What does everyone think of women getting into wrenching on heavy equipment?

[DMiller]

I have witnessed that, was warned that it was NOT acceptable to be Jovial in the workplace any longer. We were joking around in some idle time, the woman did not understand guys being playful with each other, sparring and slap sticking, she took affront to this activity stating it was demeaning to the supervisor. Over the next few weeks she was working her qualifications booklet, would ask someone to watch the desired actions and sign her book, many disappeared too busy, she got mad and went BACK to the super who looked her directly in the face telling her she had defeated herself scared/alienated the boys as to being sued or fired and they would have little to do with her, was suggested and she did change crews. She finally dropped out when the machinery got too complicated as to interactions.

 

[92U 3406]

And that my friend hit the nail right on the head.

Several years ago, one of the companies I worked for had an "incident" at one of their other divisions.
I don't remember exactly what it was, but some of the boys were a bit disrespectful to a couple of women that they had on their crew. Guess who's daddy was a lawyer.
Yup, one of the girls.

Now admittedly, what was said was pretty crude, but once again, not knowing the whole story...

In the end there was a company, for lack of a better word, "policy" although you would never find it written anywhere.

Basically if there was a minority working for the company, and they made any complaint, be it sexual, racial or anything. The person(s) accused would go home and the minority would continue to work until the complaint could be verified and dealt with.

So if there was a woman working on the crew and you said good morning with the wrong kind of smile, you could go home without pay.

You are seeing this kind of thing all the time now.

How fair and equal is this?

I've had a run in back when I was 18 or 19 and new to the trade. Had about 1 year experience at that point. Buddy accused me of being racist and that the only reason I wouldn't listen to his advice was because of his skin tone. I shut him down instantly in front of witnesses by telling him "I could give a #### if you were black, white, Arabic, Asian, etc. I don't listen to you because you're a complete ####ing idiot!" This dude lost his eye on the job within his first 2 weeks there because he did something I explicitly told him not to do. Had zero respect for him after that point.

 

[JD955SC]

I know an amazing young woman who was a good heavy equipment mechanic and a hard worker

Sadly she was run off but is now much happier where she is at

She was a litte short on body strength but made up for it by being able to snake into spaces no one else could

The only thing I fear working with a woman is false accusations. I don't joke around in a dirty way but there are innumerable cases of women burying innocent guys under sexual harrassment accusations to get ahead or get revenge. In a world of guilty to never be proven innocent and the very real threat of financial ruin and career leprosy it gives one pause to welcoming the opposite sex into the workplace.

 

[RayF]

Unfortunately there is blame both sides. How many women up in the office have had the tap on the shoulder and the hard word put on them. It was rife in many workshops. The chickens have come home to roost!
I have been in shops line boring and along side me a girl is busting her gut with a cheater bar undoing wheel nuts off a haul truck while a group of men 15 feet away are standing around chatting. I know who gets my respect.

 

[Welder Dave]

Lot's of people have been burned talking to middlemen (or women) and getting their message twisted or mis-translated along the way. I hate being mis-quoted. I want to do my own communication whenever possible.
I worked as a fleet mechanic for a poor-boy outfit that had 8 Mack trucks. I was the only mechanic there and I wasn't a Mack specialist, just an all around mechanic working cheap wages. They had a habit of letting the owner's wife, who was also the office manager, fetch parts for the trucks. The Mack dealer was 45 miles away and they weren't about to let the mechanic fetch parts himself. So the woman, who has a bossy disposition tells me "There are few things I hate more than wrong parts". I tell her "I agree completely, that's why I like to get them myself". I knew what parts I needed and in many cases could get the number out of the book, but you know how parts are...always changing the numbers, selling parts packaged with other parts, numerous variables etc. etc..things change when you get to the parts counter. If I had been a Mack specialist I might have known their habits better. It was the only job I was ever fired from and I've had more than a couple dozen. a few weeks later when I hesitated to fill in for a driver and drive his truck for drivers wages, which was less than the rich $8 an hour they agreed to pay me (never said anything about driving trucks when I hired on), she fired me.
Another thing that factors in about tradesmen and communication is that most of us aren't great communicators in the first place...if we were we wouldn't have to skin our knuckles and bathe in grease. We often aren't skilled at tip-toeing around women's delicate sensibilities.

