Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Rett on March 13, 2005, 10:19:15 AM
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Before I pose this question to you I will give you a bit of background info on my job and a little about myself...
I work for a medium sized amblance transport company in Daytona Beach, FL as a Paramedic. I've been at this company for a bit over 3 years. It is the only one in the county and contracts for all the 911(thats 999 for you euro-types) calls in the county from crashes to chest pain. Not only do I work there my wife does as well.
Florida is a right-to-work state and has unions but, the unions are totally powerless due to there being no binding arbitration(basically the managment can do anything to you at any time for any reason within the law) and all i can do is smile and grind my teeth about it. There is no civil service protection like a police dept or fire dept.
My company has recently undergone managment changes to include re-hiring a street supervisor that was FIRED several years ago for ineptness. Now he oversees the operation of the entire company :rolleyes: makes perfect sense huh?
Now that you have a bit of background on the company I'll get into my main issue. Every year we have a annual performance evaluation. Once this evaluation is complete we all receive merit raises that used to range from 3% to 5% depending on the evaluation. Well last year when the re-hired arsehat that i now work for "revamped the evaluation system" and the evauations now range from 0% to 5%. Well there is also a cost of living adjustment figured in but.....it works out to about $330 per year.
You would think that somone that has actualy OBSERVED you at work would be the person completing the performance evaluation. Well, this isnt the case the person that did mine is middle managment that works 0600 to 1800...i work 1800 to 0600 on the OPPOSITE shift. So, basically I never ever see her. Now this is idiocy at its finest.....she completed my evaluation and i received a whole 0%.... It isnt that I am a poor performer, exactly the opposite....I do my job to the letter...never have i been complained about by my patients or co-workers.
this particular manager is my wife's direct supervisor and they well.....dont get along to put it lightly....my wife also received a 0% raise.
So, basically this person is taking food off my table and making it more difficult to make ends meet. I lodged a greivence with the re-hired director of operations and got the following response:
(and this is verbatim) "You work for me, and I am the one who approves all the raises in the company as well as the day to day operations, If you have a particular issue with this desicion I suggest that you go put an application in at McDonald's beacuse you have no place here. I'm not going to entertain this complaint beacuse you are just upset that you didnt receive a pay-raise you obviously dont deserve"
Needless to say i was floored. What would you do in this situation that is blatantly unfair. Anyone of ya lawyer types have any input? Medicboy(or any other medics) how bout your view on this? Would you quit? Go postal? Or just act like an employee that is actually worth a 0% raise?
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Does Forida have a labor board?
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Originally posted by Jackal1
Does Forida have a labor board?
Not that I'm aware of...but i'll look into it
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Rett this is one example of the situations where you need unions. If the employer treats you unfairly they could help you there.
Personal grudge should not be a reason for bad evaluations and if you can show this was the reason for the 0% you can sue this person to high hell.
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We tried unionizing once.....The rest of the lemings i work with were intimidated out of it. But once again in florida the unions cant really do much except bring in the lawyers and even that, usually doesnt do much
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go into business for your self that way you can raise your salary when ever you need to. that's what i did after working for people who couldn't do 1/2 of what i did and pretended to "tell me what to do".
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Do you have anyone in your company tha t you could talk about this problem? Someone above him. You could have a confidential talk, express your concerns and figure out how to handle the situation.
If you're indeed a good worker your employer won't want to make you dissatisfied _or_ have a person evaluationg others on false reasons.
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no, unfortunatly he is the final word....we have a board of directors that i could appeal to but, being an at will employee and leapfroging the chain of command would well....poop in the cornflakes of the director of operations. I probably wouldnt get fired for it but, the consequences eventually would. This guy has the middle managers ducking for cover, they are afraid to do anything without his approval and/or order. So it would be highly satisfing but, realisticly would probably put me on unemployment
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Are there other ambulance companies in the area?
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not in this county, but there are some in the surrounding counties though. Some require you to go to fire school (which i have no intrest and besides that have a wee bit of a clostrphobia thing) and others are a 60+ mile commute to work for a major company such as Rural-metro which is a nationwide publicly traded fortune 500 company but, pays less than i make now.
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Does your company have many workers all in all?
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the company is comprised of approx 90 fulltime and 100 part-time emts and paramedics plus i would guess 30+ billing,clerical,collections ect....office types. We are actually a pretty big company in this line of work.
this is the website for the company
employers website (http://www.evacamb.org)
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It's a shame you don't have a union rep there, you could talk to him and this guy would be booted before he found out what hit him.
That is if you have proof.
