This is the week for rants, it seems...
Jan. 28th, 2005 10:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityvixenSo, Sunday, Lisa was looking over her paycheck to see if she'd gotten a raise she was expecting, and it turns out she had. Good for her, we're very happy, she deserves it, she works hard (harder than me, apparently, as I have time to write this rant). Cut to me looking at what she takes home from the base then thinking about what I get and realizing that, while I've thought what I took home was low, I never considered looking at the base.
D'oh.
I do the math, and 26 pay cycles times XXX.XX base does not equal Y, my yearly salary. So, I took it to Vanessa today, who also calculated and checked me up. Turns out, I'm right. I've been being paid roughly 2-3K under or will be by the end of the year at the rate this has been going. Two to three thousand dollars. I know I'm not good with this stuff, but you'd have really thought I'd have noticed. Vanessa chided me for not saying something sooner. Believe me, now that I know? I'm going to be HATEFULLY MERCENARY about all paychecks I receive from now on.
Yes, this is my fault, my fault for not bringing it up sooner, but I've been given a lot of false promise and hope here. For starters, this asshole job didn't pay me for a month and a half, in which I got an apartment, so that was fun, having nearly no cash. That was not my fault. I visited Vanessa every other day and ranted about it everyday on LJ. I kept asking and asking and asking. Half a month after I started working, I was the sole employee under my boss, still, the checks only started to come a month after that. I only got signed up for benefits a month and a half after starting, delaying all the expensive but necessary things like union dues, deductions for medical, for transit, the works. Forget that I hadn't gotten my address correctly in, and had all my stuff sent to my parents' house, at least I was getting my benefits after a while.
Cue first paycheck, which was wildly high and made me deliriously happy even as I realized it was too high for my base rate. I figured it was compensatory, pay-back for the weeks worked unpaid, and the second check, though lower, seemed to support this. Then the next few checks started to peter out to what it's been for months. To defend myself against "idiot, why did you wait so long?" accusations, which are not entirely undeserved, I did call the HR department after the first few checks, none of which was for the same amount.
It was then I learned the fundamental rule of HR. No one with any job or people skills ever goes into HR. The whole department finds the most incompetant people, picks the most confusing system, and runs the place with those two elements. The people aren't rude or anything that might get them fired, but they're beguiling and devilish just the same--they just find ways to do it without getting into trouble. Whatever your problem is, HR reminds you, it is fundamentally your problem. It is not their problem, and getting it fixed, whatever 'it' is, is a privelege, not a right, not part of their job. I've talked to other people about this, and I'm convinced this is true the world over. HR, wherever it resides, knows they control your money, so they have you nuts, tits, whatever-sexual-organ-you-think-would-hurt-the-most in a vice, and there is nothing you can do about it!
A lot of my reticence to bring this to Vanessa's attention stemmed from my completely unsuccessful attempt to talk--no, not fix the problem, merely to talk to someone about it--with HR over these mysteriously fluctuating paychecks. I got one person on the phone, was transferred to the person supposedly in charge of our department. This person, per the second fundamental law of HR, is never at her desk when I call. She will, perhaps, call me back. I've gotten really good at leaving all the pertinent information on a phone message--who I am, where I can be reached, why I'm calling--for work, too, so there was no reason she couldn't do it (every OTHER person I've contacted for work gets back to me, but HR, and this is the third rule, does not). Eventually, I got her, explained my confusion, and got...nothing. No response, not a call back. I called a few more times, left a few more messages and got nothing.
A few months later, I'm printing out the expenses for the year for my boss, this was September or October, I think, and she comes back from her financial counseling meeting to tell me that her person says I'm still not being paid correctly. I mention this to Vanessa, she says she'll look into it. Karima, of course, does nothing. There's something to be said for having to do this yourself, and I've already said about twenty paragraphs about it. It sucks. Nothing comes of this, either, I might add.
Now, it's February, and the rates for the MTA monthly passes are going up (sons of bitches--see earlier rants this week), and I know, as much as I dread it, I'm going to have to get in HR's face about this. I'm serious when I say I've put off grabbing Vanessa by the hair and shoving her face into my paychecks and saying "FIX THIS!" because I'm afraid of HR. If they give me the money I deserve, I bet they take away coverage, or don't pay my union dues and get the union on my ass. However tempting not using my transit benefit seems--yes, I'd rather take the post-tax hit on a $76 monthly metrocard than talk to HR, and I've explained why--I really don't fancy being in the hole $76 and the useless $70 being held aside. I've got a month to get this fixed for March, so I bit the bullet and went to see Vanessa. I told her I regretted the way this sounded, and she was welcome to correct me if I'd gotten it wrong, but that I was, simply, not being paid enough and hadn't been for some time.
