I Quit My Job

On Fracking: the environmental issue isn't the fracking itself. Most pollution occurs because the well loses its integrity. Build a good, leakfree, well, and build it properly, and the pollution goes away.

You can read this Wall Street Journal article to read about it.

Since there is so much money to be made in fracking but so much risk in building a bad well, the solution (of course) is to regulate and inspect the well construction and operations from time to time. If possible and feasible, the state should be able to fund those inspections themselves from the increased state taxes it receives from the new industry. (Libertarian enough for ya?

I can't be critical of fracking. Just go to Northern Alberta and see what a shi*hole that area is due to oil sands.

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Now, on to Face. In all seriousness, what were you thinking?

It's one thing to quit your job when you are on your own, but you have a child to support. Trust me, there are times (especially these days) when I consider doing something else (in my field), but because I have a kid who will be going to university in a year (mind you, tuition for four years runs at about a total of 25K in Canada), I keep working because I have an obligation to my child, as you do.

I undertand that you're not interested in the industry, and that you consider your job dead end. Fair enough. But you're old enough to realize that you need a game plan. Your boy's what, 10, so that puts you in your late 20s to 40.

Look for a job from inside your workplace before you quit and have a game plan. It's fine when you're alone, not so much when you have an obligation to support. I know that he may have disappeared to FLA with his mom, but that doesn't mean your obligation stops.

Hopefully your lady has agreed to support you while you find of luck and that you have a good pool of savings.

Best of luck to you. Keep us posted.

Quote: Fleastiff

Yes, it does impair your bargaining power if you are out of work

It depends on what your skill is. My brother
just took a year off from truck driving and
found a local job making 50K right away when
he went back. The industry is hurting for
good drivers. He's in his 50's, but that's a truckers
average age, 50's.

Quote: Beethoven

I, for one, applaud you for your decision. I wish more people did the same.

Most people ended up sticking with jobs they hate for years & years, their performance suffers, they make life miserable for their co-workers with their constant b*tching.....blah blah blah.

So good for you. Plus, you're a smart guy, so I know everything will work out in the end!

I appreciate this. I'm a firm believer in "you are what you repeatedly do". I consider it an ultimate truth. I get what EB says about being crazy. Hell, I'm thinking the same thing. But just as it's a man's responsibility to suck it up and get over it, it's also his to recognize when enough is enough. It was changing me. Spending the majority of every day thinking I was doing nothing of worth was causing me to believe it, to become it. That attitude would certainly spill over into personal life, and had already begun to. If I were to list everything my job offered me and everything I had to do to earn it, every one of you would label me insane and shun me. I really had it that good. But it was just not worth it to me. Life is more than benefits and compensation.

Quote: theodores

Welcome to the oil and gas business, if that's indeed what you find yourself in. Of course, you will have to go down into PA since it doesn't look like the moratorium in NY will be lifted anytime soon -- they will, if they know what's good for them.

The job I saw was in PA. Bradford, to be specific. It ain't but 10 minutes further than my former job. I could still be "home".

The oil and gas thing was kind of random. It just happened to be something I peeked at and found. I kind of have it on the back burner as an out; it's something I could do and not have to uproot my life for. Plus, I suspect it'll be a good industry to be in for the remainder of my life, and gives opportunities across the country, should I need them. Perhaps with some research I will find it to be more something I "want", rather than "could have". We shall see, and I'll keep you all in mind if I steer that way.

But the instance my heart checked out of gaming, it went to one of my oldest passions - the outdoors. The only real job I've ever pined for (I say "real job" to exclude little-boy stuff like race car driver, fighter pilot, penalty box door man) was DEC. I already have a few bio/chem credits from my past life, and am at least somewhat familiar with limnology, aquatic ecology, biology, itchthyology, and even some knowledge / credits in botany and silviculture. There's at least 7 different careers there that I'd be interested in and excel at, and all the book learnin' to get there would be applicable in a number of different fields from wildlife management to drilling to mining, should the government route fail. But this, of course, is a much more obscured path.

Or maybe the Ukraine will turn into a thing. I'm still of age and a hell of a rifleman...

You want a manly mans job where you work with
your hands and produce something. Loading
trucks all day was the only job I ever had that
had a sense of accomplishment at the end of
the day. The bar certainly didn't, giving people
rides in taxis didn't, buying and selling antiques
is just moving them around constantly.

Welding would be good, or building furniture
or canoes, that would feel good at the end
of the day.

Quote: boymimbo

Now, on to Face. In all seriousness, what were you thinking?

It's one thing to quit your job when you are on your own, but you have a child to support. Trust me, there are times (especially these days) when I consider doing something else (in my field), but because I have a kid who will be going to university in a year (mind you, tuition for four years runs at about a total of 25K in Canada), I keep working because I have an obligation to my child, as you do.

I undertand that you're not interested in the industry, and that you consider your job dead end. Fair enough. But you're old enough to realize that you need a game plan. Your boy's what, 10, so that puts you in your late 20s to 40.

