Hired Help

leiffearn

We've all had to hire help from Labor Ready etc.

You ever get a huge guy that couldn't lift a damn thing?
A dude to haul trash to the bin that took one block at a time?
Lazy bastard that had to sit down and smoke every 5 minutes?
A hard working kid that stayed for 2 hours and took off w/o getting paid?
One who never brings something to eat for lunch or something to drink and he's like foaming at the mouth and says hes fine but you feel bad so you go buy him lunch?

Then there was the one that worked out real good and you offer to hire him full time but he'd rather make his $100 and go wait in front of that office all day?

Are there any young people that would like to learn a trade from a professional, stick around for a few years and go off to start his own company and make lots of money or do they just want to put rims on that sh truck they drive and save up for some speakers and wait for their grandpa to die so they could get an inheritance?

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS THIS WAY? MAYBE IM THE AS HOLE!

copusbuilder

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

I have always wondered why a kid with no future in the more academic type world will not try and "learn' a trade?

I have had 20 year old kids tell my 47 year old foreman "stand back I'll show you how it's done"
I remember getting a call to come and get the kid or i'm gonna kill him. He meant it too???

I see no balls with the younger people and many of the older as well. They just can't get a break .... Use em and get rid of them when the time is right.

Guess that makes two a-holes

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AkA Richard Cranium

skylands

I live in NY state. Welfare is the predominent job in this state. I put an ad in the paper looking for help. 4 out of 5 that applied wanted to be paid cash so they wouldn't lose their assistance. I get upset just looking at these kids trying to fill out the application. They're in my office looking for a construction job. Do they not think about the dangers of wearing all the rings in their ears, eyebrows, nose, or lip? Can't they pull their pants up and tie their shoes just for the job interview? Are there any math classes that teach fractions?

Glasshousebltr

Ha! How did I miss this great topic.

Yeap, I don't let the maggots bust a sag on my site and the rings come off or I take them off.

Had a fella apply not to long ago. I asked him what was his last job. He told me he sucked the a$$ out of Turkeys on a farm.........Damn Turkey butt sucker.....doesn't that take the prize?

And I was just wondering, where do you find the ones that can fill out the application?

Bob

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Bob

leiffearn

Thanks for the support. Just needed to vent. Its pretty sad though when I have to call on the wife to get a load of lumber, pull some wire, prime some boards, mix some mud...the funny thing is...she never complains! And she's always willing!! What does that say for some of these lazy numb nuts!!!

copusbuilder

I have tried every trick in the book to motivate my guys. There have been some good ones but they are few and far between.
When the government rewards laziness then they become lazy. Happy with a meal a dirty matress and a few cold beers??
I just love it when they come to my house an start telling me how lucky I am? Ummm, luck is not what it takes. No game plan and no effort = failure

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AkA Richard Cranium

all vinyl

I think anyone that has been in this for a littel while has run in to it all . I had a man one time that worked for me for a week and was looking for a raise 2 out of 5 days he showed up late 1 day had to go home early i tolld him you have to show me a willingness for the job and we can talk . I was told you bought na new barbaque grill you can aford to give me a raise i quit .I was brought up you work for what you get and thier is no hand out I believe that's whats wrong with this country to many give aways and then peopel say thouse guys are taking our work i think were giving them our work who ever those guys are

i'm number number three a---ole

ConcreteNed

Nice to read all your post above guys...

At least now I realize I'm not going crazy, and it's not me...

My biggest problem in buisness is finding good help.....PERIOD...

And all this time I thought it was me....

slowsol

i wish i lived around some of you guys. i have been off work since the end of november. just sittin back collectin' unemployment. the boss says he "just doesn't have any work right now. but i'm sure i'll get some come march." needless to say i have been looking for another job.

i'm the rare exception that is a young man that takes pride in what i do and wants to learn as much as i can. i'm going to night school fulltime to get my business degree so that i can go somewhere in life. i've just had bad luck with my choice of employers.

jproffer

Well where do you live? Surely you live near SOMEONE on here.

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Jim P.

slowsol

Sorry. Toledo, Ohio.

Aceinstaller

If anyone here is from chicago and having the same problem then look me up on the employment thread. I am one of the few with outstanding work ethic.

My best experience with hiring dorks was when I got my first trades job. It was with a small concrete business. Just me and an old man that knew his job well. He managed to teach me so much about the trade that after 6 months, I was laying out my own foundations with my own crew at 19 years old. Now I am a tall and slim guy, and when it was time to hire new laborers I will never forget the 250-300 lb. monsters that would show up and say: If this kid has been here so long, this job is going to be cake!"

Now bieng a small company we didn't have boon trucks to get the forms in the hole. we would start the day loading the forms in a flat-dump and them unload into the hole. then set the walls, pour, then remove the forms the next day and carry all of them out of the hole and load up the truck.

Me and the owner had running bets on each of the laborers for time lasted, and if you can believe it, the biggest ones were usually the first to go. I always got a kick out of seeing them on the first day kissing their arms like they were the strongest man alive then by the end of the week they would barely be able to lift their arms to collect the check, never to be seen again!

Concrete was definately the trade that helped build the work ethic that I will take with me for the rest of my days.

