So one of the duties of my job is to be on "standby" or "oncall" once every 6 weeks or so. You are not allowed to leave the county, you must always be reachable by your cell phone or pager they provide and you must respond immediately. I use the terms oncall and standby interchangeably here, although I feel it is actually standby since you basically have to go in immediately when they call.
Minimum callout is 2 hours, you get paid time and a half for your calls and double time on sundays. A call can be as little as 15 minutes, and I have had them last almost 10 hours, it depends. You get a company vehicle to drive while oncall but this is inconsequential to me since I live close to work, it doesn't really save me much.
The standby pay for being oncall independent of any calls you get is about 2 bucks an hour which is much better than the .50c an hour it was 10 years ago.
To say it is intrusive on your life is an understatement. So many holidays, birthdays, and christmasses I have been oncall. For example today I am on standby and its a beautiful day, however I cant enjoy it. I just want the week to be over with so I can get my life back.
I posted about leaving my job several years ago on here and a few months later my father was diagnosed with cancer and it was horrendous and consumed me. I was glad my employer was flexible at that time. Overall I like my job, except for one dum dum that I have to deal with constantly.
I guess Im just curious if anyone else has been oncall and hates it as much as I do. There are many reasons I wish to leave my job and the standby is near the top of the list. I sleep poorly while oncall, It puts me in a bad mood usually. You cant do anything, whenever you try to get to doing something, BAM the phone rings.
I also tell myself that I should just deal with it and shut up, but when something makes you so unhappy its hard to ignore it. Many of the other guys hate it as well, some tolerate it better.
Minimum callout is 2 hours, you get paid time and a half for your calls and double time on sundays. A call can be as little as 15 minutes, and I have had them last almost 10 hours, it depends. You get a company vehicle to drive while oncall but this is inconsequential to me since I live close to work, it doesn't really save me much.
The standby pay for being oncall independent of any calls you get is about 2 bucks an hour which is much better than the .50c an hour it was 10 years ago.
To say it is intrusive on your life is an understatement. So many holidays, birthdays, and christmasses I have been oncall. For example today I am on standby and its a beautiful day, however I cant enjoy it. I just want the week to be over with so I can get my life back.
I posted about leaving my job several years ago on here and a few months later my father was diagnosed with cancer and it was horrendous and consumed me. I was glad my employer was flexible at that time. Overall I like my job, except for one dum dum that I have to deal with constantly.
I guess Im just curious if anyone else has been oncall and hates it as much as I do. There are many reasons I wish to leave my job and the standby is near the top of the list. I sleep poorly while oncall, It puts me in a bad mood usually. You cant do anything, whenever you try to get to doing something, BAM the phone rings.
I also tell myself that I should just deal with it and shut up, but when something makes you so unhappy its hard to ignore it. Many of the other guys hate it as well, some tolerate it better.
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