# At what point do you not go to work?



## RoadRash (Sep 29, 2010)

I searched and did not see a thread shot me if I missed it
So there is a financial collapse I have enough gas to get too n from work 3 days not touching backup as that would get me to BOV or I camp out at work for 3 days?
Flu or pandemic that ones touchy as I do not wanna bring home and I could always call in sick as I do not take sick days.
Natural disaster will depend on roads being open ???:flower:
Power grid failure we have back up generator keep us going 48 hours?
Just want to know what others toughts are oh BTW I am management and we are expected to be on call 7/24


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

Mettc dependent. If I had a job that would help keep society goin Id probably go till I couldnt. If not then Id probably be more relaxed about not showin up.


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## valannb22 (Jan 6, 2012)

I probably wouldn't go in if any of those things happen. My job is pretty good about telling us to stay home if something is wrong anyway. We've been sent home for snow/ice, severe tornado threats, etc. (All with pay, which is nice) 

Don't see the point in going in if there is financial collapse since I won't be getting paid anyway.


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## emilnon (May 8, 2012)

I'm lucky enough to stay home. My husband is a software developer with good pay. Plus, he works 100% out of the house (apart from twice a year visit to headquarters). His last job was almost an hour away, without traffic. This is WAY better


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

Gas shortage, stay home. That will mean everything is about to fling anyway! I got more thoughts I'll post later. Taking a break at Sam's right now haha!


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## musketjim (Dec 7, 2011)

Excellent thread, Schools being open would be an indicator for me as a school district employee. As long as I felt my family was safe. I've often felt that first reponders, police, fire, emt's etc. should have areas provided for their families so they can feel comfortable about going to work in a SHTF scenario.


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## Claymore5150 (Nov 17, 2011)

Depends on your job/career, if you do anything that is essential for your local/regional community or not.

If you're a hard working, rarely call in sick, rarely take all of your vacation workOholic like me.....you've got time saved up that you CAN take off for "personal family emergency", so utilize it.

You didn't work nose to the grindstone that hard for so long to NOT take advantage of it when you actually have to.

If you're a slacker and non-hacker and you try it this way, chances are that if it's just a bubble and NOT TEOTWAWKI, then you'll be looking for another job because it was probably your last straw.


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## ComputerGuy (Dec 10, 2010)

I know I will be called in working for the Federal government and all


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

I'm starting to think we preppers should plan bug out or get home bags for more than three days. All that I have to go by is our recent tornado event. 

Things got rough in about three days because power wasn't restored. Police were manned at most gas stations in the big city and local stations that had generators, well, the family members of the owners were willing to stand around armed. 

I got out one time to go get my MIL and life was different. Folks were panicking. This was two days after. News media reported no power for a week and people went crazy. Every gas station that was open had miles of lines and like I said LEO everywhere. 

I had enough preps of course and we didn't need any gas as my vehicle stays filled, so even an hour drive to pick up MIL wasn't a problem. 
Now I wish that I had made my husband a bug out bag so that he wouldn't have to have came home at all but he did drive back and forth and did have to stop in those lines with people acting crazy. Most places closed down for a week. (our place of business and it was hit bad, husband had to stay for security purposes as people were coming through trying to loot)

Unless your job is saving lives... I say stay home. Conserve your fuel and ride it out. Work is not that important and you've hopefully prepped enough to have enough food and shelter for a week or more. 

Total financial collapse....prepare for what we've been prepping for and forget work because our money won't be worth much anyway.


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## RoadRash (Sep 29, 2010)

I work for a good American company here in Canada they are good I still have 3 days vacation and 3 OT days in 18 months not 1 sick day, my aunt and uncle passed away recently only took the afternoon off.
Previous job 13 years when the went bankrupt I got screwed out of 6 weeks vacation and 10 OT days owed not to mention we only got 2% of our severance package.... Thats life at least i am working


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## valannb22 (Jan 6, 2012)

I am sooooo glad that my job is generous with the PTO.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

As an LEO I have one of those callings where the more the S is hitting the fan, the more important it is for me to be at work. Which also means it is even more important for me to have a spouse who can handle things when I am away, not to mention solid home security and additional lines of defense. At the same time you can always tell when you are a fighting a losing or pointless battle. The instant that I perceive that order is lost and/or rule of law has been abandoned, I will be declaring every man for himself and going home. We even have an action code for "all units abandoned operations", but to my knowledge it has never been used.


