Did You (Will You) Get/Receive a Retirement Watch?

[MRC]

rcs914

I'd say that place is a stack of OSHA violations a mile deep, but I'm not sure that OSHA or the mile are applicable where you are. Maybe the mile 😉

Not OSHA, but the owner never invited whatever local gumint department was supposed to check for Elven Safety to visit. I was apprenticed in the steel industry and was used to molten iron in channels in the floor, overhead cranes swinging loads about, swarf spiraling off machine tools, etc. And then I worked on our company construction sites 😲 So although my hands were lily-white from many years of being in the software business it was always my practice when entering any workshop or factory to check around carefully.

It would have been nice to have been warm in there:

The thermocouple was a few cm from a running injection-moulding machine set to 250C. (The baddest bastard, bastard machine in the place.)

For the benefit of any Elven Safeties reading this, the owner died in 2015 and the whole place was demolished in 2018. I did broker a deal for the machine tools but I ain't saying where they are 'cos the place they are in now is nearly as bad 😜

 

[vbrad26]

MRC

Not OSHA, but the owner never invited whatever local gumint department was supposed to check for Elven Safety to visit. I was apprenticed in the steel industry and was used to molten iron in channels in the floor, overhead cranes swinging loads about, swarf spiraling off machine tools, etc. And then I worked on our company construction sites 😲 So although my hands were lily-white from many years of being in the software business it was always my practice when entering any workshop or factory to check around carefully.

It would have been nice to have been warm in there:

The thermocouple was a few cm from a running injection-moulding machine set to 250C. (The baddest bastard, bastard machine in the place.)

For the benefit of any Elven Safeties reading this, the owner died in 2015 and the whole place was demolished in 2018. I did broker a deal for the machine tools but I ain't saying where they are 'cos the place they are in now is nearly as bad 😜

Steel industry, eh? Who'd you work for?

 

[rcs914]

vbrad26

Steel industry, eh? Who'd you work for?

Guessing a subsidiary of British Steel, but that's just a guess.

 

[MRC]

vbrad26

Steel industry, eh? Who'd you work for?

My apprentice indentures were signed with Stewarts and Lloyds, but by the time I started there a few months later they were part of British Steel Corporation. To further muddy the waters the division I was in was called Pipework Engineering Developments who were mainly interesting in designing, making and installing piping and steelwork for power stations -- big stuff not plumbing. PED had an apprenticeship programme that took you round many aspects of making steel and using it. Not all my friends in college working for other companies were so lucky, they were just treated as cheap labour.

Edited: Apr 6, 2023

 

[theluckyluke]

My employer gives some “points” for long services or key milestones (10, 15, 20, 25, 30 years of service within the company etc.) which you can convert to gifts. Sadly the online shop only has Apple Watches and some random tech stuff now.

 

[MRC]

RevZMan123

When I worked for IBM (2001-2012), for my 10th anniversary I got to choose from a catalog of typical IBM schwag valued at no more than like $25 or 50 MAX!

For my 10th at (I do not remember the company was called at the time after a series of takeovers,,,) I had £200 to spend as I chose. £200 I can spend on Snap-On tools? Come to me baby!

In a software company the response was "WTF?". The sad part is that we produced and sold CADCAM software, but the number of programers we employed who had ever seen a machine tool was down to about one. Guess who 🙁

Edited: Apr 6, 2023

 

[ErichPryde]

vbrad26

Gone are the days of "loyalty". People job hop all the time for various reasons. I think it has created some friction.

I guess what should be examined is where this started. My understanding is that a shift away from Pensions and towards 401ks "the employee is responsible for themselves" type mentality, was a major force in this move away from loyalty to a single company. As benefits are cut and as the employer puts more weight of responsibility on the employee, well...

 

[ErichPryde]

Archer

The place I worked at as an engineer would give you various trinkets with the company logo on them for 5 year anniversaries. Back when I started, the company logo tie bar was a big one, and as you were there longer they were embellished with small precious stones. Most people wore them to work corporate wide, so no matter where you were in the world at one of the facilities, you could tell how long someone had been with the company just by their tie bar bling level...

When we went "business causal" the tie bar thing went away, and they started giving us a catalogue of cheap shit with the company logo on it. I have a desk clock (cheap quartz round clock set into a piece of wood, with the company logo stuck on it in the form of a brass plate), a set of company logo coasters, and stuff like that. When our specific plant hit our 50th anniversary, I got a print from a local artist, and a company jacket.

They didn't give you a watch for retirement, but for 25 years service. I was gone after 23 years, but the watch was a cheap quartz gold tone thing. I wasn't going to switch from my Blancpain, JLC, GO, etc. to wear it, so no great loss...I didn't own any Omegas at the time...

This must be a Fortune thing. I had a career for a Fortune 100 company that did the same thing as your tie pins- but name badge pins. Graduation "hat" sitting on a square pin for new employee, Square pin with logo for 1 year, Black pentagon with logo for 5 years, Gold pentagon with logo for 10 years, gold + single diamond for 20, two diamonds on a gold & platinum plated pin for 25. Very easy to tell someone's experience level because the pins were strongly encouraged things to wear.


It wasn't-- to be fair, it was a really good job for a long time. But as the corporate culture changed, There was absolutely this sort of "You should be lucky to work here" type of environment that cropped up from upper management, as more and more benefits were taken away from employees. There was definitely an expectation that employees would give their all. Near the end of my career I got pretty fed up with the environment that sprung up because the company was going through some major changes and upper management had no intention of listening to the people running the show and what issues they were having.

But honestly? Seeing the culture of my wife's (as a CPA) corporation's culture, seeing how my brother (an RN) is treated, seeing how my other brother is treated by his work culture (he works for the State of Oregon), I really didn't have as much room to complain as I thought I did.


Things are subjective, very much so...

I will say that for 10 years I was gifted with a Fossil Quartz watch with the company logo on it. They paraded it up as a $120 gift or something, probably worth $20. From what I've observed most of the work-related gifts are there to reinforce the "debt" an employee owes employer for keeping them around; but the reality is that good employees contribute FAR more to institutions and businesses than the businesses ever give back.

 

[BradleyJ.]

So I gather the general consensus is...... no... nobody is getting watches for their retirement lol

 

[rcs914]

ErichPryde

This must be a Fortune thing. I had a career for a Fortune 100 company that did the same thing as your tie pins- but name badge pins. Graduation "hat" sitting on a square pin for new employee, Square pin with logo for 1 year, Black pentagon with logo for 5 years, Gold pentagon with logo for 10 years, gold + single diamond for 20, two diamonds on a gold & platinum plated pin for 25. Very easy to tell someone's experience level because the pins were strongly encouraged things to wear.


It wasn't-- to be fair, it was a really good job for a long time. But as the corporate culture changed, There was absolutely this sort of "You should be lucky to work here" type of environment that cropped up from upper management, as more and more benefits were taken away from employees. There was definitely an expectation that employees would give their all. Near the end of my career I got pretty fed up with the environment that sprung up because the company was going through some major changes and upper management had no intention of listening to the people running the show and what issues they were having.

But honestly? Seeing the culture of my wife's (as a CPA) corporation's culture, seeing how my brother (an RN) is treated, seeing how my other brother is treated by his work culture (he works for the State of Oregon), I really didn't have as much room to complain as I thought I did.


Things are subjective, very much so...

I will say that for 10 years I was gifted with a Fossil Quartz watch with the company logo on it. They paraded it up as a $120 gift or something, probably worth $20. From what I've observed most of the work-related gifts are there to reinforce the "debt" an employee owes employer for keeping them around; but the reality is that good employees contribute FAR more to institutions and businesses than the businesses ever give back.

oooh! I did get a corporate Fossil watch at one point too. I gave it to my uncle when his broke while he was out in AZ for my wedding.

 

[Duracuir1]

BradleyJ.

So I gather the general consensus is...... no... nobody is getting watches for their retirement lol

None that are desirable to collectors anyway.

 

[ErichPryde]

rcs914

oooh! I did get a corporate Fossil watch at one point too. I gave it to my uncle when his broke while he was out in AZ for my wedding.

Like this one, except for the Logo?
This one hasn't run in at least a decade and a half. At least.

Yo, where at in AZ? I lived in Tucson for 6 years. Absolutely beautiful in AZ.

 

[ghce]

As the world has shifted to a more focused user pays model I have always strongly refused to wear any corporate logo gift or accessory's as being user pay they need to pay me for the advertisment of their business. Hey I guess that's why I started working for my self all those years ago to circumvent corporate bullshit.

 

[josiahg52]

Oooh, I did forget. I get a plaque, a certificate signed by management, a flag that was flown over the site, and a ship desk/mantle model of my choice at retirement.

 

[wagudc]

No watch, but like @STANDY I'll get a generous pension. I will be just fine and can pick out a watch and buy it myself. That is assuming the state of California does not go bankrupt promising pensions, but not properly funding them (ponzi scheme anyone?). Don't worry I have a plan B, as I expect I may not get the full pension I am promised.

 

[JwRosenthal]

wagudc

No watch, but like @STANDY I'll get a generous pension. I will be just fine and can pick out a watch and buy it myself. That is assuming the state of California does not go bankrupt promising pensions,

Ohhhh, I’ll set up the basement futon for you man- it’ll be ok.

 

[krogerfoot]

Whatever watch I manage to avoid being forced to sell, if I have any left at age 65, will be the “retirement” watch I’ll wear as I continue working.

 

[p4ul]

ghce

As the world has shifted to a more focused user pays model I have always strongly refused to wear any corporate logo gift or accessory's as being user pay they need to pay me for the advertisment of their business. Hey I guess that's why I started working for my self all those years ago to circumvent corporate bullshit.

Oh, yes. And if you want feedback on my experience using or buying from your corporate behemoth then pay me or do one.

 

[BAJJ]

I'm retiring in July, I only have 14 years service so genuinely not expecting much, it's not like I was a lifer. I'll let you know what I get😀.

 

[RobMc]

vbrad26

Nothing says they have to give you anything (in addition to the compensation that both parties already agreed to) at all....

I would agree with this statement except for 1 little thing. How often do they ask you to do work that you didn't agree to do when you took the job? The problem is they take more and more, but the giving doesn't match up.