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Old 07-02-2020, 02:01 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Morningside)
14,362 posts, read 16,946,112 times
Reputation: 12400

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Quote:
Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix? View Post
Do you work for the County or the City still? And your job cannot be done remotely (due to lack of the appropriate technology being in place, not because it cannot be done, in theory)?

I wish I could say something that would change things, but I can't. This sucks man. I am sorry.
While in theory all public-sector workers qualify for those 10 days of emergency sick pay related to COVID-19, SCR is a dispatcher, which is typically classified as a first responder. Unfortunately offering emergency sick pay to first responders is entirely optional under the law.

 
Old 07-02-2020, 02:59 PM
 
Location: In Transition
3,829 posts, read 1,673,287 times
Reputation: 1455
Quote:
Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
How bad is it really? How many are asymptomatic?

https://triblive.com/local/pittsburg...e-experts-say/
 
Old 07-02-2020, 03:51 PM
 
6,357 posts, read 5,029,737 times
Reputation: 3309
Quote:
Originally Posted by captainmidnight View Post
This pandemic really has shown people and company's true colors. Seems like your company has shown theirs. I'd start looking around if I was you and you are able to. Screw 'em.
to tag on to this suggestion above, SCR, try the state. it could take months to get in, but i hear it is a great organization, compared to the city definitely, and county level positions.

i have known a lot of PennDOT people, some DEP people (the DEP nerds LOVE their organization)....all are quite content at the very worst.

just a suggestion.
 
Old 07-02-2020, 11:36 PM
 
3,592 posts, read 3,371,157 times
Reputation: 2530
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
Meanwhile there’s a positive case at my fiance’s office, and it’s still business as usual.

There have been two positive cases in our office. Was and still is business as usual.

We were both recently informed via e-mail that our respective organizations are no longer awarding 10 “AP” (administrative pay) days if we contract COVID-19. We’re being told we need to use our own PTO or go unpaid if we don’t have enough. Some in my office have already said they’re going to come into work anyways if they get COVID-19 because it’s not fair those who got it at our offices up to this point received better treatment than those of us who WILL likely still get it.

Essential workers are really getting the shaft during this. If we’re not rewarded somehow when this ends you’re going to see a LOT of job-hopping from those of us who feel like we don’t matter.

I saw 5,000,000 jobs were created last month, and now the unemployment rate is barely higher than it was during the Great Recession, so it’s not like employers should feel like they have the “luxury” of turning off their good employees because the labor market is likely to become extremely tight again not long after the pandemic ends.
I saw the county was just hiring 911 operators. The pay is around 50k plus overtime.
 
Old 07-03-2020, 05:17 AM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,613 posts, read 77,432,847 times
Reputation: 19101
Quote:
Originally Posted by guy2073 View Post
I saw the county was just hiring 911 operators. The pay is around 50k plus overtime.
Thanks. Yeah. They’re always hiring for a reason, though. Terrible place to work, and it’s also a long commute from the city. Also, that overtime is often mandated and is often with no notice (i.e. “Second-shift called off so now you’re working a double”).

I’m probably going to look for one of these “non-essential” positions where people get paid more than I do to whine about how hard it is to stay at home and do Zoom meetings, spreadsheets, and e-mails from their kitchen tables.
 
Old 07-03-2020, 08:03 AM
 
Location: In Transition
3,829 posts, read 1,673,287 times
Reputation: 1455
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
Thanks. Yeah. They’re always hiring for a reason, though. Terrible place to work, and it’s also a long commute from the city. Also, that overtime is often mandated and is often with no notice (i.e. “Second-shift called off so now you’re working a double”).

