What I Love, Hate, Like, Dislike about Portland Oregon (Green: refrigerators, employment)
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I have never seen a summary of the conditions of the average person trying to survive in Portland put so succinctly. I would rep you one thousand times if I could. Your comments are a mixture of hope and despair with both being very much realities.
I think the worst of it is the way employers treat employees. I joke when I refer to my employer as "Voldemort Inc." but it is the epitome of cruelty and callousness. I have never seen amything like it in my 40 years in the workforce. I have witnessed nervous breakdowns, heart attacks and other maladies brought on by overwork and severe stress. Often we receive emails of pictures of former disgruntled employees advising us to be on the lookout because they have threatened to come back and due harm.
Employers know employees are a dime a dozen and treat them that way.
My friends all have similar horror stories about their workplaces. I am sure there are decent employers; there has to be. But I don't know of any.
All cities change over the years. Nothing stays the same. The poorer more shabby parts of Portland have been gentrified and upscaled over a long period of time. It makes the city on the surface appear to be a very desirable place to live. But for many transplants it is more a case of the Sirens luring the hapless sailors to the rocks. Underneath the "beauty" is a very hard place in which to survive.
Since you love it here and have found good people with whom you can be happy, I hope you are able to find the means to stay. In any case, best of luck to you.
Adding that I have never had the kind of vicious, nasty horrible employers I've had here in Portland. I worked in high end corporate law for many many years in another state, and I was NEVER treated as badly as I've been treated here and that's saying something because high corporate law is very intense and stressful.
Five different employers. I could have been a reflection of their (secretly) failing businesses, but I think it was just that these jobs were available because no one wanted them, and I was one of many who passed on through. But 5 in 5 years was enough to make me cry uncle. I still shake my head when I think about it. Something is definitely wrong with the employers here. Let's start with they expect you to work for wages you made 35 years ago. And even when you go in with a smile and a can-do attitude, you're treated like crap.
Adding that I have never had the kind of vicious, nasty horrible employers I've had here in Portland. I worked in high end corporate law for many many years in another state, and I was NEVER treated as badly as I've been treated here and that's saying something because high corporate law is very intense and stressful.
Do you mind sharing some specific stories/examples of how your Portland employer treated you badly? I've always heard people say good things about working there.
Three were law firms and one was an insurance agency.
1. Kindergarten sign-outs on a whiteboard AND the computer when you need to relieve yourself. (They must know where you are at all times.)
2. Efficiency software that tracks your productivity. If your numbers aren't "up there" even as a newbie, you're dispensable. Highly.
3. Mormon who trained me didn't like my coffee drinking (she also sat next to me)
a. Cockamamie software and office procedures... if you so much as mentioned it you were told "I don't want to hear how it was at other places." Well no shi z. Ever think that how you're doing it cancels out your freakin "Efficiency Software?!"
4. Cousin of Mormon woman in same office (nepotism) who was nasty and rude and I never did find out why she was so abusive.
5. Attorney who was broke and divorced and saddled with huge child support, nasty, abusive, screamed and yelled at me and it was the first time in 30 years that I cried on the job. This guy was simply over the top.
6. Ethical violations-was asked to do things that are illegal and unethical.
7. Promises made that were never fulfilled even though they were in writing (good luck with the labor board)
8. Employers who expect you to do everything from cleaning toilets to being a crackjack paralegal: janitor,receptionist,secretary,biller,accountant,t ax preparer,scan every single piece of mail that comes in including junk (I kid you not)
9. employment agency who was told which fields I was experienced in, and which I wasn't. Sent on a job that I wasn't qualified for; they never called again. (Apparently I was supposed to toe the line and perform, even though I had notified them I did not know or wish to work in certain fields off law.)
10. Employers who expect you to learn a complex job in 3 days. Client lists, up to 10 software programs, complex phone system, co-workers' names, case histories. If you can't do that, it's NEXT body - fill it NOW! (Those are the orders that go to the hapless office manager/HR person.)
As a former dignified professional for many years in high-end offices as well as single-shingle offices, I found these employers rude, abrasive, insensitive, mercenary, miserly, unrealistic and generally very offensive and difficult. That's for starters.
The response I always got when complaining about it outside of work was "well you can't just come to Portland and expect things to be the same!!"
Oh really now?!
I'm not so stupid and foolish as to expect things to be the same. However, I did not expect them to be nearly as bad as they were. There's a limit to madness. Apparently Portland employers haven't gotten the memo.
Do you mind sharing some specific stories/examples of how your Portland employer treated you badly? I've always heard people say good things about working there.
Except for the Mormon part, my experiences have been similar to Pathrunner's. Although I did work at a company once that was run by a very Christian management that tried to push their religion on the employees while being very sexist; certain jobs were for men and certain ones for women. After they took over from the previous owner, they demoted all the women holding the "men's" jobs and put in newly graduated men with no experience.
Also I always had to work mass quantities of overtime because everywhere I worked they would never keep a complete staff. We were on production for one job but were expected to do many more. If you didn't make your production with perfection accuracy you were fired.
