Zug, I agree with Firelock76. Plenty of good advice and I can’t give you any.
I’ve been railroading professionally for 16 years, the last 10 in engine service. Throw in a couple years on a tourist railroad before that and a number of years hanging around depots in my youth. Those early years allowed me the chance to see the inner workings of the railroad. It’s what set me on my journey to become a railroader.
There have been many changes since my youth. Some jobs have disappeared completely, others still exist, but have changed in how they are done. There will always be jobs on the railroad. I would guess that any earth shattering changes in number of employees will come with protection for those already employed. I think you will be able to reach retirement on the railroad unless you choose to leave it, either through a buy-out or burn out.
I hope not through burn out. I’m not you, I don’t get the itch to try something different every so often. But I do now and then suffer a bit of burn out myself. There are times I have nothing good to say about the railroad. (Many times I feel like others have expressed at work, “I like railroading but not the railroad.”) I couldn’t print what I think about them.
Yet, when it comes right down to it, I couldn’t ever see myself working anywhere else. (I mean in the industry. While I doubt I would ever leave the UP now, I still kick myself for not going to the IAIS about 14 years ago when I had the chance. They hire off and on, but now it’s too late. Plus they have had changes, while mostly good, have dampened by desire to work there.) Even though they have and continue to dumb down the job. Even though they seem to come up with a lot of BS and treat their field employees like children who have to be told every move to make, railroading still
At age 34 I was bored out of my mind with my job. I worked for an LTL trucking company and wasnt going anywhere in the organization. One day I surprised myself and the owner by handing him my letter of resignation. I took a lower paying job in sales.
Why? The Sunday night rule. I was miserable on Sunday nights knowing that I had to return to work at 8am the following morning and be bored out of my mind.
At age 59 I am at the same company doing the same thing…selling, or actually helping people with their corporate branding (fancy term for selling large format graphics to trucking companies, railroads, convenience stores, and a few other misc users of decals). The word “Senior” has been added to “Sales Representative” but it is the same job and I love it.
One day I will get in my car for the last time and make the final sales call but I am in no hurry. In fact it saddens me a little to think about it. Yesterday I ran into the man whom I turned in that letter of resignation years ago. He really screwed up by letting me walk (and not giving me responsibility…I could have made him a lot of money). When I see him, I thank my lucky stars that on that night in May, 1990 while sitting on the stairs at 1am, I decided to walk away from that job…and into a career.
There is a huge difference between a job and a career. I mentor young men and women who enter sales in our company and offer them this advice…“spend your 20’s figuring out what you want to do the rest of your life.”
Including travel and actual work, most people spend about 30% of their week on a vocation. It should be something that is stimulating, provides growth and self esteem, pays the bills, and makes you want to look forward to Monday mornings. I still live by the Sunday night rule.
That’s one thing you don’t have to worry about working in irregular, unassigned service, whether it be pool or extra board. Sunday, Saturday, and holidays are just another day on the calendar.
I always said, “Mondays are the best day of the week!” And after the moans from my co-workers subsided, I’d add; “Because there are a whole 7 days before it is Monday again! Ya can’t say that about Tuesdays, now can ya?”
There’s a lot to be said for the ‘security’ that longevity at a company usually provides.
However, in some cases, the ‘security’ can be analogous to the ‘security’ one has as an inmate of the penal system: sure, you get a roof over your head and three “meals” per day, but few of us would trade the freedom to do what we want for the illusion of security.
Intellegent management could happen! I’ve known a few (very), good RFE’s and TM’s. I like to think there might be a few more on the horizon. Please don’t crush my dreams!
There’s a couple good ones out here. Unfortunately, there are also many not-so-good ones. And the worst part is seeing the good ones passed over because they can keep their little piece of the railroad running, while the not-so-good ones are promoted to positions where they can do less damage. Or so it seems. I don’t know.
Briefly, Percussive Sublimation is kicking someone upstairs, in spite of their level of competence. The Lateral Arabesque is moving someone into a position that sounds like a promotion, but isn’t…
A fellow I carpooled with some years ago had a boss who gave lousy employees rave reviews, and good employees bad reviews, on the theory that someone would hire away the bad ones…
Glass may be half full, not half empty. Give 'em the benefit of the doubt and realize that problems are really opportunities in disguise. The best thing that ever happened to me (well in my career at least) is that I got my start with a badly managed company. They needed alot of help and fortunately I was there at the right time!
You have to remember the “Peter Principle”… “Employees are promoted to the level of incompetency and then they stop being promoted; but they are never demoted back to where they were good at their job.”
I had a high school history teacher who gave some good advice. He said that people were too quick to criticize others for being quitters. He said if you thought you might have some interest in something, try it, and give it your best effort. If you found you didn’t like it, be honest with yourself and others, and quit. Better to give it an honest try and find you didn’t like something than spend the rest of your life regretting not trying it at all. Maybe that’s the origin of the T-shirts that say “Been there, done that”? Or the reason I’ve tried raw oysters- once.
I agree with Murphy. It isn’t quitting to realize you don’t want to be in the same line of work for the next 5-25-35 years. It’s having the courage to step forward into a new direction. It doesn’t mean the work you do now was a waste, it just means you are going to move on in a different, new direction. Some folks don’t get the opportunity, but if you do, seize it.
Semper Vaporo mentioned the “Peter Principle” in his post above. Not only is his summary pretty much ‘on point’, but there’s an entire book by that name from the late 1960’s, which includes the Percussive Sublimation and Lateral Arabesque mentioned by Larry/ tree68 a few posts above that. It was written as a tongue-in-cheek management text (I think), but many people have found that there’s a lot of real-world truth to it. Between that and Robert Townsend’s Up the Organization! (same time frame, less humorous but still an enjoyable read), there are 2 good books that explains why things go wrong, and what can be done to fix them.
Zug, I have been thinking about your situation, and was going to suggest that you might enjoy writing, but when re-reading your initial post, I saw that you discounted writing. I’ve always enjoyed reading your comments here, and I appreciate your sense of humor. Consider submitting a couple of stories to Kalmbach and see what happens.