FC is really cheap for my return flight right now. I do machinery repairs and sometimes I have to extend my trips last second if parts get delayed or something. I'd love for fly FC to get back home but I don't want to throw the miles away if I have to switch the flight.
I repair analytical lab instruments and I cover a big region. Lots of driving and flying. There's some days where I wake up thinking I'll just be at home catching up on paperwork and emails, but then I'm on a plane 4 hours later because there's an emergency a few states away and im the only person available to take care of it.
I feel like I'm always "on" and with my old job as a lab tech, I used to be so productive and busy on my weekends. But now, I can't predict my schedule at all during the week and I just want to relax and do nothing on the weekends. I can typically get all my errands and chores done during the workweek so I don't ever have much that I need to do on weekends.
I think this is healthy since having a couple days to decompress is really helpful for prepping for the next week, but I'm curious what other people with jobs like this do.
My out of pocket cost on gas is over double what it was before the war, and clearly the administration isn't going to enact emergency per diem increases like they have in the past. My company offers additional car reimbursement for California staff, but the rest of us get the IRS mileage rate. I'm in the midwest and I've been making tons of trips to Iowa and Omaha lately.
I'd expect that my company will only change the mileage rate if the IRS mandates it, but have any companies started paying a higher rate on their own?
I'm having a hard time knowing where my actual score is. I've been using credit karma which I know isnt the best, but it's been sitting at around a 690 for a while. Not surprising since I haven't been making new accounts and I don't have a credit card yet.
My student loan accounts are all under 2 years old and im about to pay off my car loan, which I've had for 3 years. I travel a lot for work now so I'm trying to apply for my first credit card with Delta. When I pulled my Fico 8 from Experian, it's saying my score is 770 and Credit Karma says 690 with Vantage 3. I'm confused because when I bought my car a couple years ago, the credit report from the dealership said my score is 680 which I'd assume is Fico 8.
The only thing thats changed about my credit profile since my student loan accounts got created, is my average account age. Car payments were all made on time but didnt seem to impact my score. I'd expect a small credit increase over time because of my account age and on time payments, so when credit karma shows 680 to 690 over the last couple years, it makes sense. But now the Fico 8 is so much higher. I wouldn't expect it to go up by nearly 100 points just from account age. Getting to a 770 without a credit card doesn't seem possible.
I was just going to apply for the lowest card with Delta since it's free and I expected my score to be in the high 600s, but if Delta is also going to see the 770 in my credit report, I may as well just apply for one of their better cards.
I work on detection analyzers in clinical and research settings. I've been on my own for about 6 months now and sometimes I feel like I can't fully relax until I get back home. I'm in hotels maybe twice a week so it's not too much travel. Most of my customers are really nice and easy to work with, especially hospitals and CDMO's.
On the other hand, my customers in defense and pharma freak me out. They watch me like a hawk during maintenance and repairs, ask me really detailed technical questions on everything I'm doing even if its not related to the instrument, and they blame me for the instrument not working well for them even if its clearly user error. On top of the general stress from this job, these quality managers add so much fuel to the fire.
Is this just how this job is with these industries? Does it get easier over time?