Jerks.

First of all, I posted this in the smack area in case I go off swearing uncontrollably.

I just got laid off, and I'm not happy about it. During the summer months, I work for my family's roofing company. It's a job I love, because I have senority in the company, I know roofing like it's second nature, I get to be outside all day, but.....it's the family business, and because of that I get paid horribly. My grandfather runs the company, and he does things the same way he has for the last 40 years, and he's rarely open to new ideas (like wages that match living in the 21st century).

So, this winter I started working with a friend of mine doing construction. We've been building a huge 5,000 sq. ft. house. I had worked for this friend and his boss for about a month last spring, and they really wanted me to work with them full-time. The pay was REALLY good, and I was really learning everything quickly, and things were going great. Well, today I got the call. The house is almost finished, and the boss doesn't see the point in paying me to help anymore. The house is almost done, but there is still alot to do and it will take a few weeks. I was under the impression that he wanted to bring me on full-time and he even told me not to worry about going back to roofing again. Anyways, it just really flippin' sucks, because for once things were really looking good for my wife and I financially. She has been working a new job for the last 9 months, and has been quickly working her way up in the company, having already received multiple raises in that time, and I was bringing in some really good money with this construction job. We were starting to look into finally buying a house, but all of that is going to have to be put on hold, again. I know I'm not going to be able to find that good of pay any time soon around here.

AHHHH!!!

Ok, I'm done venting. I just needed to get that out. I know things will be ok, but it just really sucks right now.

Go Postal!!

Hey Nathaniel that does suck.. doesn't sound like a fair shake to me.. hang in there... the construction field has to suck big time.. no guarantees especially with the housing market slowing down.. wish I could help more other than to say... we are here to vent to.

Where in Iowa do you live?

I live in Kalona, about 20 miles south of Iowa City. There are other construction companies around here, but I've applied at many of them already and never heard back. I've got a few leads on some possible jobs, it's just that I really liked that job and I was able to work with one of my good friends. You don't get jobs like that too often. Thanks for the kind words.

when I get stressed out, I set fires.

What? It's a totally normal thing to do.

Ha! I'll keep that in mind!

New construction is not a good endevour right now. THere are a lot of builders that are going bankrupt in my area. Maybe construction isnt for you right now.

How many family members are in the roofing business? If there arent many, then could there be a chance of you moving up? Or is Grandpa just using you as slave labor?

The market really hasn't been that bad here, but with it being bad all over the rest of the country, it's sure to get worse here soon.

It's a small roofing business. We usually have a 4-5 man crew. My grandfather (who will be 81 this year) still gets up on the roof with us every day. My uncle and I are the only other family members that work full-time for the company. We usually hire 2 other guys to help, so I know what it's like to have to let guys go when work slows down, cause I'm usually the one letting them go.

To answer your question honestly, yes, sometimes it seems like he knows he can pay us next to nothing. There is no room for advancement, unless my grandpa stops working, and that won't happen until he's not able to get out of bed. I've applied at other roofing companies, but just haven't had any luck. I know I'll find a job, it's just massively stressing me out right now.

I'm really sorry to hear that Nathaniel. It's not right for your employer to pull the rug right out from under you like that, especially after telling you that your job is secure. I worked in the construction business for about 5 years, and for some reason, professionalism isn't really the strong point for many of the company owners. It's really unfortunate.

Thats the real sad part..........there is no such thing today as "job security". Unless you own the place.......and even then, with so many small businesses going under, you can't plan anything.
I have seen companies do that before. In fact, it happened to a lady i know. She was promised permanent work, quit her old job which she liked but didn't get paid much, and the company used her till they didn't need her and cut her loose. They don't care about employees anywhere anymore. You are just a number, and a way for them to profit.
You probably will find a job fast though Nathaniel, as you have good job skills. Just hang in there my friend!!!

Yeah, this guy is a real class act. He didn't tell me that he didn't take out taxes and SS out of my checks. I found that out when I got a 1099-MISC form in the mail from him. According to that, I'm an "outside contractor". That would have been nice to know, so I could have put some money aside. But, it's my own fault for not asking him, and not watching exactly what my hours and pay was. The guy is probably the most immature 35 year old I've ever met, and he wasn't the easiest guy to work for. But the fact that my buddy worked there made it ok. My friend has been trying to find another job too, so I kind of knew ahead of time what the guy was like, but the money was way too good to pass up.