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proof.....well easier said than done. i made copies of the evaluaion and of my entire personel jacket. 0 negative info in personel jacket for the past 3 years....loads of it in the evaluation. Calling labor attorney after lunch today and handing it off to him i think. Probably a good thing my neighbors son is one, which i just found out about 5 mins ago....this could become interesting.
Comments and suggestions have been greatly appreciated. Still would like to hear more from the AH community. At least i know that some of you out there will answer this lurker's post( not even 20 posts in over a year registered). This is just something that makes me really re-evaluate what i do for a living. I mean I love my job but, wouldnt urinate on my bosses head if it was on fire.
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How is your current pay compared to similar national and state positions?
eskimo
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Rett if this guy is out to get you, use your wife (along with trusted witnesses) to incriminate this guy. He won't know what hit him so if he holds a grudge to your family, he'll be dumb enough to display it publicly (in front of witnesses) and play the game right in your pocket.
You must secure all bases before making this kind of allegiations on anyone, especially if you care about your job and have to do it without the union support.
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paywise....our starting salary is somewhere i would say low to middle but, this is florida for the most part a pretty poor state( i think the states motto is : Thank god for Alabama)....the lowest paying agency is around 22,000 a year as a medic...highest is around 50,000. We start at around 30k. In this area it is a pretty decent salary since the area i live in the cost of living is on the low end(but rising quickly)
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Originally posted by Siaf__csf
Rett if this guy is out to get you, use your wife (along with trusted witnesses) to incriminate this guy. He won't know what hit him so if he holds a grudge to your family, he'll be dumb enough to display it publicly (in front of witnesses) and play the game right in your pocket.
You must secure all bases before making this kind of allegiations on anyone, especially if you care about your job and have to do it without the union support.
Honsestly i dont think he's(director of operations) out to get me I think its her supervisor that completed the evaluations for both of us that is. Personally i think and have been proven right on many,many occasions that the D/O a bit on the dumb side. He makes poor decsions and stands by them and has lost the company 5 good employees that he alienated so far this year alone. I think that his response to my greivence was purely another uninformed rash desicion that he is becoming famous for.
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Rett,
Success is the best revenge. Start your own ambulance company, make it successful and enjoy knowing that the inept people work for the competition. Sure they have the contract for now. That contract has to expire someday.
Yes it will be hard, but you imagine how good you and your wife would feel, and there'd be plenty of $$$ for food on the table.
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I would say later aligator. Not the most practical advice in the world, but life is waaaaay too short for that crap.
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Originally posted by storch
go into business for your self that way you can raise your salary when ever you need to. that's what i did after working for people who couldn't do 1/2 of what i did and pretended to "tell me what to do".
Ditto
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It takes a commitment to start a private business from nothing. The kind that most people just don't have.
I'm not sure how the system works down there but starting a business is always a kind of a gamble. You might gain a lot or you could lose it all. Or.. end up spending 25 hours a day trying to make profit in an endless struggle.
I've been in a situation where you have to contribute so much time for the work that it takes away from the family. Then again I was in a similar situation for getting addicted to AH.. :)
Whatever you do, balance the outcome to secure the well being of your family.
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I was in a pretty similar situation after the company I worked for was acquired by another. I put up with it for 3 years before I finally quit. I was IT, so no union. There was so much stupidity and waste going on under the nerw management it was tragic. Funny thing is, it soured my whole outlook on IT, now I'm not sure what I want to do.
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It takes a commitment to start a private business from nothing. The kind that most people just don't have.
It certainly does take commitment. It also takes self sacrifice, guts, and a few other positive traits. He asked us what each of us would do; I answered. I'm self employed now and cannot imagine ever working for someone else again.
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What do you mean oboe? How could they sour your outlook on the job?
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I'm self employed now and cannot imagine ever working for someone else again.
I also jumped in the ownership base of a small software company. It has perks, but it has its hard parts too. If things go bad you have nobody but yourself to blame.
OTOH if you make it, you make it good. :aok
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Originally posted by Rett
no, unfortunatly he is the final word....we have a board of directors that i could appeal to but, being an at will employee and leapfroging the chain of command would well....poop in the cornflakes of the director of operations. I probably wouldnt get fired for it but, the consequences eventually would. This guy has the middle managers ducking for cover, they are afraid to do anything without his approval and/or order. So it would be highly satisfing but, realisticly would probably put me on unemployment
you could always hire a private detective, dig up some **** that would probably cost him his job and drop it on his desk anonymously.
:)
charles bronson style love.
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That would probably lead into a blackmale charges. Legal way is the best.
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Siaf, congrats on your success! I too have had my difficulties at times. I try to keep perspective(sometimes fail). What I mean is, when I'm having a problem, I try to imagine again what it would be like to work for someone else, making them rich while I am totally dependent on their paycheck and, to an extent, employed only at their whim, a second away from being without a job.
