What do you do for a living??

[toolaa]

That would be funny if I were an HR rep.

[ChadTower]

But, alas, it is not the good HR people you get to deal with as an employee.  You get to deal with the lowly $20k just off the lobotomy table HR rep.  Last month I sent email to three separate HR reps with a very clear question about our health insurance.  I got three different answers, two of the directly contradictory of each other and the third was about 401k.

[fredster]

Really good companies hire really bright people for their top HR positions and they expect great results. 

ROTFLMAO

HR people are all snakes. They smile when they hire people and smile when they fire people.

SNAKES I tell you. SSSSNNAAKKEESSS

[Stingray]

Really good companies hire really bright people for their top HR positions and they expect great results. 

ROTFLMAO

HR people are all snakes. They smile when they hire people and smile when they fire people.

SNAKES I tell you. SSSSNNAAKKEESSS

There you go again saying something that I agree with. What's the world coming to?

-S

[shmokes]

I agree too.  I hate HR people.  I think they get a kick out of the power they hold over people's lives (generalization, I know).  I remember when I was 19 I worked in a rental shop at a ski resort and had to wear my hair (which was a couple inches past my shoulders) up in a beanie.  It was kinda lame, but I didn't really care.  But I mentioned to my boss (manager of the rental department, not like the general manager of the resort or anything) that I thought that it was completely arbitrary, not to mention unconstitutional (I was 19, remember) to forbid guys from having, or displaying I guess, long hair but letting girls do it.  A month or so later I almost got fired because my manager brought it up with the HR director just to be cool.  I didn't ask him to do it....he just agreed with me and thought it was lame that I had to put my hair up in a beanie.

Anyway, the first words out of the HR director's mouth (with a big smile on his face according to my boss) were, "Well, I'm firing him."  My boss was like, "Don't fire him!  He's my best employee."  He actually had to sit there and argue with the guy to convince him that it wasn't even an issue.  I already neww the guy was an ---uvula---, but that's when my true hatred for HR people developed.

Another thing this guy would do is random blood alcohol tests at 7:30 - 8:00 in the morning and any amount other than 0% meant automatic dismissal.  A guy got fired from the rental shop for some crazy amount like 0.0012 or something.  It might have even had another zero in there between the decimal and the other numbers.  According to him he had been hanging out with friends the night before and probably had a six-pack of beers.  At any rate, it was WAY to low to suggest that he had been drinking at work (as if there had even been time yet) or even that morning before he came to work. 

[toolaa]

"Well, I'm firing him."

[RetroJames]

I am mostly involved in non-profit pursuits,

I do alot of work with unwed mothers....

[Stingray]

I do alot of work with unwed mothers....

...just helping them get their start.

-S

[dmsuchy]

I'm a stamp monkey.

[ChadTower]

I lay the stamp on unwed mothers.

[GameOver]

I do alot of work with unwed mothers....

Did that before I got married.  Didn't exactly consider it 'work', tho...

I'm a stamp monkey.

Huh?  Post office?  U lick the stamps?   

[dmsuchy]

I work for CBP which used to be INS and inspect all arving passengers entering the states. It's a term we use on ourselves, just wanted to see if anyone here knew it.

[GameOver]

I work for CBP which used to be INS and inspect all arving passengers entering the states. It's a term we use on ourselves, just wanted to see if anyone here knew it.

So why are you called 'stamp monkeys' if you inspect all arriving passengers?  I don't get it.  Where do stamps come into play?

[ChadTower]

Passports.

[dmsuchy]

The "admitted stamp" that we stamp in the passport. If ya ever went to Mexico you know what I mean.

[dmsuchy]

Chad ya beat me! Trust me talking about it is boring, unless you need to goto sleep.

[ChadTower]

Eh, fun is where you see it.  I was just giggling about the thought of teabagging someone's passport, leaving a stamp pad scrotumprint.

[Stingray]

Last time I was in Mexico was before 9/11. All you needed then was a valid driver's liscence. Still, the customs guys always pull me out of line and rummage through my carry on bag. Guess I look like a smuggler.

-S

[GameOver]

Chad ya beat me! ...

Ya have no idea who yer messin' wit...