I’m probably going to look for one of these “non-essential” positions where people get paid more than I do to whine about how hard it is to stay at home and do Zoom meetings, spreadsheets, and e-mails from their kitchen tables.
What is your opinion of the local job market? You have lived here for almost 10 years now haven’t you
 
Old 07-03-2020, 09:31 AM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,613 posts, read 77,432,847 times
Reputation: 19101
Quote:
Originally Posted by Independentthinking83 View Post
What is your opinion of the local job market? You have lived here for almost 10 years now haven’t you
Mediocre overall. Not nearly as “awful” as you always proclaim it to be, but it’s not as “booming” as those residing in the People’s Socialist Republic of the East End Center of the Universe hype it up to be. I moved here jobless and was working two jobs concurrently within two weeks. It’s VERY easy to find a “job” here (unless you’re incompetent at life), but rewarding/enriching career paths are limited.

We neither boom nor bust. I’ve seen the job market here overall remain largely stagnant since moving here in 2010. It’s a great place to live if you relish in a routine and predicable life that can comfortably sustain a family. It’s not very dynamic, though.

There are more openings in the tech sector now than before. That’s a good thing (I think).

Real wage growth seems to have been sluggish over the past decade for most (not all) local industries, though, albeit it is exploding in tech. I firmly believe that the higher education sector locally is OVERLY-dominant, though. In the long-term if Americans are having fewer and fewer children; if more and more of those American children pursue the higher-paying trades and end up forgoing college altogether; and if the pipeline of “Crazy Rich Asians” into Pittsburgh starts to dwindle as our Republican leadership tries to alienate the Chinese by calling COVID-19 “Kung Flu”; then I don’t see how places like Point Park, Chatham, Carlow, RMU, La Roche, etc. are going to survive in the future without layoffs. Pitt, Duquesne, and CMU should be just fine.

A lot of my Millennial peers who are actually effectively utilizing their degrees (which, as erieguy will soon point out to nicely call me stupid, I am admittedly not) have stagnated because they can’t rise upwards because the Baby Boomers in their offices won’t retire for some reason (likely poor retirement planning meaning they can’t afford to retire).

I moved to Pittsburgh because it’s a mediocre city, and I’m a mediocre person. I’m happy here overall because I moved here with tepid expectations. It’s a city that’s a mixture of either booze/fireworks/Stillers/yinzers/heroin/bike lane-bashing on one extreme (as I’ve now found on the North Side) and progressive limousine liberal elitist snobs who virtue signal out their arses into wine glasses and then sniff them on the other extreme (met a lot in the East End) with some of us caught in the middle shrugging because we don’t feel like we belong in either camp and aren’t wanted here.

My fiancé has only lived in Pittsburgh a couple of years (Missouri native) and isn’t fully sold on staying long-term. We may very well pay our cheap new starter house off in seven years or so and then relocate, using the $70,000 we may sell the house for at that time as a down payment on a home in another state.
 
Old 07-03-2020, 10:35 AM
 
Location: Sh-ittsburgh, PA & Lancaster County, PA
1,045 posts, read 2,216,188 times
Reputation: 320
Great post SCR!


And speaking of the "Kung Flu", here's a song about it.


https://youtu.be/CpB2dmIA-lA
 
Old 07-03-2020, 11:58 AM
 
Location: Etna, PA
2,860 posts, read 1,888,622 times
Reputation: 2747
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
the People’s Socialist Republic of the East End Center of the Universe hype it up to be.
Hmm.. that phrasing sounds familiar. Wonder where I heard it before?

Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
It’s a city that’s a mixture of either booze/fireworks/Stillers/yinzers/heroin/bike lane-bashing on one extreme (as I’ve now found on the North Side) and progressive limousine liberal elitist snobs who virtue signal out their arses into wine glasses and then sniff them on the other extreme (met a lot in the East End) with some of us caught in the middle shrugging because we don’t feel like we belong in either camp and aren’t wanted here.
Agreed. I also feel like I don't fit in either camp, but thats fine as I don't like either camp anyway.

As for your commentary regarding the job market/economy - I likewise agree with all of your points.
 
Old 07-03-2020, 06:51 PM
 
Location: In Transition
3,829 posts, read 1,673,287 times
Reputation: 1455
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
Mediocre overall. Not nearly as “awful” as you always proclaim it to be, but it’s not as “booming” as those residing in the People’s Socialist Republic of the East End Center of the Universe hype it up to be. I moved here jobless and was working two jobs concurrently within two weeks. It’s VERY easy to find a “job” here (unless you’re incompetent at life), but rewarding/enriching career paths are limited.

