What would you do if you had a 2nd job like me?

[Jayce]

I have a factory job I've been at for 4 years. It was my out-of-HS job and turned into my college job. I graduated in May and I've been working in IT support at a school district ever since the very end of May. The trick is, I'm part time at my job. I get NEARLY 40 hours a week, mostly because I work over my "allowed limit" of 34 hours due to my workload (with permission from my boss).

I have no benefits and I pay 60 bucks a month out of pocket for health insurance. I've been asked if I want to be full time and I said most definitely I do. I've poked and prodded here and there and it sounds like the paperwork is getting lined up to get me in full time, BUT there's no guarantee on when, exactly. But with how far it's gotten, I'd be pretty shocked to see it get denied.

My 2nd job is at a factory. I'm supposed to work every other weekend from 7am to 4pm. I stand all day with a few short breaks. If I pull out my cell phone and shoot a text to somebody, I could get fired. If I sit down, I could get written up, which 3 of them equates to getting fired.

Due to the economy sucking, I haven't worked at my factory job since Thanksgiving. This weekend my lady friend was excited to do something, assuming I'd get off again. Now that the weekend is lined up, I called in to make sure I have off. Nope. I work both days.

Now, a lot of thoughts are going through my head. Do I quit? Do I hang onto it? It's hard because I get time and a half there on weekends, so I'm pulling like 19 bucks an hour. But often times when I'm working, sometimes I get stuck on jobs there that aren't worth 40 an hour. Other times 19 an hour seems half decent.

It's a very inconsistent, unreliable job. As I said, I haven't worked there since Thanksgiving. The work sucks, the people suck, but the pay is all right.

I'm part time at my current job, but I love it and I do my best at it. Full time is in the future, but it's not set in stone yet. I live at home and I have a great situation with my parents. In fact, my mother told me I should quit.

Two ideas keep rolling through my head:

A - I told myself the day I graduated college that I would quit the factory job. I haven't done that yet.

B - Now that I'm part time where I'm at now, I keep telling myself I shouldn't quit until I'm full time.

Right now, I have no money, but I also just got my car out of the shop and paid off 2 months worth of bills. Normally I'm very financially stable, but again, I live with my parents, so it's to be expected.

Another reason I'm questioning on quitting is I got my student loans 100% kicked back to April 2010. I don't have to pay a dime till then.

Thoughts?

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Pretty much all personal opinion. For ME, I would keep working both until I got hired on full time.

I actually had 2 jobs for a LONG time, and just quit my part time gig in December. I worked part time at a small family owned (not my family) butcher shop in the Deli for 10 and a half years. On top of that, I had a full time job that I had been at for 5 years. At the point I quit, I was working 6 days a week, depending on the week, sometimes 5 or 7. I didn't really have a choice, I HAD to quit. It was absolutly KILLING ME, and I was always tired, and getting sick. I work 4 days, 10 hours each at my full time gig, and 1-3 days at about 8 hours each at my part time gig. My usual work week was about 56 hours of work, 40 at the full time place, and 16 at the part time gig. Financially, it SUCKED, but I have worked through it, and I am ALMOST back to being financially stable. If I could sell my house, I would be totally rocking, and would move back with my parents, at which point, I could build a new computer every month.... I almost cry when my mortgage equates to the cost of a mid to high range system at $1800/month. :-(

Good Luck!

 

[Jayce]

The thing is, I'm financially stable with my main part time job alone. That's what I've found out with all of this time spent away from my factory job. Now that I'm away from it, I really can't see myself going back.

Maybe I'm just spoiled with the job I have, I don't know. I do things at my pace. I work with things in the order I want. I handle things in my own agenda. I take lunch when I want to. Sometimes I eat at 10 am, others at 3:00 pm when I'm about to leave. At my factory job, everything is laid out for me. I must work this fast @ this amount of hours standing without sitting or anything else. It just makes me feel like "I'm owned" and I hate that feeling, especially being exposed to a job that I can get my work done MY way... but, I still get it done. Know what I mean?

The more I think about it, the more I see how little the extra 400/month is worthwhile for the nature of the work there.

 

[kmote]

Quit the factory job. It's not worth working if you don't enjoy it.

 

[Jayce]

Quit the factory job. It's not worth working if you don't enjoy it.

Don't enjoy it? **** I'm all but suicidal when I'm there. The only redeeming trait that job offers me is when I see 200 extra bones in my bank account. I get a warm fuzzy feeling for a few moments. That's about it.

It's not like it's always hard. Some days it's really easy and I'll all-but sit around on my *** for 8 hours. Other days I get my *** worked. The factory job is a bindery, so my hands/wrists take a serious beating every time I work. One solid 8 hour day with a decent workload is about 3-4 days of soreness. Other days, it really isn't bad though. Either way, whether it's busy or dull, it's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO **** boring it's unreal. Nobody to talk to. No mp3 players allowed. No radios. No cell phones. Just you singing to yourself with earplugs in to help from all of the machinery noise.

 

[kmote]

Just think about how great it will feel knowing you never have to go back and what you could be doing if you were not wasting your time there.

 

[lancec2c30]

I know exactly what you mean, during summer breaks I would work at a frozen food factory. The whole day you have to stand and rotate between endless repetitive work. That you never seem to be fast enough at.
I honestly think it was the worst thing I have ever done, I would rather clean out people crappers before working there again.

Run as far away as fast as possible from that place!!!!!

 

[DoubleHelix]

If you're only paying $60 a month for health insurance, you have major benefits from somewhere. A young, single, healthy person with a high-deductible insurance plan pays way more than that. If the insurance is provided by the factory job, quitting will end up actually costing you more money.

Don't assume you'll be hired full time by the school. They're likely facing budget shortfalls like nearly all companies in the country. This doesn't have anything to do with your skills, and the hold-up could be because the money just isn't there yet.

 

[ricanflow]

Yeah $60 a month is nothing....single insurance on your own would cost around $300 at the least.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

IMO, keep both jobs, that way if one goes bye bye due to money going to **** you will atleast have the other job....