Thanks for all the kind words, fellas. I just really needed to vent. I appreciate it.

Sounds like you were better off getting away from this yahoo. He probably would have screwed you over even worse had you been there longer.
It would have been lots worse had you already bought a new house, and THEN got the heave ho. Then you would have probably ended up losing the new home.

Sounds like the garment industry. I was laid off one job after six months. I left a perfectly good job which paid just as well for this one, because experience wise it was a step up. I was going to head up the denim line for Walmart. They said they had secured Walmart, but they were only trying to woo them. They were so freakin' nervous about everything, they didn't bring half of the stuff I designed to meetings with the buyers. They only brought the designs that were "safe bets" (the same styles that were around for five years prior). Anyway WM ended up declining to order anything, because they said we had nothing new! So me and my department got laid off.

It really sucks when our financial future can be risked by 4 words "we're letting you go".

That's a very good point. I'm glad we didn't get to that point yet.

Nathaniel - One word of advice. Find something right away. The bills keep coming.

I was out of work for almost 2 years and we're still paying for the credit cards (that we used to survive).

Best of luck to you. Being laid off is not fun.

I'll be looking this weekend. I have some unemployment left over that I can draw for a while, but it's not enough for bills. I have a few leads, so hopefully it'll all blow over soon.

Dang nathaniel, that does really suck.

Perhaps I am becoming cynical in my advanced age, but I have come to believe that you can trust no one anymore when it comes to jobs.
As cheesey put it, the days of job security are over.

nathaniel, perhaps this has taught you a valuable lesson.
In this world you must always look out for #1, and that is yourself.
Be cautious when you are looking for a new job, do not be afraid to ask questions.

I wish you the best in your search for a new job my cheesehead friend.

It's sad, but you HAVE to be cynical these days. Back when my Dad was alive, he was the foreman at his work. The owner of the place was there, and it was like family. The place closed it's doors the year my Dad would have been 65. (He died at age 44) But i feel so sorry for the guys that put their lives into that place, only to have it go out of business because of the "big" companies forcing them out. I have worked for places that the owners built up. One place, we had christmas parties, picnics, the whole thing. As soon as the original owner sold it, all the little "perks" were fazed out. And all the workers that BUILT the business were "fazed out" too.
Thats the way things are today. It sucks, but what can you do?

The whole reason we moved out of Milwaukee and down to Iowa was because my dad lost his job at a steel factory because it was shutting down. My grandfather on my mom's side also worked there, and he worked there for a long time.

Job security doesn't exist. It'd be nice to work one job till you retire, but it doesn't happen like that very much anymore.

Job security is a thing of a past. Employers are all anti-American and would rather hire someone who's not American. I know this the hard way. I guess it's because Americans don't like to be abused and actually like to be paid enough to eat. The audacity.

You are so right, Zombieslayer! They either hire people with a work visa or they outsource overseas (where the labor is even cheaper). These "brainiacs" are wondering what is wrong with our economy!

BOTH great points!
You can't blame companies though, they KNOW they can move to Mexico or China, and pay people pennies on the dollar compared to American workers. If our government had any balls, they would charge any company that leaves the U.S. to get cheap labor, huge tariffs to bring their products into here, and give tax breaks to companies that build here. Maybe that would give them incentive to be fair. It would give companies incentive to move here and make their stuff here.
But i doubt it will ever happen.

not if we want an international free market. can't have it both ways.

An international free market SOUNDS good. But if we depended more on our OWN market place, and less on the foreign market, in my view that would be much better. Our dependence on foreign imports has us in the situation we are in now, just for our gasoline.
If we have to depend on say, China, or other countries (which we do now) to get our steel, what would happen if they ever decided to go to war with us? We don't even have the resources to build our own machinery to do battle. Same with the oil. Our country would grind to a halt if any of these countries decided to cut us off. I can see this happening, and we would be brought to our knees without a shot even having to be fired. This comes from over depenence on the foreign market. At one time, we could have shut off foreign imports and still survived. Thats not possible now, because of the bad position we have put ourselves in. And we have already seen how few of our "allies" back us now when we need them.

Yes, we sure as hell got ourselves into a pickle, didn't we? Now we're under a microscope for all the world to judge. We kiss a lot of people's arses, because we're at war with Iraq and we can't afford anymore enemies. If we had built our own resources here all along. We'd be like Switzerland right now (neutral) and we wouldn't be involved with all these sticky world affairs.