Will the last tech to leave SRS, please turn off the lights

[BetaAnt]

The Savannah River Site is dead. It is a dry hole. The money is gone (mis-spent). $100M in the hole and heads up the nether regions.   All the jobs are out west. GO WEST, YOUNG MAN, WEST!!!!!!!!

BA

[BetaAnt]

As a word of caution, if you decide to give ANY notice of leaving for another job, be prepared to be escorted off site at that time. SRS has now instituted a today layoff notice (Come out on break from a CA, be escorted to the body counter, taken back to your vehicle then escorted off site).

Per diem is becoming a pain in the @$$ (provide all your receipts and proof of residency in another state -procurement will decide if you are paying enough rent at your other residence for the per diem allowance- greater than 100 miles from SRS). The rules change quarterly. Mismanagement of monies have lead to massive subcontractor layoffs (400 in the last two months).

DO NOT TELL THESE PEOPLE YOU ARE LEAVING OR THEY WILL CUT YOU OFF AT THE KNEES!!!

Good Luck, DFR

BA

[owsi84621]

Remeber how many jobs this created or saved... If you throw money into a hole and don't supervise its use it just goes away.

[gravy58]

Beta is right. If you tell them your leaving or want to give notice they'll take your badge right on the spot. The key phrase is " I'm thinking of leaving tomorrow" or when ever. They don't really care, so tell them the morning of, like a two day notice "I'm leaving Today!". They have wasted so much money out there that they are laying off contractors every two weeks or so. About half of the ARRA techs that were hired last summer have simple not had their contracts  extended for this year. The site spent about 2 million dollars a day this year. Next year they want to spend $250k a day. You do the math, by the end of the year it won't just be contractors. 

[steelbeam]

The lights WERE out, but job postings are picking back up. Are we to continue throwing tax-payer money at this STIMULUS fiasco. Come on...........have a little compassion for the rest of the American Tax Payers.

[BetaAnt]

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

SRS did it before, they will do it again and again. SRS's instant layoff policy bit them in the @ss last time and they promise not to do it again.

DO NOT TRUST THESE PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEIR LIPS MOVE.


BA 

[mostlyharmless]

If you want long term go house at SRS or some other place. If not ,stop complaining. DFR is a way of life for road techs. Every outage I worked I had the understanding that I would hit the body counter sooner or later. Its just the nature of the business. The folks at SRS are not evil. Many are self serving autocrats that cant think past their noses but many are good people. We had a manager once that told us he was going to lay off techs but told us not to tell them. I argued ,to him, that this was wrong, that these techs had lives and families to support and it was only fair to give them as much notice as possible. I told them. Most people care less about you than they do about themselves. Its normal. You must look out for yourself. The site can only go so far until it becomes criminal. Then you have recourse. But if you want to stay here apply for a position with SRR or SRNS. If not,do what every other road tech in the industry does,find a job. While your negative posts may make you feel better they do absolutely nothing to hurt the site or dissuade the locals from working here. And after one of your last posts I talked to a few of the managers of jobs employing subs. If you or anyone else thinking of working at SRS wants advice,help,contacts,etc for comming here or staying here give me a pm. Not a nasty gram, I have been were you are. I still travel light. I can be packed up and out of the place I work in minutes. But I know a lot of people in all levels of management in many disciplines. And if you just want to vent I will vent with you.Its not perfect for me either.

[Rennhack]

Please do not use all capital letters in the topic titles.  Thank you.

I have edited the first message, changing the title from all capital letters.

[Simple Country HP]

Beta you reminded me of a top notch old DOE RCT who once said to me about a manager -- "If he told me it was raining outside and I were standing next to an open window watching the rain hitting the window sill and coming in the window - I would not believe him until I walked outside to the parking lot, stood there for 5 minutes and got soaked to the skin from the rain drops hitting me."
I don't think Beta is complaining, he is just passing on information. Every outage I have worked I have the understanding that I will get laid off but not instant same day layoff. That is unfair. I have seen unfair too.
People are not evil or unfair but people do evil or unfair things and those actions are unfair. People also always choose whether they do good things or unfair things. Any road tech very quickly learns to look out for themself and some of them also pass on information. That information may be negative and also very useful.
SRS will continue on just fine. SRS will also continue just fine without me and that does absolutely nothing to hurt me.
I am currently working at Hanford as a senior RCT, have worked six DOE sites, am a commercial ANSI 3.1 senior tech, and also NRRPT. I work hard and am very good at what I do.
If I needed information I might send an email. I also know the system and I have no need to have smoke blown in my face. I already have that done on a daily basis right where I am.

