Re: Skill with a Skill

On Mar 7, 5:23 pm, "Swingman" <k...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hell, and my recent IME, many of today's young worker's want to be patted on
the back and rewarded with a raise for just showing up.

Absolutely. And I have had more than one that wanted >a raise<
because they had not only attended several day in a row, but wanted a
reward for not being late.

Except of course, the times it wasn't their fault.

My first boss in construction had been trained by the union. If you
were late by one minute, you had to wait 1/2 hour in your truck before
you could start. If you were more than 10 minutes late, you had to
wait an hour before you could start. You had to wait in your vehicle
so you couldn't fudge and say you were working.

If you protested too much, he sent you home. If you did it more than
a couple of times you were fired. There were no exceptions. With
that kind of rigidity, none of us ever gave a thought to being a 20
minutes early so we could catch up on things a bit before we cranked
up the machines. Everyone was on time.

His personal philosophy was that he paid us to WORK for 8 hours. Work
did not mean "getting your tools out" or "putting your tools up". He
always held himself to that same standard. As another bonus, he was
unconcerned with your watch. His was the only one that counted.

If things poorly on the job, just to screw with us, he used to set his
watch back about ten minutes so we would get upset and he could yell
at us for something else. It seemed to kind of keep things in
balance.

I actually liked and respected that man more than anyone I ever worked
for or around. He was a rigid taskmaster, but boy were we all proud
of he work we turned out when working with him. We felt like real
first class MOFOs when we worked on his crew.

Sadly, when he retired from work he was so confused about today's work
force he was completely miserable. It made him old before his time.

Damn if we don't sound like a couple of old farts ... :)

*chuckles*

Yeah, we do. I'll admit there is a little fartage coming on....

I wish some of those children that work for me from time to time would
quit calling me "an old dude", though.

Whippersnappers!

Robert


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Some questions (for Jerry Howe in particular) - Long
    ... Watch her closely when she's out of her crate, and take her out at the ... and reward her profusely when she goes where she's ... on the concept that all life is of value, ... human being is of greater value than, say, the contents of my wallet. ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.behavior)
  • Re: Asking for a raise
    ... their ducks in a row and quietly dump them when they did raise their rates. ... I have had an account that I dropped because they ... I would LOVE TO pay all my subs top dollar and I do ... always possible to reward for good work when you are not rewarded for it by ...
    (sci.med.transcription)
  • Re: [NBC] Firefly (was Re: [NBC]Attn: Science Fiction Fans
    ... I'll see your Tor and raise you this: ... (Yes, it's safe. ... Hmmm I think I'll just stick with the DVDs. ... never seen Firefly & watch it with them on ...
    (rec.music.artists.springsteen)
  • Re: Helping ducklings to experience life...
    ... >> I'd watch the nest and take the baby ducks in as they hatched if I ... then raise them in an indoor brooder until they were no longer ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: Is anyone else watching...
    ... motorsport I am not that bothered that I don't watch the telebox anymore ... and posts like this do nothing but raise this state of mind to ...
    (uk.rec.motorcycles)