• MeatPilot@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Former job, I had to be the bearer of bad news to a team of 10+ employees that they all were not getting bonuses and no raises. I really fought upper management went directly to the CEO, who by the way all did get bonuses/raises. I got a raise and bonus as well probably to keep me complacent. This was one of our better profit years, so it made absolutely no sense to do a freeze.

    So I decided since I couldn’t get anyone above to reason. I instead told my team it was bullshit and exactly why in each of there reviews, even though I was given a script and explicitly told not tell them more than that. I told them that they should start looking for a new jobs and I’ll help anyway I could. Told them honestly that this was probably a tactic to push some of them out without firing them and replace them with lower wage workers, I wasn’t told that but I knew.

    Worst year of my life. I left as quickly as I could myself. When I left they offered me a significant raise to stay, they were literal villains so I obviously said no.

    Some of my team unfortunately stuck it out and got fired over petty shit months after I left. 2 years later they were all gone and replaced with low wage college interns. I hated myself because I was their shield for over 10 years and finally lost, as soon as I was gone they had no one to fight for them.

    I don’t know if there is a moral to this story, the bad guys technically won.

    Guess a take away is unless your company is struggling and the management also takes cuts or freezes, no one below them should. Don’t stay.

      • MeatPilot@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Thanks, this helps to hear. Still eats me up inside. Unfortunately sometimes there is not always a reward for being good other than just not causing more pain.

        • Track_Shovel@slrpnk.netOP
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          6 days ago

          You did everything you could in a shitty situation that you were powerless to fix; how does this weigh on your conscience?

          If anything, I could see you holding on to rage that you were forced into this position. If that’s the case, then seek a psychologist who practices acceptance based therapy. It will really help you.

          Regardless, I would wager none of your former teammates blame you for what happened. It’s clear from what little you have shared that you had their back the whole way.

          Integrity like that is rare.

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      6 days ago

      That’s the problem with humans, when given more they do not redistribute, instead they grow greedier.

      I consider myself a proud misanthrope, not because I admit to cruelty on my part, but because I recognize it in too many humans.

      • optissima@lemmy.ml
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        6 days ago

        Some humans. I promise there are better people out there, I promise. Consider that very very few every get enough money to truly escape the rat race, anything that doesn’t fully lift you out of it permanently is only a stopgap, and the system is designed to pit your livelihood against others constantly our whole lives while also erasing education on alternative exits from the game than becoming rich, and that is already rigged.

      • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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        6 days ago

        That hasn’t been my experience with working class people, especially if they grew up poor. Most of us have a hole in our pocket and can’t help but spend and share when the good times come our way.

        Because poorer folks rely more on cooperation (because they have to), I think that kind of inoculates them against the isolating affects of wealth (like “oh I don’t need a support network, I can just pay for help”). Poor people know that when their chips are down again, all that goodwill they sowed is better than money in the bank.

    • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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      6 days ago

      The moral is that at most places you should completely disregard the company as a necessary evil to getting paid, pushing product, and meeting cool people.

      From an employee level the contacts you make are the most important thing. They form a subculture within, and eventually between companies, all under their noses.

    • FarmTaco@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Worst year of my life. I left as quickly as I could myself. When I left they offered me a significant raise to stay, they were literal villains so I obviously said no.

      these types of people are the worst. I once went to quit a horrid job, and they offered me another persons job he had been promoted to, when I questioned it they said “well, its not official yet”. absolute monsters.

  • CascadianGiraffe@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Just got informed last week that we didn’t meet the qualifications to get a bonus this year.

    The qualifications they didn’t tell us about.

    The qualifications that we have no control over.

    No bonus because people higher in the chain didn’t meet specific goals. (Pretty sure they are still getting a bonus because rank.)

    I won’t meet the qualifications next year because I’ll be working somewhere else. The pay is low because bonuses make up for it (supposedly).

    • dx1@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      The pay is low because bonuses make up for it (supposedly).

