Finding work online

galdon · August 2013

So, I was trying to find information about this, but google keeps either giving me articles that recommend it but do not say how to look for legit work, or articles/work that are scam get rich quick schemes.

My workplace has recently become increasingly abusive, on top of being physically taxing and still dangerous. So, I want to move to a different job. Only problem being, I live in a small town that has no other real work opportunities. As well, the nearby cities aren't quite so nearby and the commute should I get work there would cost a fortune in both time and gas.

So, I was wondering if anyone here had any personal experience with online work and could let me know how exactly to go about finding the legit ones, as it seems the scam ones dominate the top google results in the ways I have tried to search. If there are any legit ones anyway.

spool32 · August 2013

Legit work is remarkably rare. For a little supplemental income check out Amazon's Mechanical Turk site. You can eventually work your way into maybe couple hundred bucks a week, but it's going to take a long while to get to that point.

galdon · August 2013

I was afraid of that. To quit this place I'd need to have a similar earnings to hour ratio to pay my bills. Guess I'll have go put up with it a while longer.

thanks for the reply.

Darkewolfe · August 2013

If you can do the work online, you can do the work from anywhere in the world. This opens up the work to people with much, much lower costs/standards of living, so there's just no way to have comparable wages.

Giggles_Funsworth · August 2013

What do you do?

galdon · August 2013

currently, I work for a wastewater plant. dirty job, in the heat, and have to climb and balance a lot.

what is making it hard to deal with is my "supervisor" has either decided he hates me, or thinks I an secretly superman and is trying to prove it by assigning me absurdly difficult tasks such as picking up and carrying objects that normally take 2-3 guys to move and making me do it myself while he watches.

literally; that happened last week. guys installed a new pump, and brought it in with three guys and a pully. I had to carry the old one out, the same size, by myself with a rope while he sat and watched.

CelestialBadger · August 2013

The obvious thing is to move. Are you tied down by family or mortgage? If not, get a job in a nearby town, suffer the commute for a bit, then move to your new town. Do it this way round because quitting and moving before you have a job is a big risk.

Giggles_Funsworth · August 2013

galdon wrote: »

currently, I work for a wastewater plant. dirty job, in the heat, and have to climb and balance a lot.

what is making it hard to deal with is my "supervisor" has either decided he hates me, or thinks I an secretly superman and is trying to prove it by assigning me absurdly difficult tasks such as picking up and carrying objects that normally take 2-3 guys to move and making me do it myself while he watches.

literally; that happened last week. guys installed a new pump, and brought it in with three guys and a pully. I had to carry the old one out, the same size, by myself with a rope while he sat and watched.

Where are you located? That sounds like it might be insanely illegal.

zhen_rogue · August 2013

No one should be forced to do physically dangerous work under threat of losing their job. We have laws in place that protect workers.
https://www.osha.gov/pls/osha7/eComplaintForm.html

h3ndu · August 2013

zhen_rogue wrote: »

No one should be forced to do physically dangerous work under threat of losing their job. We have laws in place that protect workers.
https://www.osha.gov/pls/osha7/eComplaintForm.html

This is no shit bro. You may not think you can get anywhere by complaining, or reporting this dude, but you can - and it might change the entire scope of your work place environment for everyone.

There are people whose sole jobs are to go around and search for OSHA violations on the work site. This stuff is serious business. The only problem you might have is substantiating proof - ie documentation of abuse. Do you have buddies on the job who have witnessed, or would back you up in a claim? Has he done this to others? Have you talked with him about it, and if so - was it documented in any way, or was there a buddy with you when you did?

galdon · August 2013

zhen_rogue wrote: »

No one should be forced to do physically dangerous work under threat of losing their job. We have laws in place that protect workers.
https://www.osha.gov/pls/osha7/eComplaintForm.html

I actually did that already a while ago because the trickling filters are a major fall hazard and me and one other coworker have to climb up on top of them every day to flush them without any safety gear, I got a call back from them, and was told that OSHA doesn't inspect city owned workplaces.

ceres · August 2013

galdon wrote: »

zhen_rogue wrote: »

No one should be forced to do physically dangerous work under threat of losing their job. We have laws in place that protect workers.
https://www.osha.gov/pls/osha7/eComplaintForm.html

I actually did that already a while ago because the trickling filters are a major fall hazard and me and one other coworker have to climb up on top of them every day to flush them without any safety gear, I got a call back from them, and was told that OSHA doesn't inspect city owned workplaces.

