Why you should NOT move to Pittsburgh (Washington, Butler: salary, work)

[Stagger Lee]

God Damnit. The Steelers Suck!

[fragglewaggle]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

It wasn't my statement, but women are extremely critical and judgemental of each other which can hurt them in the work environment, and they communicate in ways different from men. A CMU professor has given lectures on the topic "women don't ask." Her thesis is that many women don't ask for promotions or more responsibilities or better benefits because they don't want to be seen as difficult or as bitches, whereas men do all of that and climb the professional ladder much more easily.

Interesting. At my last job, my duties and responsibilities kept increasing, while my pay did not. I did my research on salaries, using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. I then respectfully asked for a promotion and an increase in salary, and was turned down.

I gave my notice, and it was then and only then that a pay raise was offered. At that point, I was no longer interested in working for such an archaic organization, and quit.

My career would have suffered more if I had stayed there than by me leavng. Plus, I anticipate that my former employer will be taken over or bought out in five years or less.

[guylocke]

Maybe it's the nature of growing up in Western Pennsylvania that shaped these women's viewpoint. The Pittsburgh area is not known for its progressive stance toward women, as evidenced by comments like, "I don't believe that women are paid less than men," even though the evidence is to the contrary.

Well perhaps, but don't forget, Duquesne is an enormously respected Pharmacy school with applicants from all over the country and even world, and I'd say at least over 20% of our young ladies aren't from the area (or even country) and possibly a lot more, I couldn't get to know them all!

[guylocke]

I gave my notice, and it was then and only then that a pay raise was offered. At that point, I was no longer interested in working for such an archaic organization, and quit.

I don't blame you.

What I said, is you are paid on what you do for your company. In my firm there are 4 women managers with men working under them. The managers make more money.

I work for Walgreens, one of the most profitable and "gold-standard" companies in the entire country, and they have a TON of women and gay men in their upper rankings and in management. They are FIERCELY anti-discriminatory and in Florida where I was all summer in one of their programs, all I saw was women and openly gay men (and women!) management. That's the honest to god truth. LOL.

In fact, once I was in the break room and myself, the pharmacy manager, and the store manager were all talking about our same-sex lovers. Now THAT was funny.

[fragglewaggle]

Originally Posted by guylocke

Well perhaps, but don't forget, Duquesne is an enormously respected Pharmacy school with applicants from all over the country and even world, and I'd say at least over 20% of our young ladies aren't from the area (or even country) and possibly a lot more, I couldn't get to know them all!

I don't disagree that Duquesne's Pharmacy school is one of the better ones in our country. However, Duquesne University is run by the misogynistic Catholic Church, and your school recently received a lot of flak about its decision to pull from WDUQ public service ads underwritten by Planned Parenthood.

Not the mark of a progressive institution.

[fragglewaggle]

Originally Posted by guylocke

In fact, once I was in the break room and myself, the pharmacy manager, and the store manager were all talking about our same-sex lovers. Now THAT was funny.

Please tell me you're kidding. I would strongly advise you to NOT talk about your private life IN ANY WAY at work. I'm hetero and I talk about NOTHING personal. NOTHING.

You may think everyone is on the same wavelength as you, but it's entirely possible to be called into the manager's office for talking about 'inappropriate matters' at work, because someone overheard your discussion and complained.

You NEVER know when that stuff can be used against you. You may be seen as a flake if you talk about stuff like that at work.

My policy is that I never say anything at work that I wouldn't want to read on a billboard. Gossip (even if it's untrue) travels like wildfire. So I say NOTHING.

[Stagger Lee]

Wait.....SO I should have never talked about how I smoke pot everyday after work......

Just joking.

[guylocke]

Please tell me you're kidding. I would strongly advise you to NOT talk about your private life IN ANY WAY at work. I'm hetero and I talk about NOTHING personal. NOTHING.

You may think everyone is on the same wavelength as you, but it's entirely possible to be called into the manager's office for talking about 'inappropriate matters' at work, because someone overheard your discussion and complained.

I'm not kidding. I actually am very private but it was just us 3.

In fact, when I had to watch my 26 hours worth of initiation and training video's one of the longest was discrimination and sexual harassment. The video was SO cheezy and it gave live-action examples of a scenario and then asked you if it was appropriate or not or could it be considered sexual harassment or not, etc.

The one was a guy and girl talking about the date they had the other night and it was fairly explicit and a few other people were around and were uncomfortable so they left and brought it to the manager's attention. The big question was, could this could be considered sexual harassment to Walgreen's and is inappropriate? The answer was, of course, YES.

Then the next example was two young men in the break room talking about a date they went on the night before at a concert and how much they enjoyed themselves and were just talking about the music and artist and stuff. The same thing happened, the people left and told the manager, and the answer to that, "could this be considered sexual harassment or inappropriate?" and the answer was NO.

You are allowed to talk about your personal life, you just have to remain appropriate and tasteful, which we certainly were. That goes for ANYBODY and ANY part of their personal lives.

I mean, Walgreen's even offers all of their benefits to same-sex couples and stuff, they are extremely progressive. If I can't be comfortable working for them, I can't be comfortable anywhere.

[kpoeppel]

Originally Posted by fragglewaggle

I don't disagree that Duquesne's Pharmacy school is one of the better ones in our country. However, Duquesne University is run by the misogynistic Catholic Church, and your school recently received a lot of flak about its decision to pull from WDUQ public service ads underwritten by Planned Parenthood.

Not the mark of a progressive institution.

I think those remarks are quite bigoted. The Catholic Church believes that all human life is sacred, which is why they are against organizations like Planned Parenthood. It doesn't mean they are against women. After all, they hold the Virgin Mary in almost as high regard as Jesus, do they not? Not everyone sees abortion on-demand as "progess" Have you ever considered that, statistically, about half of all aborted children are women? Hard to have any rights at all w/o the right to life, it would seem.

[guylocke]

I don't disagree that Duquesne's Pharmacy school is one of the better ones in our country. However, Duquesne University is run by the misogynistic Catholic Church, and your school recently received a lot of flak about its decision to pull from WDUQ public service ads underwritten by Planned Parenthood.

Not the mark of a progressive institution.

Yeah, Duquesne actually IS quite progressive for Catholic University and most of the Catholism is kept completely separate from the Schools, in fact, I would NEVER even know Duquesne was Catholic just by being on campus. I've never had any member of the church teach a class, I've only seen a handful of these people walking around in all my six years, I know nothing at all about their chapel or their priesthood.

I mean, I would find it hard to believe that most students who go to Duquesne are even Catholic. Lord knows my group of friends aren't. Besides, private, parochial schools are often well regarded. Coming from these types of schools can really benefit you, and I know benefited me when I was applying to Universities. Just because a school is affiliated with a faith doesn't decrease the quality of the education. In fact, I may argue it is quite the opposite.

People go because it's a fantastic school, that offers a very nurturing and individual experience, and is essentially downtown while remaining absolutely peaceful and beautiful on the bluff. And like Pitt and CMU, plays a very important role in the well-being of Pittsburgh. Perhaps not quite as high as CMU or Pitt on an overall scale, but I would say it's a close third. In fact, it may be MORE important in some ways, because it is the only standing private and parochial university in Pittsburgh (also consistently ranked in the top 5 Catholic Universities in the country) which bodes very well for people out of state looking to Pittsburgh for education. It really fits a lot of people's desires, even mine, and I'm pretty far from a Catholic.