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So my current work situation is quite odd and extremely lucky but I'm quitting in September to go back to school but I'm worried I might be throwing away too good of a thing.
I got this job working at a fruit production plant. I started out making minimum wage, but I worked really hard and got promoted to 16/hr and then I worked really hard some more and got promoted again and started making 25/hr. I oversaw a room of my own and even though the pressure was heavy, it was enjoyable work and I was making good money.
About eight months ago a co-worker quit his job and I was reassigned to fill in for his position while they looked for a permanent replacement. This job was absolutely terrible.
The fruit starts out in the infusion room where I originally worked. It gets dumped into these massive containers and then a shit ton of sugar gets dumped on top of them. Literally thousands of pounds of sugar.
After infusing with the sugar, the fruit gets sent off to the oven where it's cooked slowly for about 3 hours before finally being dumped into the shaker room.
The shaker room is where I got reassigned. Basically what happens is, as the fruit dries it sometimes clumps together. The shaker vibrates like crazy to dislodge this clumps. However, sometimes the clumps don't dislodge. There's these holes, like a sieve, where the smaller acceptable pieces fall through, and the larger clumps will pass over top. My job, and the man who understandably quit before me, is to scoop up these clumps and re-dump them into the beginning of the shaker process in hopes that this time they get broken up correctly. That's it. That's all I would do for seven and a half hours a day. However, I was still getting paid 25/hr and it was supposed to just be temporary, so I sucked it up.
Now here's where it gets interesting. Within a month after I was reassigned our small plant was bought out by a much larger company which prompted two notable changes.
First, they terminated the contracts of all supervisors and brought in their own people. I was technically a supervisor as well but because I got reassigned to this menial job I assume I fell through the cracks.
Secondly, they made the change from producing cranberries, to solely producing blueberries. The reason why this is so notable is because cranberries are much larger than blueberries. Especially after they get dried out. A dried up blueberry comes out to be about half the size of your average pea.
Now remember that shaker table with the sieve like apparatus? Well that sieve was designed to filter out the much larger cranberries. After the company switched over, they never replaced this part of the assembly line with a finer sieve.
So in other words, ever single piece of fruit falls through the sieve. Which means that there's no clumps for me to scoop, which means that I do nothing all day.
I mean literally nothing. I sit in a chair and play games on my phone or watch movies or read books. The room only houses myself. There's a single door in and out of the room, but my chair is placed in such a way that if anyone should enter, although they never do, I would be able to quickly look like I'm working.
This is a 24 hour job and my replacement and the man I replace in the morning are both Indian. From our brief conversations which involve a lot of hand waving as I cannot speak punjabi and their english is quite poor, I can deduce that they too are very happy working such an easy job while their co-workers toil away in much worse conditions. However I imagine that they are getting paid minimum wage in contrast to my very generous earnings.
I have, after a lot of deliberation, deciding to quit my job and once again return to school. Although I worry about not finding a better paying job after graduating (my brother has his masters and he works an office job for 18/hr), I also worry about one day being discovered and then being let go with no transferable skills.
However, maybe I should just stay here and be content with what I have. There's a lot of people working in far worse situations, making far less money. I kind of feel guilty looking for more when I've already been gifted so much.
I guess by sharing this I'm hoping for a response from someone who says, "Hey man I used to work a great paying job but I went back to school and it was the best decision of my life! Go for it!"
Am I being foolish for wanting to go back to school even though I'm making good money now?
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Why not go to school part time? It sounds like you could easily do your homework at work with this job, that's a win win to me.
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United States24680 Posts
I think your long-term concerns are very reasonable. You probably won't be sitting in a chair in that room getting paid decently for the rest of your life. At some point things are going to change, and you aren't getting any more prepared by doing nothing while getting paid decently. The only alternative I could see to quitting the job and going to school or doing something else... would be to get started on school/else while still working. You could study part time while you work (and judging from your description, you could literally study while you work lol).
Many people with your current job would initially love how they get paid pretty decently for not having to do anything, and then would get bored and feel like dying. While it's okay to take advantage of the situation for the short term (in my opinion), I wouldn't think you should for the long term (if it even is possible). Sooner or later you should find something more fulfilling (and it's even possible such a job is available where you currently work, but maybe not).
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On May 01 2016 00:58 Cauld wrote:
Why not go to school part time? It sounds like you could easily do your homework at work with this job, that's a win win to me.
The school I'm going to is too far away. It has an internship program which is really important I think.