The faces I am making right now

Oh man

That can't be on.

Giggles_Funsworth · September 2013

What state you in?

galdon · September 2013

Yeah, I couldn't believe it when it happened either. I was under the impression that OSHA had authority over all workplaces. ><

I live in Texas.

bowen · September 2013

They do.

You're likely talking to a low level grunt and/or someone who was paid off.

Start complaining loudly. Record with your cell phone (even if it's just audio). If OSHA or the DoL doesn't listen, move on to newspapers. Make backups of your video and audio every night because they have a habit of "oops I got your phone, oh no I dropped it in shit water! Sorry! I don't know how that happened!"

DisruptedCapitalist · September 2013

galdon wrote: »

Yeah, I couldn't believe it when it happened either. I was under the impression that OSHA had authority over all workplaces. ><

I live in Texas.

Texas is pretty anti-regulation. Case in point, even after that big explosion last April, the government still is unable to prevent any future catastrophes.

"There is no state fire code in Texas. The state fire marshal's office lacks the power to make unannounced inspections of local businesses, nor does the office have the authority to compel local facilities to open its doors." http://www.mbtmag.com/news/2013/08/fire-marshal-inspections-refused-west-blast?et_cid=3446232&et_rid=82488838&type=headline

Mad Jazz · September 2013

galdon wrote: »

I live in Texas.

My surprise level, it is low.

When you say he made you carry that thing out on your own, did he, like...forbid you from asking for help? I mean, I get that he's probably making it difficult to do so by implying you're a wuss or whatever (you're not, obviously), but is he actually preventing you from moving this thing safely?

cecily · September 2013

Galdon, I can suggest only two things: Firstly, document and preferably record everything you are going through and all conversations with boss related to it.

Secondly, there are legit online and work-at-home jobs. Most don't pay much but you can get the real skinny from people with experience here: www.workplacelikehome.com and www.ratracerebellion.com.

SightTDW · September 2013

I used Amazon's Mechanical Turk for a while two years ago before getting my current job, and I can say that you can make something that resembles money from it. It had me doing everything from categorizing nature photos to naming porn videos.

galdon · September 2013

Mad Jazz wrote: »

galdon wrote: »

I live in Texas.

My surprise level, it is low.

When you say he made you carry that thing out on your own, did he, like...forbid you from asking for help? I mean, I get that he's probably making it difficult to do so by implying you're a wuss or whatever (you're not, obviously), but is he actually preventing you from moving this thing safely?

He didn't say the words "you can't ask for help" but nobody was around to help, and he told me directly to put it in the tractor bucket then sat there and watched until I was done.

sorry for the slow reply, my phone was being weird about logging in.

bowen · September 2013

"Sorry this is going to have to wait, this is unsafe to move by myself."

bowen · September 2013

And for the inevitable "This is urgent, it needs to be done now!" response he'd give you, you'd follow up with "You'd deny my workers comp when I inevitably hurt myself, so feel free to do it yourself."

galdon · September 2013

We actually have to pay the city back for using workers comp. I think I made a thread a while back about that when one of my coworkers got hurt and had his pay cut for several weeks after he returned.

also; wouldn't saying something like that just make him start looking for an excuse to be able to fire me without paying unemployment?

bowen · September 2013

What would be his defense if you said, "He wanted me to carry something to heavy for me to lift." ? Also texas is the fucking worst.

JohnnyCache · September 2013

taskrabbit and elance are legit, I have gotten checks out of both of them in the past.

Penny Arcade

Quick Links

Finding work online

Posts