I understand wanting to talk to someone directly but if you can't even give the person a general idea of what you're looking for it sucks to be you. All he had to do was say he needs a drill bit, hole saw or it's for an electrical panel, etc. and I gladly would have either tried to help him or put him in touch with a tech who could. Blind arrogance shouldn't be rewarded. Sometimes the customer is a total jerk and they expect you to read their minds or know exactly what they need with little to go on. A couple years ago had a guy looking for a throttle cable for a gas compressor he bought 10 years ago at Princess Auto. I told him he should talk to them as it was one of their private brand compressors. He said they no longer have parts for that compressor and got all pizzy because I couldn't give him a part number. I told him I could transfer him to our compressor specialist who might have an idea. Then he gets all pizzed off because he had to be transferred again. He was extremely rude to the compressor specialist as well saying what kind of industrial supply shop are you that you don't even have a throttle cable... (for a no name compressor he bought somewhere else) Go pound sand!

 

[check]

I understand wanting to talk to someone directly but if you can't even give the person a general idea of what you're looking for it sucks to be you. All he had to do was say he needs a drill bit, hole saw or it's for an electrical panel, etc. and I gladly would have either tried to help him or put him in touch with a tech who could. Blind arrogance shouldn't be rewarded. Sometimes the customer is a total jerk and they expect you to read their minds or know exactly what they need with little to go on. A couple years ago had a guy looking for a throttle cable for a gas compressor he bought 10 years ago at Princess Auto. I told him he should talk to them as it was one of their private brand compressors. He said they no longer have parts for that compressor and got all pizzy because I couldn't give him a part number. I told him I could transfer him to our compressor specialist who might have an idea. Then he gets all pizzed off because he had to be transferred again. He was extremely rude to the compressor specialist as well saying what kind of industrial supply shop are you that you don't even have a throttle cable... (for a no name compressor he bought somewhere else) Go pound sand!

Some people simply have no idea to what lengths manufacturers go to muddy the waters with as many different parts as possible, just to ensure early obsolescence. His anger was appropriate but misdirected.

 

[Mother Deuce]

I have 39 years in the Operators. I have owned my own gear and trucks along the way. I have wrenched my own whenever possible. I am female. My father was an operator my mother kept the books. I always thought operating was a far site better than hanging out in the office. As far as doing the job... not as good as some, better than most. I will retire out in a couple years. I paid my dues just like anybody with a different set of plumbing. I have never let gender hold me back. I am big and ugly and on the mean side. I always considered it it helpful when I was in a blade... kept the tail down. If you took the female operators out of the mining industry tonight, it would not get out the gate in the morning.

 

[DMiller]

I have met those as you, worked side by side never threw in the 'I am a Woman" trump card or whined they needed extra or special help. You are a special gift to those that worked long and hard, you ate with us, drank and cussed with us, raised hell at the mechanics/drivers/owners as us, you ARE one of us. I DO appreciate those women that made their own way busting their butts to be as good as they could at the jobs we have all had.

 

[wornout wrench]

I have 39 years in the Operators. I have owned my own gear and trucks along the way. I have wrenched my own whenever possible. I am female. My father was an operator my mother kept the books. I always thought operating was a far site better than hanging out in the office. As far as doing the job... not as good as some, better than most. I will retire out in a couple years. I paid my dues just like anybody with a different set of plumbing. I have never let gender hold me back. I am big and ugly and on the mean side. I always considered it it helpful when I was in a blade... kept the tail down. If you took the female operators out of the mining industry tonight, it would not get out the gate in the morning.

Your last line hit a cord.
I worked mining for a bit. Not long, bad mine. I left because I felt that they were going to kill someone and it was not going to be on my watch. Another story for another thread.

The mine I was at had, god I forget, how many young women driving trucks. Cat 793's.
One of the girls was a mere 18 years old.
In a word, they were AWESOME. Best drivers we had. Got the production and didn't destroy the trucks. Slow and steady.
The men driving. Ugh!!! Freaking cowboys on bucking bronco's yeehawwwwwwwww.

