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so just what the fvuck has happened

7K views 79 replies 35 participants last post by  Mike-B 
#1 ·
used to have a case of beer or 2 or 3 on payday on the tailgate...

if it was too hot or too cold we went to a pizza joint, usually a roundtable...:thumbsup:

bbq or serious pasta night at my house for the crew & subs once or twice a month...:thumbup:

lots of camaraderie, crew was close to each other & it showed.

now days guys go their own way at lunch, on a big job many times don't know each others real names...

fear of god if i walk the job and start asking questions either as the gc or super...

i am still in contact with a few of my old crew...

most are retired and enjoying life....

the few still working say it's nothing like the old days...

WHY NOT?????

it's part of a whole bunch wrong with the industry today....
 
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#10 ·
.08 that they want to lower to .05

My old workplace had a bowling league, I ran into an old coworker a few years back and asked him if they were still doing it. He said they had to disband because almost everyone on the league got hit with a dui/dwi on the way home. They had a golf league at one time too but I didn’t ask about that.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Multi-faceted reasons, but there's also a lot of things added to the mix over the years that affect relations on a job... you can thank mostly lawyers and government for that...

Another aspect is many don't look at employees as going up through the ranks anymore (i.e. - training, regular pay raises, advancement), and keeping them on through tough times... Loyalty is a two-way street and the strange thing is the place where a lot of companies can stretch the dollar is in labor, but that also stretches and strains relationships when guys are viewed as costs as opposed to investments... in fact, there's a thread going right now that kind of highlights it...


it's why labor in industries are cheaper and cheaper and don't keep up with inflation... years ago, you knew a rookie was going to cost you money the first 6 months to a year, it was just a realty because you had to invest in them, but things are so tight, for a host of reasons (i.e. - government, regulations, illegal labor, insurance, etc.) they're expected to generate a profit from almost day one...

The odd thing is, everything else that's been added to the mix, THEY get paid... it's set up now, that the first place most look to cut is labor, EVERYONE else HAS to be paid, and you can't drop them... if the industry itself can't be a draw for a career as opposed to just a job that fills the moment, it's hard to see how that changes long-term...
 
#14 ·
Oddly at least here I see far more of my white collar friends hanging out with coworkers. Meeting after work for drinks. On various rec leagues. Ski trips, etc.

Less likely to shoot steel, ATV trips, hunting, etc. But only slightly less.
 
#15 ·
I enjoy getting to know other guys on a job . One builder I do work for lots of times when his guys take a break I will to and go talk with them. Most of his other subs I get to know those guys to. when we run into each other outside of job will stop and chat with each other. To me it is how you build relationships with other trades, never know when you might need their help or advise.
 
#16 ·
This has sorta come up awhile back in another thread. Every Friday in warm weather I bring a grill and provide the meat,burgers or Brats,chicken etc. Everyone else provides a side,we have an extended lunch,kinda a pot luck.

Not to be a prude,however,many moons ago,JLC discussed the perils of providing alcohol,or for that matter even allowing it to be consumed on one's job site even after hours. The liability puts a target on one's back.

Hey ! Don't blame me,I'm just the messenger.:laughing:
 
#17 ·
We used to do the same thing. The DUI situation has pretty well eliminated after work "safety meetings". Also, seemed like there was always one knuckle head that would take things too far and cause a problem.

We'll have the occasional breakfast or take the crews to lunch, but no more events where alcohol is involved.
 
#19 ·
Many things led up to it. Not packing your own lunch daily and having to run for food. The demands of modern life, like gotta git home to watch the kids so momma can go to work. Or Go socialize in teh modern sense, get to the gaming console asap. In general a fast paced demanding life that has little time to just shoot the chit and build relationships.

If you never experienced real camaraderie , you don't desire it or know it's value. Was a point in time if you didn't try to fit in and be part of the crew ... you were really odd and treated as such.

Large commercial work and getting to know other tradesmen, everybody is at odds with everybody else. "that DB plumber did that and forked us over" attitude has run rampant over the 30 years and just gotten worse. Use to be fun to harass the other trades in a light hearted fun way... Few have the balls aka are secure enough to take it.

