OT: State money well spent

[Brochacho]

Three guys working a three man job, supervisor holding the ladder, and the fifth is an incognito tranny hooker. If you are going to complain, complain that they are not driving a Prius.

 

[Jimdish255]

Typical state effort 5 guys to put up one sign. Probably was done on O.T. But , I do like the sign.

Ever work in traffic before? Oh yeah I'm sure the food cart passes by your desk once or twice a day.

 

[RS9999X]

In a day of electronic neon solar signs that can be programmed remotely...........or you hire 5 to change a sign after 3 others helped fashion the new sign.

 

[Srqhusky]

With the amount of taxes the Connecticut people pay there should be a high definition jumbo tron at every border of the state. The problem is your money is either embezzled by the politicians or soent on welfare

 

[minidarren]

Ever work in traffic before? Oh yeah I'm sure the food cart passes by your desk once or twice a day.

Where is your source? I can make my own graph showing that I get sh!toads more done day to day then a union counter part.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[uconnbill]

Just nice to see the sign that the women are NCAA Champions.

 

[SubbaBub]

In a day of electronic neon solar signs that can be programmed remotely...........or you hire 5 to change a sign after 3 others helped fashion the new sign.

With the amount of taxes the Connecticut people pay there should be a high definition jumbo tron at every border of the state. The problem is your money is either embezzled by the politicians or soent on welfare

This thread has become enough of an annoyance that I actually took the time to call some people.

Cost of 80 SF aluminum sign with required reflective lettering, installed. (About $500-1000)

Cost of variable electronic sign including wiring and control systems. $80k-$150k, installed depending on the electrical requirements and the size of the supports.

Geno may be good but he'd need to win 80 more titles to justify a better sign.

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[husky91]

Union and personnel.

State of CT has highest per capita workforce in country. DOT is a joke.

I don't doubt you work hard for you money as do plenty of others. I work for a firm that does work for the DOT and work with alot of DOT personnel. Quite frankly there's a boatload of deadweight. It could be a function of how they operate (which is completely backwards) or the personnel.

 

[CL82]

IM sure you could have put that sign up yourself, but I do like the effort of the guy holding up the ladder.

I like the guy who is watching the guy who is holding up the ladder. Classic.

 

[CL82]

My only complaint is why don't they just leave the sign up there? All you need to do is replace the last 2 numbers every once in awhile.

I'd like to see them all listed. But I do think the most recent one approach is kind of cool.

 

[Husky Pete]

View attachment 2713


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Looks like the DOT didn't get the memo (email?) on our new visual identity program (UCONN):

http://today.uconn.edu/blog/2013/04/uconn-announces-new-visual-identity-program/

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

No expert in signs nor overly interested in a DOT workers are great versus slackers debate, but does it appear they just updated a pre-existing sign? Replacing "2011" with "2013", and "Men's Basketball" with "Women's Basketball"?

 

[mrhandyman]

The sign is the same one that has been up for years. They just add/change the necessary text.

 

[Husky25]

These guys are getting paid whether they are in the break room or on the road. If there is no other project going on, what is the difference? The money is already in the budget. As long as the DOT doesn't go overfor the Fiscal year, what is the difference? Cheezus, worry about something that you can actually control!!

 

[YearoftheHusky]

I think it's difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about a group of guys based off of one picture.

.

Unless it is a Syracuse team photo.

 

[HuskyHawk]

These guys are getting paid whether they are in the break room or on the road. If there is no other project going on, what is the difference? The money is already in the budget. As long as the DOT doesn't go overfor the Fiscal year, what is the difference? Cheezus, worry about something that you can actually control!!

Now I finally have to chime in, based on my 1.5 years in service to the glorious state of Connecticut. Yes, post college I had that unfortunate distinction. Worked for the Dept. of Corrections in Hartford, in a brand new department that centralized purchasing of medical supplies and drugs for the prisons. On the whole...a money saver. Negotiated rates with big suppliers and bought in bulk. The prison pharmacists in particular had been very careless and paid too much all the time. I saved a few hundred thousand myself by finding overcharges on (mostly) AIDS drugs. AIDS drugs were a huge part of the budget by the way, at least then.

But. Nobody worked 5 minutes more than was required. I was shocked to find that at 10:15, our appointed Union 15 minute break...work ceased. People just hung up the phone and left. I was castigated for working through the break if I was engaged with a vendor. The full workweek was 36 hours. Nobody stayed late or put in any extra time. Towards the end of the fiscal year, we were always hundreds of thousands under budget. So that began a process of calling all the prisons and ordering as much new, but not needed stuff as we possibly could. Two year old Dental Chair....throw that out, I'll get you a new one! "Spend it all" was the mantra, less the budget be cut back the next year, to where it really should be. That was one tiny department. Multiply by thousands and you have hundreds millions of dollars wasted, every year. So I don't want to hear that the money was "in the budget". The budgets are grotesque bloated things that bear no relationship to the cost of providing the needed services. Any sensible Governor should incent every freaking manager in the state to come in under budget. It should be a mandatory part of their compensation. They could do it easily.