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## FatTire (Mar 20, 2012)

well im self employed these days, hopefully i can stay that way. hustling up enough small jobs to get by for now. having said that my top priority is always going to be my kids. if something happens when they are here, however small, im staying home or going home. if we spiral into a WROL situation, im currently making plans and preps to go get them.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*When*



Sentry18 said:


> As an LEO I have one of those callings where the more the S is hitting the fan, the more important it is for me to be at work. Which also means it is even more important for me to have a spouse who can handle things when I am away, not to mention solid home security and additional lines of defense. At the same time you can always tell when you are a fighting a losing or pointless battle. The instant that I perceive that order is lost and/or rule of law has been abandoned, I will be declaring every man for himself and going home. We even have an action code for "all units abandoned operations", but to my knowledge it has never been used.


When I was a Deputy Sheriff in a small KY county, we had one time when we all went 10-7.

We kept calling in to dispatch and getting no answer. I went to our dispatch location and found the dispatcher asleep on the floor. I told all units to go 10-7 for the remainder of the shift and we went home.

I never woke her up.
The state police complained to the county the next day about having to run all the county's 911 calls and needless to say the dispatcher was replaced. She was the daughter of a county magistrate and somthing dramatic was necisary to get some action.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

Wouldn't be the first dispatch that fell asleep on duty. 

We have multiple "communications specialists" so they probably take turns sleeping.


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## GrinnanBarrett (Aug 31, 2012)

As I move more and more away from the city and more and more away from travel at work the question becomes less important to me. My office is now in my home. I spend more time on phone and computer than on road. Just got call from my wife and she said the bank did not open yet. it is 9AM and no one is at the windows for drive through. If this were all the banks in the area i would say it was time to lock it down. Looks like it is just the one bank and may be a power failure. GB


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## pixieduster (Mar 28, 2012)

I would be called in. Keep about four days worth of food, clothes and toiletries in the trunk. If I don't go in if called during a major event(hurricane etc), I get fired. So I would have to be sure its an event I'm willing to lose my job over.


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## pixieduster (Mar 28, 2012)

Sentry18 said:


> As an LEO I have one of those callings where the more the S is hitting the fan, the more important it is for me to be at work. Which also means it is even more important for me to have a spouse who can handle things when I am away, not to mention solid home security and additional lines of defense. At the same time you can always tell when you are a fighting a losing or pointless battle. The instant that I perceive that order is lost and/or rule of law has been abandoned, I will be declaring every man for himself and going home. We even have an action code for "all units abandoned operations", but to my knowledge it has never been used.


Same here. Never been used. Even during Katrina. The agency was very generous in that if both Mom and Dad were LEO for the agency then one could leave to get the kids out. I was one of those. Drove the kids to Dallas to meet up with family the drove back to work right after. I couldn't see staying away from my comrades and not fighting the good fight with them.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*This girl*



Sentry18 said:


> Wouldn't be the first dispatch that fell asleep on duty.
> 
> We have multiple "communications specialists" so they probably take turns sleeping.


This girl had a lot of problems besides sleeping.

She didn't keep her log and forgot to do status checks on officers who were 10-97 on 911 calls.

Complaints from officers fell on deff ears.

When every county officer went home that took care of the situation.

The idea that I might have a signal seven situation and get no responce from dispatch was scary.

We had no cell phones in those days.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

I have had dispatchers like that too and it sucks. 

