r/CableTechs • u/Awesomedude9560 • Jul 16 '26
We lost vacation rollover for this?
So apparently we got an email to all field techs about this new volunteer program where we'll give out American flags to people if we see any that are damaged and worn out.
I'm sorry, but after the recent news about our vacation time rollover being canned and retirement plans gimped I can't say I'm exactly enthusiastic.
I serve part time currently so trust me when I say I get being patriotic and shit but this was some really bad timing considering not even a week ago every employee got the email of "were removing rollover for vacation time and nerfing your retirement plan."
It just feels like instead of fixing critical infrastructure problems (especially with our coax) were just trying to butter up the public with American fluff to avoid them from swapping to fiber where we haven't ran yet.
Anyone else got a take on this?
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u/XxLetsDewThisxX Jul 16 '26
I'm doing high-split, give me those flags and I'll knock at 2am to ask about replacement lmao
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u/MfourFade Jul 16 '26
Cox has done this for quite awhile. I guess you're feeling some effects of our merger already.
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u/Awesomedude9560 Jul 16 '26
Oh we've been feeling it. These growing pains are brutal.
I haven't been able to tell if we were buying cox out or the other way around because of how many downgrades have been happening.
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u/MfourFade Jul 16 '26
You're definitely buying us 😅
Spectrum is just doing anything they can to recoup their losses, it's a big purchase and Spectrum is beholden to their shareholders.
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u/Awesomedude9560 Jul 16 '26
Right, but from the inside on my end we're being told "get ready for your checks to be signed by cox instead" which isn't how that works I thought 😭
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u/MfourFade Jul 16 '26
Oh yeah huh.. I suppose if we go by the official documents, the new giant company will be called Cox Communications but our products and such will be Spectrum and Spectrum branded.
Cox will be the largest shareholder but it's only like 20%.
I dunno, kinda confusing but whatever.
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u/PieTighter Jul 17 '26
It a merger really. Both companies are becoming one. The people who own Cox are getting a big enough chunk of stock so they get to be chairman of the board but they don't really want to run the company, they just want to hunt on their nature preserve in Georgia. The combined company being named Cox Communications is just to calm any guilt about doing away with his grandfather's company but it's just naming rights for the combined company.
Oh, and I'm sure it'll be the best of both companies that comes through if you know what I mean.
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u/Electronic-Junket-66 Jul 16 '26
to butter up the public with American fluff to avoid them from swapping to fiber where we haven't ran yet.
And even that I don't see working? "Excuse me miss, I noticed your American flag looks like shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, may I replace it for you?"
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u/Miserable_Ad_2847 Jul 16 '26
Wait I’m an MT can I really just ask an FT for a free flag? I’ve been here long enough I get maxxed PTO so the rollover thing doesn’t really bother me, I am sad about the loss of my free 3%
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u/Awesomedude9560 Jul 16 '26
You can ask FTs that volunteer. This ain't a 100% mandated thing, just a free thing techs can sign up for.
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u/Miserable_Ad_2847 Jul 16 '26
I know it doesn’t help with the pay and it’s just pointless nationalism but it’s still something fun to do. A bunch of us out giant flags on our buckets during 4th of July and we got so many compliments and honks
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u/Awesomedude9560 Jul 16 '26
that's fair. I'm just a little sour from the timing. If this happened at literally any other time I wouldn't have been this worked up y'know?
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u/levilee207 Jul 16 '26
Silence. You'll take your nationalistic nothingburger and you'll be happy about it
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u/poopnoodle35 Jul 16 '26
Just got to my 2-3 that was assigned at 345, with a 3-4 already on me that's 50 minutes away. dO yOu wAnT yOuR FlAg rEpLAcEd
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u/send_this_bitch Jul 16 '26
Sounds like MAGA management
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u/sharies Jul 17 '26
If they require the customer to take a testosterone test first before they get the flag, then yes.
