Nick's Jobs Rankings
In February I celebrated my 25th year in the workforce. I started at White Hen in 1985 and I have been pretty much working ever since. Here I will list the best jobs I have had to the worst. I am taking into consideration, money, stress, supervisors, travel, and co-workers. I will only list the 7 places I put in at least a year at. So, my week at Burger King and my month at Dominick’s don’t count.
1. Harris Bank – July 1998 – May 2003: All things considered this was the best job I ever had. I was getting paid nicely, and got a year end bonus every year. I had six bosses in five years and five of the six were great. My co-workers were all really good people that were easy to work with. I met my wife there as well. I can’t really list that many negatives. The one I can list is that the company was hell bent on outsourcing as much as they could. I often said when I was at Harris, that I would never leave the bank, they would have to leave me, and they did just that. We got outsourced to EDS and suddenly the best job I ever had turned into the worst. I would still be there, if not for that outsourcing and I still miss working there.
2. CWT April 2006 – Present: I am pretty lucky in that my current job is not something I can complain about. I mean sure, it is not perfect but all in all there are a lot worse places to have to go to every day. My boss is a great guy and I get along with all my co-workers. The people I support can be trying but, that is everywhere. I do wish our pay was a tad higher but, in the times we live in, I guess I shouldn’t complain. I am also not a fan of having to go to Downers Grove every day, and I miss taking the train. But these are petty complaints compared to big picture things.
3. IRI June 1992 - December 1996: I simply loved my time at IRI. I learned my trade there, worked with friends and had a blast. IRI was more of a party then a job. It was the perfect place to work at when I was in my twenties. I tell stories from my time there and few believe me. It was such a different time and a culture that I am not sure you will ever see it again. The main negative about IRI was the pay. I was paid slave wages. I started out making shit. So, when I would get glowing reviews and 7% pay increases it sounds great. But, 7% of shit is still shit. I honestly think my manager at the time never thought I would leave, so even after I asked for more money I was kept getting the brush off. After I could no longer take making peanuts, I left. It was a difficult decision but one that in the end was the right one.
4. Kmart August 1987- January 1994: Kmart was the best job I ever had if you take pay and the hours out of the equation. I was a part timer and was paid a little above minimum wage. But, man did I have a blast working there. I have written many times about the friends I made at the Mart and the adventures I got into while I was there. Needless to say, no other job shaped me as much as Kmart did. I learned a lot there about people and many of the customer service lessons I learned there still apply in the corporate world. It was the perfect place to work when I was in school and I even stayed there working weekends after I got my first “real” job. But, man did I make peanuts and working retail weekends gets really old after awhile. Also, this was the last job I worked where I was required to wear a tie.
5. White Hen February 1985 – August 1986: My first job was working for my Uncle John at the White Hen he owned at 87th and Roberts Road. I started when I was fifteen. I loved working there. I didn’t make any money, (I started out making 3.35 an hour which was minimum wage at the time, and man am I old.) But, I didn’t really need a lot of money. The little money I made was spent all on discretionary purchases. In 1985 when you are fifteen and you have $40 in your pocket you are king. I worked with a lot of family members and some other really cool people. I must say, though running the lotto machine sucked and again, I think for the 1985 fiscal year I barely topped $1,000.
6. Monsanto March 1997 – July 1998: I met a number of really cool people working at Monsanto. But, overall the job sucked. First off I wasn’t a permanent employee, I was a consultant. That was not fun as I didn’t get one week of vacation the entire time I was there. I have to break this down into 3 segments as I worked in 3 different locations for the company. First, in Deerfield, then Skokie and finally I ended up at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. The first two locations sucked. The travel was brutal and both locations were sterile. When I moved into the city at the Mart that was a great location. My boss there was a guy who had no business being in management as he had no idea how to deal with people. The team I worked on was really tight and I meet some really talented people there. Also, I made some decent coin. But, overall when I was there I was miserable.
7. Chase Bank May 2003 – April 2006: My almost three years at the bank were three of the longest of my life. When my friend Chuck put in my resume he warned me about the place. I should have listened. Let me start off by saying, my co-workers were for the most part all really good. (Save for Mike Wiant, you sir are an asshole.) I got along with 90% of them. I have no complaints there. Also, I got 4 weeks vacation and made some decent coin. But, the job itself and the company were just brutal. I supported for the most part the Capital Markets area, and it was made up of just some truly awful people. You name the job and I supported them throughout my career. Accountants, lawyers, doctors, they were all sweethearts compared to the traders and investment bankers I supported. They all had one thing in life they cared about, money. Not that there is anything wrong with wanting to make some cabbage but these people were just consumed by greed and didn’t care how they acted in their pursuits. They would talk down to you and had an air of superiority about them that just rubbed me the wrong way. On top of that the management there left a lot to be desired. They based everything on numbers that were easy to manipulate. It is the laziest and most uncreative way to try to judge ones talent and this is coming from someone who had the best numbers on the team. And then there was the constant fear you were going to lose your job as they kept making cuts. It all added up to a big bowl of wrong. I would get stress headaches daily that would start on Sunday evening. I just hated working at Chase.
