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Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: CC27 on December 10, 2014, 11:05:26 AM

Title: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: CC27 on December 10, 2014, 11:05:26 AM
Quote
Star Member HughBeaumont (21,271 posts)

My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.


I mean, it makes sense when you think about it.

I'm guessing "Analytical Chemist" must be along the lines of "assembly line worker" or some run-of-the-mill redundant career choice like that, as throwaway and replaceable as "applications programmer", "mechanical engineer", "physicist", "financial analyst" or some other burger-flipper-level job.

After all, it was folly to think that 8 years of college would yield a long-term career path . . . . "Chemist" . . . pffffffft! What a poor choice. Shoulda, woulda, coulda, you know? Come on, why didn't she pick "Hedge Fund Manager", or "CEO" or start her own business??

It's more than feasible that, at age 48 and with no income stream coming in and bills that are due now, that she could . . . retrain, head back to college and pick a smarter career path . . . work really, really, really harder and she just might GET that awesome new job. Millions of workers in the '60s - '90s did it, why is she such a special snowflake? And if a reduction in force so that major shareholders can purchase that third mansion should happen again, then retrain again. And again! You should never stop learning or trying to find that cheese in the maze, even if someone continually moves it. NO EXCUSES!!

If you don't have the prognostication skills of a career counselor to tell what the hot occupations are going to be 5-10 years down the road (planned obsolescence, economy or plain bad luck be damned), then you, my friend, are missing out and need to get some. This great meritocracy of ours doesn't guarantee equal results, equal fairness or equal pay . . . only equal opportunity that you can either get on board with or starve to death under a bridge. YOUR CHOICE!!

          as if it needs to be said.

I'm sure "Analytical Chemist" is code word for meth dealer. 48 years old? Come on now DUmmie.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025937936

Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: JohnnyReb on December 10, 2014, 11:20:15 AM
I'm sure "Analytical Chemist" is code word for meth dealer. 48 years old? Come on now DUmmie.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025937936
If you really are a chemist....don't be whipping up illegal drugs in the lab while on the job.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: Texacon on December 10, 2014, 11:53:41 AM
Their pissing and moaning gets on my nerves.  I've reinvented myself a few times over the years as I'm sure many others here have.  It's not easy but it's not impossible.  My wife and I make more money now than we ever have in our lives AND we keep our spending well below what we bring in.  We haven't set up our spending habits to match our pay in many, many, years and that gives us quite a bit of freedom should an axe fall.

This is not rocket surgery, DUmmies!  Pick yourself up and move on.

KC
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: USA4ME on December 10, 2014, 12:07:57 PM
Maybe she's good working on her back.

Though at 48, she might just need to stick with being good on her knees.

.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: DumbAss Tanker on December 10, 2014, 12:19:41 PM
Quote
jamzrockz (576 posts)
4. And did your friend say

that she cannot ever get another job as an analytical chemist? Calm down, people have lows in their careers and she will most likely bounce back in time.

One low-count DUmmy tries to talk sense to the drama queens, with the predictable hatred, snarling, and biting in return.

Poor quality moling.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: Big Dog on December 10, 2014, 01:14:52 PM
What is the DUmmy's point?

A chemist lost a job. Was she fired for cause? Did the employer decide to hire a new grad from Mumbai? Did one of Obama's new extended family take the job for minimum wage? Did the employer go out of business? Or did sales of chemical buggy whips drop off, and the chemist wasn't needed anymore?

Too many questions, not enough answers.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: obumazombie on December 10, 2014, 01:29:29 PM
It seems all too many have lost their jobs during the owebumeconomy.
Thanks owebuma.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: tanstaafl on December 10, 2014, 01:29:46 PM
I'm sure "Analytical Chemist" is code word for meth dealer. 48 years old? Come on now DUmmie.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025937936

Has to be. In power generation, the position of Plant Chemist has recently been the top paying and most recruited job. All I can say is that if after 8 years of training/school this friend of the primitive really missed the boat and has wasted her Master's Degree at some low wage water tester position with the city/county waste water treatment plant. Probably in Detroit.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: GOBUCKS on December 10, 2014, 01:30:53 PM
Maybe she's good working on her back.

Though at 48, she might just need to stick with being good on her knees.

Worked for kpete.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: Big Dog on December 10, 2014, 01:34:58 PM
Has to be. In power generation, the position of Plant Chemist has recently been the top paying and most recruited job. All I can say is that if after 8 years of training/school this friend of the primitive really missed the boat and has wasted her Master's Degree at some low wage water tester position with the city/county waste water treatment plant. Probably in Detroit.