 

[MattMang23]

The full workweek was 36 hours. Nobody stayed late or put in any extra time.

Because it's hourly pay; not salary...

I'm not sure why you're of the belief that employees should work when they're not getting paid to...?

If you want to argue employees should be salaried so that they work as much as necessary, that's a different argument.

 

[Husky25]

...So I don't want to hear that the money was "in the budget". The budgets are grotesque bloated things that bear no relationship to the cost of providing the needed services. Any sensible Governor should incent every freaking manager in the state to come in under budget. It should be a mandatory part of their compensation. They could do it easily.

If this is news to anyone, then they are the ones out of touch. The current budget has already been approved and the guys are getting paid whether they are watching Jerry Springer in the break room or fixing the UConn Championship sign. The time for challenging the budget is before the fiscal year begins not while its currently going on.

 

[bdbd]

I assume everyone on this thread will be subtracting all their posting and reading time when they fill out this week's timesheet. It would certainly be ironic if everyone's employers wound up paying for time devoted to debating the work ethic and efficiency of state employees.

 

[husky210]

Now I finally have to chime in, based on my 1.5 years in service to the glorious state of Connecticut. Yes, post college I had that unfortunate distinction. Worked for the Dept. of Corrections in Hartford, in a brand new department that centralized purchasing of medical supplies and drugs for the prisons. On the whole...a money saver. Negotiated rates with big suppliers and bought in bulk. The prison pharmacists in particular had been very careless and paid too much all the time. I saved a few hundred thousand myself by finding overcharges on (mostly) AIDS drugs. AIDS drugs were a huge part of the budget by the way, at least then.

But. Nobody worked 5 minutes more than was required. I was shocked to find that at 10:15, our appointed Union 15 minute break...work ceased. People just hung up the phone and left. I was castigated for working through the break if I was engaged with a vendor. The full workweek was 36 hours. Nobody stayed late or put in any extra time. Towards the end of the fiscal year, we were always hundreds of thousands under budget. So that began a process of calling all the prisons and ordering as much new, but not needed stuff as we possibly could. Two year old Dental Chair....throw that out, I'll get you a new one! "Spend it all" was the mantra, less the budget be cut back the next year, to where it really should be. That was one tiny department. Multiply by thousands and you have hundreds millions of dollars wasted, every year. So I don't want to hear that the money was "in the budget". The budgets are grotesque bloated things that bear no relationship to the cost of providing the needed services. Any sensible Governor should incent every freaking manager in the state to come in under budget. It should be a mandatory part of their compensation. They could do it easily.

I've heard stories from guys that there are state buildings full of unused chairs, desks and etc..

 

[RS9999X]

Because it's hourly pay; not salary...

I'm not sure why you're of the belief that employees should work when they're not getting paid to...?

If you want to argue employees should be salaried so that they work as much as necessary, that's a different argument.

They have a slew of people earning more than $80,000 on hourly salary. It is structured that way for one reason only: to avoid unpaid OT,

One of my favorite discussions was whether there would be a significant mobile presence for department XXX. The bottom line was no. The rank and file don't need to check their email when their home. Work? Bwaah Haaah Haah. Senior workers bees could get home computers and internet lines paid for as a perk to work remotely for 2 days a week and check in 2 days a week on the 4-day plan.

Biggest laugh: A guy I used to work with when he was an IT Manager in the private sector became salaried IT staff for CT DOIT (Depart of IT). First week on the job he tries to rally the troops to stay until 7:00 PM to finish a mission critical bit of work. So I warn him (I was an hourly project consultant) that he's in Rome and needs to do what the Romans do. By 5:00 everyone is gone and he throws a fit. He was there at least until 7:00 getting read the riot act by the VP of IT.

 

[RS9999X]

Two year old Dental Chair....throw that out, I'll get you a new one! "Spend it all" was the mantra, less the budget be cut back the next year, to where it really should be. That was one tiny department. Multiply by thousands and you have hundreds millions of dollars wasted, every year. So I don't want to hear that the money was "in the budget". The budgets are grotesque bloated things that bear no relationship to the cost of providing the needed services. .

That's half the story. In the administrative agencies most everyone is paid for by some piece of legislation. They are program owners and often there's matching Federal funds ranging from 20% to 100% of budget. This is entirely unlike a private business where a call center might handle 18 different clients and staff is rotated and served calls on hands free basis. In the state each of those clients would have different call centers outside of the main switch board. Any attempt to consolidate the generic position "help desk" is met with frowns because of the tracking that must be done to fulfill various federal and state legislative mandates. There is software to track that scenarop but getting everyone on board and equipment funding etc.is a quagmire. It's simply a zoo of inefficiency.

Below: This is State of CT Information Technology in action. The fact they are paper applications should blow your mind.