We neither boom nor bust. I’ve seen the job market here overall remain largely stagnant since moving here in 2010. It’s a great place to live if you relish in a routine and predicable life that can comfortably sustain a family. It’s not very dynamic, though.

There are more openings in the tech sector now than before. That’s a good thing (I think).

Real wage growth seems to have been sluggish over the past decade for most (not all) local industries, though, albeit it is exploding in tech. I firmly believe that the higher education sector locally is OVERLY-dominant, though. In the long-term if Americans are having fewer and fewer children; if more and more of those American children pursue the higher-paying trades and end up forgoing college altogether; and if the pipeline of “Crazy Rich Asians” into Pittsburgh starts to dwindle as our Republican leadership tries to alienate the Chinese by calling COVID-19 “Kung Flu”; then I don’t see how places like Point Park, Chatham, Carlow, RMU, La Roche, etc. are going to survive in the future without layoffs. Pitt, Duquesne, and CMU should be just fine.

A lot of my Millennial peers who are actually effectively utilizing their degrees (which, as erieguy will soon point out to nicely call me stupid, I am admittedly not) have stagnated because they can’t rise upwards because the Baby Boomers in their offices won’t retire for some reason (likely poor retirement planning meaning they can’t afford to retire).

I moved to Pittsburgh because it’s a mediocre city, and I’m a mediocre person. I’m happy here overall because I moved here with tepid expectations. It’s a city that’s a mixture of either booze/fireworks/Stillers/yinzers/heroin/bike lane-bashing on one extreme (as I’ve now found on the North Side) and progressive limousine liberal elitist snobs who virtue signal out their arses into wine glasses and then sniff them on the other extreme (met a lot in the East End) with some of us caught in the middle shrugging because we don’t feel like we belong in either camp and aren’t wanted here.

My fiancé has only lived in Pittsburgh a couple of years (Missouri native) and isn’t fully sold on staying long-term. We may very well pay our cheap new starter house off in seven years or so and then relocate, using the $70,000 we may sell the house for at that time as a down payment on a home in another state.
I agree with pretty much everything you said. You have been here long enough to see it for what it is.

My posts seem dire, but a lot of it aligns with what you said. In a nutshell it talks a big game and has great PR. But it is really ok with mediocrity and has a population obedient to a government that doesn’t really have high expectations with a mixture of corruption thrown in. It’s always the same groups of people or a variation an a continuous power struggle between special interest groups. Nobody seems to get along and it hinders growth and development.

I think you can find a job here or anywhere for that matter. But enriching and rewarding career paths seem to be few and far between. Ultimately that is what keeps and attracts people to stay. And I couldn’t have said that better myself.

I think the baby boomer thing is very unique to Pittsburgh some other northeastern and legacy cities. What you experience is the exception and not the rule. Pittsburgh has an ingrained culture when it comes to the economy and jobs. A lot of people expect to be rewarded for sitting in a position for 30 Years. A lot of others want to work there until they die. It is just a different mentality here than a lot of other places.

Pittsburgh works for me because I work remote and get paid Chicago and New Jersey management wages to live anywhere in the northeast or Midwest. I would t have come back here otherwise. And I’ve worked in the Midwest and South. I felt more valued and was more rewarded there than when I tried to make a go of it here and working in the local economy. If I lost this job I would likely be moving ASAP. I wouldn’t bother to apply for jobs here anyway.

Change is a great thing too. A move might be a good idea. You could potentially end up happier and in a better situation.

I think you purchasing a house in Marshall Shadeland was a great thing. You were stuck in the east end haze. Now you see what the rest of Pittsburgh is like. It is a much different mentality for sure. However what you are likely experiencing is the norm outside of the east end bubble. Humbling indeed. And yep both groups make you feel like an outsider. Nothing much for independent thinkers around this town.
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