      Business lesson #1: a promise in writing is the only kind that has value. At least in this godforsaken civilization.

    • Sailor Moon@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Reminds me of the hospital my boyfriend used to work at: his group of technicians didn’t get a raise one year because employee turnover was too high. So… the ones that DID stay were punished because of people that left???

      • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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        5 days ago

        Yes, cause it teaches people to not leave and not make noise. Those that created pain for those that don’t until they protect the status quo on behalf of the masters.

    • P1nkman@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      My company said that we’d have to accept a 1.3% raise or nothing. The union just agreed to 1.3%. To keep up with inflation, it should’ve been around 8%. And this is in Denmark! I have no fucking clue why my union has no balls, but I, for one, am not happy with them. The CFO gave herself a 30% increase two years ago, but what the fuck do we get? Fucking pebbles, and we’ll be happy. When management heard about the complaints, the managers say “but you got a bonus this year, that should count for something”. Go fuck yourself. A bonus is NOT part of the salary, you greedy mother fuckers!! I’ll be at another job next year.

      • CascadianGiraffe@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        I had a job that gave us a 3% raise (when cost of living in our area went up 8% that year).

        On my next check the raise was less than 1% so I went to HR.

        “The raise is quarterly. You actually get 4 raises this year!”

        They thought giving .75 % increase every quarter counted as a 3% raise.

        “At the end of the year you have a 3% total increase, which is what we said you would get. 3% minimum raise every year. We have met our obligation. Why are you being so difficult?”

    • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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      6 days ago

      I got a sizable (in comparison to my pay rate) holiday bonus when I interned at a regional bank, and my current job that I’m leaving with a national contract cleaning company has bonuses based on the company’s financial performance. The company is spiraling the drain so a pittance of a bonus was dished out this year to try to shore up morale after a bunch of layoffs (sounds like the 3 years prior the bonuses were several thousand dollars a person) and now they’re laying everyone off to relocate the HQ. So basically depending on where you work you might get pretty decent bonuses

  • fibojoly@sh.itjust.works
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    6 days ago

    In France we have the “thirteenth month” as we call it. I never had one, but in that latest job they announced having one, so I was rather chuffed to finally discover the practice and asked them about it during the interview. “so you gonna give me a full month salary bonus at the end of the year?” cue a long, convoluted explanation… which boiled down to “no, we just shuffle shit around so you get more in December, no extra money, really”.

    But it just shows how ingrained that idea of a Christmas bonus is.

    • Krzd@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      In Germany that exists as well, we get “holiday money” some time in late spring/early summer and “Christmas money” which we get in November. Both of them add up to a full month’s salary together, so it’s essentially 13 salaries/year

      • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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        6 days ago

        To be fair, usually you get that when you are already employed somewhere with good working conditions and an above average salary. Eg Daiichi Sankyo does that with technical assistants, but they already have a great starting salary of roughly 43k with no job experience. That’s much higher than other companies pay their TAs (Eurofins paid 22k to new TAs), and these companies pat themselves on the back for giving you a punch on a 30 minute Christmas themed extra break as a holiday treat.

    • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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      6 days ago

      Canada, I had it

      If the company was profitable then they divided it up as extra paid days to employees

    • DacoTaco@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Belgium, “13th month” also exists here. And it being a legal thing, i wonder if this is what people mean when they talk about work bonus on the other side of the world.
      Its, afaik, the same as a pay before tax, but the tax is higher than with an actual paycheck. Doesnt mean it isnt a nice chunk of money ( 70-80% of a paycheck )

    • pseudo@jlai.lu
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      6 days ago

      Je ne suis donc pas le seul à ne pas comprendre le principe faute de n’en avoir jamais eu. Ouf… Je me sentais un peu bête et très seul.

