Employment or Baseball

Crazy (especially in a time where jobs aren't easy to come by). But he was a car salesman so my guess is if he can show a history of solid sales then he'll be ok. Besides, I'm sure some SC fan owns a car dealership that could put him to work. The Gamecocks have to have a way to get their QB into some hot rides, right? Or was that another institution?

An interesting topic...

My off the cuff, flippant answer is reckless but I think not so fast. Maybe this guy has managed his finances impeccably his whole life and made the decision that even if he didn't find another job that his family would be well-cared for.

It is a free country. I am sure there is a liberal or two out there who think there ought to be a law against these type of decisions but it should be left up to the individual. Maybe he was without vacation or personal time but perhaps the dealership should have worked something out with him.

Without more facts about his personal circumstances, we really don't know if this was a reckless decision. It might turn out to be the best decision he ever made.

Gotta admire the guy. Money is not everything.

Wasn't there a story like this last year? Boss wouldn't give the guy time off, guy either got fired or quit. Flood of job offers came quickly.

There are a lot of true baseball fans and great dads who would appreciate this gesture and respond with a job for this man.

If I had a reasonable thought that a job offer would be forthcoming, I would quit my job in a heartbeat for this.

My oldest son leaves for college in two weeks. The first 18 years have gone by so fast, I shudder to think how fast the next four (hopefully three!) years will fly by.

Or from another point of view:

I coached an 8 year old little boy who's father would drop him off at the park for our game. The father would then drive to another town to play in his own softball game.

At least an hour after our game was over, the poor little boy was still waiting for his father to come back and pick him up.

Therefore, it makes even more sense to me to quit my job to see my son play in the CWS.

All I know is I've been to the CWS to watch my son play and it was one of the greatest weeks of my life. It cost us a lot of money (2 hotel rooms for over a week, driving and meal expenses, flying our younger son out to AZ midway through the week for a tournament...not to mention the piles of souvenirs). It included celebrating my wife's and my 25th wedding anniversary watching baseball...watching our son get a "W" over Miami on that very day. My wife did some work from the hotel, I did not.

For both of us, it was worth every penny of it.

I doubt I would quit my job to get there, but I understand the emotion of this dad and I simply could not criticize him for it.

If I get the chance again with my next son, I will do everything within my abilities to get there again. Luckily I have a very understanding boss and employer.

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I'm with dad on this one. Family...that's what it is all about. It is a tough economy out there, but this dad, having missed last year's championship, was bound and determined not to miss this one.

He'll enjoy the Series and land himself a good job. Customers will want to come to the dealership to buy their car from him.

That's my opinion. Enjoy watching your son in Omaha Mr. Roth. Have a runza!



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quote:

Originally posted by ClevelandDad:
I am sure there is a liberal or two out there who think there ought to be a law against these type of decisions but it should be left up to the individual.

hmmmm ??? i would think that the liberals would want some kind of athletic leave act passed and have these expenses all covered as opposed to being against it....

i'm with Woody on this one.....dude will sell a ton of cars for the dealership that hires him.....especially if SC can repeat!

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Shhh! Shhh! Shhh! Don't give 'em any ideas mood!




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When my son was younger we were aware of 2 dads that quit jobs in order to follow their kids around for summer Rec. Ball / All-Star tournaments. The kids were not even teenagers yet. With that said - makes the same sacrifice to see son play in CWS seem less "out-there". Lets face it - what most of us do for our sons looks crazy to the outside world anyway...

quote:

Originally posted by biggerpapi:
Or from another point of view:

I coached an 8 year old little boy who's father would drop him off at the park for our game. The father would then drive to another town to play in his own softball game.

At least an hour after our game was over, the poor little boy was still waiting for his father to come back and pick him up.

Therefore, it makes even more sense to me to quit my job to see my son play in the CWS.

We've seen those same poor kids, too, and my husband and I would probably be much more like the dad quitting his job to watch our son in the CWS.

We've also seen the single mom who works flex hours in order to get her son to summer ball (the high school's non-competitive version) games but he still doesn't arrive until sometime during the first inning. Consequently, coach always just put him at the bottom of the lineup so he could still play once he arrived. Other Parents offered to get the player to the games, but mom didn't want to impose on anyone so she would only take us up on it for the away games.

The CWS is not long enough for one to have to quit their job, personally I think it was someone looking to promote a story.

In 2006, the night Clemson advanced to Omaha, we were in South Carolina, husband called his boss and I called mine, everyone said have a blast, and understood that this was a once on a lifetime opportunity. We never even returned home to get what we might have needed for a few weeks.