The city of Omaha needs a new tampon catcher at the Dept of Water and Sewage.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: GOBUCKS on December 10, 2014, 01:46:44 PM
In a lot of places, even a chemist would be subject to random drug testing.

This fired chemist is close friends with a DUmp democrat.

You do the math.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: BannedFromDU on December 10, 2014, 02:02:27 PM

     No one just gets fired, and the less info the DUmmy gives, the more likely it's bullshit or there's more to the tale. Like, for example, oh...

Quote
Dumbass McDumberson (123456 posts)

My Friend, an Analytical Chemist, Lost Her Job Today

Because she's an asshole whom no one liked, and because she wouldn't shut her piehole about politics, and because she kept up with politics in a state 1000 miles away rather
than keeping up with her trade.



In any event, she can always go work for 0bama.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: DumbAss Tanker on December 10, 2014, 03:05:12 PM
It seems all too many have lost their jobs during the owebumeconomy.
Thanks owebuma.

One or two malcontents in the thread hint at that, but are stiffly reminded that job losses are only the President's fault when a Republican is in the White House, other wise the President has nothing to do with it...not quite in so many words, of course, but that's the sense of it.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: thundley4 on December 10, 2014, 04:10:13 PM
Quote
It's more than feasible that, at age 48 and with no income stream coming in and bills that are due now,

What the hell, was she living paycheck to paycheck like all DUmmies seem to do?  No savings to fall back on, not even for a few weeks?
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: Chris_ on December 10, 2014, 04:26:17 PM
Average salary? $70k a year.

http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i39/Salary-Employment-Survey-Chemists.html

Indeed.com shows $51-55k.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: Texacon on December 10, 2014, 05:09:52 PM
Average salary? $70k a year.

http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i39/Salary-Employment-Survey-Chemists.html

Indeed.com shows $51-55k.

I am SERIOUSLY glad I didn't spend money to get a degree.  I make a hell of a lot more than that without the fancy paper hanging on the wall.  I think most of those degrees just get in your way.

KC
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: obumazombie on December 10, 2014, 05:13:30 PM
I am SERIOUSLY glad I didn't spend money to get a degree.  I make a hell of a lot more than that without the fancy paper hanging on the wall.  I think most of those degrees just get in your way.

KC

Gruber has a PHD. A lot of people with common sense would see his degree for it's common nickname...piled higher and deeper.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: Texacon on December 10, 2014, 06:05:39 PM
Gruber has a PHD. A lot of people with common sense would see his degree for it's common nickname...piled higher and deeper.

I guess it just goes to show a degree doesn't trump common sense and good old fashioned DRIVE!

KC
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: Texacon on December 10, 2014, 06:06:28 PM
I had a pastor once tell me that an expert was someone who knew more and more, about less and less, until pretty soon they knew everything about nothing!

KC
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: Big Dog on December 10, 2014, 06:19:19 PM
I guess it just goes to show a degree doesn't trump common sense and good old fashioned DRIVE!

KC

There is an inverse, exponential relationship between graduate degrees and common sense.

Most Masters degree holders can't pour piss out of a boot, and it  is the rare PhD who can find his way out of a locked bathroom.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: GOBUCKS on December 10, 2014, 06:32:19 PM
Quote
Gruber has a PHD. A lot of people with common sense would see his degree for it's common nickname...piled higher and deeper.

And he's a multimillionaire.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: 98ZJUSMC on December 10, 2014, 07:08:30 PM
     No one just gets fired, and the less info the DUmmy gives, the more likely it's bullshit or there's more to the tale. Like, for example, oh...


In any event, she can always go work for 0bama.

Yeah, I'm leaning towards the :bouncy: direction.  Anti-Wall Street, anti- corporate, blah, blah, blah......  and of course,

Quote
This great meritocracy of ours doesn't guarantee equal results

Idiot.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: diesel driver on December 10, 2014, 07:13:11 PM
Analytical Chemist.

Fancy name for a human lab rat that gets to test new drugs.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: BlueStateSaint on December 10, 2014, 07:39:00 PM
There is an inverse, exponential relationship between graduate degrees and common sense.

Most Masters degree holders can't pour piss out of a boot, and it  is the rare PhD who can find his way out of a locked bathroom.

Ain't that the truth!  The lab I worked in, eight years ago, was full of educated idiots.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: BannedFromDU on December 10, 2014, 07:42:55 PM
and it  is the rare PhD who can find his way out of a locked bathroom.