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On May 01 2016 01:01 micronesia wrote:
I think your long-term concerns are very reasonable. You probably won't be sitting in a chair in that room getting paid decently for the rest of your life. At some point things are going to change, and you aren't getting any more prepared by doing nothing while getting paid decently. The only alternative I could see to quitting the job and going to school or doing something else... would be to get started on school/else while still working. You could study part time while you work (and judging from your description, you could literally study while you work lol).
Many people with your current job would initially love how they get paid pretty decently for not having to do anything, and then would get bored and feel like dying. While it's okay to take advantage of the situation for the short term (in my opinion), I wouldn't think you should for the long term (if it even is possible). Sooner or later you should find something more fulfilling (and it's even possible such a job is available where you currently work, but maybe not).
That makes me feel a lot better because that's along the same lines as I was thinking.
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So in other words, ever single piece of fruit falls through the sieve. Which means that there's no clumps for me to scoop, which means that I do nothing all day.
I think you $25/hr is gonna dry up faster than one of your blueberries!
Go back to school and don't look back!!
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wadaya takin' in skool ? what skool ?
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25$/hour doing nothing? That won't last. Go to school. I don't know what you want to study or where you want to study, but if you pick a school that is close to your work, you can basically work a late night shift and do your homework, go to school during day time so you can have both skills AND pay check.
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Assuming you are not an idiot you actually want to study something that requires you to be on site, so money is not your primary source of motivation.
What motivates me?, might be a good question to think about at this time.
Out of curiousity, what do you want to study?
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Why don't you take a look into doing some form of online schooling? I know in Washington state we have a pretty good online program (don't know about canada). Or Even doing coursera/lynda certificates while you're at work. You can take coursera courses without having to pay for them I believe. If you are still uncertain of what you want to do then taking a variety of these classes will probably help you figure that out and make you more marketable with better skills to transfer.
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ask yourself
what is the point of being alive
if your answer is sit in a room doing the same shit every day for no reason then i guess you're fine
i quit my programming job a few weeks ago , it was the most ive ever been paid in my life, but to me sitting in a room doing programming shit is pointless (and hard) . so i quit and gonna do some stuff instead and try to find value another way in life
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On May 01 2016 11:51 FFGenerations wrote:
ask yourself
what is the point of being alive
if your answer is sit in a room doing the same shit every day for no reason then i guess you're fine
This is very true. Especially when what you're doing is essentially nothing. Sit for many hrs a day looking at your phone.
For those in worse economic situations, or where their jobs are very hard and stressful, your job would SOUND like heaven.
But honestly, I've worked jobs where I got paid decent (office job ~$20/hr) where I sat and did nothing but surf the web and after even 1 month, your brain feels like its dying mentally. And life (and work) feels very pointless and futile. I mean the money coming in is nice, but you start wondering maybe one can be more productive and joyful in life.
Go to school. Study something you're passionate for. Monetize that. Happy AND earn an honest mans living, it can't be too much to aim for.
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If I were you, I probably would work a few more months and use that free time for some self learning.
That extra money could be spent on proper class once you found out what you want to take up.
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I would sit on that and make as much money as you can.
this is coming from someone who went to school and got a degree and I'm not making any more than if I never went to school.
I would only go back to school if I had a 100% certain path and end goal job that YOU can handle the stress of finding and maintaining.
On May 01 2016 11:51 FFGenerations wrote:
ask yourself
what is the point of being alive
if your answer is sit in a room doing the same shit every day for no reason then i guess you're fine
i quit my programming job a few weeks ago , it was the most ive ever been paid in my life, but to me sitting in a room doing programming shit is pointless (and hard) . so i quit and gonna do some stuff instead and try to find value another way in life
This is good. If you don't enjoy getting paid to do nothing and sit in a room, you need to figure out what it is you can find acceptable to work at.
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On May 01 2016 16:54 bertolo wrote:I would sit on that and make as much money as you can. this is coming from someone who went to school and got a degree and I'm not making any more than if I never went to school. I would only go back to school if I had a 100% certain path and end goal job that YOU can handle the stress of finding and maintaining. Show nested quote +On May 01 2016 11:51 FFGenerations wrote:
ask yourself
what is the point of being alive
if your answer is sit in a room doing the same shit every day for no reason then i guess you're fine
i quit my programming job a few weeks ago , it was the most ive ever been paid in my life, but to me sitting in a room doing programming shit is pointless (and hard) . so i quit and gonna do some stuff instead and try to find value another way in life This is good. If you don't enjoy getting paid to do nothing and sit in a room, you need to figure out what it is you can find acceptable to work at.