On Dec 14, 2012 a federal judge ordered the Connecticut Department of Social Services to process food stamps in a timely fashion, a week after 125 boxes of unprocessed applications for food stamps were found at the agency.

U.S. District Judge Vanessa Bryant issued the order Wednesday. Bryant criticized the Social Services Department for its "persistent systemic failure" to comply with regulations. Some of the unprocessed applications were from 2009.

Five DSS officials were placed on paid administrative leave after the boxes were discovered.

The judge's ruling came in a lawsuit filed earlier this year by advocates for the poor, after the agency failed to process 41 percent of cases within required time limits.

 

[husky91]

I'm thinking most of us don't work on a clock and work far in excess of 35 hours week and don't get OT for that time.

This picture is a single explanation of why this state is broke, and not the one positive about what is actually on the sign.

I assume everyone on this thread will be subtracting all their posting and reading time when they fill out this week's timesheet. It would certainly be ironic if everyone's employers wound up paying for time devoted to debating the work ethic and efficiency of state employees.

 

[Husky25]

I'm thinking most of us don't work on a clock and work far in excess of 35 hours week and don't get OT for that time.

This picture is a single explanation of why this state is broke, and not the one positive about what is actually on the sign.

It's resentment with a side of sour grapes.

No inference can logically be made by a single still photo. What do these guys do bhind the scenes? Its the same type of ill informed argument made against Herbst and Manuel.

 

[jdb50]

The guys doing the work for DOT and other State agencies aren't the problem. Numbers are declining in the job titles that reform physical labor. The problem in State government is in the excess number of management. Good luck reducing those numbers. If the DOT was overstaffed at the maintainer level why do they have to hire private contractors and offer shift's to maintainers in DEP to deal with the snow and hurricane cleanup?

 

[Dove]

tO ME IT LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE SIMPLY CHANGING THE PANELS. iF THE sTATE ACTUALLY TAKES THE SIGN DOWN TO CHANGE THE INFORMATION THEN I WOULD SHAKE MY HEAD BUT THIS PIC LOOKS LIKE PANEL CHANGING IS TAKING PLACE. a JOB TWO DUDES COULD DO.

Okay...I see my cap lock was on. Sorry, ain't re-typing.

 

[pj]

My only complaint is why don't they just leave the sign up there? All you need to do is replace the last 2 numbers every once in awhile.

They should make the sign taller and have 8 numbers.

 

[husky91]

Bro, the state is in a $2b annual deficit and you wonder how or why that happens. Paying these losers $100k a year and they get free healthcare and huge pensions. Every 1 u can eliminate adds up. Have to do everything possible

These guys are getting paid whether they are in the break room or on the road. If there is no other project going on, what is the difference? The money is already in the budget. As long as the DOT doesn't go overfor the Fiscal year, what is the difference? Cheezus, worry about something that you can actually control!!

 

[Husky25]

Bro, the state is in a $2b annual deficit and you wonder how or why that happens. Paying these losers $100k a year and they get free healthcare and huge pensions. Every 1 u can eliminate adds up. Have to do everything possible

The deficit this year was about $445 mil. Not chump change to be sure, but its about 23% of your made up figure.

The time to challenge the budget is before the fiscal year, but I'm sure you have your State rep on speed dial, post to their Facebook wall, whathaveyou. Beyond that, have some state pride. Everyone here knows how you feel and we are also allowed to have an opinion. Move on. Life's short, enjoy it. If not, move. But here's a little heads up...Almost every state in the country has its own problems. Grab a helmet.

 

[RS9999X]

The guys doing the work for DOT and other State agencies aren't the problem. The problem in State government is in the excess number of management. Good luck reducing those numbers.

1) Most of the middle management was promoted from within. That's another lunacy. Productive Worker bees in IT have to become managers if they want any kind of career. IT workers have 3 salary classes and then transer to the IT MP classification (which is where the most fat is and useless people are). It's the seniority thing. Once a PM they never get laid off and their job descriptions are supervisory not production it's like that layer of fat that never goes away due to union rules. In 2015 when the 'no layoffs' policy is done I expect bloodshed. It's not often you fire every middle manager and improve a place. In the state it is true.


As fas as the snowplow guys go, I drink at the local bar with two of them. They work hard for about 30 days a year and get plenty of OT on those days. In emergencies and heavy snow (about 10 to 15 days a year) the state uses contractors to pick up the load.

Ask those guys about CT Summers working as snow plow drivers. Dan Malloy tried to fire the whole lot of them in June 2011.

"I am asking for additional ability to privatize services," Malloy told newspaper editorial writers and editors during a conference call Wednesday. There are a whole bunch of people in the world who think they are the only people who know how to operate a plow. I got news for you, other people know how to operate a plow."

Malloy knew exectly what those dudes were doing that day on a sunny June day in 2011.

Fortunately for the plow drivers the union negotiated the 'no layoff, no privatization' contract.