> > Is there some law that says you have to work
>>for this company after you graduate? What's
>>stopping you from getting a real IT job at a
>>company that doesn't treat its employees like
>>this?
>
> This is an interesting conversation to watch,
>because a couple days ago, we had a similar
>conversation about your own job, and how you were
>saying you'd rather stick it out there because
>you enjoyed the work itself (such as it is) and
>only have complaints with how the company treats
>its employees. What's different between what you
>said then, and what Enigma's saying here? The
>"fair wage" part, I guess? Yet if, as you both
>acknowledge, money isn't the key to contentment,
>why would that tip the scales?

The difference is that in the beginning I had the impression that Enigma was being very naive about his situation, mistaking being taken advantage of (being given sizeable projects to tackle but not given any resources to accomplish them and still being paid a wage much lower than would be expected for such work) for respect and understanding. As it turns out, it would appear he's a college student still in the process of getting his degree, so my thinking is that this may actually be a great situation for him currently, as he's getting great experience and resume material while still going to school. But he still seems to be thinking about this job as his long term job, which would seem to me to be foolish--why would one work towards a degree in something as practical as IT if one was apparently never intending to put it to use (by remaining a call center employee)? As a caveat, I have to say, if Enigma is *truly* happy doing what he's doing, then by all means, stay at it. I just had the idea that he was mistaking being taken advantage of for respect, which would seem to me to tend to make a person happy for all the wrong reasons. But who am I to question happiness?

As for my own situation, I think you misunderstood my complaints. True, this company tends to treat its employees like crap, but I have not personally been treated like crap here--in fact, I've (generally, with a few exceptions) been treated with nothing but respect, regardless of whether or not I've actually deserved it. My main gripe with this company is that it's stupid and does nothing but waste money on retarded things constantly, but is tight with the purse strings about things it *should* spend money on. It's the most sloppily run company I've ever been associated with, anything it accomplishes it accomplishes either by sheer dumb luck or because someone with some vision dragged it kicking and screaming along until the big picture was clear enough for even the dimest bulb to see. That, coupled with the fact that I have absolutely no work to do most of the time (and yet, bizarrely, can't just work on personal projects because I'm constantly being interrupted by co-workers who think nothing of me surfing the web all day but would take undue interest if they came by and saw me actually writing code or fiddling with a linux box or something else that actually resembled *work*) and I'm reduced to sitting around surfing the web and making piles of money for it.

Anybody who knows me at all knows that this *should* be my dream friggin job, and yet, like everything else in this strange bizzaro world I work in, it leaves a lot to be desired. I could just leave, true, but I'd still rather have too little to do than be pounded unrelentingly with work that I can't possibly finish in anything like a timely manner (I've experienced both--as much as I complain, this is better). I'd say the vast majority of SA jobs also consist of being on call 24/7 in one way or another, and if there's anything more disrespectful to employees than making them be on call 24/7 I don't know yet what it is (other than maybe actually crapping on their heads...) I don't have to put up with that here, and that's a true rarity in my field. That one thing right there, more than any other, keeps me from jumping ship whenever I start thinking about doing so.

Plus, I just don't have good luck switching jobs. It could be that I just don't know what I'm looking for yet, or that the field I'm in is *never* going to make me happy, but without fail, every job I've had since college has been worse than the one I left. I continue to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire every time I make a move. Hell, maybe I'm arguing Enigma's point here--maybe if my situation is any indication, he should just stay where he is and continue to answer the phones if it's really making him happy. But it seems to me that IT work generally makes him happy, and I *know* there are companies out there (even if I can't find them myself) who will pay fair wages *and* offer respect and understanding, and not mistreat employees. *shrug*

-- Dave