Vanessa was appalled. Thank you, Jebus, someone else realizes this is NUTS. I told the union guy when I was being orientated that I hadn't been paid in a month and a half and he looked at me like I had two heads. He said it was wrong wrong wrong and helped not at all. Vanessa took my checks, the two I still had in my bag, and calculated, recalculated, and said it wasn't right. She copied the checks and promised to call HR, telling me that I'd get the back-owed money in a lump sum. Now, this means it would be heavily taxed, but I'm not making enough for any federal taxes to stay in the federal coffers, so that's not a huge deal. And, if it means I get even half what I owed, that's probably something like $500 for half the year I've not been paid correctly, upfront, after taxes--maybe more. That's fine with me.
EXCEPT IT IS NOT FUCKING FINE. ::ROARS::
And, it seems, though they have this wonderful set up where you can check your benefits online, you can't do shit about them there, so I'll still have to go through the HR mess and get the metrocard stuff fixed--and Vanessa will probably have to find the time to do it herself because, surprise surprise, whoever it is that is supposed to handle our department (and this name was entirely unlike the one I called on the phone who was supposed to be our case worker) is on vacation. Sigh. I started this rant pissed off, and I finish it a defeated, broken human being. FUCKING HR. You cannot win with them.
WHAT THE HELL IS SO HARD ABOUT WHAT THEY DO? They're never open, they don't work a 35-hr week, I'd swear it (the hours are messed up, they have Wednesday afternoon off...), and whenever I call they're busy but when I go down there, it's just two ladies up front with nothing to do who won't pay attention to you until you say, "Excuse me?" about thirty times. Say it once, they ignore you, pretend they didn't hear, say it twice, they'll hold up a finger because whatever's on the computer screen in front of them requires their full attention for another moment (here's a clue, you dumb bitch, RED GOES ON BLACK!). Say it three times and you get a look, maybe a, "Just one minute, ma'am" (I don't know who said it, but some comedienne said that was code for 'bitch' and I believe her). Eventually, when all the cards cascade from the top and give her the high score, she'll look at you, tell you that there's a paper to fill out over there and ignore you again. You bring the paper back, go through the routine again and she tells you that you've forgotten something if she can, and if not, pulls it aside and leaves it there, continues talking on instant messenger.
This has been my experience with HR. Is it any wonder that I value my time and work less than my sanity and have avoided them this long?
D'oh.
I do the math, and 26 pay cycles times XXX.XX base does not equal Y, my yearly salary. So, I took it to Vanessa today, who also calculated and checked me up. Turns out, I'm right. I've been being paid roughly 2-3K under or will be by the end of the year at the rate this has been going. Two to three thousand dollars. I know I'm not good with this stuff, but you'd have really thought I'd have noticed. Vanessa chided me for not saying something sooner. Believe me, now that I know? I'm going to be HATEFULLY MERCENARY about all paychecks I receive from now on.
Yes, this is my fault, my fault for not bringing it up sooner, but I've been given a lot of false promise and hope here. For starters, this asshole job didn't pay me for a month and a half, in which I got an apartment, so that was fun, having nearly no cash. That was not my fault. I visited Vanessa every other day and ranted about it everyday on LJ. I kept asking and asking and asking. Half a month after I started working, I was the sole employee under my boss, still, the checks only started to come a month after that. I only got signed up for benefits a month and a half after starting, delaying all the expensive but necessary things like union dues, deductions for medical, for transit, the works. Forget that I hadn't gotten my address correctly in, and had all my stuff sent to my parents' house, at least I was getting my benefits after a while.
Cue first paycheck, which was wildly high and made me deliriously happy even as I realized it was too high for my base rate. I figured it was compensatory, pay-back for the weeks worked unpaid, and the second check, though lower, seemed to support this. Then the next few checks started to peter out to what it's been for months. To defend myself against "idiot, why did you wait so long?" accusations, which are not entirely undeserved, I did call the HR department after the first few checks, none of which was for the same amount.
It was then I learned the fundamental rule of HR. No one with any job or people skills ever goes into HR. The whole department finds the most incompetant people, picks the most confusing system, and runs the place with those two elements. The people aren't rude or anything that might get them fired, but they're beguiling and devilish just the same--they just find ways to do it without getting into trouble. Whatever your problem is, HR reminds you, it is fundamentally your problem. It is not their problem, and getting it fixed, whatever 'it' is, is a privelege, not a right, not part of their job. I've talked to other people about this, and I'm convinced this is true the world over. HR, wherever it resides, knows they control your money, so they have you nuts, tits, whatever-sexual-organ-you-think-would-hurt-the-most in a vice, and there is nothing you can do about it!
