Conference turris::womannotes-v3

    Companies like WHAT?
    
    Sexist companies?  Companies with 60 hour work weeks?  Companies with
    few or no benefits?  Companies that offer no upward mobility?
    
    -Jody
    

    As a single parent, I've had to do whatever it takes to provide
    a reasonable degree of stability in which to raise my family.  If
    that means I work in a job I don't like or in a situation I don't
    like, I try to do something about it, but if it doesn't work, I
    stick it out anyway.  The reason?  I can't afford to quit, and I'm
    too responsible to threaten my children's welfare.
    
    Maybe my turn will come someday, but I'm not holding my breath.
    
    Barb
                       

I'll never have to work for a "company like that" as long as "companies better
than that" are hiring people with my skill set. Right now, times are tough in
MA computer industry.  But there's still a wide variety of groups and managers
inside DEC, so I still believe I don't have to settle for a "group like that".
And one knee-jerk feminist joke can provide a whole host of vibes to check on
an interview :-).
	Mez

    re. -.1 (Jody)
    
    Companies like WHAT = whatever sets you off.  Any factor that would
    make you wonder, "Do I want to work for a company like that?"
    
    The basic question isn't what sets any of us off so much as do we feel
    we have the skills, freedom, self-confidence, whatever it takes to
    believe we have options in employers/managers.
    
    Karen
    

    
    I *have* worked for a * company like that * but 
    
    1.  I didn't know about it when I joined them
    
    2.  It was the opportunity of a lifetime to get my hands into 
    	all aspects of technical writing, and the knowledge, experience, 
    	and portfolio material I got from the job was MORE than worth 
    	the inconvenience.
    
    -Jody
    

    
    
    I used to work for a company like that...
    
    I got out.
    
    I'm young, bright and talented.  I don't have a family to support
    and I've got nothing to lose.  
    
    I say, if you don't like what you're doing, change your tastes 
    or change your job!
    
    dm

    
    i am terrified of working for a company like *that*.
    since i am a musician and not a person with real work skills, i am
    absolutely convinced that any job i have is a fluke. i don't feel
    i have the luxury of being 'choosy' about my employers.
    

    
    I can remember back when AA/EEO was just starting to be enforced
    and people would say "If you're asked such and such in an interview,
    tell the interviewer that the question is illegal and you won't answer
    it."  Great in theory but not so great if you really NEED a job to
    feed your family.  That's how I feel about the "I'd never work for
    a company like that." statements.  Great if you have that option.  But,
    be careful not to judge others who do work for those companies.  They 
    may not have the same opitons that you have.
    
    Today I have the credentials -- education and experience -- and the
    confidence that I can get another job.  It makes it alot easier to
    say I won't work for a company/manager/whatever like that.  It also
    makes it alot easier to take the risks needed to make change in
    situations that I don't like.    

    I've made comments like "I wouldn't work for a company like that", but
    the truth is, it's dependent on the economy and how bad I need a job.
    
    A close female friend of mine works for a factory that makes window
    shades that are built into the window.  She has been with the company
    almost 9 years, makes $6 an hour, and even though she is reasonably
    intelligent and knows her job and department very well, when promotions
    came about for a new shift leader, the man that was hired to sweep 
    the floors got the promotion.  In this company, the men are the 
    department heads and company heads, women do the work.  So why doesn't 
    she get out of there?
    
    My friend requested a shift change, she's working night shift and is
    going to college through the day, as well as trying to raise her 5 year
    old son.  She's a single mother, you see.  She's doing well.  She is
    buying her own home (fortunately this is in Kentucky, where the housing
    costs is lower).  Her mother cares for her son at night while she's
    working, and there's daycare at the business college she's attending. 
    
    This company changed insurance companies in the middle of her
    pregnancy, which greatly affected the amount she would end up paying in
    the end, not for the better, of course.  When there was an attempt to
    unionize the workers, the company told them that if the union vote was
    passed, they would move to the south where jobs were needed even more. 
    My friend works in a large metal building that is not airconditioned
    through the summer (there is a big fan, though) except for the
    corporate offices.  I'd hate to work there, but was considering it
    before I decided to move up here.  As for finding another job, for
    every job posted in that area, you've got at least 10 people trying to
    either just get a job, or try to get something better than they have.
    
    It's easy to say you wouldn't put up with something when you aren't in
    the same circumstances, or at least it is for me.  I've gotten a good
    job, I've found some role models, I'm in an area where I am not nearly as 
    repressed (because I'm female) as I was there.  My friend can't just 
    move north like I did, with no job, etc.  She's got Andy to consider, at
    least there she's got family to help if things get bad.
    
    Sandy