      • fibojoly@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        En gros dans ma boîte ils te modifient le salaire mensuel pour Décembre (et aussi un peu avant les grandes vacances). Mais c’est toujours le même salaire per annum donc c’est un tour de passe passe, quoi. Ça aide les gens qui arrivent pas à économiser, j’imagine.

      • CandleTiger@programming.dev
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        6 days ago

        Translate says:

        So I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand the principle because I’ve never had one. Uff… I felt a little stupid and very lonely.

      • telllos@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        En fait, en December tu as souvent plus de dépenses que les autres mois de l’année. Cadeaux de Noël, bouffes entre ami, vacances et aussi factures etc. Alors un deuxième salaire est bienvenue. Meme si il est en quelque sorte virtuel.

        Il y a aussi certaines entreprises qui versant le salaire en avance en décembre. Alors quand j’avais que 12 salaire, celui de janvier m’était une plombe à arriver.

  • Chozo@fedia.io
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    7 days ago

    I got $100 and a video from a bunch of dead-eyed execs I’ve never seen before in my entire life thanking me for all the hard work that I do. I’d almost have rather just gotten nothing at all.

        • Steak@lemmy.ca
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          6 days ago

          I’ll split it 50/50/50 with you guys that way we all get a little more

        • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
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          7 days ago

          No he doesn’t want it, so you me and the other guy can split. $30 is $30 bucks as far as I care, turn it into a bag of weed.

    • _____@lemm.ee
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      6 days ago

      the video is so funny to me. showing a canned response to an employee they’ve never met has me in hysterics

      • Chozo@fedia.io
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        6 days ago

        It was so eerily dystopian. Telling me how much they appreciate me and how valued I am as an employee, as their eyes trail from side to side while they read the prompter.

        • _____@lemm.ee
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          6 days ago

          suits buy into the corpo crap so hard

          it’s just amazing that they can convince themselves into thinking that a video like that would make your day

    • grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org
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      6 days ago

      My direct manager gives out lottery scratch-off tickets at the winter holiday party. Last year I won $5.

      • Aztechnology@lemmy.world
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        This is a classic tactic cause you can scan them without scratching them at the store and filter out any actual winners and just leave people with essentially nothing.

        When I worked as a cashier there was a real estate agent who bought scratchers all the time and did exactly this. If one of them won more than like 50 bucks he cashed it and took all the worthless/low value ones. Then all his clients would get them in the mail for Xmas.

        • janNatan@lemmy.ml
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          6 days ago

          What? That’s not how a lottery ticket machine works. Part of the front has to be scratched off to determine if it is a winner, even with the machine. I know, because I remember having to scratch this part off myself for customers redeeming tickets back when I sold them. (The part the machine needed was along the edge, and many didn’t scratch there.) (This is specific to Tennessee, but I doubt any state used a system where you can tell if it’s a winner without anything being scratched.)

  • leadore@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    More accurate caption: Someone saw a movie about some people who expected a bonus and didn’t get one. And from that they got the weird idea that most people in the 80’s got bonuses.

    I don’t know what movie that’s from, but sorry to tell you as someone who was there: No, most people in most jobs didn’t get bonuses in the 80’s or any other time. It was the same as today–only certain kinds of management types or financial sector types got bonuses. I’ve had some pretty decent jobs and never got a bonus and no one thought they’d get one.

    Edit to Update: Yes, of course I know that some jobs gave bonuses. My point is that the post’s entire raison d’etre is the incorrect assertion that bonuses were something that everyone, or most people, routinely expected to get in the 80’s and that those people sure had it easy compared to people today. That is not the case at all. Most jobs didn’t give you a bonus back then either.

    And BTW kids, this isn’t the first time there’s ever been inflation either… Look up inflation rates in the mid-late 70’s and early 80’s. A lot worse than now.

    • CaptPretentious@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Not to call you a liar directly, but I don’t get how “you were there” but you didn’t recognize National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. The movie was no. 2 in the box office only behind Back to the Future Part 2. The various National Lampoon movies have been ran on TV countless times during the 90s.