Just a reflection of the society we live in. When the trades are viewed as being less than "professional" college educated work ... who wants to hang out with other losers kind a mentality may be at work.
 
#52 ·
I don't work on large jobsites very often these days, but have in the past.

I've been on one off and on for the last 8 months or so. It has been fun. The older guys get it, the younger guys take it pretty well.

I'm usually the instigator, being the oldest dude there, I remember the good old days.

One thing that has changed is that I may be the oldest, but not by much. The average age is slowly ticking up.

When I started, I dont think there were too many 45-50 year olds on the jobsites. Now it is pretty standard.

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#20 ·
What your describing is social capital. And funny enough it's value in many industries is only being exploited recently...yet in construction it has been of great value for a long time.

Apparently the current job or crew you are referring too has low social capital...and that's a shame.
 
#21 ·
Intentional stress on disrupting labor from forming bonds that aid in Labor v Management/owner disputes:

Keep the stirring up disputes between possible leaders to prevent common action for greater Pay & fringes...

Over investing one "life" in one area.... Don't play or Poop where You work..

The end of the Baby Boom, far fewer participants in each follow on generation since the Age of effective Birth Control.

Fewer brothers and sisters = more Lone wolves, see above.

massive welfare plantations That expelled father/ male adults from daily contact with young of both sexes.

Crazy ideas taught at all levels of the US "Education" system K-18 regard male bonding/ behavior as 'Anti-social or Anti-feminist.

Presence of large numbers of 2 class replacement working illegally, that encourage the thoughtful to exit the labor markets that use illegal alien labor on an on-going basis.

Loss of social status by construction workers as their jobs aren't seen as needing protection from the invading tens of millions of Illegal workers..

Similarly to Plantation/chattel Slavery in the old Southern States the use of 2cd and 3rd class persons to perform work at fractional legal market wages, has destroyed the earning ability of lower class non-criminal citizen and legal alien workers.

Common sense possessing persons flee any job place invaded by imported peons, further lower the social skill levels on a typical "Tower of Babel" job with a large fraction of hard working illiterate in any language employees.
 
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#22 ·
Way back in the day when I used to work out of town a lot it was an every night thing. Your crew was your social life. Since the company paid for food and lodging somebody always found the best deals on both.

I fondly remember one place in particular on the Gulf coast of Mississippi. They had the best seafood and steaks and ice cold beer. Little hole in the wall place but the food was killer and your drink was never empty. A big pot of shrimp was always brought to our table as an appetizer. The main course always took a while as I guess they wanted to run the liquor tab up. Unbelievable it was. I remember thinking no one should eat this good every day....but we did. If I wasn't working 7/12's I would have gained 50lbs.

Good times.....those days are gone......forever
 
#24 ·
I'm sure they do but these events I'm referring to were like banquets. The company would hire a few in state personnel from say a few hundred miles away and they weren't offered the same per diem. Many slept in their campers or truck and pocketed the per diem. We felt sorry for them and had a pretty much open invite for them too so we would at times have up to 20 or more people. I'm sure the restaurant loved us as long as they had a heads up
 
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#26 ·
No wall.
 
#31 ·
So you don't think that having a bunch of people not of this country and many who don't speak English is part of the reason why this has happened?
 
#30 ·
This sounds like a job for a few beers and a tailgate.


Also, I reject the entire premise of this thread. You guys must be hanging out with the wrong crews. Mine were all at my wedding. We hang out on weekends. We email each other stupid memes after hours. We have job jokes. We help each other move.

Good times. Y'all gotta get after it. When's the last time you brought a 30 rack and made a motion to pack it in at noon on a Friday? Today could be your day! Be the change you wish to see in the world!
 
#35 ·
Any of the ethnic groups - from south of the border or north of the border, hang together at meal times.

And that's just how it was when I was a kid, and for all the generations before me.

That's why we have Pole Town and Cork Town and Greek Town and German Town as the actual names of places in the Detroit and Ann Arbor area.

I cannot imagine how my grandparents would have managed, had they not found their way to a community where there was a a prevalent 2nd language that they understood.
 
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