A lot of my reticence to bring this to Vanessa's attention stemmed from my completely unsuccessful attempt to talk--no, not fix the problem, merely to talk to someone about it--with HR over these mysteriously fluctuating paychecks. I got one person on the phone, was transferred to the person supposedly in charge of our department. This person, per the second fundamental law of HR, is never at her desk when I call. She will, perhaps, call me back. I've gotten really good at leaving all the pertinent information on a phone message--who I am, where I can be reached, why I'm calling--for work, too, so there was no reason she couldn't do it (every OTHER person I've contacted for work gets back to me, but HR, and this is the third rule, does not). Eventually, I got her, explained my confusion, and got...nothing. No response, not a call back. I called a few more times, left a few more messages and got nothing.
A few months later, I'm printing out the expenses for the year for my boss, this was September or October, I think, and she comes back from her financial counseling meeting to tell me that her person says I'm still not being paid correctly. I mention this to Vanessa, she says she'll look into it. Karima, of course, does nothing. There's something to be said for having to do this yourself, and I've already said about twenty paragraphs about it. It sucks. Nothing comes of this, either, I might add.
Now, it's February, and the rates for the MTA monthly passes are going up (sons of bitches--see earlier rants this week), and I know, as much as I dread it, I'm going to have to get in HR's face about this. I'm serious when I say I've put off grabbing Vanessa by the hair and shoving her face into my paychecks and saying "FIX THIS!" because I'm afraid of HR. If they give me the money I deserve, I bet they take away coverage, or don't pay my union dues and get the union on my ass. However tempting not using my transit benefit seems--yes, I'd rather take the post-tax hit on a $76 monthly metrocard than talk to HR, and I've explained why--I really don't fancy being in the hole $76 and the useless $70 being held aside. I've got a month to get this fixed for March, so I bit the bullet and went to see Vanessa. I told her I regretted the way this sounded, and she was welcome to correct me if I'd gotten it wrong, but that I was, simply, not being paid enough and hadn't been for some time.
Vanessa was appalled. Thank you, Jebus, someone else realizes this is NUTS. I told the union guy when I was being orientated that I hadn't been paid in a month and a half and he looked at me like I had two heads. He said it was wrong wrong wrong and helped not at all. Vanessa took my checks, the two I still had in my bag, and calculated, recalculated, and said it wasn't right. She copied the checks and promised to call HR, telling me that I'd get the back-owed money in a lump sum. Now, this means it would be heavily taxed, but I'm not making enough for any federal taxes to stay in the federal coffers, so that's not a huge deal. And, if it means I get even half what I owed, that's probably something like $500 for half the year I've not been paid correctly, upfront, after taxes--maybe more. That's fine with me.
EXCEPT IT IS NOT FUCKING FINE. ::ROARS::
And, it seems, though they have this wonderful set up where you can check your benefits online, you can't do shit about them there, so I'll still have to go through the HR mess and get the metrocard stuff fixed--and Vanessa will probably have to find the time to do it herself because, surprise surprise, whoever it is that is supposed to handle our department (and this name was entirely unlike the one I called on the phone who was supposed to be our case worker) is on vacation. Sigh. I started this rant pissed off, and I finish it a defeated, broken human being. FUCKING HR. You cannot win with them.
WHAT THE HELL IS SO HARD ABOUT WHAT THEY DO? They're never open, they don't work a 35-hr week, I'd swear it (the hours are messed up, they have Wednesday afternoon off...), and whenever I call they're busy but when I go down there, it's just two ladies up front with nothing to do who won't pay attention to you until you say, "Excuse me?" about thirty times. Say it once, they ignore you, pretend they didn't hear, say it twice, they'll hold up a finger because whatever's on the computer screen in front of them requires their full attention for another moment (here's a clue, you dumb bitch, RED GOES ON BLACK!). Say it three times and you get a look, maybe a, "Just one minute, ma'am" (I don't know who said it, but some comedienne said that was code for 'bitch' and I believe her). Eventually, when all the cards cascade from the top and give her the high score, she'll look at you, tell you that there's a paper to fill out over there and ignore you again. You bring the paper back, go through the routine again and she tells you that you've forgotten something if she can, and if not, pulls it aside and leaves it there, continues talking on instant messenger.
This has been my experience with HR. Is it any wonder that I value my time and work less than my sanity and have avoided them this long?
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Date: 2005-01-28 04:31 pm (UTC)