      • Redredme@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Because national lampoons where bullshit movies which, if you had a brain cell or two didnt bother with. And weren’t that popular in the rest of the world. Like porky’s.

        Now airplane on the other hand… Or kentucky fried movie… That we did see in the EU.

      • leadore@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        I only saw the summer vacation one. I think it was the first of all of them.

      • sunbeam60@lemmy.one
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        6 days ago

        Not all people watch movies. Some people had four kids and are lucky to have 5 minutes to themselves while they shower.

    • Aeao@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Clark is a well paid employee. Upper class. He approves and oversees food additives. He’s near the executive level but not an executive. He’s close enough to walk into the office of the company president and feel bad about the gift he brought with him. He’d be expecting a Christmas bonus.

      That’s the movie.

      I’m not making a point beyond Clark would be expecting a Christmas bonus at his job. Joke might be bad, the movie was accurate.

      A better joke might be pointing out Clark was a ditz in the movies but had a high paying job. However he was also very imaginative in the movies so that might be why he’s successful in research and development.

      They are complicated movies lol

    • luciferofastora@lemmy.zip
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      6 days ago

      European here, I get a nice bonus every year. But then, my job is unionised, maybe that’s the difference?

      • sunbeam60@lemmy.one
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        6 days ago

        How dare you come here with your happiness, social safety net and psychological safety, you dirty European. What is the GDP per capita of a European?! Can’t you see they’re having a much worse life than we Americans are?!

      • leadore@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        I had a union job in the 80’s. We didn’t get bonuses. Possibly some of the upper management may have.

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          6 days ago

          I imagine “is the position union or not” is far from the only factor deciding whether you got a bonus or not.

          • leadore@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            Based on the comments, living in Europe seems to be a more important factor. But here in the US I think it’s more related to whether you have a salaried or hourly position.

    • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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      6 days ago

      Damn, even my shitty floor cleaning and sales jobs gave me a Christmas bonus. It wasn’t a lot, but it was a nice little surprise.

    • Redredme@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Lol, yeah, as another older guy I must always laugh when “the youth” paints this “rainbows and unicorns” picture of the 80s. It was fucking dark. Constant fear of total annihilation. Reagan. Thatcher. Mass layoffs everywhere. Housing crisis. Most unemployed ever. Mass demonstrations every month/week. Stop the bomb. Stop the layoffs. I want a place to live. I just want to live. Credit crisis. (15% on your mortgage? Yeah man, that’s just how it is.) Or lets talk about drugs. Or rather… … Let’s not. The police was losing control everywhere. That’s when carpenter thought “escape from new york” up. And that wasnt the only movie with that theme of complete anarchism in the streets.

      Just really listen to the music of the 80s. Really listen to stuff like 99 luftballons. Dancing with tears in my eyes. Land of confusion. Really look at the movies. Why do you think that Terminator was so god damn popular? Mad max was thought up in that era. (late 70s and 80s) Don’t you think alien /aliens products of their time? Corps which literally kill their workers, fuck them over only for a better percentage? Gordon Gecko… When was he thought up? Ever red “red storm rising” ? Sure, great book. But… What’s it about? Red October? Same.

      Movies and music are a window to that time. Sure you also had the bright colors of miami vice. But what was the theme of that series: criminals everywhere and heavy handed cops to get back at them.

      No man. The 80s where bleak. Glad that’s over. We got a little taste of the 80s back in 08-12. Just a little.

      Do we have problems now? A lot. Sure. But I don’t live under the constant fear of a Russian nuclear missile strike. There are almost no terrorist cells active anymore (RAF, IRA, Those basks and the Indonesian train hyjackers in Holland.)

      I dare to say: these days are better by a mile then back then.

      Be careful for what you wish for. And know the past so you can learn from it.

