Stock Market is tanking!

[Gilligan]

My original offer was at GS-7 but I was told I could negotiate starting pay so I did. Started at 45k in 2000. My group got told we were working OT and you had to have a good excuse why you weren't or weren't working a certain amount. A few years ago I worked 40 over what would have been my three day weekend. (Starting Thursday evening with only a 2 hr notice)

I ended up having to get a pay waiver, without one you can't earn more than a GS-15 step 10 in a pay check or you just don't get paid for it. An SES has to sign off on that.

Yep..some groups allow or even encourage OT. The group I worked for didn't.

About 4-5 months before I left CS, I was offered the job of Chief Scientist at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant. It was a GS-13 position and the guy that held it, and who picked me to replace him, had been the government chemical engineer assigned to help open the plant in 1942!

The CO of Radford plant, an Army Colonel, went through all sorts of hoops to get my hire approved (I'd only recently gotten to GS-9, after all, so it required a single jump from GS-9 to GS-13). I gave it a lot of thought and even went property hunting in the area around Smith Mountain Lake (I gotta be near water..even if just a lake). In the end..I turned it down and left the CS. . Boy was that Col pissed off.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

My original offer was at GS-7 but I was told I could negotiate starting pay so I did. Started at 45k in 2000. My group got told we were working OT and you had to have a good excuse why you weren't or weren't working a certain amount. A few years ago I worked 40 over what would have been my three day weekend. (Starting Thursday evening with only a 2 hr notice)

I ended up having to get a pay waiver, without one you can't earn more than a GS-15 step 10 in a pay check or you just don't get paid for it. An SES has to sign off on that.

Didn't that place have a rather large explosion in the 70s or 80s?

 

[Gilligan]

Didn't that place have a rather large explosion in the 70s or 80s?

Both. But the one in the 80s is what accelerated my decision not to accept the position and to leave CS. That was "my" product that blew up and "my" people that were killed. In no small part because a certain Col was worried that ongoing production delays were going to hurt his career.

The office I worked in when I was TDY RAAP was shared by several "old hands" that were GoCo employess there for ..about ever. In the wall above one of their desks was a neat rectangular indentation about 4" deep in to the drywall. It was from the window air conditioner unit that had been running in the window opposite that wall. When the nitroglycerin line blew up. They left the damaged wall alone...to serve as a reminder of how dangerous the products they worked with every day really were.

 

[OccamsRazor]

Neighbor/Supervisor told me they had a fantastic tech that was killing it. Gave the guy excellent performance ratings and even submitted them for meritorious promotion (Grade/step increase??)
Bottom line was, the guy got bumped out by someone who was a so-so worker for a supervisor that had the ear of the person who determined whom got the promotion. Apparently, that "stellar" employee became the token "lazy government worker" after that. Another victim of who you know and who you blow.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Both. But the one in the 80s is what accelerated my decision not to accept the position and to leave CS. That was "my" product that blew up and "my" people that were killed. In no small part because a certain Col was worried that ongoing production delays were going to hurt his career.

The office I worked in when I was TDY RAAP was shared by several "old hands" that were GoCo employess there for ..about ever. In the wall above one of their desks was a neat rectangular indentation about 4" deep in to the drywall. It was from the window air conditioner unit that had been running in the window opposite that wall. When the nitroglycerin line blew up. They left the damaged wall alone...to serve as a reminder of how dangerous the products they worked with every day really were.

I had a professor that was a PhD student at Virginia Tech at the time, his wife was a student at Radford. I think I remember him saying he heard it when he was in Radford. My memory is foggy there, it was 30 years ago I heard his story and I had no idea what he was talking about not being familiar with the area at the time.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Neighbor/Supervisor told me they had a fantastic tech that was killing it. Gave the guy excellent performance ratings and even submitted them for meritorious promotion (Grade/step increase??)
Bottom line was, the guy got bumped out by someone who was a so-so worker for a supervisor that had the ear of the person who determined whom got the promotion. Apparently, that "stellar" employee became the token "lazy government worker" after that. Another victim of who you know and who you blow.

I can see it, I'd take the explanation with a grain of salt though, you rarely know the why's.

The first year I got a 4 out of 5 and there is a ton of pressure just to give everyone a 3. When I was told I'd be receiving a 4 I was flat out told there was no way I could get a 4 again next year. So I get a 4 about every 3rd year, a 3 with an extra share one year and a 3 with one share and then back to a 4.

