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I've seen us tell employers someone wasn't eligible for rehiring, but only if asked.

It's not so much that I want to come back; it's that I'm worried about what will happen if I get a job and they check references and then decide not to hire me based on me not being rehireable.


Ah well. I figure I'll see if they're willing to wait four weeks. I'm double checking my references tonight (making sure contact info is still good and that they're willing to be references). Will start sending stuff out tomorrow and wednesday before thanksgiving and try not to stress out over the actual holiday.

Must do things different in Tejas (doh!).

Captain Ned wrote:

Must do things different in Tejas (doh!).

A lot of things are different in Texas...

grantmeaname wrote:

I think everyone responding to this has been continually misinterpreting each other. He's not saying paul's rolling in dough, he's saying the moron troll who called it a third world salary is wrong. Demonstrably wrong, in fact, based on how much money $28k is in India.

I'm guessing the person who made that comment, while choosing a trollish form of phrasing, was probably speaking in relative terms, not absolute. Be that as it may, the underlying point seems uncontested: the OP is underpaid.

Captain Ned wrote:

Airmantharp wrote:

Being listed as 'ineligible for rehire' would make me not want to put that work experience down on a resume/job application; balancing how much you want to use your current employment as a reference.

In my experience the only thing previous employers will confirm is start and end dates. To go any further brings Legal into play and no one wants to play with Legal.

Perhaps the laws vary by state? But yeah, it was always my understanding that specifics of job performance, rehire status, evaluations, or anything of that nature were confidential - HR in any company I've worked for sure treats them like state secrets. That's what references are for.

on that I'm lucky; my last two bosses will give me references As will 2-3 former coworkers. I'm good at the job and I gotta admit, absolutely terrified of being the new guy again.

You know what, that will always be the case.

I'm actually in talks right now with a new employer, and leaving my current one terrifies me somewhat because I have worked there for a total of some 12 years with a a slight time off due to layoff for cut downs, and I'm thinking of leaving, despite wonderful workmates, a decent, but lowish salery and very decent assignments.

Anyway, best of luck to you.

grantmeaname wrote:

ludi wrote:

Jigar wrote:

Stop your miss guided crap, $28000 per year is consider super salary in India and you can only make it if you are at management executive level.

You do not seem to understand "cost of living." The median income in the United States for 2012, per the US Census Bureau, is around $45,000/year. In most average-size cities (including Denver, Colorado, the area where I live) that will permit you to live comfortably as a single person in a decent 1-bedroom apartment, and have one car and one or two expensive hobbies. A family of three or four can live adequately on that amount of income but they'll need to budget carefully in order to survive emergencies such as unexpected car repairs or hospital expenses.

Someone working at paulwtamu's level of age and experience could easily be making $40k+ in middle-management or a skilled trade profession.

I think everyone responding to this has been continually misinterpreting each other. He's not saying paul's rolling in dough, he's saying the moron troll who called it a third world salary is wrong. Demonstrably wrong, in fact, based on how much money $28k is in India.

^ This... Sorry if i confused everyone.

I got what you mean Jigar. I'v enever been overseas but most of my friends have and I've heard enough stories about the third world that hey, I'll pass on living there.

paulWTAMU wrote:

I got what you mean Jigar. I'v enever been overseas but most of my friends have and I've heard enough stories about the third world that hey, I'll pass on living there.

You don't need third world. $28k USD a year is good money here.

Just for the record, I wonder what he actually takes home in the paycheck after all taxes and medical have been accounted for. A lot less than $28K I suspect. Include removing any sales taxes, utility taxes, and phone taxes. Prolly about $19K or less.

Something like that; I keep my paystubs at the office in a locked desk drawer so I cna't say exactly. But some of its the 401k too; I max our matching contribution (because I'd be a dumbass not to) so that's 5% off the top. But then the federal income tax, FICA, etc. No state income tax in Texas though.

Tax witholdings vary by year and current legislation, but in general, FIFCA (Social Security and Medicare) taxes are levied at about 15% of nominal wage, and half is deducted directly from gross salary by the employer and half is contributed by the employer. So, remove 7.5%. Paul and his wife would probably be married filing jointly with one dependent, so if his wife's income is in the same range as Paul's, he would probably have his federal tax deductions set at around 6% of nominal wage. As noted, Texas has no state income tax. Estimate 7% for the voluntary deductions.

If I did the math and assumptions right, then:
$28,000 - [ (0.075 + 0.06 + 0.07) * $28k ] = $28,000 - 5,740 = $22,260 plus or minus a few hundred
...or roughly $1800/month

There are, of course, other taxes to be paid in life -- retail sales, utilities, auto licensing, gas, property, etc. -- but these are not deducted from payroll and are assessed on the value of the goods and service purchased or owned, not the income level of the person purchasing them.