      • leadore@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Glad to see someone else on Lemmy who knows how shitty it really was in the 70’s and into the 80’s, from economics to violence to corruption. I think it’s natural to want to believe that the past was a golden age where the previous generation had it so good and then ruined things for the younger generation. Doesn’t every generation think that? Mine did too, though of course we knew about the Great Depression and WWII that our grandparents went through and our parents were kids in.

        There have been good and wonderful things, and also bad and terrible things throughout time. Which things are which vary over time, but it’s always a mix. There were always the rich assholes and the poor people struggling to get by in every generation. Read Ecclesiastes. There’s nothing new under the sun.

      • Danquebec@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        I didn’t exist during the 80s.

        However, I notice we got thrash metal, black metal, and death metal, all from the 80s. All dark and heavy music, with common themes of violence, often extreme, suicide, and drugs in thrash’s case. Probably not without reason.

  • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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    6 days ago

    I’ve been part of a workforce in one way or another for over 30 years and I’ve never gotten a year end bonus. Not that I can recall ever getting at least.

    • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
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      30 years ago was the 90s. They probably got rid it of by then. I remember a Christmas episode of Dinosaurs (an eary 90s TV show if you never heard of it) that also had a year-end bonus being withheld.

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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        6 days ago

        I remember that show.

        I don’t remember that episode.

        To be fair, I was probably in grade school when it was on TV.

        • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          I bet you remember the episode where the boss man murdered and consumed those endangered adorable sentient muppet friends of Robbie.

          • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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            To be fair, I don’t remember much of any episode, including that one. No idea what you’re on about.

            I wasn’t exactly a fan of the show, but I didn’t hate if it was on TV when I was watching.

            I remember some of the characters, but the plot lines escape me now.

    • normalexit@lemmy.world
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      They used to be pretty common in tech (at least where I’m at).

      Rather than paying a larger salary, the company makes part of the annual comp a bonus. Then if they do poorly that year they can say “sorry folks, times were tough this year. But hey, you still have a job!”

      People do tend to expect them after a few years of receiving them regularly. The taxes on them are generally worse (or at least feel worse since it is a lump sum), but otherwise a little money in your pocket around the holidays is nice.

      • NAK@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        The taxes get made up on the back end.

        Bonus money is taxed at the rate that applies if that was your regular salary. In other words

        If you make $1,000 a week that’s equivalent to $52,000/year salary. And it’s taxed at that rate.

        If your bonus works out to a $2,000 a week rate that is taxed as if you make $104,000/year.

        However, once it is time to actually do your taxes the IRS will see you made $52,000 in salary and $2,000 in bonus. So your actual taxes owed will be on $54,000.

        So whatever extra taxes you paid at bonus time get returned when you do your taxes.

        I used to work entirely on commission, and occasionally I’d have such a good week I’d hit a ridiculous tax bracket. Most weeks were ass though, so tax season was always great because I’d get that money back

        • normalexit@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Thanks for the info! I definitely just put my numbers in the tax software and pray the tax gods are kind to me every year.

      • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        They’re pretty common in municipal governments where I’m at, but they’re pretty small at first.

        They call them “longevity payments” and you get like 8 bucks for every month you’ve been with the city.

        So the first year you’ll get 96, the second you’ll get 192, third 288, etc. But by the time you reach retirement ages, if you’ve been with the same city it gets to be a few thousand. It’s good for people like secretaries and parks workers who don’t make as much, but also don’t tend to jump cities as often.

        Someone like a planner or engineer may only be with the city 3 years before moving on, so they never get a big bonus, but they also tend to make a lot more money.

  • tibi@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    A company I worked for laid off an entire site a week before Christmas. Assholes couldn’t wait 2 more weeks, they had to ruin their holidays.

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      6 days ago

      Reminds me of 2019 when Trump cut serious funding to a lot of food programs for elderly people. Just in time to ruin Christmas.

    • HeyJoe@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      That was my place last year. Huge layoff of people who have been there 10 years or longer mostly. 3 weeks before xmas… my boss was one of them and he still doesn’t have a job 1 year later. It’s crazy because he was honestly really good. My new boss is terrible compared to him.