JMO.

Never worship money!

He sells cars. He can get a job at another dealership.

Kind of a shame, you know, maybe the whole thing may have gotten blown out of proportion. Maybe the kid shouldn't have psoted his families business on twitter.

The employer has taken a hit, if Mr. Roth felt the need to quit, then just do it.

JMO.

http://www.stevewhitevw.com/official-response.htm

Six years ago the coach of the Hawaii LL all-star team at the LLWS either quit or was fired for missing too much work.

I don't understand why these can't be leave of absence without pay in most circumstances.

What a "liberal" idea.

quote:

Originally posted by BlueDog:
Never worship money!

Colby Rasmus' dad did it when they went to the LL world series. He was a football coach and the school made him make a choice between coaching the team in the LL world series and his job. He chose the LLWS. He got a better coaching job when he got home with better benefits. I'm sure the same will happen here.

quote:

Originally posted by redbird5:
He sells cars. He can get a job at another dealership.

True dat! I grew up in the car business. I could go get five jobs selling cars, before lunch.

Without more infornmation on the kind of absence policy his employer has, or whether the family was already sitting on a nestegg, there's too much left out information that needs to be publicized before an opinion can be formed.

This guy for all we know may have been planning to leave his job anyway but with the CWS, he can become some sort of fabricated feel-good story with the dad getting his name in the paper.

Besides, many dads or most would do whatever they can to get to a spoecial event for their kid so this isn't really anything out of the ordinary.

To me, this is a non-story unless more details can be posted.

quote:

Was this reckless or admirable in your eyes?

I think you don't have access to enough personal info to go after this question.

I'm sure you must be asking whether it would be irresponsible in general for people to quit their jobs to go see their sons play in the CWS.

...and I'm betting you will get a whole bunch of "it depends on your situation" type of answers.

quote:

Originally posted by wraggArm:
...and I'm betting you will get a whole bunch of "it depends on your situation" type of answers.

I thought this was about 'your situation'. In my situation, the answer is "no".

If the choice were between my job and my AB in the mlb world series, or my TD pass in the super bowl, I would really have to think about it.

You people have jobs?

quote:

Originally posted by ClevelandDad:
I am sure there is a liberal or two out there who think there ought to be a law against these type of decisions but it should be left up to the individual.

Well, this liberal doesn't think there should be a law against a parent making such a choice. In fact, I made a similar choice when after twenty years as a minister I left my church without a clear job waiting for me. One of the main reasons I did so was I was tired of missing significant events in my kids' lives, including my son's baseball games.

Not one to mince words or hedge about what side of the fence I'm on, my opinion is that it was absolutely the right thing. If he were a NASA astronaut, an engineer or a physician I wouldn't have a different opinion. I don't need to know more.

My father celebrated work in a mill and when I was asking what I should do in life he told me, "Find something you love, then figure out how to make a living at it. Don't do it the other way around."

It's true. 30 years ago I thought in those terms then spent the next 25 years doing something I often hated, for what it did to me and for what others had to go through. Now, after putting money first for so long, I returned to doing what I love and figuring out how to make a living. Those opportunities to be with my family, sharing their ordinary extraordinary events in their lives are gone. I made many of them but missed out on a few. I regret the few.

Work, no matter what you do can be a ministry or service. We have needs and then we have luxuries. When you have children there is a responsibility to enrich their lives, prepare them and mentor them. It is not possible to do when you are away, physically and mentally. Whatever our calling or our trade or vocation, we can make time to be with our children in the ordinary extraordinary moments.

I'm sure this kid will never forget it.

Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) wrote a song about this called "This Is Us" accompanied by Emmy Lou Harris. It catches the flavor. I have said too much as is often the case, my apologies.

This Is Us

PA Dino as for your post......

This is totally an individual choice that each family has to make. Maybe this guy did it for publicity to help get a new job or maybe not. It's not for me to judge and I don't think we should judge his former place of employment. Sometimes had decisions have to be made and you just make them the best you can with what you can live with.

Like many other parents on this site, I assume, just about all the vacation time I've taken the last 6 years have been for my son's baseball trips. Travel ball and this past season college ball. When I ran over my time, I would offer to take time off without pay and usually my company would pay me anyway.

After reading the article from the the dealership it sounds like this parent had options he could have worked out with his employer. While I agree with his persistence to see his son play, I think this case is not as cut and dry as it appears....'if you won't give me the time off I'm quitting'. IMO the guy either already had another job to go to, or new he could get one pretty easily.

quote:

IMO the guy either already had another job to go to, or (k)new he could get one pretty easily.

