MonreauxTiger

Got both Pfizer shots couple months ago, no issues at all. Got Covid a few weeks ago from my son and had serious flu like symptoms for 2-3 days. I don’t feel triggered by the vaccines, by getting Covid, by my employer requiring the vaccine or by people that are triggered by it.

The group of retirees that leave due to the vaccine mandate will not only reduce the risk profile at the office, reduce the drama associated with constant posturing, but will provide accelerated opportunities for others that remain. I can see companies looking at this like an opportunity to exit some of the dead weight without the hassle.

We know there will be good performers leave as well, but if you want to know how long a company will suffer in your absence put your arm in a bucket of water and take it out to see how long it takes the ripples to smooth out.

The biggest difference is ceiling and options over a 30-40 year career.

Operators make a great living and deal with difficult schedules that have benefits such as long hooks, but have drawbacks with being on call and holidays, nights, weekends. The base pay is good ($75K-$100K) and the OT upside is great and can easily push them to $150K-$250K. The ceiling is as good as that overtime is and over a career if you are interested in a potential game changing career step it isn't likely in the field. You can bounce around companies, technologies, roles, etc and join staff, but variability is quite limited.

Many (most) Engineers start out in the $80-$100K range, work the required hours, do a decent job and get an incremental raise every year at 1.5%-3%. Some are ambitious, successful and accept additional risks by moving around and taking on difficult assignments in different functions, specialized roles or leadership positions and the upside can pretty quickly jump up into the $250,000-$750,000 range.

Some of this is unknown to most people within a company, but once you advance to a certain haypoint level it activates things like base bonus percentage increases in the 30-50% level, stock options, deferred stock and other retirement pledges that overnight can take you from a $130,000 salary to $400,000+ which only grows more significant as you progress further.

For me Chemical Engineering was more about options, long term growth potential, quality of life as I moved into my late 40s and beyond and a high ceiling as opposed to the amount I made the first few years of my tenure.

And a passion for culinary excellence, including a demand for only the freshest ingriedients.

My opinion is you shouldn't overreact. This happens and it isn't limited to you or about you other than you are needed and valued in current role OR you haven't been in current role long enough OR your performance hasn't been good enough to warrant allowing you to move.

If you value your career and working at your current employer, relax. Get some clarity and determine why, ask what you can do to achieve your interests and take the weekend to think through. If you don't care quit.

Most employees think they have leverage, but you really don't. Go stick your hand in a bucket of water and pull it out and see how long it takes for the small ripple to flatten back out. I always put the bigger picture ahead of my immediate emotional reaction and it has served me well over time.

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That sounds like a good thing.

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It should be but in my line of work I find much more conflict in things that were just a given in Louisiana or Texas. Just a different sense of urgency to deliver business needs than what I'm accustomed to.

I can't argue the notion, just makes things difficult for the employer, but it has definitely made me stop and think about what the balance should really look like.

2009 911 S here, manual. It is so much fun to drive I cannot imagine buying the auto. Want to get a newer model 4S, but must have manual transmission.

Great daily driver, but rock chips on the hood are incredibly painful.

"Yeah, but sometimes I can't afford 40 fricking minutes. I had an interview once, tons of counts put their purses in overhead, and it took literally an hour and a half for me to get my carry-on from baggage claim, barely making it to the interview in time. It's not the money, it's the time a-hole."

I've flown 60-70 commercial flights in the past six months and have not experienced this sort of delay for baggage. I guess I'm lucky, but that seems like an extreme example. With air travel if you book with little margin of error on connections and appointments it certainly can magnify things.

A lot of variability between airports as well though, I've seen the full range but not sure I've spent more than 25-30 minutes from deplane to walking out of baggage claim with my bag in all of those flights.

Money is not the root of all evil. The love of money is the root of all evil.

60 at work (another 10 on phone/online at home)

48 direct/673 overall

Porsche 911 Carrera 4S. Last year I bought a black 911 Carrera S and now I know why anyone would want to waste that kind of money on a car.

Of course, I like driving fast and pissing my wife off and that car allows me to do both simultaneously. Would prefer the 4S but would still get black on black. It is just a different experience to drive and maybe the first vehicle in my life (I buy a lot of vehicles) that I like more and more as the days go by.

I would also probably test drive an Audi R8.