I did not know or forgot that Texas has no income tax. Makes cost of living there pretty nice, then, especially considering your home prices are much lower that they are around here (Chicagoland).

Not to derail things too much - the euro zone is very interesting. Salaries are not that much higher on average than the US while cost of living is astronomical. Gas, taxes, rent, food.. the culture is very different. Young people have different priorities and give up some luxuries that we (Americans) take for granted.

On the note of analyzing how bad Paul's salary is: everyone pays taxes and other fees. If you work out the hourly rate he's getting almost 13.50 an hour. Not great but certainly not minimum wage - plenty of unemployed people would love to have a comparable job. Minimum wage is only about 16.5K/year. I'm not playing the devil's advocate here, I'm sure he's getting underpaid, it just seems like people are beating a dead horse discussing how little money 28K is.

It's all about perspective. Eurozone "living costs" also get redirected by services. High gas costs get undercut by actual public transportation options, taxes get directed into health care, and food...I'm not sure there. I am pretty certain that tipping isn't a thing like it is over here.

What it does come down to is (re-railing the conversation): if you don't feel like you can comfortably make ends meet, it's worth finding a new job with better pay vs. cost of living.

Thebolt wrote:

Not to derail things too much - the euro zone is very interesting. Salaries are not that much higher on average than the US while cost of living is astronomical. Gas, taxes, rent, food.. the culture is very different. Young people have different priorities and give up some luxuries that we (Americans) take for granted.

Depends. You'll find that any or all of those you mentioned are different from country to country. This is not a jab or anything, but Europe is a place with very different countries, not just cultures.

As for the matter at hand, yeah. I'm not sure that Paul's former employer can even enforce anything, but I'm not privy to US law. And I once again reinforce the idea that a 4-week wait for anything other than a menial job would likely be acceptable to your future employer, even here.

I guess I am referring to the countries that I am familiar with - Ireland/Germany/France. Should have been more specific. Just seems like the working (professionals included) young people there have a much lower standard of living in many ways. An example being when I was in Germany for work over the summer - went sightseeing with a group of 20 something year old co workers. From speaking with people we were very out of place staying at normal hotels (which all cost about $200USD/night), 90% of the other guests were older while the normal thing young people in Germany do is stay in hostels and/or seedy parts of town if they travel. Looked at a good few real estate listings while I was there as well, the housing costs there are much higher on average - especially when cost per square foot is brought into the equation.

superjawes wrote:

I did not know or forgot that Texas has no income tax. Makes cost of living there pretty nice, then, especially considering your home prices are much lower that they are around here (Chicagoland).

Cost of living in Texas is very low. I've been down there for two summer internships and I'm moving down full-time in January. Everything there was cheaper, even things like food which seems like it should be more expensive than in the Midwest. Also, the real estate was much cheaper than where I live now (Michigan). You can buy a house twenty miles from Dallas for cheaper than you can get it in the middle-of-nowhere Michigan.

TurtlePerson2 wrote:

superjawes wrote:

I did not know or forgot that Texas has no income tax. Makes cost of living there pretty nice, then, especially considering your home prices are much lower that they are around here (Chicagoland).

Cost of living in Texas is very low. I've been down there for two summer internships and I'm moving down full-time in January. Everything there was cheaper, even things like food which seems like it should be more expensive than in the Midwest. Also, the real estate was much cheaper than where I live now (Michigan). You can buy a house twenty miles from Dallas for cheaper than you can get it in the middle-of-nowhere Michigan.

Industry w/o socialism -> surplus
/R&P

But really, there's a reason that things are less expensive here. We don't love this place for nothing!

I've been living in TX for about the last 18 months. It is nice not having state income tax but they get you back in other ways. Sales tax is a bit higher and property taxes are fairly substantial. I haven't looked into the tax code at all but I'm guessing that it's all cause-effect based as a result of the no state income tax(likely oversimplification). For example, a coworker of mine bought a house here a year or so ago. If he had bought a house for the same price across the border in NM, his mortgage would be $200 less per month.

I'm not complaining though, the cost of living here is very reasonable, I've been able to kill about 30K worth of student loans and similar this year. Should have them all paid off and then some this time next year(10 year term would otherwise be up in 2020). With my current job I should be moving out of state some time in the relatively near future. I took up TX residency upon moving here and will be able to continue being a TX resident once I move out of state. Best of both worlds tax-wise!