I have had my vacation cancelled at the last minute because suddenly it was determined they couldn't do without me due to some crisis or other. And there were always crises. Even when I was in a union, they did nothing to protect the members. I have told the story how the union allowed the investment firm it used to rob members of their 401ks and pension funds even though the union had been repeatedly told this was taking place.
I could go on, but you get the picture. Nowadays employers are even more nasty. My company pretty much hires only temp to hires for the lower level jobs so they don't have to pay benefits. When the hiree's contract is up, out they go to be replaced by someone else from the temp agency leaving those who are actually permanent employees having to train yet another newbie.
With one exception, I have always worked for insurance companies but from what my friends tell me, it's pretty much the same where they work in other fields as well. That includes hospitals and schools.
I would like to know the good things you have heard people talk about regarding employment and where these employers are. I think that for the most part, there are so many over-qualified people willing to work at demanding jobs for low wages employers know they can exploite those who are desparate for jobs.
It's just supply and demand like any other market. When housing supply was low, people were offering vacations and cars to get people to sell. Now you can be very picky and selective when buying. Brokers 6% is negotiable. Of course right now, there is a surplus of labor so employers can be choosy. They shouldn't be allowed to be abusive though. That sucks to hear.
The problem is whether Portland will ever have enough businesses to reduce surplus. I doubt it. Portland doesn't have the mindset to attract or help businesses. Every 1 new opening is going to have 200 applicants, all ready to work overtime and for less pay. This will be the norm for a while.
Three were law firms and one was an insurance agency.
1. Kindergarten sign-outs on a whiteboard AND the computer when you need to relieve yourself. (They must know where you are at all times.)
2. Efficiency software that tracks your productivity. If your numbers aren't "up there" even as a newbie, you're dispensable. Highly.
3. Mormon who trained me didn't like my coffee drinking (she also sat next to me)
a. Cockamamie software and office procedures... if you so much as mentioned it you were told "I don't want to hear how it was at other places." Well no shi z. Ever think that how you're doing it cancels out your freakin "Efficiency Software?!"
4. Cousin of Mormon woman in same office (nepotism) who was nasty and rude and I never did find out why she was so abusive.
5. Attorney who was broke and divorced and saddled with huge child support, nasty, abusive, screamed and yelled at me and it was the first time in 30 years that I cried on the job. This guy was simply over the top.
6. Ethical violations-was asked to do things that are illegal and unethical.
7. Promises made that were never fulfilled even though they were in writing (good luck with the labor board)
8. Employers who expect you to do everything from cleaning toilets to being a crackjack paralegal: janitor,receptionist,secretary,biller,accountant,t ax preparer,scan every single piece of mail that comes in including junk (I kid you not)
9. employment agency who was told which fields I was experienced in, and which I wasn't. Sent on a job that I wasn't qualified for; they never called again. (Apparently I was supposed to toe the line and perform, even though I had notified them I did not know or wish to work in certain fields off law.)
10. Employers who expect you to learn a complex job in 3 days. Client lists, up to 10 software programs, complex phone system, co-workers' names, case histories. If you can't do that, it's NEXT body - fill it NOW! (Those are the orders that go to the hapless office manager/HR person.)
As a former dignified professional for many years in high-end offices as well as single-shingle offices, I found these employers rude, abrasive, insensitive, mercenary, miserly, unrealistic and generally very offensive and difficult. That's for starters.
The response I always got when complaining about it outside of work was "well you can't just come to Portland and expect things to be the same!!"
Oh really now?!
I'm not so stupid and foolish as to expect things to be the same. However, I did not expect them to be nearly as bad as they were. There's a limit to madness. Apparently Portland employers haven't gotten the memo.
/end rant/
Wow....if you don't mind me asking,what type of position were you working and were these firms local firms or global? The way I see it, your duties should be clearly outlined in your job description and/or letter of offer.
Kindergarten sign outs, screaming coworkers ...I'd leave. I have some self respect and can not stand micromanagement. Give me a project, leave me alone and I'll provide you weekly updates.
I haven't been able to hit this website with my browser (Chrome) for a day... strange...
Anyway, I see that I was so upset while typing that long post that I made some typos - ha!
rx81, those were law firms. One was a mid-sized firm and the others were small. Generally speaking, small law firms are made up of renegades who want to do things their own way, and they really have no idea how to run a business and they really screw it up and don't care as long as their bank accounts are fat. I guess I spent too many years working for quality boutique firms in large cities (much larger than Portland).
I left out descriptions of the insurance firm which was right up there with the law firms and in some ways far worse. They're getting reported in detail to the Department of Insurance when I leave the state. That's how badly they violated Oregon law and general ethics. (They know where I live.)
Minervah, those are some stories. I don't see employment getting better in our lifetime. Downward crashing wages (not "drifting" as the usual term goes) is the new normal and has been for some time. The only time I ever saw a firm change their policy is when they tried to make secretaries work for 4 people at a time: one Partner, two associates, and one paralegal. It can't be done! Maybe by someone dropping speed like they used to when I was a kid. (That was my first job.) It got better from there, but tanked in the mid-to-late 90's with "at-will" employment and other decimating factors.
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