1. Harris Bank – July 1998 – May 2003: All things considered this was the best job I ever had. I was getting paid nicely, and got a year end bonus every year. I had six bosses in five years and five of the six were great. My co-workers were all really good people that were easy to work with. I met my wife there as well. I can’t really list that many negatives. The one I can list is that the company was hell bent on outsourcing as much as they could. I often said when I was at Harris, that I would never leave the bank, they would have to leave me, and they did just that. We got outsourced to EDS and suddenly the best job I ever had turned into the worst. I would still be there, if not for that outsourcing and I still miss working there.
2. CWT April 2006 – Present: I am pretty lucky in that my current job is not something I can complain about. I mean sure, it is not perfect but all in all there are a lot worse places to have to go to every day. My boss is a great guy and I get along with all my co-workers. The people I support can be trying but, that is everywhere. I do wish our pay was a tad higher but, in the times we live in, I guess I shouldn’t complain. I am also not a fan of having to go to Downers Grove every day, and I miss taking the train. But these are petty complaints compared to big picture things.
3. IRI June 1992 - December 1996: I simply loved my time at IRI. I learned my trade there, worked with friends and had a blast. IRI was more of a party then a job. It was the perfect place to work at when I was in my twenties. I tell stories from my time there and few believe me. It was such a different time and a culture that I am not sure you will ever see it again. The main negative about IRI was the pay. I was paid slave wages. I started out making shit. So, when I would get glowing reviews and 7% pay increases it sounds great. But, 7% of shit is still shit. I honestly think my manager at the time never thought I would leave, so even after I asked for more money I was kept getting the brush off. After I could no longer take making peanuts, I left. It was a difficult decision but one that in the end was the right one.
4. Kmart August 1987- January 1994: Kmart was the best job I ever had if you take pay and the hours out of the equation. I was a part timer and was paid a little above minimum wage. But, man did I have a blast working there. I have written many times about the friends I made at the Mart and the adventures I got into while I was there. Needless to say, no other job shaped me as much as Kmart did. I learned a lot there about people and many of the customer service lessons I learned there still apply in the corporate world. It was the perfect place to work when I was in school and I even stayed there working weekends after I got my first “real” job. But, man did I make peanuts and working retail weekends gets really old after awhile. Also, this was the last job I worked where I was required to wear a tie.
5. White Hen February 1985 – August 1986: My first job was working for my Uncle John at the White Hen he owned at 87th and Roberts Road. I started when I was fifteen. I loved working there. I didn’t make any money, (I started out making 3.35 an hour which was minimum wage at the time, and man am I old.) But, I didn’t really need a lot of money. The little money I made was spent all on discretionary purchases. In 1985 when you are fifteen and you have $40 in your pocket you are king. I worked with a lot of family members and some other really cool people. I must say, though running the lotto machine sucked and again, I think for the 1985 fiscal year I barely topped $1,000.
6. Monsanto March 1997 – July 1998: I met a number of really cool people working at Monsanto. But, overall the job sucked. First off I wasn’t a permanent employee, I was a consultant. That was not fun as I didn’t get one week of vacation the entire time I was there. I have to break this down into 3 segments as I worked in 3 different locations for the company. First, in Deerfield, then Skokie and finally I ended up at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. The first two locations sucked. The travel was brutal and both locations were sterile. When I moved into the city at the Mart that was a great location. My boss there was a guy who had no business being in management as he had no idea how to deal with people. The team I worked on was really tight and I meet some really talented people there. Also, I made some decent coin. But, overall when I was there I was miserable.
7. Chase Bank May 2003 – April 2006: My almost three years at the bank were three of the longest of my life. When my friend Chuck put in my resume he warned me about the place. I should have listened. Let me start off by saying, my co-workers were for the most part all really good. (Save for Mike Wiant, you sir are an asshole.) I got along with 90% of them. I have no complaints there. Also, I got 4 weeks vacation and made some decent coin. But, the job itself and the company were just brutal. I supported for the most part the Capital Markets area, and it was made up of just some truly awful people. You name the job and I supported them throughout my career. Accountants, lawyers, doctors, they were all sweethearts compared to the traders and investment bankers I supported. They all had one thing in life they cared about, money. Not that there is anything wrong with wanting to make some cabbage but these people were just consumed by greed and didn’t care how they acted in their pursuits. They would talk down to you and had an air of superiority about them that just rubbed me the wrong way. On top of that the management there left a lot to be desired. They based everything on numbers that were easy to manipulate. It is the laziest and most uncreative way to try to judge ones talent and this is coming from someone who had the best numbers on the team. And then there was the constant fear you were going to lose your job as they kept making cuts. It all added up to a big bowl of wrong. I would get stress headaches daily that would start on Sunday evening. I just hated working at Chase.
posted by 10withmop at 11:11 AM
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