[mostlyharmless]

What I know is this. Among the subs at srs many have been escorted off site immediately because of fighting,ignoring site procedures,one guy pulled out his willy in front of everyone. I know of no tech immediately removed for verbalising a desire to leave. Of course that doesn't mean it did not happen. I was poking along at North Anna just fine when the plant manager decided he wanted all subs gone. We were all gone by end of day. It was all business,we didn't cause any trouble.
Some people have an ax to grind.
I know many folks at srs and have a lot of respect for many of them. I have worked there as a sub and now house. I have first hand accounts of some techs both house and sub removed from the site.
What I read was not just a tech passing along information. It was a general negative rant. Sounds like a disgruntled worker. He maligned everyone at the site and I will not let it go uncorrected. I understand what you are saying Country and many on nukeworker do just pass along information,good or bad. But most do it in a reasoned way, not just a shot at thousands of people they don't know or have anything to do with.As for me,I draw on my experience and personal knowledge of people and events at srs and a desire to help any tech that comes here. Doe is a different world from what most of us know and it takes a bit of adjusting.

[Rennhack]

What I read was not just a tech passing along information. It was a general negative rant. Sounds like a disgruntled worker. He maligned everyone at the site ... ... many on nukeworker do just pass along information,good or bad. But most do it in a reasoned way, not just a shot at thousands of people they don't know or have anything to do with.

I couldn't agree more.

[Simple Country HP]

Mostly, I gotta agree that your posts have far better information than Beta's.
What you describe about techs being escorted off site immediately rings true. At Hanford I have seen techs escorted off site immediately for fighting. One tech working the Step Off Pad saw someone coming out wearing shorts which accidentally showed his willy and immediately called everyones attention to that. Another tech lied about medical (which later cleared up) when he hired in. DOE does not forgive stuff like this.
It is very good to hear that no tech has been immediately removed for verbalizing a desire to leave. That doesn't really ring true although it could happen. For me it was Surry -- they promised us more and delivered less but we did get more than same day notice. Oh well!
You are right about a general negative rant. I was not seeing clearly. That was from all the smoke being blown in my face out here. 
Last year I almost came to SRS. I got a call from Bartlett and then a manager from SRS called and interviewed me and said they needed me right away. Then we waited and heard nothing. I went and did a job in Ohio and then came to Hanford. I may be at SRS yet.

[pbooth]

HEY, this note is for anybody coming to SRS ! When you seek lodging here be aware of a lady advertising Donna's Lodging! She will try to cheat you anyway she can! Don't deal with her!!! It will only cause you headaches! She doesn't care about us or our way of making a living, all she cares about is money and she will lie to you and cheat you. Sounds like some of the companies we deal with, don't it ? Take it from me this is somebody you really don't want to deal with!!!!!!! pbooth old school roaddog.

[johnnyreb]

 sounds like a bartlett operation

[BetaAnt]

SRS update

The same day layoff policy has been changed (for now). SRNL RPD got burned by a few subs that turned in their TLD at the end of the day and said, 'Bye-Bye'. This is not to say that the policy will not return at the end of the day.

SRNL (ARRA) RPD was the only department to enforce the instant layoff policy (that is what WSI security told them what the 'corporate policy' was). Other departments were having 'going away' parties and ARRA RPD was escorting subs off-site. I had accepted a position with an Oak Ridge firm to fill a higher paying SRR position (+$5/hr). A house-mouse global emailed RPD of my impending departure and management, instead of allowing me to finish or renew my contract, escorted me off-site. Then I lost my alternate slot with the SRS hiring freeze.

My warning is to avoid sites with 'Blind Compliance' issues. Instead of management, some facilities use zero tolerance in subcontractor worker loyalty (kind of like BNI's 'YOU'LL NEVER WORK IN THIS INDUSTRY AGAIN!!', until we need you for the next outage). Not all SRS RP departments (SRR and SRNL) are blindly compliant. It took SRS RP management over five years to terminate a sexual harassing racist RP supervisor (it was the promised SRNL sexual harassment lawsuit and stalking charges that pressed the issue). When it comes to subcontractors, we are prey to the SRS predators.

It is better to forewarned instead of getting a forearm to the back of the head. Information is like a ghost. You may or may not believe in ghosts but, when you have an experience, you believe.