This (and others) brings up the point of why your deliberation has lead you to go back to school?
I too quit a similarly paying job (probably more stable and enjoyable - 911 dispatcher) to go back to school. I doubt it'll ever end up being the better financial choice but other factors still make it the right choice for me.
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On May 01 2016 23:40 y0su wrote:Show nested quote +On May 01 2016 16:54 bertolo wrote:I would sit on that and make as much money as you can. this is coming from someone who went to school and got a degree and I'm not making any more than if I never went to school. I would only go back to school if I had a 100% certain path and end goal job that YOU can handle the stress of finding and maintaining. On May 01 2016 11:51 FFGenerations wrote:
ask yourself
what is the point of being alive
if your answer is sit in a room doing the same shit every day for no reason then i guess you're fine
i quit my programming job a few weeks ago , it was the most ive ever been paid in my life, but to me sitting in a room doing programming shit is pointless (and hard) . so i quit and gonna do some stuff instead and try to find value another way in life This is good. If you don't enjoy getting paid to do nothing and sit in a room, you need to figure out what it is you can find acceptable to work at. This (and others) brings up the point of why your deliberation has lead you to go back to school? I too quit a similarly paying job (probably more stable and enjoyable - 911 dispatcher) to go back to school. I doubt it'll ever end up being the better financial choice but other factors still make it the right choice for me.
As many people have said, you should stay here as long as you can, soak up as much money as you can, while doing some self learning courses. Most of the learning comes from books and physically doing the reading/homework anyways, and there are forums that will answer any questions that you have.
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I want to bring up a slightly less pragmatic, but in my opinion equally important, side of school. If you go to school you will be around peers who are in a similar educational situation as you, that cannot be overstated. Instead of surrounding yourself with people who are happy to be working what you've described as a somewhat dead-end job that you are bored with, you are surrounding yourself with people who generally want to achieve. Environments make an enormous difference. While people in here are saying that you can self-learn effectively - and you certainly can do so, I would never suggest against investing time into subjects you enjoy - learning in community is a different and (in my opinion) better experience to have. Take some time to formulate a plan, it doesn't have to be super pragmatic or realistic, of what you want to do with your life ideally. Then make a backup plan you'd be happy with. When you get enough money get started on it and don't waste precious time sitting in a room alone when you could be pursuing things you honestly enjoy.
On a slightly different note, its harped on a lot and people disagree with me a lot about this, but I truly believe being generally more educated is important to living well. While you don't need to be in a classroom to keep learning, the amount of learning you get by going school and dedicating hours of your time to subjects will better you as a person. Often times people will say that going to school into a "useless" major/field of study is worthless, but the knowledge you gain is not. I highly suggest going to school just to be better educated, often times I find those people are far happier even if the job they get is not far better than if they had not gone to school. This last piece you can take with a grain of salt though.
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On May 02 2016 04:44 docvoc wrote:
I want to bring up a slightly less pragmatic, but in my opinion equally important, side of school. If you go to school you will be around peers who are in a similar educational situation as you, that cannot be overstated. Instead of surrounding yourself with people who are happy to be working what you've described as a somewhat dead-end job that you are bored with, you are surrounding yourself with people who generally want to achieve. Environments make an enormous difference. While people in here are saying that you can self-learn effectively - and you certainly can do so, I would never suggest against investing time into subjects you enjoy - learning in community is a different and (in my opinion) better experience to have. Take some time to formulate a plan, it doesn't have to be super pragmatic or realistic, of what you want to do with your life ideally. Then make a backup plan you'd be happy with. When you get enough money get started on it and don't waste precious time sitting in a room alone when you could be pursuing things you honestly enjoy.
On a slightly different note, its harped on a lot and people disagree with me a lot about this, but I truly believe being generally more educated is important to living well. While you don't need to be in a classroom to keep learning, the amount of learning you get by going school and dedicating hours of your time to subjects will better you as a person. Often times people will say that going to school into a "useless" major/field of study is worthless, but the knowledge you gain is not. I highly suggest going to school just to be better educated, often times I find those people are far happier even if the job they get is not far better than if they had not gone to school. This last piece you can take with a grain of salt though.
i find "school people" are scared-of-adulthood conformists attempting to protract their adolescence as far into their 20s as possible.
i always recommend some kind of co-op school that includes stretches of full time work along with academic terms.