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Siaf, congrats on your success! I too have had my difficulties at times.
Thanks! But we're not 100% in the clear yet. A couple very significant deals are about to come true and this will dictate a lot (among others if I'll visit your country in the near future.)
Unfortunately things are now at a stage where you can't do anything to forward things. Base work is done and contracts are awaiting.
Exciting times.
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Originally posted by Siaf__csf
I also jumped in the ownership base of a small software company. It has perks, but it has its hard parts too. If things go bad you have nobody but yourself to blame.
OTOH if you make it, you make it good. :aok
yup. ain't free enterprise great!!!! the only thing I try to do very very well is to take care of the customer. 110% customer satisfaction is what we strive for. taking care of that aspect takes care of every thing else in my business. it took a little time to make a name but once the word of mouth progressed geometrically the phone never stopped ringing and the walk ins come almost daily. we never advertise. $0.00 in advertising expenses. the other key ingrediant is qualified personnel that feel like they have a stake in the company's success. take care of your customer first take care of your people next and together they both take care of you. 10% from the effort of 10 dedicated men is way better than 100% of my own effort.
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Rett, I can relate to your situation better than most, I have been a Flight medic and Street medic for the last 20 plus years. I started with a private ambulance service and then It evolved into a Non-profit air and ground service in southern oregon,
Just before the sale of company we unionized with a teamsters local, This is not cure all fix but it has helped us with Fairness and consitency with dicipline. Union shops are only as effective as thier members want them to be, If you can't relocate or unionize then realize that superviors like you discribe nomally screw the Pooch fairly quickly and are sent packing because if they tick off the crews then the upper level types start seeing problems and quess who goes first Middle managment. :cool: My wife is a dispatcher and I still work the Medic units
I have done the FTO and the Flight medic thing, I still get most of my strokes and feeling of acomplishment for just taking care of regular folks
Hang and sir (http://[img]http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/341_1110738817_ambulance.jpg)[/IMG] (http://[img]http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/341_1110738896_plane.jpg)[/IMG] (http://[img]http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/341_1110738848_helecopter_sm.jpg)[/IMG]
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Originally posted by Steve
It certainly does take commitment. It also takes self sacrifice, guts, and a few other positive traits. He asked us what each of us would do; I answered. I'm self employed now and cannot imagine ever working for someone else again.
I agree. I couldnt work for anyone again.
It has its plus's and minus's.
During rough times its ROUGH and during good times its GREAT.
But the aggrivation is mine and mine alone and not someone elses(read Boss) dumped on me.
I have a complete distain for timeclocks and scheduled break times
And the rules are mine and not some desksitting suit with a portable and often colorful suicide device hanging around his neck
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Whatever you decide to do, I strongly advise recording everything that happens. Keep a journal, write quotes with dates, witnesses and times. Start now.
eskimo
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couldnt possibly agree more eskimo. sound advice sir.
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Does it really matter?
Why is your wife having issues with her boss? Who's right?
Have you tried a straightforward conversation with her/ your boss?
Maybe it's time to expand your horizons in life?
Clearly the manager who wrote you that letter has neither leadership skill nor decency but he's not your problem yet. He will be if you chose to escalate.
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As you prolly already know, absent a union contract they only have Federal laws to comply with. Having lived in Daytona since retireing from the Navy in 1991 I can tell you that the Company you work for are known for being complete ultra melons to their emloyees. Prolly why they hired one as an over see'er. As far as wages in this area, very simple...it's a sunshine tax. If they paid the same here as in New Jersey, the line would form North of Georgia somewhere. No State income tax. And Halifax Marina to park my boat. Of course I live in Ormond.
Is this the outfit off of Mason?
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Wow... thanks for all the great advice. It is most appreciated, my usual MO whensomething like this happens is that I gather all advice,opinons and experiances and put em all togther before i act. Its saved my butt on more than one occasion.
yep, rabbidrabbit it matters, the issue between my wife and her now supervisor has been a long time in the making (before she was in a supervisory position). I'm almost positive it was over something really petty . Besides, that you know how women can get when they dont like each other.
Steve, I'd love to start my own company. To give you an idea of per year cost per unit including cost of the vehicle ,fuel,equiptment, crew salary and insurance is slightly over $400,000 per year, per unit. Can ya loan me 5 bucks to get started :) As it stands i can hardly afford to pay attention.
Yeah, weaselsan its the outfit off of mason. I think once they get promoted they get issued the ultra melon
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Rett,
Ask yourself what you really care about. Is this little tiff your wife has with this other girl worth thousands of dollars or your job? Both your jobs? How much are you going to give a lawyer? for what?