I had one back in the day (before working for the state) that actually ran outside of the building because he thought he heard a gunshot outside and wanted to investigate. He was a level 7 mall ninja before mall ninja's even existed. I chewed him out but you could tell it didn't take, so we set him up a couple weeks later. I had an off duty Deputy peel out of the parking lot so the tires really squealed. He got up and ran outside as expected so we locked the building from the inside, ran out another door, locked it and took off. We had all phone calls forwarded to the city PD dispatch (they were in on it) in case something happened. This predated cell phone so he had nowhere to go and no one to call in. He did call out on his handheld but no one answered him. He ended up breaking a window to get back in and was fired a few weeks later for something unrelated. 

I also had a female dispatcher once (while on day shift) that failed to answer when I called out on a traffic stop. I ended up calling the city PD dispatch and used them instead. When it was over and went back to the department ready to tear her a new ass. I arrived to find a card table set up in the dispatch center and her entire family (husband and kids) sitting down to a nice Sunday afternoon meal with some light music playing in the background and the police radio turned down. I just walked past her, picked up the phone, called the lead dispatcher and told her to come in and take over because the person working was too incompetent to function. She ended up quitting the same day.

When I climbed the ladder into my current position, one of the first things I did was fight to get all of the Comm Specs a 25% pay raise + a $0.75/hr night and weekend differential. It made all the difference in the quality of people we were (and are) able to hire.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

You don't go to work if there's no electricity in your whole area. Or if there's a major pandemic. Those are the easy ones.

What gets complicated though is what you do if there's rioting in every major city in the country. Let's say Obama just lost the election and all charges against George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case have been dropped. It could be an issue of personal safety. And those events could lead to martial law. Being on the verge of martial law would mean different plans for different people.


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## jsriley5 (Sep 22, 2012)

Not really an issue for me now but prior to being disabled I often thought about this I was a Corrections Officer at a state Prison. If I was at work when somthing went down I"d be locked in like the Inmates I"d have to literally escape to leave. I had a plan for that. Since I am Disabled but my SO is still working there we have a plan to get here out. As for when to not go in that is still a question as mentioned earleir I did always (up till near the end) have plenty of time I could take as does SO. So if it looked iffy we could get away with here staying home. It is hard to say exactly what means stay home but I think in reality it will be fairly obvious at least to those of us with our eyes open. 
This kinda leads to another worry issue though that I"ll take to another thread to see if anyone else has considered it especially those that alwaysw lean towrads faith in fellow man.


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## SlobberToofTigger (Dec 27, 2011)

I work from home now so my going to work includes grabbing a bite to eat and putting on my underwear in case my wife has oped the curtains. Grin. Before this I flew out Monday and flew back Friday every week of the year. Essentially there was a 5 in 7 chance that if something went down I would already not be home or anywhere near home. Basically I carried three days worth of calories and the keys to my BOL and had a plan with my wife that we would both try and meet up there. If the the planes were still flying I would have gone to work.


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

_"At what point do you not go to work? "_

I live 3 miles from work. I'm a manager with a local rural telephone company. I feel it is my duty to maintain telephone, Internet and CATV service for the safety of our customers.

BUT! If I had to choose between reporting to work or protecting my family, the customers would lose out.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

My job is such that if there is no electricity, there is nothing that I can do for work. I have all my computer systems UPS'd to the Nth degree, but, the UPS systems will only give me about 3hrs of work-time before those batteries are dead. I do not have UPS on my work machines that take significant amounts of electricity to run (steel-cutting lasers and plasmas), so, it doesn't matter what I do, if those machines cannot do their job, there is no reason for me to do mine.


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## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Home based here except 1 to 2 days a week... Wife is who I worry about, with a 35 mile 1.5 hr commute...


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## Wanderer0101 (Nov 8, 2011)

My company has a pretty good emergency response set up. You get e-mails and text messages telling you not to report or when to report if there's some problem going on. 
There's also a web site with the same information. The facility I work in and most of the others have back-up generators and supplies for those that must be on location or get trapped on location. I can really do most of what I do from home as long as there is power and an internet connection. I can even do pretty well with just a smart phone.

They also have very detailed plans for pandemic situations and that kind of thing. I have requested copies but they are closely held.