I "save up" accomplishments that third year and claim them the next year just to be sure.

 

[Gilligan]

I had a professor that was a PhD student at Virginia Tech at the time, his wife was a student at Radford. I think I remember him saying he heard it when he was in Radford. My memory is foggy there, it was 30 years ago I heard his story and I had no idea what he was talking about not being familiar with the area at the time.

When the NG line blew, it took out windows in buildings that were far outside the plant and was heard and felt throughout the New River valley region. It was truly an epic event, but a bit before my time there. When one of the processing buildings (bunkers really) for my 2.75" rocket propellant grains went up, it was more of a very rapid and violent fire than it was an explosion. The lives lost were those of the workers that were in that building and unable to escape quickly enough. And that, even with the escape slides designed to allow people to evacuate quickly in the event of a mishap.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

When the NG line blew, it took out windows in buildings that were far outside the plant and was heard and felt throughout the New River valley region. It was truly an epic event, but a bit before my time there. When one of the processing buildings (bunkers really) for my 2.75" rocket propellant grains went up, it was more of a very rapid and violent fire than it was an explosion. The lives lost were those of the workers that were in that building and unable to escape quickly enough. And that, even with the escape slides designed to allow people to evacuate quickly in the event of a mishap.

A bit unrelated, I knew someone that worked at Indian Head, he told me everyone he worked with died within a year of retiring because once they were no longer around the nitro glycerin they would have a heart attack their body was so use to it,

 

[Gilligan]

A bit unrelated, I knew someone that worked at Indian Head, he told me everyone he worked with died within a year of retiring because once they were no longer around the nitro glycerin they would have a heart attack their body was so use to it,

It was definitely weird stuff to work with. I'd get an "NG buzz" after loading 38-40 rocket motors for testing, but that was just from the vapors in the air in the space I was working in. The folks that actually handled the stuff absorbed it through their skin too.

The use of NG in propellants and explosives was being phased out even back when I worked with it. More modern "rubber-based" formulations that used entirely different energetics were being developed back then and are in routine production now.

 

[OccamsRazor]

The first year I got a 4 out of 5 and there is a ton of pressure just to give everyone a 3. When I was told I'd be receiving a 4 I was flat out told there was no way I could get a 4 again next year.

That is the problem with a ratings system like the one you mention. You continue to be a stellar worker year after year BUT, for some reason due to politics, poor leadership, or just the system in general, you aren't allowed to keep the same performance ratings on paper.
This just encourages workers to be "average" until they are eligible to be superstars on paper again in order to be rewarded properly.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

That is the problem with a ratings system like the one you mention. You continue to be a stellar worker year after year BUT, for some reason due to politics, poor leadership, or just the system in general, you aren't allowed to keep the same performance ratings on paper.
This just encourages workers to be "average" until they are eligible to be superstars on paper again in order to be rewarded properly.

Eh it ain't all bad, you make yourself invaluable you will eventually get a promotion you never thought you'd get.

Dealing with idiots, and micromanagers is the worst part of the job, not the pay.

 

[Kyle]

Dealing with idiots, and micromanagers is the worst part of the job, not the pay.

They're the worst part of every meeting too.

 

[jrt_ms1995]

Dealing with idiots, and micromanagers is the worst part of the job, not the pay.

Sure glad SGI doesn't have this problem!

 

[Gilligan]

Eh it ain't all bad, you make yourself invaluable you will eventually get a promotion you never thought you'd get.

There it is..the demotivating, soul-crushing nature of those CS jobs in a nutshell. I couldn't stand that aspect. And I'd argue that "will eventually get" is rare and inaccurate. "Might eventually get" is what I've seen in practice.

 

[Gilligan]

Sure glad SGI doesn't have this problem!

Some days I wonder if he knows how incredibly lucky he is.

 

[Gilligan]

They're the worst part of every meeting too.

Heck..they are usually the reason for meetings.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Heck..they are usually the reason for meetings.

The ones that call the meetings that could have been an email....

 

[Kyle]

Some days I wonder if he knows how incredibly lucky he is.

That must be why he just asked for a quarter.

 

[Kyle]

The ones that call the meetings that could have been an email....

Don'tcha just love those?

 

[BOP]

Wow, every time I look the Stock Market it is down another 500 points or so. It doesn't look good for the future. Normally people buy when it is low. The problem is it will lilkely tank more. I fear this is just the beginning. Some experts predicted this. Not good. Look at how much it lost since FJB was installed in office.

:FIFY