...or both...Ding! Ding! Ding!

It's pretty much a story about a car salesman changing jobs.

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"Whoa dare Dad..dis has nuttin' ta do wit me changin' jobs for Chris-mass sakes. Who dja' think I am, eh?"




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"Slow down there Mr. Lundergard. I just want to know if you have seen Shep Proudfoot."

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"Yah, I seen him. Changin' da oil in my 88!"






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Being a transplant to Minnie-Soda, when people complain that they don't sound like Fargo, I ask them to pronounce vowels.

Yes, that movie was accurate.

As long as he isn't trying to draw unemployment for a year afterward I am ok with it.

To be honest, I suspect more here than meets the eye. If he was an outstanding employee and a great salesman I suspect the dealership probably would have let him off to see his son play. If he was marginal then I suspect he was given an ultimatum, go and you will be fired.

I have been thinking about this since it came up.

An employer has the obligation to do what is best for all employees, not just one. One missed employee for 10 days means that others need to pick up the slack, sounds like his co workers may have done that in the past. To be perfectly honest, I am not going to give up my "planned" summer vacation because someone has to go watch their son play baseball, even if I understand how important that may be. If he thought it a possibility, he should have put time aside during this period. We actually had the discussion with both of our employers a few weeks before, so they were prepared. We also were aware that some of it might be on our own time.

From what I gather, vacation time was already used by the employee, there have been all sorts of things said about the employer (he wouldn't let him go because he was a UNC alumni, etc). Perhaps the employer just said what he would have to any employee, no you can't take off. The decision then fell on the employee to quit, that doesn't necessarily mean the employer was the bad guy.



JMO.

quote:

Originally posted by TPM:
We actually had the discussion with both of our employers a few weeks before, so they were prepared.

What if they said no?

quote:

Originally posted by AntzDad:

quote:

Originally posted by TPM:
We actually had the discussion with both of our employers a few weeks before, so they were prepared.

What if they said no?

At first I thought how unfair that he had to quit, then I took baseball emotion out of it.

I worked in a family business and my husband has been working for the same guys forever, they would have never said no, but the point was that we let them know there would be a possibility, in my case my co worker (only two of us in the office) planned her vacation after I came back.

FYI, this sometimes comes up and hits you (your son and team going to Omaha) very quickly, the following year knowing there could be a possibility, we planned in advance. That is what is a bit confusing, if the dad had to miss last year, wouldn't it make sense to plan ahead? Could be he missed one weekend for conference, regional, super regional, that's a lot of time, we didn't do all of that, knowing that we could end up in Omaha.

But if the situation was different, in all honestly, we would have watched on TV (as we have done many other times). We would have survived or flown in if for championship. That unfortunetly is VERY expensive. Not all parents on our team were prepared to stay the entire 10-12 days, we could. I am pretty sure you will find parents from all teams who aren't there the entire time, I know good friends of mine had to come home and watch son on TV (UF in 2005).

The bottom line is that we do not know the entire circumstances, and lessons learned is that when you tweet, the whole world knows your business. I don't think that the dad was looking for publicity (as originally thought) and for those that are saying (not necessarily here) that Gamecock Nation will help him get a job, they can't do that (if son is still playing in the program).

My opinion, is that maybe that this was not an issue between employer and employee, but rather father and son, the dad missed out last year and promised his son he would be there this year. In order to do that, he obvioulsy had to quit his job.

This may be playing devil's advocate but how about this perspective.

I would say that a majority of employers today are looking at their employee's loyalty, commitment, dedication, et al. I also believe that most Owner's and Manager's are more than willing to bend over backwards to accomodate family time and/or special events. Because Mr. Roth was at a point where he obviously had no more available time to take off with pay, given the predicament, he chose to quit so he could go to Omaha. Don't take any of this wrong. I'm not saying his decision to go watch his son was wrong. Heck, I'd probably have done the same if I had no other options.

But after this is all said and done and he begins to search for employment, and he is sitting in front of a potential employer do they not question his commitment and loyalty to his work place, the goals of the company? Certainly they don't want to employ someone who will up and leave like that..??

I'm a realist to know that probably someone from Gamecock nation will take care of him when the WS is over. Maybe he has another job offer or dream up his sleeve. But if neither of these are true, then he could be in for a battle that over hundred's of thousands of unemployed face everyday.

So Mr. Roth, tell us why you left your last place of employment?

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"So Mr. Roth, tell us why you left your last place of employment?"

No decaf in the employee lounge?




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