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## forluvofsmoke (Jan 27, 2012)

Since everyone's situation which could dictate when to show up for work or not, or, run home from work, as these will vary for everyone depending on job type and locale, here's what I could find myself faced with, as an example:

My job entails loading flammable liquid product onto a truck in the field via truck equipment. Unloading can be accomplished the same way, but if the holding tanks at the station are full because the electricity is down preventing shipment of the product, then I'm faced with a situation, because I cannot unload my truck. Call the dispatch office to let them know the station is down and to divert additional loads elsewhere, then call the field supervisor for permission to off-load at a station farther away (more time and mileage, if I have log hours available to do so). If the field supervisor cannot be reached, call the district manager, and as a last resort, call dispatch for info on the perspective alternate station to unload at. If I cannot contact any of those parties via cell phone, I have an on-board computer with cellar/sat-based comms to send out an SOS (panic button), or I send a text/email with specific info/request which is directed at the corporate control center. An SOS notifies three parties (division manager, distric manager and safety coordinator) of a problem with the my unit # and GPS coordinates. Their first action upon notification of an SOS is to attempt to caontact me via cell phone. If I get no response from that point, I'm on my own...it's up to me to decide what to do and where to go from there. Being it's hazardous material (flammable), you do not want to leave a truck with a load on it if at all possible...anything could happen.

Back in 2005 after a tornado killed the local grid power for almost 3 days, I couldn't work. Luckily for me when it hit, my truck was empty...solution was simple...get to the terminal, park and walk away so I could handle home and family issues. If I get caught in a SHTF scenario while I'm loaded and cannot contact someone in the chain of command? Well, that's a whole nuther story...my decisions will be based first on the safety of myself and my family, second on the security of my truck and it's payload. If I cannot contact anyone, then I have to assume that all hell has already broke loose...that's time for me to fly. If I get caught in the middle of nowhere when the SHTF, continue by vehicle, if possible, until it's no longer possible, or until I'm back to where I park every night. If the truck won't get me there, my feet HAVE to.

For that purpose, I carry a well-stocked BHB with 5-7 days food (I may be up to 100 miles or more from home in a worst-case scenario), 2-3 days water (can last 2 in summer, 3+ in winter) at the ready, and means to procure and sanitize water, and procure and cook additional food, as well as portable compact shelter and sleeping gear.

PTO from work for me is quite good, having 12 years of service, with 15 days vacation per year, which I rarely use as intended and even then only taking 4-5 days, but instead have to "burn" so I don't loose it (10 days max carry-over each year). I am maxed-out on sick-pay with only 2 days to date, with something in the neighborhood of 107 hours, as well as 6 or 7 hundred hours of short-term disability/injury...can't remember all of it now. I have LOTS of cushion for pay, but I don't blow-off being at work when I'm scheduled to work. If I don't roll, it's usually because of weather. My work takes me off-road...lots of dirt, steep terrain, etc, and if I know the roads I'm going on are wet and impassible with a reasonable degree of safety, I won't fight it. But, I will call dispatch for alternate loads...if there aren't any loads which are on solid or dry roads, I'll stay home. Keeping regular tabs on the weather and road conditions for me is just prudent and second nature, and is in my best interests as well as the companies interests...they don't want to get a call for someone getting into a predicament with a loaded truck on slick roads and have to send two other units out to off-load and recover a truck in order to avoid a roll-over...or worse, get a call that there has in fact been a roll-over because the driver pushed his luck or got careless, or was just plain stupid (most roll-overs result in termination, as with any preventable accident). We get paid a lot for what we do because we have to make wise and often-times split-second decisions, all day long, every day...that's the cold reality of it...make a bad decision and you may just end up in a wreck and/or have a product spill, both of which are extremely costly and potentially very dangerous. The supervisory and management staff have to trust the driver's judgement...if the driver says it's not safe to go someplace, then he doesn't go, as it should be...only he knows his own skill level with his equipment, and if he's not comfortable with the situation, then he needs to avoid similar situations in the future until he has gained more experience. I will admit, I don't take as many chances as I used to back in the day, and I'm not going back to the way I used to operate back then..."gitter done" just doesn't anymore for me. I go home every night, after making all those difficult decisions all day long, and that's what counts the most.