Excalibur

Isnt it amazing where all the morons come from? Last year just prior to our season start up I found out that i would have to go out of town for a week or two. My boss was ok with that, and had been thinking about hiring a spare driver to run the spare truck on a semi full time basis. He hired this guy who had a pretty good resume and had just graduated from Truck Driving School a month or so before. I had met this guy at the shop a few days before i had to go out of town, and he didnt impress me at all. He had the uptown cowboy boots, grungy cowboy hat, fancy western shirt and the one thing that no self respecting truck driver can leave home without the "OFFICIAL" Chain Drive Wallet!! Anyhow when I returned home three weeks later i found out that my first impression of this guy was 100% correct (he couldnt drive to save his a$$). My boss : wasn't very talkative on the subject of this new guy. Seems like the new guy didnt make it a week (3 days at the shop and <1 day driving), on the first day he knocked some fences down, backed a tandem truck through a building end wall length wise, and backed off an embankment. Needless to say at that point his employment was terminated and he was driven back to town.

RichSmith1

Ditto over this way, race, age, religion doesnt matter....seems like EVERYBODY is so lazy! The best workers I have ever had were drunks with no vehicles. Pay them min wage and pay for their food and provide transportation while they are working...pay at the end of the week...drop em at the liquor store with their min wage check so they can cash it and get their fix and they are broke by Mon AM ready to work for that next weekend buzz. The secret is you cant pay them too much just enough to get them through the weekend and pay their rent. If you cant change 'em they can at least help you!

Horrible...yes I am...but my employees love me!

BushWalls

I have been through 10 people in the past 2 years. Its bad enough just finding a body that wants to work, but train them to run a trowell and make it look like they know what the hell they are doing. This is a big reason I decided to start phasing out of the Dryvit and into insulation. Big Dryvit jobs are impossible without a good crew and the good people you do find want to be foreman their first day. I finally found one good guy who wants to work. Im going to pay him a percentage of each job, 10-99 him, and hope all is well. Its alot easier for me to buy him a liability policy of his own than to spend thousands in WC on IDIOTS.

wbsbadboy

Lazy, weak, shows up late, leaves early, no show no call, needs a ride, drunk by noon, or gets drunk at noon, too hung over, girlfriend is pregnant, dogs pregnant, moms pregnant, trying to get pregnant!, fish died, cat got run over, dog bit me, someone bit my dog, the cars outa gas, I got gas, the car needs tires, dad just retired, car needs an oil change, baby needs a change, gotta move, bowels wont move, got hurt bowling, cant find my bowl, too stoned, not stoned, getting stoned, kidney stone, stone in my boot, no work boots, dirty socks, clean wet socks..............................
Yup I think that I have either used or heard just about every excuse in the book. There was a time when I was that person that you guys are talking about. And to this day I kick myself for not listining to those hundred or so formen that screamed at me all day long.
Now Im the foreman that screams at these kids all day long. 'IF' There there to scream at. (looks up and silently prays) God all I need them to do is just show up on time each work day. Ill deal with motivating them later ok. Thanks.
FYI I start my lowest grunt laborer at 10 bucks an hour. I hated working for minimum wage and feel that it insults any man that can even make a half assed effort to do the work we do. If he (or she) will try then it is worth the money. If they will make no effort to try then they have no buisness on a job site. I pay them the days wage and send them on down the road. I have been sent workers that other formen say are worthless. J.S. was sent to me by another foreman who said he was as worthless as a finish nail holding two studs together. He showed up and proceeded to whine. I stopped him half way up a 12 ft ladder by pushing it an inch or so off the roof edge
(good attention getter but not recommended due to safety reasons). I then asked him if he was there to work or whine. He said work. He hasnt whinned since and is the best damn frammer I have had the pleasure to train.
Sometimes Gentlemen all you have to do is get them to listen to you.

Kevin H

I think the real problem is finding someone that likes to do the work..I remember when I started I couldn't wait to get to work the next day. I would always be the first one on the job humping lumber so that I could get on the deck and learn. I was proud of what I was doing and glad to be a part of a top notch framing crew..I remember all of the firsts. The first wall, gable, overhang, set of stairs, queen ann...etc..that I built, each one being like a badge of honor. Sounds corny I know but it was what the crew was all about. I'm tired of getting the rejects of society looking for a quick buck that only work because it's a job.. I feel it is an insult to us and all that have been in the trade before us. - Kevin

Artisanmike

As a foreman for in the last company I worked for I've seen em come and go..mostly go. Its seems close to impossible to find someone with the drive and pride to be the best he/she can be at what he/she does. I've had people tell me straight to my face " yes I'm a journeyman setter"..ok great! If they have no other references I would take them at their word (someones word means < poop these days). I then would take them on at 20 bucks an hour and tell em'...ok lets see what you can do.....well, 2 out of 3 people would get the "look I'll keep you on at $14 per hour for the experience that you have and you can re-learn or you can walk because you are NOT a journeyman in any way shape or form."
My old helper in that company started from scratch. No tile experience at all. Almost no english either. We learned to work together through trial and error. First time I asked for a bucket of Thinset on the thick side, I ended up with a over filled bucket of thinset and wash plaster sand LOL..When I would ask him to fetch me a tool it would always be the wrong one. He caought on quick though and eventually quit trying to bring me the one tool and would jus bring the whole tool box. This was about 10 years ago and I still tell some of his stories to our co-workers, his wife and friends. He's my best friend and works for/with me now and I personally dont know a better setter or harder worker as determined to do an excellent job as he does. WHOA! Almost went Brokeback there! lol. Good employees are out there..its jus the luck of the draw yuh varments

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