A friend of mine worked with us years ago. Learning to drill and blast.
She was "one of the crew"
Good worker, hell of a good person.
Single mom doing the best that she could.
If the rest of the crew had her work ethic...

I have worked with all kinds of people, different races, different genders.
Some of the worst I have worked with have been the white trash alpha males. Gah!

Basically what it gets down to is I really do not care what gender you are, what race you are or what god you pray to.
If you can do the job, get along with the rest of the crew and not be some kindergarten kid that I have to spend my time baby sitting, we are going to get along just fine.

Nuff said!

 

[Vetech63]

I just remembered something from a few years ago. I was on a big mass dirt moving job where the foreman on the job was a guy I knew from another company. He was complaining that the last 3 guys he had operating the excavator (CAT 336? I think) were having trouble keeping up with the trucks. I looked over at the excavator working and didn't see what the problem was. The operator , after watching for a bit, was getting full buckets with fast cycle times and smooth operation. I remember thinking "Dam, that's looks pretty dam good to me! What are your expectations!?" He called on the radio to tell everyone it was break time, and I watched this small girl get out of that excavator and bounced over to where me and the foreman were standing. As she got closer, she got younger.....LOL I remember thinking " You got to be kidding me!" What really impressed me? The fact that the girl was his 16 year old daughter helping her dad while on spring break. He told me she was a better operator than what he could hire at the time and had been operating equipment most of her life.

 

[DMiller]

Start them early and work them as your own employees, they will be tough, unwavering and happy, an example of expectations and well groomed for the positions.

But that according to some is against child labor law, stupid people.

 

[gtermini]

A local guy who runs a straw baling outfit mostly hires high school gals to run baler and rake. He says they are way better than boys the same age because the boys never call when something breaks; they either just keep running or try to "fix" it themselves. Both cases usually leading to more downtime. He says the gals jab the clutch, twist the key, and wait for the mechanic/crew lead to come take a look if anything even sounds off.

 

[Vetech63]

I have taken my daughter with me out in the field at times over the years since she was 13. She was never a prissy girl and wasn't afraid to get dirty. She is now 30 years old and called me yesterday out of nowhere and asked if she could come along again sometime like we used to do when she was younger. I said of course! Its been a few years since she has gone with me and the last time I had her removing grouser pads with my 1" impact gun. She struggled at first until she figured it out, then kicked it into high gear and got the job done. She just loves to take selfies of herself holding impact guns, or parts, or whatever for her facebook page. I gotta say, I'm looking forward to it!

 

[funwithfuel]

That is so cool.

 

[moriboy]

If you are qualified, you get the job. I have found that for detail oriented tasks, such as quality control or dealing with money, women have done better for me than men.

 

[Welder Dave]

Just look at all the women who worked in factories in WW II. Women make excellent Tig welders as well because they are more delicate with their hands. I've also worked with some women who were a lot more abrasive and potty mouthed than the men.

 

[td25c]

Thought about this thread when I was at the doctors office yesterday .

All female staff .... I was out numbered from the beginning ..... Asking allot of questions then telling me what to do ....... " Hey lady's ".... I'm already happily married .

Need to see Doc Adams

 

[DMiller]

I see a Nurse Practioner(Gal), she is more strict than ANY male Doc I have seen and Much Less forgiving of my lacking attitude. Her staff is all women, all MEAN women!! but they do take good care of a ornery old man!

Grandmother was always repeating, "Women are mean, Men are stupid(they keep coming back for more meanness), Men are Dogs"(Meaning Insatiably Horney). She meant every word of it and I believe her.

 

[Hobbytime]

nowa days I dont think gender as much as personal attitude on getting the work done is what counts..just sit back and watch all the millennial males cry about getting their hands dirty or having to get up early for a job..technology has made many jobs equal for men or women, just look at the joystick controls in equipment now compared to the heavy levers and muscle needed to move them in older equipment, sometimes a lighter slower touch is needed than heavy handed that the male counter part seem to have...if you can do the job it doesnt matter what or who you are....

 

[Wes J]

Thought about this thread when I was at the doctors office yesterday .

All female staff .... I was out numbered from the beginning

I took my 1 year old son to the doc a few months back. Most of questions I had to answer were about why his mother didn't bring him and why I was alone.