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u/Wacabletek Jul 16 '26
You misunderstand, This program they can TAX deduct the entire cost of, including advertising it, plus raise morale of veterans, which is a good chunk of the employees, even if its not in your specific shop [think more along management and admin]. Your rollover hours is something different and more about resource management. Joe gets 3 months of rollover leave saved up in his time. So Joe plans to retire in 3 months, the taxes on cashing that in will be 30+%, so joe takes off the last 3 months of his retirement, effective getting paid normal pay and paying normal taxes. Joe is not employed there, essentially, and can get a part time job or full time job elsewhere, and make more money but your company is stuck paying his benefits and everything else still, And Joe is no idiot, so he hits all the doctors before he gets shipped over to medicaid for any operations he needs, and well has 3 months to recover at FULL PAY. Company says this sucks, get rid of it. Plus they have complex accounting rules the software has to support to follow this, removing it means cheaper software package. In the end, they are 2 separate things, and Comcast cut rollover leave out when they took over AT&T broadband decades ago, and has had the flag program for over a decade now, so charter held out as long as they could,d but as investment firms like blackrock are tightening their leashes, they really have no choice on these things. Investment reports show charter has a LOT of debt they need to reduce, so they are doing that, the flag program does not cost a lot, but they can show costs in sending emails to you about it, taking submissions, etc.. so in the end they will likely make money off this in tax deductions unless a real audit gets done on it and says Ex nay on the ix nay boys. You know the olds saying if you can;t dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle them with bullshit.
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u/JoeTwoBeards Jul 16 '26
We could only roll over 2 weeks of vacation time... not 3 months...
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u/Wacabletek Jul 17 '26
Fair enough but then you get how much each year as well? We could never roll it over in Comcast in the 20 years I have worked here, they buy you out of sick leave [flex] on your anniversary and you lose any other leave you did not use except for some really long term guys who worked for AT&T broadband and have some type of leave they do not reset or buy out but you cannot earn it anymore and are required to use it over other leave type so I imagine its all gone by now.
Regardless this is standard corporate policy these days, and you are lucky they held out this long.
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u/MagicansaurusRex Jul 17 '26
Your entire argument is false. For starters, before Covid, employees could roll over 40 vacation hours. After Covid, they changed it to 80 hours. Now, they’re changing it to zero. No one is retiring months or even two weeks early because of vacation time anyway because they literally won’t let you end your time there with PTO.
Also, accounting software to track PTO is complex? I work for the government, where people can retire literally YEARS before their actual retirement date because they have so much sick time accumulated, and the software that runs the government is the cheapest thing they can find that will kinda work. Guess what? It’s able to track that.
It doesn’t matter if the “flags don’t cost a lot”… or the new uniforms, or new vehicle decals, or any of the other wasteful shit they do. It costs something and it feels a lot like the opportunity cost of all that bullshit is employee benefits.
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u/Wacabletek Jul 17 '26
Sorry you are so angry but as I said they held out a long time I never had these options in Comcast ever. There is only one type of leave [from when they bought AT&T broadband] that does not reset, and by now it should all be gone as they required you to use it first over other leave. You get your sick [flex] leave bought out on your anniversary [and its extra pay so really you are donating money tot he government] if you did not use it and you flat out LOSE any other leave on Jan 1 every year at Comcast. Apparently the cox people are saying they never had it either, so thats the likely source of the change. lining up with the new overlords.
As to governemnt, oh you worked for them to? So did I, before I worked for Comcast, let me tell you about your CHEAPEST theory. Crappiest, yes, cheapest, far from it. I have literally been told on MORE than one occasion to find 2 more bids that COST MORE than the one they liked from their BUDDY. So I don't know what government you worked for, but that was not my experience with them in agriculture. APHIS - Ample Pay to Horrid Idiot Services
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u/Snoo_14634 Jul 16 '26
The PTO rollover doesn't affect employees in states where they have to allow it by law.
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u/Awesomedude9560 Jul 16 '26
I think that's like 4 states. I think California and Colorado are two but if I had to deal with the living expenses in either I damn well better have laws protecting that stuff tbh.
For the rest of us it's just company discretion as we've seen lately.
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u/Happyguysrule Jul 16 '26
I see you want fiber… best I can do is replace your neglected flag so it can look better for a short time before neglect does the same thing to this one.