates. PM if you're interested.

1) Make the seats bigger, with wider arm rests.

2) Design more leg room.

3) Repeat 1 and 2

4) Repeat 1 and 2 again

Play time is over.

After retiring, this is my worst fear:rofl:

Congrats Mike!

Put a whoopee cushion in each seat

Take the seating dimensions from First Class and repeat them throughout the plane. :yesnod:

I retired in May 2020 @65, and I doubt I'd go back to work. My company has contacted me and setup a contract if they wanted me to come back. They offered $70/hr., but I demanded $120/hr.
I'm assuming that Mike is not in his 60's yet?

Thanks, but this one comes with full benefits. :hurray:

I know......... :cry: :cry: :cry: But it'll be good to get back in a routine. I've always said that I had no plans to officially retire, so returning to work was always in the back of my mind. I'm just very blessed to have called my own shots in terms of when I started back and with whom. I'll still be volunteering at the golf course on Saturdays so I keep my free golf. :D

This won't be seating. It'll be complete interior/exterior mods. It bears mentioning that seat manufacturers do not decide how a seat is designed. Seat sizes and options are up to the customer. Word of advice: Try not to fly any of the Asian Airlines (e.g. ANA or JAL) unless you're super skinny or plan on flying in First Class. We would never try to sit in any of the seats because all of us fat ass Americans would actually get stuck. There were aircraft that actually had a seat pitch (distance from the front of one seat to the front of the next) of 39 inches.

I'm 60. And I know many guys who have retired on a Friday and come back to their exact same position on Monday. The difference is that they brought a shovel in with them to pick up all the money they company now paid them as a contractor. Why do you think I contracted for 25 years? :D

Congrats...and do us all a small favor. Please make sure Biden's seat belt doesn't work or at least one of the springs in his seat constantly pokes him in the ass. Thnaks :cheers:

Congratulations.:seasix:

i didn't mind working 60 if I was getting paid for 60.

it's when they brought you in on the basis of 40 for a set pay, and then later tell you it's now 60 for the same pay. bye. :kimblair:

people actually pay for COBRA? :confused5::shots::leaving:

Doesn't happen if you're a contractor. It's always time + 1/2 or double time. I don't mind putting in a few extra hours here and there, but not on a regular basis. I like companies that call it "casual overtime" meaning that they'll pay you for extra hours worked AFTER you put in five or so hours over the normal 40. That's when I casually go home at the end of the day.

About 30 people that I know personally out of the 150 that were laid off with me have been. Did you think they were just going to provide us with free health insurance?

See post 11.

Not clear to me.

As an example; you work your 40 and go home. Easy. But what if you work 45 hours? I'm assuming you get paid 5 hours @ 1.0 or 1.5? Does the 1.5 kick in after the 45 or 40?

As a contractor the pay structure for the jobs I worked was time + 1/2 for anything over 40 hours. Double time for anything over 60 hours. Double time + 1/2 was over 60 hours on weekend and holiday together.

Every contract is different, but this was fairly standard in my industry. And keep in mind this was usually DoD and/or Aircraft work. And they LOVE to throw money away. :D

"Casual overtime" was for direct salaried employees. At the places I was working, you had to work 45 hours before you were paid additional, and that was usually at straight time. Example: You work up to 45 hours, you get your normal check. Work 50 hours and you're paid for 45 at your calculated straight time rate. There was no time + 1/2 for salaried. So you're essentially "donating" 5 hours to the company. :rofl: It should also be noted that after you reach a certain level or pay grade (usually a manager, director or higher), this no longer applies.

long ago had a boss who had similar ideas on what salaried types should work.

he wanted to morph from 40-50/week, plus travel time (unpaid) to 60+ per week, plus more unpaid travel.

i pointed out to him that if hired a lawyer, he'd pay for every minute that lawyer was working on his case.

"well, this is different", sorry boss, but i don't see it that way, i'm out of here in 2 weeks.

:kimblair:

As I'm sure you know, when you contract the pay scales are set when you start. It's pretty clear cut as to how you'll be paid and under what circumstances, so companies rarely tried anything like that.

I was at a contract job a few years ago with several Indian "engineers" working at cut-rates. Their work was miserable and we were told we had to work overtime to correct the problems. My conversation with my manager (who was kind of an ass) was basically this:

"Time + 1/2 for overtime, correct?"

"No...it'll be straight time."

"Do you speak Spanish?"

"No I don't...why?"

"Vaya con dios, amigo. That's Spanish for 'This is my two week notice' " :kimblair: