In our parents' America, if you worked for a long amount of years, you were awarded with a party and a gold watch. You were valued because you showed up for work, did the job as you were trained and the company worked as hard at keeping you as you worked at doing the best job you could do. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
At AT Are you generating revenue for the company? Is it enough? Are you active in your local union? Don't be surprised to find the company silently and stealthily turning your coworkers against you and to make your local ineffective and unable to help you at any realistic level.
When I began multiple years ago, I thought "What a company! I could retire from here!" That gave way to "Well, it's not ideal, but I can do this!" That gave way to "I'll just keep my mouth shut and maybe they'll leave me alone." That gave way "Oh, my God! What am I going to do? What did I do wrong?"
I am sad that a company that I have worked so hard for, for so long, now sees an experienced employee as a liability. . .a nuisance to be pressured. . .into making a terminable mistake, into medical depression or into poverty.
I wonder what our customers would say if they knew?