Work Ethic - you're not gonna believe this! (1 Viewer)

[The Counterfeiter]

We hire a pressman in January from a shop that closed - 10 years of experience and excellent references . . .$21/hr. He fell of the wagon in February and we put up with 4 days of rehab to get him back. Strange that none of his former employers mentioned that he might have a little alcohol problem. Last Friday, he collapsed and was hauled off to rehab again.
Since so many print shops have failed lately, we have a backlog of resumes of experienced operators. So . . . we hire the best candidate at only $20/hr.
New guy is really good - cranks jobs out and gets 15 hours of overtime - grossing $1250 in his first week. When i gave him his check today, he asked me if the shop was always this busy because - wait - "I'm not used to working this hard" -
Last Friday, this guy was unemployed - if he wanted to work hard he could gross $60 K. I just don't understand what in the hell is wrong with workers today -

 

[Nitrohaulic]

That's one reason why I used to have three trucks and I now have one. You could pay some people a million a year to do nothing and they'd ask ya "Do I have to pay the taxes on this?"

Is it a coincidence that the company I'm leased to has only owner-operators, has over 8,000 of them, and that we haul more loads for the government/military than any other? It's how I had a nice backhaul of submarine parts for much of last year. If someone doesn't love what they're doing, I don't think there is an answer. Money won't do it.

I don't even love what I'm doing but, at least it's getting me to what I do love and I have a stake in it. It's not as simple as being an employee who can just walk away.

Even if I'm an employee, you're still my customer. I don't know why most employees don't see their employers that way. Try not giving them a dime of YOUR end of the bargain and see what happens!

I'm not kidding when I say dime, either. One of our drivers. When he first started, they were struggling so, my girlfriend drove their check about 15-20 miles one way a few times to help them out. Of course, we had to put our foot down in order to stop it. Never asked for anything for it.

A few weeks later, my girlfriend made an error on his check. The last two digits on his statement was .10. She screwed up and made the check out for .00. And, yes, the caps stand for yelling. WOULD YOU BELIEVE HE CALLED ME TO MAKE SURE I KNEW ABOUT IT??? DO YOU KNOW HOW LOUDLY I SCREAMED INTO THE PHONE THAT SHE BURNED HOW MUCH GAS AND SPENT HOW MUCH OF HER TIME WITHOUT ASKING FOR ANYTHING BUT, THIS GUY'S CALLING ME FOR A FREAKING D I M E????????

TO THIS DAY, IF I'M TELLING OR WRITING THAT STORY AS I AM NOW, DO YOU KNOW HOW CONTORTED MY FACE BECOMES WHEN I GET TO THE END AND SAY OR TYPE THE WORD "DIME"?

Apparently, I'm not a people person.

 

["Dr. Dirt"]

That's why I've been my own employer for the past 36 years. I don't know what it's like to draw a salary or have an employer to answer to.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

That's why I've been my own employer for the past 36 years. I don't know what it's like to draw a salary or have an employer to answer to.

Hey, I complain about my employer ALL the time!

Sometimes I've done that to DOT inspectors. "Well, the guy who owns it, yes, he needs to do that, sir."

 

[n/a]

Ya im right there with ya.I own a moderate sized trucking company and a freight brokerage company.I have employees that can do the work of 3 people and never complain or even ask for more money(even though they are very well paid)and i have those that will do only enough work to keep them above poverty level and complain about everything.The world is made up of all types of people.Everyone has their own comfort level,but when you employ a large number of people you will see alot of different comfort levels.And yes im always hiring more drivers and owner-operators if anyone is interested.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

Yeah, one of my customers has an employee that I'm about to have it out with. The guy's face has been burned very badly. He's missing an eye and both ears. This guy CONSTANTLY complains about EVERY LITTLE THING the whole time I'm handing boxes of cabinets to him.

Last week it was "Geez! How many cabinets do they need for one house?" (about a dozen, actually a very small order) "You've got trim and panels, too? (yelling) WTF?" Every single word out of this guy's mouth is a complaint about something, whether it's to me or his fellow employees. Apparently they've let him use his misfortune/appearance as a crutch and let him get away with everything. You'd think this would be the guy who'd feel lucky to be alive. I can't imagine the people who have to work around him all day.

 

[The Counterfeiter]

That's why I've been my own employer for the past 36 years. I don't know what it's like to draw a salary or have an employer to answer to.

Doc - When things were bad in the early 90's, my mother told me I should sell the business and go to work for someone else. My stepfather asked her how many minutes she thought I would last as an employee -

Be very glad that you don't have to try to hire skilled tradesmen (oops, tradespeople) or, God forbid, graphic artists who have some kind of a degree but no real life experience -

 

[Jenn]

Makes you wonder why they claim unemployment is so high!!!

I either have people who
1. Don't fill out applications correctly (If you can't complete the job of filling out 3 pages of information, can i trust you do complete a job?)
2. Can't pass the drug test. I actually ran into an applicant at the herb store trying to get a 'drug flush' two days before he went into for the pee test.
3. Fail to disclose criminal history on the application. Admiting a crime does not automatically exclude you from the position, but if you tell me you have a clean driving record and I find out on the background check you have 3 DWIs within two years.
4. Think that we open way too early for them to get up and get dressed and be at work on time.