Eh, fun is where you see it. I was just giggling about the thought of teabagging someone's passport, leaving a stamp pad scrotumprint.

Ohhh...I get it.

[dmsuchy]

You sure you also didn't need a birth certificate? I bet ya did. This December passports are mandatory, so don't forget.

[Stingray]

No, I thought I would, but a few inquiries revealed that a DL was all that was needed at the time This was back in '93 iirc. Good thing, because I haven't seen my birth certificate since about 1979 or so.

-S

[dmsuchy]

Just wondering but did you fly or cross the border? At the land border all you need is a photo ID, which dosen't make sense because they give illiegals IDs anyway.

[ChadTower]

Passing out food stamps upon crossing the Mexican border?  That sounds about right.

[Stingray]

Just wondering but did you fly or cross the border? At the land border all you need is a photo ID, which dosen't make sense because they give illiegals IDs anyway.

Flew. It was some third rate Mexican airline, the plane was a little scary.

-S

[ChadTower]

He sat on a beanbag chair that was leaking dried tea leaves or something.

[Stingray]

Dave's not here, man.

-S

[ChadTower]

Dave is just a gigolo, and everywhere he go, people know the part he's playing.

[GameOver]

It was some third rate Mexican airline, the plane was a little scary.

-S

Headless chickens?

[ChadTower]

Worse... bodyless chickens.  Heads only.

[Stingray]

The airline was called something like Aero Ejectorseato.

-S

[97thruhiker]

I went to the University of Florida and got a degree in Forest Resources and Conservation.  I am currently a land manager with the Florida Division of Forestry.  I'm in charge of Jennings State Forest just outside of Jacksonville.  Jennings State Forest is just under 24,000 acres in size.  We a multiple use forest which pretty much means we do everything from timber management to ecological restoration to recreation.  Here's a link to our web page if your interested:

http://www.fl-dof.com/state_forests/jennings.html

[Bones]

Cousin Jeffrey?

[ChadTower]

I went to the University of Florida and got a degree in Forest Resources and Conservation.

[97thruhiker]

Yes Chad its a great job.  I originally went to school to be a lawyer.  I graduated with a degree in political science and was accepted to the law school at UF.  I took a year off of school before starting law school and thru hiked the Appalachian Trail.  After spending six months backpacking the last thing I wanted to do was go to law school so I went back (it sucked going back to school again) to get a second undergraduate degree.  Best thing I could of done.  Its great to be able to go out and perform a prescribed fire one day, put a trail in another day, canoe the creek, etc.

[ChadTower]

That is awesome.  What type of salary does someone doing that make?  I've always managed our finances in a way that has us able to take a major cost of living reduction at about 45, when we plan to have the mortgage and any other debts paid off.  That is about when I figure I could easily drop out of my career and change life direction.

[97thruhiker]

It depends on what part of the country you live in.  Its a state job so the pay is not that great (great retirement and benefits though, as example my family health and life insurance plans are free, dental and vision for family is like $20 a month).  You could expect anywhere between $28,000 to $50,000 entry level pay straight out of college.  The more experience you have/get the higher the pay.  Like I said it really depends on where you live (cost of living, taxes, etc.).  A job in New England would probably pay more.  The biggest thing about this job is not so much the pay but the job satisfaction.  My stress level is almost zero.  I actually enjoy going to work.  If you didn't want to go back to school there are plently of opportunities for positions such as park rangers and forest rangers but the pay is significantly less, $20,000 to $30,000 to start.

[ChadTower]

Well, for me to do that, without selling our house, I'd have to wait until it is paid off.  That won't be for another 15 years or so.  I don't want to uproot my kids and make them live that close to the US poverty level, which is where $30k gets you in Massachusetts.  By the time the house is paid off, the kids will have moved out, so it all works out to about that time.

[97thruhiker]

I sorta figured that considering where you live.  My father's side of the family is from New England so I know how expensive it is to live up there.  In Florida $28,000 to $50,000 a year will take you much farther (no local or state taxes, low property taxes, etc.).  I wouldn't move if I was in your situation either.

[ChadTower]

Not yet, but I will at some point.  Email me, we'll talk about your job.