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My two cents would be to go to school. I'm in a similar boat, except I DID go to school for a degree, got out and realized life is too short to do something I don't enjoy. I'm making bank ($96,000/yr), but I'm quitting in a couple weeks to go back to school (I promised HR I would stay atleast until the engineer training week in May), but life is too short to spend it doing something you don't like. Personally, I think its better to be fulfilled and have a sense of purpose than do something you don't enjoy for a big check.
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On May 02 2016 09:30 JimmyJRaynor wrote:Show nested quote +On May 02 2016 04:44 docvoc wrote:
I want to bring up a slightly less pragmatic, but in my opinion equally important, side of school. If you go to school you will be around peers who are in a similar educational situation as you, that cannot be overstated. Instead of surrounding yourself with people who are happy to be working what you've described as a somewhat dead-end job that you are bored with, you are surrounding yourself with people who generally want to achieve. Environments make an enormous difference. While people in here are saying that you can self-learn effectively - and you certainly can do so, I would never suggest against investing time into subjects you enjoy - learning in community is a different and (in my opinion) better experience to have. Take some time to formulate a plan, it doesn't have to be super pragmatic or realistic, of what you want to do with your life ideally. Then make a backup plan you'd be happy with. When you get enough money get started on it and don't waste precious time sitting in a room alone when you could be pursuing things you honestly enjoy.
On a slightly different note, its harped on a lot and people disagree with me a lot about this, but I truly believe being generally more educated is important to living well. While you don't need to be in a classroom to keep learning, the amount of learning you get by going school and dedicating hours of your time to subjects will better you as a person. Often times people will say that going to school into a "useless" major/field of study is worthless, but the knowledge you gain is not. I highly suggest going to school just to be better educated, often times I find those people are far happier even if the job they get is not far better than if they had not gone to school. This last piece you can take with a grain of salt though. i find "school people" are scared-of-adulthood conformists attempting to protract their adolescence as far into their 20s as possible.
i find no need to make ridiculous blanket statements to prop up my ego.
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Hi, just to chime in 
i took a well paid job that turned out awful .. this to feed my kids.
i left it (even though i was getting $ enough for the whole family)!
life is what you make of it, being scared is normal, not doing anything (leaving the job you "hate") is "normal"
(normal in the statistician sense of the word: on average people don't take that kind of decision)
#don't be a norm, live your own life
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France9034 Posts
I think it boils down to a simple question: do you enjoy doing nothing all day long? If yes, do you think you will enjoy doing nothing all day long for a long time?
From my experience, being well paid is a thing, but doing something you feel is useful, and feeling useful, are also something really valuable and that helps with the mood and feeling good overall. The few times I ended up doing nothing for like a month or so, still paid all the while, I felt like shit at some point, getting utterly bored and feeling like I was wasting my time.
Then, it all depends on your financial situation. But I would really consider taking the path that would lead to a better job, wage aside. The job that you'd like to get up for in the morning.
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Calgary25980 Posts
I'll take a different, old man view of the situation. I still get to the same decision.
All that "do what you love" stuff is a young man's dream. Doing a job you hate, to earn a good living, opens just as many doors to happiness. That being said, there is clearly no future in this job because you seem to be in some sort of loophole situation that they will eventually realize and fix. So yea, you should start working on something else.
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On May 01 2016 01:03 Fumanchu wrote:Show nested quote +On May 01 2016 00:58 Cauld wrote:
Why not go to school part time? It sounds like you could easily do your homework at work with this job, that's a win win to me. The school I'm going to is too far away. It has an internship program which is really important I think.
What are you studying?
I mean, I think it's clear this gray train will end soon rather than later, but unless it's really beneficial for you to go to said school, I'd say get a school that is closer and continue to work as long as they let you.
$25/hr for unskilled easy stuff is great for now, $52k/yr. That's almost certainly more than you'll make starting out with your degree. If you can work through school, you pad your savings in a big way. I am def inclined to agree with Chill
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If you want to go up in the morning has little to do with the actual work in most situations and a lot to do with the people you work with. Which is very hard to know before you actually work there. Of course the work itself matters but much less than I think most people say. You have a solitary and boring job. Which is fine if you have projects on the side, otherwise it isn't all that much fun.
I worked at the inbound track for an automatic high storage. As long as things worked I had nothing to do and when there was a problem one sighed yet without those problems I think the day would have been bleak since it was a visible spot where surfing wouldn't turn out all that well.
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Keep saving the money, this sounds like something that will obviously be plugged at the next budget review or w/e.
Meanwhile you can prepare for going back to school by doing some online stuff on your own etc.
School in the end will be worth it just for social connections and new opportunities.
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EPT