BA

[Rennhack]

We have had numerous complaints about BetaAnt, and this thread, requesting that we delete it.  They claim that BetaAnt is a disgruntled worker and is libeling the site.

We don't disagree that he sure sounds disgruntled, and we would love to delete this thread because it sounds like a truck load of crap.  But we will not do it.  BetaAnt is allowed his opinion even if it is wrong.  We will not delete this thread because we started this site so people would have an open forum to speak their mind.  It is up to the users to decide if BetaAnt is full of BS, or if he is correct.

If we deleted this post then we are no better than the 'other sites' that cater to the employers instead of the workers.

[Camella Black]

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

SRS did it before, they will do it again and again. SRS's instant layoff policy bit them in the @ss last time and they promise not to do it again.

DO NOT TRUST THESE PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEIR LIPS MOVE.


BA 

I just don't understand. If you are so unhappy why not pack up and leave... there are many jobs available and well life on the road ain't so bad. I have never worked for SRS but have many friends and family that do or that have and like most jobs it has its ups and its downs.

I would rather see you give some sound advice and pointers rather that ranting like a mad man. You'd accomplish more in my humble opinion.

[Already Gone]

We have all had some bad experiences as employees - especially as contract employees.  Some helpful things I have learned along the way are:
1. "management" are people too.  You can make them angry.  They won't always be perfect.
2. The archaic custom of giving notice is as long-gone as severance pay.  Don't tell anyone that you are ready to leave a job until you are ready to either work two more weeks or leave that day.  You may feel that it is only the fair and polite thing to do when you give your employer two weeks notice, but all they hear is that you are quitting.  If they let you work out your notice, some people will see it as "making" you work out your notice.  You have to be prepared to go or to stay before you say a word.
3. Never, ever, ever, no, not ever, I really mean NEVER, talk to anyone about how much you are getting paid, how much your next job is going to pay you, how much they are getting paid, ... etc.  It isn't anybody's business anyway, and nothing good ever comes from the knowledge.
4. People rarely quit a job that they like without first seeking opportunities within the organization.  If you are happy with what you are doing and the company you are working for, money isn't a good enough reason to quit.  You'll work toward a raise and/or promotion to get more money.  You won't jump ship until you are no longer happy where you are.  (Failing to make any progress toward that raise or promotion may be the reason for your unhappiness, but you will be unhappy in any case before you take a job elsewhere.) The moment you indicate your desire to quit, you infect the workplace with your discontent.  Even if you are grinning ear-to-ear about the good deal you are leaving for, everyone else sees it as gloating.  You might be dancing on air, but it is still negativity.
5. Happy workers are better workers.  They are more productive and cause fewer problems than unhappy workers.  Happiness is contagious among the workforce.  Unhappiness is a cancer.  Even workers content with their jobs may be unhappy about having to work with you if you bring your negativity to work.  It only takes one malcontent to destroy the morale of the whole organization.
6. It takes two distinct actions to keep a workforce happy (and, therefore productive, ...etc.) One, you have to treat your workers well.  Two, you have to fire the unhappy workers.  If you don't fire the unhappy ones, you are mistreating the happy ones by subjecting them to the negativity.  It has to be done.  I used to think that was pretty dastardly, but it (unfortunately) makes perfect sense.
7. There are THREE necessary and logical correlations to 4, 5 and 6.  If you are quitting, you are unhappy.  If you are unhappy you are a cancer.  Cancer must be excised quickly before it spreads. 
8. Therefore, the minute you let on that you are leaving, it is already past time for you to go.  Period.

We have all been, at various times, the happy employee, the unhappy employee, and maybe also the boss who has both in his employ.  The perspective of each is different, so at different times we react differently to similar situations.

When the act of wasting $100million involved direct deposit of part of it into your account every payday, it wasn't such a problem.  When they booted your ass, they suddenly became the inept mis-managers who blew millions with nothing to show for it.  (Go figure, it is a government job after all.)