If I know, or am reasonably sure, that something serious is happening and I cannot contact anyone before I roll down the road in the morning (our dispatch is sent to the on-board truck computer overnight, as well as a faxed hard-copy the afternoon prior so we don't call-in before leaving), I'm not starting an engine that day, at least until I hear an "all clear" has been sounded and I'm confident that the situation is back to normal, whatever normal may be.

Financial collapse and the dollar is history, or in limbo? Call the boss and ask if he's at the office and/or working...his answer will likely dictate what yours should be. The company I work for is large and strong, and deals in large quantities of transactions which provide a much demanded resource for our country, so I'll just have to see what happens with my job/employer if TSHTF.

I got long-winded there, but that's just a look at the big picture of a non-typical work situation which can offer some insight as to when TSHTF, do I work, or not? Be as sure you possibly can on your decision...you don't want to be jobless and have to relocate to get a job over a "no-show" when it was just a speed-bump instead of a mountain.


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

forluvofsmoke;

I'm familiar with this issue. I have a class A license with HasMat endorsement.

You did not mention designated safe yards for your truck. The company that you work for should have safe yards to park the truck so you can be relieved by a responsible party. Even other truck companies safe yard could be used in an emergency. Maybe, what you are saying is that the people in the safe yard would not be there for SHTF, and they probably would not be.

Also, It sounds like you are prepared but are concerned about the outside world knowing something. if every day before you started your route you * faxed* to your wife/family with your days schedule at least then if communication fails they will have an idea of where you are.


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## valannb22 (Jan 6, 2012)

That sucks that you lose your PTO! We get to keep up to 336 hours and then it drops into long term leave that we can use if we have to be off for more than two weeks.


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## cengasser (Mar 12, 2012)

I would be expected to be at work. However, if I thought getting in/back was a risk to my life I wouldn't really give a bum.

My boss made a point 2 years ago if calling when it snowed to say the plant closing did not apply to me... Only hourly employees. Salaried people should be in. Super, I couldn't even get out of my drive. And in the end on FB, another salary person put out we were shut down.

I will not! Risk life and limb for my job!


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## Boomy (Mar 17, 2012)

cengasser said:


> I would be expected to be at work. However, if I thought getting in/back was a risk to my life I wouldn't really give a bum.
> 
> My boss made a point 2 years ago if calling when it snowed to say the plant closing did not apply to me... Only hourly employees. Salaried people should be in. Super, I couldn't even get out of my drive. And in the end on FB, another salary person put out we were shut down.
> 
> I will not! Risk life and limb for my job!


Sounds like my job. Hurricane coming. Hours before it hits, I'm the last one out. Next morning I'm the first one in.....


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

valannb22 said:


> That sucks that you lose your PTO! We get to keep up to 336 hours.


We can only roll 40 to the next year, I get 160 each year (4 weeks), and of that 120 must be used and the last 40 rolled into the next year.


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## LongRider (May 8, 2012)

When you start hating what you are doing to make a living. One day about about 17 years ago just after I turned forty as I was putting on my custom made designer yuppie scum bag suit and hand made silk tie I did not recognize who I saw in the mirror. I realized I had become part of the culture of more is never enough that I had always despised. Sold the Ad Agency at a decent profit and retired. 

Got back to my roots as an aspiring scooter tramp and all round bum ever since. Is part of why I started to focus on being self sustaining. So I can do as I please when I please and not have it bite me in the rear.


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

LongRider said:


> About 17 years ago just after I turned forty sold the business at a decent profit and retired. Have been an aspiring scooter tramp and all round bum ever since. Is part of why I started to focus on being self sustaining.


Yes yes and yes! My husband signed a contract with the folks we merged with or else he'd be home! He works so much and just as much now as he did when we were sole owners. I'm sick of it and he's ready for a change. He's talked about cows and farming again... I hope oh gosh I hope! I just want him home a little more and happy. He's only 44 and I'm not even 40 yet.