Look for a job from inside your workplace before you quit and have a game plan. It's fine when you're alone, not so much when you have an obligation to support. I know that he may have disappeared to FLA with his mom, but that doesn't mean your obligation stops.

Hopefully your lady has agreed to support you while you find of luck and that you have a good pool of savings.

Best of luck to you. Keep us posted.

I don't know. May never know. I really can't explain it.

Like, really. Savings? I got about $1,700 in the bank, as of Friday. Ash? Unemployed, banging out her law school as fast as humanly possible. Kid? Still here in the north. Prospects? None. Plan? Nope.

I know it sounds like a white trash disaster. You can say it, I already know it. But the only thing between a path to disaster and the path to greatness is where one runs out of ability or determination, and I am lacking neither. I may have to stop racing. I may have to sell my boat. But I'm not losing my truck, not losing my house. My kid will have food on the table and clothes on his back. Whether the economy is good or bad, I'll find work. Maybe it'll be even less meaningful and a lot less lucrative, but I won't suffer. I won't fail. I'll just find my place in my new life and take the lesson with me. Until, of course, it gets to me and I bail again =p

But something had to change. I did so the only way I know how. Maybe it was dumb. Maybe it wasn't well thought out. And yes, I am scared. But I know I'll be fine. I suspect I'll wind up better off. Either way, I took the path less traveled, and am living by MY rules. I will be better off for it, and can't help but be excited as I watch a next chapter begin.

Last time I did this, I was on drugs, had just bought a house, and Jax was just 2 months away. I had the best job I'd ever had and tossed it away. 9 months later I was sober, working the casino, and began a path that gave me wealth and sent me across the country. I did that without even trying.

What if I tried?

Quote: Face

I'm still of age and a hell of a rifleman...

now you're hallucinating sure enough.

What I'm getting at is this: no job doesn't have its problems, its disillusions. Wise fellow I used to work with always said leaving one job for another is often just trading one set of problems for another.

No point in beating you up for leaving that job. You had your reasons, and probably aren't telling us all of them. But I think the disillusionment thing with a new job, I'm worried about that for you.

Quote: boymimbo

On Fracking: the environmental issue isn't the fracking itself. Most pollution occurs because the well loses its integrity. Build a good, leakfree, well, and build it properly, and the pollution goes away.

You can read this Wall Street Journal article to read about it.

Since there is so much money to be made in fracking but so much risk in building a bad well, the solution (of course) is to regulate and inspect the well construction and operations from time to time. If possible and feasible, the state should be able to fund those inspections themselves from the increased state taxes it receives from the new industry. (Libertarian enough for ya?

I don't have a problem with the industry paying either in taxes or a user-fee to fund its own regulation. I *do* have issue with the politicians who see it as an ATM to fund schools, roads, and any other number of unrelated things. The corporations pay their regular tax and that should be it.

But back to well integrity. The problem is both that these people who are against it know nothing about the industry and cannot be satisfied. There was an article here about the county wanting to see if they owned the mineral rights in the county parks or not so they could discss if they should begin lease negotiations if they do. Some op-ed writer in the paper wrote that it was a bad idea and said to the effect "do you want to have a picnic there and have to see this big, ugly, site?

I got published in my reply. I explained that she did not even know the difference between the drill rig, which is an acre or more, and the well itself; which can be the size of an SUV. I also replied how nations fund themselves with oil and gas income and to deny fair use was a bad idea. I hope I made a difference is some people's minds.

But then there is no satisfying them. Drill-bores are lined with lots and lots of cement. They take lots of care. But the enviros will say, "but one leaked in 'x' so we should not drill anywhere, ever!"

The term "frackig" may just be too manly for some of our society to handle. They are afraid of it. They are afraid of the manly crews doing manly work on the well site. The roughnecks drive pick-up trucks. Big pick-up trucks. So do the roustabouts, who after they get out of the trucks handle sections of pipe so big they have to be picked up by machines. They work 7 or 14 day rotations of 12 hour days! They hang out in motels as they travel for work! They smoke and drink! In this age of white-collar opportunity how can they even want that kind of job?

And I think that is a big part of it. In all seriousness, when I meet someone against fracking they are usally someone who has worked white-collar office jobs their life and can't find oil on the dipstick under the hood of their car. They don't want for anything and don't know how the food gets to their table, they just know they go to Whole Foods because it is "better."

The USA and other Western Nations are in danger, and it will not be solved until they go to the store or gas station and cannot buy what they want and need. I'm not talking a 2008 style price spike to over $4 a gallon. I'm talking real, 1970s style shortages:

"I need 10 gallons, please."
"Sorry, I can only sell you 5."
"But I need 10 to get to work and pick little Bobby up from school!"
"Sorry, I can only sell you 5."
"What will I do?"
"Well, you could carpool and let little Bobby walk. Doesn't matter because I can only sell you 5 gallons, do you want it or not?"
"OK, give me 5."
"$50, please."
"What?"


