Update on machinist trainee

Don't know the exact detail, but some time ago at work I had a low priority project going with someone at a site in another state. Hadn't heard from him in a bit and when I tried to track him down I found out he was dead. It does indeed happen. One day it will probably be me.

Pete C.

But even if that's the case, the chances of more than four dying within a 3 year course of treatment, all within a day or so of an appointment with the dentist, is pretty unlikely.

Chris

when I was hired out of high school and had a wife and new baby on the way , the shop foreman told me that being on time was mandatory !!

well after a few weeks I had car trouble and came in about 45 minutes late , got called into H.R and was told in no uncertain terms that you only get to come in late once

that the second occasion , regardless the reason you would be fired ..... now I knew why all the other guys arrived one half to three quarters of an hour early every day

well I held it up for over a year then got in an accident on the way in , went to my box and started packing up , when the foreman sauntered by and said , you get only one late

but you get five sick days , I haven't seen you yet today you must be sick ..... never was a happier young man

As Dilbert (Scott Adams) once said. Mondays and Fridays account for 40% of the sick days during the week.

I hear you and feel your pain. Currently my most promising full time help is in jail and isn't likely to be seen for a long time. I've yet to find a full time employee who doesn't have one problem or another. My experience is that the ones without enough brain power to do the job are the most reliable about showing up and I end up having to drive them away just to keep me from going nuts from the dumb stunts they do. The one's who are smart enough to do it are the ones that don't show up for one reason or another. I've had several part time employee's who where/are pretty good. But full time help is just impossible to come by around here. You can just ask any employer in town and they all have the same problem.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

What's a 'fiscal schedule' ? Typo for 'physiological..' or something else?

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

We had a guy who got sick once or twice a week.

Dad suggested that he stop doing what was making him sick.

He missed on average on day a week for 8 weeks. His first 8 weeks. He had been scheduled for 5 days 9 hours long. I changed his schedule to 4 days 8 hours long. He whined like a... Um, like a 24 year old who wanted a paycheck but didn't want to work. He did well when he came in. A shame. I knew the guy was on parole from county jail. I didn't ask for what, I hired him anyway. So much for being generous.

If I heard that, I would leave that f^&*(g place at the first opportunity.

I worked at a place like that for 6 yrs. It was called the Navy... well except they didn't fire you... You just wished they did.

Single Mom with twelve kids, all with different surnames. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

It reminds me... There is a saying... There are worse things that being single, for example not being single and wishing to be...

I a few months doing field work at a textile mill in a small Alabama town a few years back. They had to institute an employment policy stipulating that a person could only be employeed three times by the company. Too may of them would work for a few months until they had enough to buy a truck, bass boat, whatever and then just up and quit until they needed more money. Last I heard major sections of the mill were being palleted up and sent down to Central America, so thing sare probably pretty grim down there now.

Too bad. I'd be in there every moment I could. Seems like there aren't enough minutes in the day.

That can depend a great deal on how long you are stuck with the starting wage, and where it goes from there. If there's a real concrete prospect of making better money when you have better knowledge, or have passed a probationary period, rather than an expectation that the company will never give you a raise once you are hired, there can be good motivation to get to the point of making good money, despite a low starting wage. An employee capable of seeing beyond the current week is generally good.

When the starting wage drags on for an exploitatively long period, one can expect high employee turnover (an employee capable of seeing that the coming week, month, and year are going to offer no reward for more work will think fondly of other jobs, and go look for them). There are certain local jobs which I'm certain suck (pay, boss, or otherwise), simply based on how frequently they are advertised, without any other direct information about them...

Could be any new trainee-prospect needs to spend 2 months doing janitorial-like tasks to see if he'll show the heck up for work regularly before being promoted to bothering to train. Akin to typical apprentice starting tasks in days of yore. Unlike the days of yore, you might want to point that out to them rather explicitly, and then think about what needs painting or cleaning.

Frankly, if I recall correctly some of the work Eric has posted pictures of, I'd be interested in working for him, but relocating is not high on my list of good things to do at present, and I don't have the sort of industrial experience expected for most such jobs anyway, having picked up a lot of casual machining experience in lab work over the years, and at home... (and worse yet, I've got college courses in welding).

Finding good employers is probably at least as hard as finding good employees, I fear.

Nearly 40 years ago my BiL got me an interview at the factory where he was maint. electrician. After I was hired, he asked which foreman I was to work under, then proceeded to tell me that this was the worst SOB foreman in the plant. At the end of a six week probation period, I had received four pay increments, received piece work bonus on each pay check, won a competition for promotion to lathe operator and handed in my notice as I had been offered employment in a more favoured field. When I left, my "SOB" foreman said that he was sorry to lose me but understood the situation and wished me all the best. My main memory of this experience was talking to, and learning from the sweeper on my shift - he had operated the lathe I was on for forty years and asked to stay on as sweeper since he had no other life than the plant. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

A very good supervisor that I knew always told prospective new hires " If I hire you, you will be on probation for your first 90 days of employment. I will expect you to be here on time every day without any absences or excuses. Can you do this?" He made this statement to see the response of the job applicants. Most applicants replied "O.K, I can do that." and wondered how much of a bastard he would be as a boss. A few applicants would immediately start giving him a list of reasons that could keep them from being punctual. They were not hired because of their answers. He actually was very tolerant with employee personal problems.

I'm not sure what you'd consider a reasonable wage for someone that's learning, but in Washington State, where this incident occurred, the minimum wage is well over $7 hr. I can't help but think that's not bad money for an unskilled person.

Don't hesitate to make a connection between one's worth in production as opposed to wanting to earn a couple hundred bucks per hour. People in the US have had too much, for too long, and have lost their perspective. It's time for all of us to start realizing that unearned money is not in anyone's interest---including the recipient.

Harold

Harold

Harold, please inform me about exactly which jobs are providing that elusive "unearned money." I've been searching for those for years. All the stories I hear along these lines seem to indicate that shortly after the trainee thinks he has one, he gets fired out the door.

Jim

Well Said

Tillman