Then I hire a few and I get people who

1. Want a smoke break every half hour and since they have to go far away to do that, they dwadle coming back.
2. Thinks that a one hour lunch break isn't long enough.
3. Can't make it to work on time, don't want to stay late.
4. Didn't expect to have to work so hard.
5. Think that some jobs are 'above them'. I had an employee tell me that he was a technician with a technical degree and shouldn't have to throw out my trash.
6. I even had one that his wife kept calling him every 30 minutes and demanding I put him on the phone (nice try, lady, he works for me, not me working for her.)


I've only fired one person. The rest have either quit or not shown up ever again.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

Some people make firing easy!

The best driver I ever had was my first. I had no idea just how good he was until after he was gone and we went through the ones after him. I have a truck out there right now with a warped cylinder deck because a driver used the override switch to override the engine's automatic shutdown (It's only there to get you to a safe place to pull over if you need it) and finish pulling almost 80,000 lbs to the top of a mountain. Then he calls me to let me know the temp guage is pegged.

I used to (key words) have a deal in which I paid a driver for his couple of days in orientation at $100 a day. I was the only fleet owner at that company who did that. My stipulation was that you got it at $50 a week for the first month. If you left before then, it was a wash for both of us. One driver was OBSCENE about not showing up for work. (including lying about his mother's "death" which we later found out about). He missed so much work that I wasn't going to pay him orientation pay until there was other income to go with it, even though he was still "there." I scribbled such a note on the bottom of a printout.

This guy dropped right off of the face of the earth. Didn't show up for a load that I had to turn around and cover. Something like a week or two later, I get a phone call from him threatening to take me to the labor board if I didn't pay him the money I "owed him" which my note "proved." I just told him in a friendly voice that all he had to do was have the you know whats to come over and collect his money. He never showed up.

 

[Jenn]

Some people make firing easy!

I would probably have fired more people if they hadn't quit right before I was about to fire them.

I had a guy who worked for me about two weeks when I sent my neice into the shop to get me something and she knocked over the guys tools. I saw it happen, I knew it wasn't intentional but he had the balls to yell at her about it. Five foot 10 inch guy yelling at a 10 year old wasn't the brightest thing to do in front of me and by the time I was done with him, HE was crying and quiting.

Note: DO NOT mess with my kids.

 

[Deby]

Of course I seem to always get the ones that tell you they have a drivers license...they just forget to mention that it is suspended.

 

[jim]

Of course I seem to always get the ones that tell you they have a drivers license...they just forget to mention that it is suspended.

Oh, well, I didn't know you meant a valid driver's license!

 

[Alan]

We get the applicant with suspended licenses also...and we are an auto shop. Hard to test drive cars with no license, isn't it? We were ready to hire a kid awhile back, he tells us his record is clean, so I asked for a DMV printout....guess what? 8 points on his license, definitely not insurable!!!

 

[Nitrohaulic]

We get the applicant with suspended licenses also...and we are an auto shop. Hard to test drive cars with no license, isn't it? We were ready to hire a kid awhile back, he tells us his record is clean, so I asked for a DMV printout....guess what? 8 points on his license, definitely not insurable!!!

Now I'm reminded of a guy who had a record that changed by the minute! He had a clean license when he first called me. Then he called again on his way over to say that there might be one he forgot about but, it wasn't that bad. I forget what the numbers were but, by the time he got to my house to fill out an app, it was WAY up there! Enough to be a serious violation that made him ineligible.

Which reminds me of ANOTHER story! It's how I ended up repo'ing the truck that I now make a living with. Things changed around us and I wanted to downsize. One of my drivers had been after me about selling him the truck he was in so, I gave him some easy financing terms, which he agreed to.

The same guy went out and believed something that someone told him. I HAVE heard that it works in Pennsylvania but, I'm not going to test it! Someone told him it works everywhere. Let's say you get a $90 speeding ticket. You send them $100. They send you the $10 diff back. You just keep the check, not cashing it. Supposedly it keeps the case open, with the points not making it to your license. This guy went out and racked them up so quickly that, by the time they suspended his license, he had 26 tickets! Not points. Tickets! He made one truck payment! He can't drive a moped!!!

 

[Jenn]

Oh, well, I didn't know you meant a valid driver's license!

I'm always a little perplexed when the conversation goes like this

Applicant: "I don't have a drivers license"

Me: "Do you have reliable transportation to get here by 8:00 every morning?"

Applicant: "Well, I have a car"

Me: "Who's going to be responsible for driving you over in the morning"

Applicant: "I'll drive myself"

Me: "You don't have a license"

Applicant: "I just live twenty miles down the road"

me: "Is the car insured?"

Applicant: "Well, no, I can't get insurance because I don't have a license"


So here's the catch. They lose their license, can't get to work, so they lose their jobs, so they start driving without a license and since they can't get insurance, they can't get their car registered. So in some cases they either have to get rides in an area where there isn't public transportation, or drive illegally to get to work.

It's not a big deal to hire people with out a license, they just cannot operate any vehicles, and they must have reliable transportation to get here every day on time.

I had a guy who did that just fine, had a ride that brought him early every day. Worked for me for two years until he got his license back and could drive the distance every morning to get to the job he had before.