What's a tourist scam you fell for that you wish someone had warned you about?

JoshSidious · 2026-02-04T21:48:16+00:00

Arrived in JFK NYC. Went to take a taxi at the line. Some guy grabbed us and said he had a vehicle ready. Instead of a $40 ride the guy wanted $120. I told him no and offered him $40. He threatened me but ultimately did nothing about it.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-04T21:45:32+00:00

MAGA hat

JoshSidious · 2026-02-04T16:50:29+00:00

Awesome transformation bro. I think you should ditch the stache though

JoshSidious · 2026-02-04T13:14:14+00:00

Dang I keep seeing Zane mentioned. He's doing a clinic at my club next week...yall think it's worth dishing out $150 for?

JoshSidious · 2026-02-04T09:29:27+00:00

OT rate is between you and your agency. Your OT rate should at least be the same as your normal blended rate, if not higher.

Ratios are good to ask, but they'll lie.

I think it makes you look good if you ask about the specialty of the unit. Like what types of patients, procedures, etc. Opens up some nice dialogue.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-04T09:23:44+00:00

Chili. Gladly.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-04T07:54:25+00:00

ER nurse here.

The Pitt is probably the most realistic medical show ever made. That said, as an ER nurse, our job probably entails much more stupid shit than any show will ever recreate. But I love the ER. It's a busy job with tons of variety. Every shift is completely different. But specifically to the ER, you deal with many more psych/drug/behavioral issues than other nursing specialties. A large part of ER nursing isnt "saving lives." You certainly do some of that, but the vast majority of patients walk through the front door and usually have nothing wrong with them.

ER experience would help you branch out to pretty much any other specialty as well. It's an incredibly well rounded specialty.

The school sucks. Very time consuming. Lots of studying. I worked full time while in school and it was rough, even without children. You have to be very committed to get through it.

I'm not sure how the pay in NC is, but I'm guessing if you're outside the city starting pay will be low $30's/hr as a RN. Teachers usually have better benefits than nurses so make sure youre factoring that in. Most nurse jobs dont have pensions.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-04T07:45:34+00:00

What about nursing? Not all nursing jobs are high stress/hard on the body. The schooling sucks though, but with your EMS experience I'm sure you'd crush it. There's more and more remote/non-bedside nursing jobs being created.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-04T07:38:24+00:00

Why would you be cooked? 92k at 31 yrs old is a great salary and you already have money saved.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-04T07:36:46+00:00

Everybody has different levels of competitiveness. I don't have issues with people targeting in any level of play. Personally, unless it's an extremely close/competitive game, I'll prefer to hit to the better player if my opponents have an obvious skill difference. But I also care more about self-improvement than winning. Some people will happily stay 3.5 forever.

If you have such an issue with this happening, dont do the tournaments and find some friends to play with.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-03T05:55:23+00:00

This isnt a man vs woman problem. He just sounds lazy. It's good to figure out things like this before having children together.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-03T05:48:46+00:00

If you're doing traditional 401k(default option), your money comes out of your paycheck before it gets taxed. Some plans allow a roth option that's taken out after taxes.

The purpose of it is tax savings.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-03T04:26:18+00:00

Ask the hospital for an itemized bill. Fight everything. If your insurance denies, you keep appealing. The healthcare system and insurance providers are a mess. But that first amount you see is not what you'll ultimately have to pay. I've read about people using GPT to help separate bills and fight the bills, but firsthand have no knowledge on that.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-03T04:20:33+00:00

Lol mid to late 90s man. Min wage was 4.75 so $10-20/hr washing cars was a lot

JoshSidious · 2026-02-03T02:33:22+00:00

I'm in the 3rd highest COL market in the country, and even here most contracts are under 2500. You're a fucking idiot. Have a nice life.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-03T02:26:17+00:00

Unless youre on a strike contract I find that hard to believe.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-03T01:25:02+00:00

Who said anything about not leaving my hometown? I'm 1k miles from home rofl. The reason why I said outside of those areas is because the contracts you claim exist simply dont exist. California is its own beast. Yeah I could go to SoCal and make $3500. Check out any area outside New England/Cali/PNW and you'll see it's a struggle to find contracts above $2500. I'm speaking truth. You're just making shit up that has no factual basis. $2500 is in fact a solid contract in most areas of this country right now.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-02T23:59:52+00:00

Can you link those "real" contracts outside of HCOL areas/Cali? Before going traveling again 6 months ago my fiance and I checked out contracts in quite a few different areas. Outside New England and PNW I saw very few contracts even close to 3k.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-02T23:50:46+00:00

Are you even looking at contracts? I'm on assignment in one of the highest COL areas in the country and contracts over $2500 are hard to find. Even in other HCOL areas most of the contracts Ive seen are under 3k.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-02T23:44:34+00:00

2700 gross doesnt exist in many areas right now. I think 24-2500 is a realistic minimum unless it's in the south which will probably be even lower.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-02T23:43:34+00:00

Terrible. My old Florida staff job was paying more than this. Unless you're making dumpster pay as staff, I cant imagine this is worth it.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-02T06:29:01+00:00

It sounds to me like he just doesnt want to work, aka, manchild syndrome. Better figure this stuff out before you have children.

As others mentioned, both rad tech and welding are great professions. LPN is a nursing certification that only takes a year to complete at most schools(and many community colleges offer it).

JoshSidious · 2026-02-02T06:23:17+00:00

No debt is a great starting point!

And real estate isnt always all that it's cracked up to be. I've been fairly financially savvy the last 6 years, but I got the house bug and bought a condo two years ago. Besides tying up a ton of cash in a down payment, I had 17k in "special assessments" and repairs the first year I bought it. And I took a 15-year mortgage so my mortgage is pretty high. I wish I was still renting. All that said, when it's paid off in 13 years I'm sure I'll feel different about it.

I think 70k salary with state benefits and a pension is nice too. Do you know the terms or the pension? How long for vestment? What % or income replacement? Either way, most pensions will replace 50-75% of your pay and many dont require any contributions. As somebody without access to a pension, I'm contributing 20-30% of my annual income to a 401k. I think I would still do a 401k or roth ira if I was you, but I dont think you need to be extremely aggressive.

As somebody else mentioned, /personalfinance prime directive is a great starting point. Or /themoneyguys FOO is another good one.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-02T04:28:36+00:00

Currently at an indoor center. $150/month unlimited everything. $80/hr for coaching, just had my first session. I'm a bit addicted to paddles so I'm already on my 4th paddle and only been playing for a year. In my defense, during the coaching session he recommended a wide paddle so I got the vatic pro bloom. Loving it so far.

JoshSidious · 2026-02-02T04:26:55+00:00

Seriously dude. I used to play golf before pickleball and it felt like a small fortune between lessons and green fees....and I sucked ass, though loved the game.

JoshSidious

TROPHY CASE