thehopping1, on 07 November 2009 - 05:12 AM, said:
Wow, that's a huge printer.
Will your job at the hospital will be there if you can not stand playing the corporate game down the road? If they will have you back I would go for the printing job until I could not stand it any more saving as much money as possible so if I went back to the hospital I wouldn't have to worry so much if my transmission went out on my car or something.
I guess it will come down to what you need/want in life. If you can make it on the hospital's pay and enjoy your job than that would be the best for you. If your job at the hospital is not secure and your new printing job is, than go with the safe bet until the economy isn't as bad as it is now. Who knows when this will end or if.
Just my thoughts anyway.
Also will you still be under contract if you leave the hospital job and can you get hired on full time by the hospital if you aren't under contract any more? Possibly more money and a more secure job?
Nothing is very secure.
Printing is economy dependent & the "on-call' that I work drys up without warning.
Funny you should mention the contract running out part. For now my plan is to do just that... But I have to
not work there for a year for that to be the case.
You seem familiar with printing, because that is what many of us do. We jump into printing until we can't stand it anymore & then try other ventures for a while... We ALL get trapped in Printing. It is a running joke/truth in the industry.
When we decide to go back in, we don't search the ads, we network with all the other guys that we have worked with in the past. When printing is hot, you end up working 12 hour shifts non stop, so you get to know your colleagues VERY well & even in a major metropolitan area you end up knowing someone in every shop after a few years..
As for happiness, that is all in ones perception I suppose.
There are advantages & disadvantages to both types of work. And it is a balancing act for a roughneck like myself to keep up a refined appearance, as to be accepted by the type of P.C.
"pussies" (for lack of a better term) that you work with in the medical field. Paradoxically, my rough edge is why many of my patients trust me. I am not superficial.
I can be relatively certain that I am the only one in the hospital that I work at who has converted, or even owns a Saiga-12. Let alone knows how to use it.
We have a group therapy session at 4:30 every afternoon. During these sessions most present, including staff participate. One of the aspects is pose a question (The patients pick the question). My favorite was: If you were a shoe, what type would you be? My answer came to me almost immediately..
"A greasy pair of work boots, striving to be wing-tips."
That is the most true statement I think I have ever made.
One issue with the Psychiatric career however, is that one must enforce policies that one does not necessarily agree with. I am anti-establishment by nature, so it is hard to not
"look the other way" in certain instances.
AA re-cvrd, on 07 November 2009 - 06:59 AM, said:
Nice press. I've been in the printing trade for 30 years now. Good pressmen are hard to find, no doubt, and getting harder all the time. I got off the production floor six years ago, my arms, back , and knees can't take it anymore. I'm now the shop manager for the city school district and I get a great deal of satisfaction out of what I'm doing. Like you, I see the whole picture, the guys that work under me know it and they rely on it, the folks above me also know it and rely on it. The Bureaucracy sucks, but it has made me deal with my massive eago and is teaching me how to shut my mouth when it is most important to do so. Neither of us will ever get rich in this business, we're screwed, as our veins are filled with ink, and try as we may to get away from it, we always come back to it
From one printer to another, your path so far sounds very similar to many of us. Just keep this in mind, we aint getten any younger, you'll need to settle down pretty soon
That's my .02
Dean
That's another possibility that has come to mind...
I think I need another decade in the industry though to hone my skills & become a Master Printer before I take the lead of a shop.
I have experienced a shop manager be installed after a multinational takeover. He was a young guy, just out of college. He tried to B.S. us that he knew it all... So we let him run the show without any help. Needless to say, he didn't last long. Corperations seem to value a degree over presstime lately. This is a fatal mistake in our business.
If you don't command the confidence of your men, it will show. & in high quality Litho, that puts the whole shop in a bad position.
At this point in life (being 31) I need to run presses for a while longer & maybe get some pre-press time before I take the lead... But I am tall & not a barrel chested thick type. I must be careful not to kill my body in the process.
Maybe I'll check into managing a documart or other
SMALL pressroom before I try to lead the big-boys. Until then, it looks like I will be learning a K.B.A. German 8-color perfector w/ analox coater.
I am a Komori guy, so this should at least be interesting.
But damn you get a sick feeling going back in... It is like being re-deployed.
kencrawleysc, on 07 November 2009 - 06:13 AM, said:
How do you deal with a Bully?
You must be firm, assertive & professional.
Do not stupe to their level & try to intimidate, but make it clear with your demeanor that you are not intimidated by them.
With most people who bully others, they have a low self esteem.
They are trying to dominate others as a defense mechanism in order to feel more powerful & influential, also to warn off possible aggression.
It is like when a young man comes onto my unit & trys to act like a bad-ass. I tell him that he is in a safe place, He, the other staff & the other patients are safe, & that we intend to keep it that way.
I say this in a friendly manner because this type of individual is used to the rejection of others & if I show acceptance, it not only disarms him, but often forges an alliance between us. An understanding. If he feels attacked, he will strike back.
I treat him with respect, but will not let him manipulate me.
If all else fails (like with some sociopaths), we call a "Code Grey" & lock him in a hold room.
If he starts kicking the door, or shows that he may hurt himself in some other way, we aply 4 point restraints... The Patient will say that they have to go to the bathroom shortly thereafter, or anything else they can think of to try to have us let them out of restraints. We tell him that we can offer him a urinal, or that he can go in his pants, but the restraints are staying on.
We're very nonchalant about this. We are NEVER spiteful as this would add into their attempted power-play.
Rarely do we have to go to 4 points. Hardly ever do we have to go to 4 points more than once.
This post has been edited by Paulyski: 07 November 2009 - 08:24 AM
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