    • demizerone@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Back in the 80s I thought that a bonus that big and wanting to spend it on a pool is something only rich people can do.

      • exasperation@lemm.ee
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        5 days ago

        I just assumed that the family in the movie was rich and that all of the drivers of the plot were rich people problems. Kinda like Home Alone.

      • frezik@midwest.social
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        5 days ago

        Chevy Chase’s character is a pretty well off professional in a big Chicago company with a pretty nice house. Hardly representative of what most people had at the time.

        It bugs me when Hollywood portrays “average” families that way, even back then. Everything from Home Alone to Nightmare on Elm Street to American Pie does the same thing. Mean Girls gets a pass because satirizing that life is part of the point.

  • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Eh, Clark was rich, even by the standards of the time. He had a posh executive position. He was easily in the top 10%, probably more like the top 5%. You saw what kind of neighbors he had. He was well off enough that he was going to spend his entire annual bonus on a swimming pool in a place that snows half the year.

    • galactic_chicken@lemmynsfw.com
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      6 days ago

      Oh, boy. So much wrong here. First off, I live in the Chicago suburbs. Clearly you don’t. Plenty of people have swimming pools “in a place that snows half the year” (note: it doesn’t). These are middle class people. You don’t need to be wealthy to own a pool, and the fact that we actually have all four seasons here is irrelevant to the cost.

      Second, who are his wealthy neighbors? Todd and Margo? They’re clearly yuppie wannabe snobs. They act rich, but that’s the joke. They’re really no better off than THEIR neighbors, the Griswolds. They also have a smaller house and fewer possessions with no kids. So they can afford some expensive things like the stereo, but that doesn’t make them wealthy. And the Shirleys (Clark’s boss) don’t even live in the same neighborhood.

      Lastly, Clark isn’t using the bonus to pay for the entire swimming pool. He needs it to pay for the deposit. He specifically says he doesn’t have enough in his account to cover it otherwise. The Griswolds have a “big” house (even that is debatable), but otherwise don’t have a lavish lifestyle. Someone in the top 5% who isn’t a spendthrift wouldn’t be kiting checks to pay for a pool.

      So sure, the Griswolds are upper middle class. But they’re not rich.

        • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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          6 days ago

          Flew so many people to the other side of the world they didn’t even notice their own kid missing? How rich you have to be for that?

          • AsheHole@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            The really rich uncle paid for it. In the opening you learn their niece lives with them and her parents are in Paris. I believe it’s their ridiculously expensive house in the second movie that is being renovated in NYC as well.

        • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Plane tickets from New York (?) to Paris in 1990 at Christmas time for an entire family would have been expensive as hell

        • AsheHole@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          So, the house it was filmed in and suburb they were supposed to be from is “Winnetka” which is a northern suburb and where a lot of exceptionally rich people live. Houses in that area go for millions. Though, it’s possible they were a house broke family. The mom was also supposed to be a fashion designer and it was the uncle who paid for the Paris trip.

          Edit: house is currently pending sale for over 5mil, and pictures show there’s a full basketball court and home movie theatre inside. Wow

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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    4 days ago

    Closest I ever got to having one is having Christmas as a paid day off

    Edit: And I’ve been told that Christmas Eve is a working day this year, and Christmas is now only paid as a reward for those who work 30 hours in a week, and this comes on the heels of “Btw, we’re cutting your hours and if you work over this amount, you are fired.”, meaning it’s an unobtainable prize.

  • stevedice@sh.itjust.works
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    5 days ago

    Not getting a Christmas bonus is illegal in Mexico. There’s also a deadline for companies to pay it before you can sue them.

    We also have the one of, if not the worst salary/hours ratio and the Chambers went collectively apeshit when a law mandating at least 10 days of PTO per year was proposed, though. Baby steps.