Or be told that there will be no natural gas between 12 and 3 eacch day, turn off your furnace and hot water.

Until then, we will have to deal not with the NIMBY facto but the NOPEs (not on planet earth.)

I can't be critical of fracking. Just go to Northern Alberta and see what a shi*hole that area is due to oil sands.

Quote: Evenbob

You want a manly mans job where you work with
your hands and produce something. Loading
trucks all day was the only job I ever had that
had a sense of accomplishment at the end of
the day. The bar certainly didn't, giving people
rides in taxis didn't, buying and selling antiques
is just moving them around constantly.

Welding would be good, or building furniture
or canoes, that would feel good at the end
of the day.

If a person is not afraid to get their hands dirty there is no limit to what you can do. If you don't go the O&G route (my bias to this is known) then I would say get into doing work on people's homes.

You seem to have lots of hand skills, and I assume some decent hand tools. The place to be is in that nice above where someone can easily do it themselves but below where licensing is required or/and you need really fancy equipment to do the work.

Examples are can you hang a ceiling fan? I know you can. Know how many people can't or are afraid to? Get $50-100 for it. Can you put in outlets? Do decent't drywall patching? Mend steps? Paint? Build some nice shelves or a custom wine rack? Clean gutters and wash windows?

The market here is huge, and if you show up for the estimate clean, on-time, and sober you are already ahead of half the competition. Do good work and your biggest problem will be having to remind your lady that the ring during dinner is not the phone but the bell on a cash register and you need to take it and that is the price for having a man who can be home when needed.

The challenge is to have balls in the air at all times and have flexibility. I have been told by friends that, "I am the most flexible person around when it comes to finding a job" and "if there is a way to side-hustle a few bucks I will find it."

In a few hours I am going to look at a house for flip or rent, owner is askig $10,000. (not a typo) I will be hiring work out for it. If you team up with someone does that, or do it on your own, BOOM! More satisfaction.

Face kind of reminds me of the guy in Office Space (main character) who quit his meaningless job and went into construction.

I know how Face feels. I've loved making a living in my field for the last 20 years, and the consulting part where I go place to place, staying in hotels, meeting new people all around North America has been fun. The job's taken me to London, Seatlle, Chicago, California, Reno/Tahoe, the North-East, Florida, Georgia, Texas, New York, all places that I wouldn't have had to see on my own volition. That part of my job is great. And I enjoy the challenge most of the time of what I do, which is to lead projects, solve complex problems and make business practices better at some mid-cap companies, governments, and universities. The job has allowed me the flexibility to work from home 80% of the time over the last three years, which made my daughter's life a lot better than it would have been otherwsie.

But the least satisfying part of my job is that there is no real tangible result to what I do, and after time, people forget about me. The financial system is better off, and hopefully, with pain, the company is running more efficiently and is saving money.

There is a desire for me to have real impact on this world (besides begatting my child, whose grandchild and further generations will have very little knowledge of). I'm capable of it.

I'm not an outdoors person (not manly, according to EB and AZ's world) and really couldn't see myself doing construction. But I think there are alot of tangible things that I could do to help people.

Despite the difficult time I gave Face, he will probably be okay. More than okay. He's already got a leg up on some unemployed people. He's willing and capable of doing *anything*.

Quote: AZDuffman

I don't have a problem with the industry paying either in taxes or a user-fee to fund its own regulation. I *do* have issue with the politicians who see it as an ATM to fund schools, roads, and any other number of unrelated things. The corporations pay their regular tax and that should be it.

It's difficult to say where the government will end up on this except they will be grabbing. I'm not familiar with tax regulation, but I imagine that all of the frackers are able to amortize their well development and exploration over a longer or shorter time which is effectively a huge tax break. The government will want to see something out of this, and they will be collect, be it via property taxes because property values over a home with a well will skyrocket, or a different tax rate for oil and gas income.

Quote:

But back to well integrity. The problem is both that these people who are against it know nothing about the industry and cannot be satisfied. There was an article here about the county wanting to see if they owned the mineral rights in the county parks or not so they could discss if they should begin lease negotiations if they do.

I think Scientific American has a fair article on the issue.

There are plenty of cases, alot of cases, where poor well construction has resulted in groundwater contamination, and the issue is that it becomes difficult to pinpoint the problem to a particular well, and the industry is just denying responsibility when clearly, from a scientific and logical standpoint, of course, a poorly constructed well would lead to contamination.

Fracking has the potential to resolve America's oil independence issue for the next 1/2 century or so, but if it wants to do so, the industry needs to spend a bit more capital (which raises costs), build EVERY well properly (remember what 3 mile did to the nuclear industry for a while), and pay for resolving environmental issue that it clearly causes. Whether that's a matter of paying into an insurance pool or the government collecting and cleaningup, I don't knnow.