I’d LOVE LOVE LOVE a pension like that. It sounds like you’re one of the lucky ones.[/quote]
+1[/quote]
cvmom, you would have had to have been me (in the era I earned it) in order to be eligible for it.
I had to return to work after maternity leaves within ten weeks of initially starting it (and this is only because I had leave saved to pay for the additional four weeks over the six wks that SDI covered at 62%). Many didn’t.
Working conditions:
Until 1990, walk several blocks to/from car thru a solid two blocks of tatoo parlors, liquor stores, bars and a “peep show” among numerous homeless persons and Hell’s Angels, etc, etc. Got off work at 5:00 pm and the last quarter of the year it got dark at ~4:30 pm.
Why? Those were the closest and only commercial pay pkg lots available. We rec’d $50 month on our checks to pay for them and they cost $85 to $130 mo.
Until 1990, wore skirts, dresses, dress shoes and hose nearly every day.
Why? A strict dress code was required for women in my classification. (we changed into sneakers to walk to/from our cars).
Be docked in increments of 1/10 of an hour (6 min) if arrived late in the morning or late from lunch reporting to supervisor. (It was up to discretion of supervisor whether they would accept annual leave min/hrs in lieu of docking, but if they did, an employees leave could be siphoned off such that they would never have enough hours to get a vacation.)
PC at one’s desk? What’s that?? Only after 1990 (amber/blk screens until 2000). Internet access? After 1999, had access to “intranet” only, which was proprietary and limited to gov biz departmental websites only.
After 2000, we rec’d limited internet with a far-reaching filter locking most sites. Each PC came with a keylogger installed in its hard drives, with another installed keylogger on the dept’s network.
After 2000, there were at least two persons employed at each dept who had no other duties but to keep track of employees’ keystrokes and what they were doing on the intranet/internet.
Employees were sent home for a hem down, torn clothing, too-tight clothing, appearing too sick (they had run out of sick leave), barefoot sandals, clothing with writing on it, poor hygiene, failure to wear hose/socks, etc.
You better give the impression of liking and respecting your supervisor or your life could be made hell really fast . . .
Employees were routinely written up for “disrespect” and “insubordination.”
Until 1990, no cubicles. Desks were out in the open or pushed into another employee’s desk. Must check in with supervisor to take break/lunch.
Routinely handled 20-50 lb boxes and files lifting many of them off high shelves (with ladders) and moving in/out of baskets. When some older files were pulled off top shelves, this disturbed ceiling tiles containing asbestos, which caused white dust to fall on you.
Got bleary eyed routinely going thru years and years of microfilm to find and print old documents needed by tomorrow.
After 1990, had cubicle with cardboard clock on the outside with signs “break” and “lunch.” The employee put up a “break” or “lunch” sign and moved the hands of the clock indicating when they would be back. And they better not be overstaying their breaks/lunch as someone else was waiting to go when they came back.
Sat at long tables seating 12 eating brown-bag lunches for at least a decade. Frig provided. Snacks came from machine two floors down. Coffee was provided but was regular coffee with sugar/powdered creamer (no latte, Starbucks, etc).
B/W TV was available in lunchroom to watch soaps. It only got three channels.
I could go on but you get the drift.
I have to laugh at the Piggs’ (primarly Gen Y on this forum who have worked less than a decade and already want to “retire,” lol) opinions on why I don’t deserve my small pension. These “workers” are obviously either “working from home” or sitting in the office with their feet up on the desk in private offices with jeans, a t-shirt and flip flops on with a laptop/tablet on their lap, music playing in headphones and Piggington on their taskbar. 🙂 They no doubt have access to free parking, company coffee carts, company gyms, company jogging trails and wide-screens in their company cafeteria serving healthy food, etc. These workers really have no idea what most boomers did all day to earn their pay. Not a clue.
I would compare my “career” (which earned me a small pension) to serving in the military (except for no deployments and 8-5 pm only) :=0
Basically, it was all about proper “face time” and getting ALL your work done before 5:00 pm.
Oh, and cvmom, my kids were in FT daycare since infancy. They were picked up every day between 5:35 and 6:00 pm.