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

I worked for the same company for 30 years. I started when I was 17, right out of HS. Over that time I was promoted up several times. I loved going to work, the job I had fit my personality. The last 20 years with the company I was in engineering. I was continually going to school, learning new skills, had my own company charge card and no body ever asked me what I was using it for, they just trusted me because I was a fixture, some one everybody knew and trusted. 

Then it happened, the company started to hire new bosses directly from college, all of them 30 or younger. This was when I had 25 years with the company. The new bosses were shaking everything up (in my opinion, not a bad idea), except for when it effected our profits. It took a year to realize that new bosses were not as smart as they thought they were and the business stopped growing. The bosses went into panic mode and started to ride every one. Top management started to fire these younger bosses but they didn't fire enough of them. My last 3-4 years there was hell, I still loved my responsibilities but could not stand the politics. At age 47, I had my 30 years and retired. It turned out to be the third best decision of my life.


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## PreparedRifleman73 (Nov 2, 2012)

*My first post: what about us emergency responders?*

Hi everyone,

This is my first post. I've been reading the forums for a while.

Maybe my situation isn't that unique, but I work full time for an ambulance service and have a family. I often think that in the event of SHTF, I would need to work and not be with my family. What are your thoughts on that? At what point do you not go to work? Maybe bring family to the office with a BOB and make that our BOL. Kind of like "If you want me to come to work I'm bringing them" sort of thing.

What are your thoughts? I could really use some guidance.


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## zombieresponder (Aug 20, 2012)

If STHF, the only reason I'd go to work is to make a few suppressors and thread barrels.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Here is a four page thread you can read through and get lots of opinions.

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f2/what-point-do-you-not-go-work-14475/


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## LongRider (May 8, 2012)

DJgang said:


> He works so much and just as much now as he did when we were sole owners. I'm sick of it and he's ready for a change.


People do not realize the effort and time that goes into being a business owner. The stress alone overwhelms a lot of folks. There is only two reasons IMO to put yourself through that
A) because you love what you are doing or 
B) to make enough to retire early. I started with A and ended up at B. Sounds like your husband is about there



Tweto said:


> I worked for the same company for 30 years........... At age 47, I had my 30 years and retired. It turned out to be the third best decision of my life.


I think that this is something many in our culture of changing careers and companies over look. That steady progression and stability often have a better pay off than jumping ship for a bigger pay check. I'm lucky I started the business otherwise I'd still be a wage slave because I was a whore and worked for whom ever paid me the most at the moment. So never acquired any kind of seniority or real retirement package anywhere.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

I am in the same boat. There is a point during a SHTF event where you have to continue your mission, but there is also a point where you have to abandoned that same mission and take care of you and yours. It is important to know in advance what constitutes that point for you and what you are going to do when it is reached.

Since I intend to bug in as long as possible, what I did was to create a multi-faceted approach to home security. First I provided firearms training for my wife and older kids and purchased each of them guns based on their likes and capabilities. Then we turned that firearms training into real-world defense of yourself and/or others training (which is a whole other thing). Then we prepared our home itself; 3M security film on the windows, heavy duty doors / hinges / strike-plates / deadbolts, very few bushes or places to hide around the house, back up power, lots of external lighting, a very well stocked safe room in the basement with radio communications from home to me, a fire suppression systems and 3 well trained and quite large Rottweilers. Then I incorporated the potential for extra bodies to assist in defending my home using friends with skills but no BOL or even an ideal bug in location. I didn't just select LEO's for this task as they will likely be called in too. Finally I have three neighbors who are recently retired military officers, one who is a Deputy Sheriff and 2 who are active in the Army Reserve. I do not live on a through street so my neighborhood itself has some level of security. And yes, I do have a contingencies to take my family to a local BOL and our family BOL. But the department is not one of them. When things go to hell in a handbasket people go to police department, hospitals, churches and stores. So I don't want my family in any one of those places. 

I am blessed and have been at this for a long time (before ever considering myself a prepper). You may not be able to do all of what I did, but we all start somewhere. Hopefully my basic plan at least gives you some ideas. Good luck.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Merged :flower:


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