Hey now.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: miskie on December 10, 2014, 08:20:16 PM
Has to be. In power generation, the position of Plant Chemist has recently been the top paying and most recruited job. All I can say is that if after 8 years of training/school this friend of the primitive really missed the boat and has wasted her Master's Degree at some low wage water tester position with the city/county waste water treatment plant. Probably in Detroit.

That is probably on the mark - Analytic Chemistry isn't always lab coats and clean rooms. Sometimes its checking water purity, paint viscosity or beer quality. - So, yeah.. The primitive's friend may have had a 'burger flipper' job in the chemistry world.
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: Carl on December 10, 2014, 08:48:18 PM
From the thread some hints at the rest of the story (RIP Paul Harvey)


Quote
Response to HughBeaumont (Original post)

Wed Dec 10, 2014, 09:34 AM

joeglow3 (5,859 posts)
12. Not near enough information in your post

We just let three people go (Manager of finance, Senior Analyst and Analyst), ranging in ages from 24-64. All three of them were for performance related issues and we spent over a year in remediation programs to help them improve. They failed to do that and were let go, with a very lengthy paper trail documenting it.

I am guessing that is the case, from the tone of your post. That is about the only way I know that someone would be forced to go back to college after losing their jobs. All the people I know who have had their position eliminated in well educated fields that the one you mention have found jobs within a year. She has very unique skills that are desirable. So long as she was not terminated with cause, she should have little problem finding work. In the meantime, I hope she has a good network of family and friends (clearly she has a good friend in you) who can help her through this low time. Have confidence that she can prevail and come out stronger. She needs the extra boost right now.

Good luck

Quote
Response to joeglow3 (Reply #12)

Wed Dec 10, 2014, 09:47 AM

 HughBeaumont (21,280 posts)
22. Reduction in Force, definitely not performance-related.

Quote
Response to HughBeaumont (Original post)

Wed Dec 10, 2014, 11:05 AM

Amishman (23 posts)
50. GSK?

That's terrible 

Your friend worked for Glaxo Smith Kline? I know they cut about 1,000 people in the past few weeks, and most of them are in their R&D dept.

Quote
Response to Amishman (Reply #50)

Wed Dec 10, 2014, 11:52 AM

 HughBeaumont (21,280 posts)
61. Not sure what company, GSK or Poly One. I can find out.

What she does have is a friend list who works fast. Several people are already looking into GE and other places.

I only hope she doesn't have to move.

And here it is...

Quote
Response to Amishman (Reply #50)

Wed Dec 10, 2014, 01:17 PM

Patiod (11,652 posts)
73. They're consolidating in the Philadelphia area

I was under the impression they were offering to help people relocate? Maybe not. I do know they're expanding their R&D here.

The big problem is that Big Pharma is cutting back R&D -- a lot of these companies have chosen to just buy promising new companies rather than do their own in-house research. And it's not an unreasonable decision - It's just getting too insanely expensive to shepherd a new drug from initial research through clinical trials to market. Too many drugs don't make it.

There are incubator companies popping up in San Francisco, San Diego, Boston and New York, but the cost of living is high and job security kind of sucks.
http://massbiomed.org/the-lists-34-biotech-and-pharma-incubators-find-out-where-life-science-innovations-are-hatched

Now why would that be DUmbass?
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: Big Dog on December 10, 2014, 08:49:32 PM
Hey now.

I said "rare", not "nonexistent". You're covered.

 :lmao:
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: obumazombie on December 10, 2014, 09:33:56 PM
I had a pastor once tell me that an expert was someone who knew more and more, about less and less, until pretty soon they knew everything about nothing!

KC

X is the sum of nothing
Spurt is a drip under pressure.
Put them together and what do you get ?
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: BannedFromDU on December 11, 2014, 01:33:52 AM
I said "rare", not "nonexistent". You're covered.

 :lmao:


     I'da replied sooner, but I was in the can and the door was hard to open back up again.

    ^5
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: BlueStateSaint on December 11, 2014, 06:35:04 AM

     I'da replied sooner, but I was in the can and the door was hard to open back up again.

    ^5

 :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :lol: :lol: :lol: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

You owe me a new monitor--too much coffee on this one.  H5!
Title: Re: My friend just lost her job as an Analytical Chemist.
Post by: Big Dog on December 11, 2014, 08:38:16 AM

     I'da replied sooner, but I was in the can and the door was hard to open back up again.

    ^5

 :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

"Doctor? Doctor? Are you OK in there?"


Edited to add: High five!