[mostlyharmless]

Its not about one tech with a bad attitude bringing every one down ( though what you say is true and well said) and its not about just speaking your mind or worker vs employer. Its about one guy getting run off for things that would get any tech released from almost any site in this country. I work at SRS. I worked there as a sub before I accepted a more permanent ( no job is permanent) position there and I know many of the more than 400 RP techs that work there, not counting the subs. I also know many managers.
What this guy says is an absolute lie. Because he is mad he further debases himself by slandering SRS in open forum.
I agree with Renhack and thank him for reminding me of the tolerance exhibited by the staff of NW.
No site is a nuclear Nirvana and SRS with over 10,000 employees is no exception. Like most of the places I have worked your experience is largely your responsibility.How you behave is how you are perceived. But techs,sub or otherwise are treated well here and its my observation that you really have to fire yourself from SRS. They do not just take you to the gate for complaining or talking about leaving. You will,however, get shown the door for falsifying documentation,ignoring procedures,failing drug tests etc,the usual stuff. I have been here for ~14 yrs.
And you guys are wrong about the 100 million. We received more than 1 Billion dollars in ARRA money,more than our entire fiscal year budget. That to me is the difference between here and commercial. We are not driven by proffit and consequently the ownership is low and waste is high.
Thank you folks for recognizing rant when you hear it, disgruntled or gruntled. And now I gotta go refill my cool aid.

[Frankie Love]

Howes comme know spelle cheke? Phat wood bee gode fore thys sight.

[uRiaL]

   :(EMBARRASSED by some of these coments.Donna lodging not that bad,she is a miser though,but a safe place right down from the hospital.stayed there a year.WSI thought subs would a sabotage the site if they left on their own. ???There are good and bad apples here,representative of the world we live in.Some individuals acknowledge you,speak,conversate,some want to hang you.Aiken residence are smiling all the way to the bank with this stimulus moolah. []I'll leave my (HIS) light on for you all, my friends.Nuff SAID

[UncaBuffalo]

We have had numerous complaints about BetaAnt, and this thread, requesting that we delete it.  They claim that BetaAnt is a disgruntled worker and is libeling the site.

We don't disagree that he sure sounds disgruntled, and we would love to delete this thread because it sounds like a truck load of crap.  But we will not do it.  BetaAnt is allowed his opinion even if it is wrong.  We will not delete this thread because we started this site so people would have an open forum to speak their mind.  It is up to the users to decide if BetaAnt is full of BS, or if he is correct.

If we deleted this post then we are no better than the 'other sites' that cater to the employers instead of the workers.

Okay, I've already been smited AND deleted for asking this question, but...since I'm kind of slow...I'm going to ask it again:


What would BetaAnt sound like if he was 'gruntled'?


People took this question as me just being a smartass, but I was being serious.  I am against throwing labels on people and thinking that means you can disregard them after that.  BetaAnt = 'Disgruntled Worker'...therefore no one needs to weigh his information when they consider SRS as an employment option.  Very possible, but there is another VERY likely scenario:

BetaAnt = 'Gruntled' worker with poor communication skills.  Maybe he really DID get poorly treated by his former management thru no fault of his own.  In that case, he is bringing us valuable information that will help us make a correct decision in our own situation....


You can look at any thread and glean information from the relative numbers of positive & negative posts.  If BetaAnt was the only poster with something negative to say about SRS, I'd be happy to treat his post as 'Disgruntled Worker' (although I'm still uncomfortable with that label) and believe only the positive about SRS.  If BetaAnt has other posters chiming in to echo his complaint, I have to weigh the possibility that he was still very 'gruntled' and SRS treated him poorly.


Note to BetaAnt:  I DO agree with the view that your posts occasionally cross the border into 'rant' and would be more effective if written in a more professional tone.




Thanks.  

[hamsamich]

I agree with buffalo.  Also, even if he is disgruntled, he still could have been treated the way he was treated.  I've seen worse.  It is a great data point whether or not.  I am going to heed his warning.

[ladyinrad]

Thank you, BetaAnt, for helping me last year. Your advice was dead on. Wished you could be at every job site!



Ladyinrad

[t_tarbox]

I have spoken to BA via PM, a few times over the past year, some about SRS, some about other places..and always found him to be pleasant, informative and honest.

Now do I see the frustration in some of his posts? Sure...and at one time, I probably would have been sending him a PM to try and "talk him down" and encourage him revise his post a little to remove some of the emotion..but..

Over the past year, I've been coached by peers for trying to hold the open forum to a higher standard than what may be necessary or even intended..to the point the site might migrate away from it's "breakroom" appeal (as described to me)..

So where do we, as a community draw the line between professional site and breakroom? I think that line is still a work in progress.

Obviously something has set BA's emotions on high and he wants to vent among his peers; he came to the "breakroom" to do it.

Perhaps we should try to talk to him via PM, instead of at him via post..

I see there are still some jobs being posted for SRS..