Work Anniversary

[Alnitak]

So today I celebrated one full year with my current employer, a law office.

I never thought I would make it. Very stressful.

How many years have you been working at your work place or self-employed?

 

[BillyT]

My last job before retirement I worked retail and I was with the same company for 17 years.

 

[Alnitak]

My last job before retirement I worked retail and I was with the same company for 17 years.

That's amazing. How did you endure and not get fed up with their crap?

 

[BillyT]

I worked retail all my life and you learn to tolerate the customers and working with my employers I use the same philosophy I told my staff that as long as my paycheck came as promise I would do the job that was required of me whether I liked it or not.

 

[Alnitak]

I worked retail all my life and you learn to tolerate the customers and working with my employers I use the same philosophy I told my staff that as long as my paycheck came as promise I would do the job that was required of me whether I liked it or not.

Did you ever come close to "that moment" that you thought you were going to quit?

 

[BillyT]

The year before retirement it was like the company was forcing out long time employees to replace with younger new blood. A lot of older employees in the corporate office left the company and this included the store managers. I have been gone for 4 years and I do not see any of the crews at the stores that I once worked with.

I did think about quitting a few times but held in there till I was able to retire.

 

[swerve]

Congrats on your 1 year anniversary!

 

[peeonme]

Happy anniversary! The longest that I ever worked at one place was 14 years at a small tool shop.

 

[Rickrock]

I worked at a law office (accounts payable) for 25 years and they laid me off. Then I worked at a real estate investment company for 7 more years before I retired. The last 15 or so years that I worked I could see the changes and stress happening in general in work places in America.

 

[seven2go]

I worked in the family business for much of my working life with a few years off for school and checking out the grass on the other side of the fence.
Then I bought and owned the business for nearly 21 1/2 years.

 

[unloadonme]

So today I celebrated one full year with my current employer, a law office.

I never thought I would make it. Very stressful.

How many years have you been working at your work place or self-employed?

Congratulations on your first year. Do your salary or leave entitlement increase now you've passed that milestone?

I started my current job in 2015, so 4 years now.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Matt, congratulations.

I am currently approaching my 2nd anniversary in May and I didn't think I'd make it. The company I work for is one I left in 2006 as I left my hometown and moved off to New Mexico and even later to Anchorage. I had worked for them for seven years. Now, I'm working at the headquarters and their practices have changed so much that the job is very hard to endure with so much minutiae and badly planned tasks and deadlines and either redundant or pointless tasks.

It's taking all I can do to hang on until retirement which is nine years away, but I'm weary of moving.

The longest I've worked was 11 years for one of the prime contractors in Aerospace. The shortest I have worked was a few months after teaching, I was a rental agency debt collector. Best job to ever get fired from. Horrible people.

 

[dpnice]

I did ten years as a teacher, which gave me a nice additional pension and a pleasant cash payout at retirement. I then learnt to type and do shorthand and worked as a secretary for 5 yrs. Moving to France I stopped work for a few years before starting to work for Madam. I spent 19 yrs with her until my retirement; I enjoyed every day I was there and left with many regrets.

 

[rareboy]

Self employed.

My boss is a dick.

 

[Alnitak]

I worked at a law office (accounts payable) for 25 years and they laid me off.

Paralegals are taking on a lot more responsibility lately to the point that we are beginning to resemble the British system of solicitors who develop relationships with the clients in the office, while the barristers go to court.

Then I worked at a real estate investment company for 7 more years before I retired. The last 15 or so years that I worked I could see the changes and stress happening in general in work places in America.

I'm curious. What specifically did you notice? Workload? Pay stagnation?

 

[NotHardUp1]

Paralegals are taking on a lot more responsibility lately to the point that we are beginning to resemble the British system of solicitors who develop relationships with the clients in the office, while the barristers go to court.

What do you attribute the trend to?

Is it lawyers being in too short a supply?

Is it lawyers working less hours and sloughing off more work to the paralegals as grunts?

Is it simple greed with lawyers expanding their client base beyond the level they can honestly support?

Or is it something else?

 

[Alnitak]

What do you attribute the trend to?

Is it lawyers being in too short a supply?

Is it lawyers working less hours and sloughing off more work to the paralegals as grunts?

Is it simple greed with lawyers expanding their client base beyond the level they can honestly support?

Or is it something else?

From my observations it is the following:

1. Corporate greed trying to get the cheapest labor they can. Cost of top expertise is prohibitive. This is happening in the medical field too. People are increasingly treated by PAs and CRNPs for primary care.
   
2. Access to information is better than ever. Sometimes clients call in better informed than the lawyer based on what they read online. Legal secretaries are better trained and have easier access to information as well.
   
3. Some lawyers are indeed lazy. My current boss is trending that way, preferring only to talk to the clients about insurance offers and going to trial. I do everything else from client initial intake to appellate research and briefs. He has inclined to take two hour lunches and leave early, but you know what, more experience for me for my future career and the more fucked he is when I leave with all said institutional knowledge.
   
4. Lawyers always take more cases than they can handle, especially personal injury. Workers' comp and small auto accidents do not generate a profit, so it takes a huge caseload to make a living. People wonder why their $4000 case isn't getting any attention. It's because in a lawyer's eyes it isn't worth shit and there are another 500 such matters to worry about. Some have lost a loved one, or are paralyzed for life. Those are the cases getting the lawyer's attention.

 

[peeonme]

^^
When I see my neurologist I end up with his PA, I feel ripped off.

 

[Rickrock]

Alnitak;

I'm curious. What specifically did you notice? Workload? Pay stagnation?


The workload increased and the stress as well.

 

[Alnitak]

^^
When I see my neurologist I end up with his PA, I feel ripped off.

I'm finding that professionals want to retreat to their sanctuaries and not interact with the public whatsoever unless absolutely necessary.