I need some guidance

Blue924.9 said:

Just an update. They hired a new kid and an intern who are getting preferential treatment bad enough for other techs to approach me about it. I had an engine that I buttoned up and found a driveline issue on that would cause a problem. I notified the foreman the manager and took pictures on my phone of the story I wrote documenting it. Left to go to the dmv over lunch and tractor was gone when I got back, manager delivered it to the customer and promised she told them about it. I got pulled in the office and sent home suspended without pay until Tuesday when I am supposedly having a meeting with managers and hr. The good news is I had alot of free time today to visit other shops and pickup applications. Got suspended because that driveline let go and caused havoc. Of course the manager is playing dumb about it

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Sounds like they want to be rid of you no matter what. Time to evacuate to a better place...you should be able to move on no problem. People like that ain’t worth working for.

And I feel ya on the preferential treatment thing. Let the wonder boys do it all if they think they are so good.

^^ Yup^^.. IF they stick him w/ U.. then u know its time to leave.. They're grooming him to replace u..
I would head it off.. & don't forget, anything u say will go straight back to the head office..
So what I would do is, 1st day they stick him w/u is.. just walk him around & show him where all the parts are for every job your working on & what "U THINK" the problem is.. & say "U MIGHT COME TO ANOTHER CONCLUSION." but please don't call me..
U might also tell him from the VERY START, "U need a note pad to write all this down, just incase I'm not around".. DONT tell him outright your leaving or quitting or think their gonna fire u.. JUST HINT..
Cus ITS GOING STRAIGHT BACK to the "Big Ears".. & you'll hear about it 1 way or another..
I hope it works out in YOUR favor..

Vetech63 said:

Correct. I should have been more specific. My apologies to the ladies of course!

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None taken I was a shift supervisor for about year at a very large miners shop in AZ. Let me first point out that for instance, I know absolutely nothing about the 143 miles (<seemingly) of wiring that inhabit a 793's innards. I had 15 guy's and a working head mechanic who did. It was not my job to figure out exactly what was wrong. It was my job to get the gear in the barn, so the shop could make the repairs and get it back in the field. If that could be done instantly so much the better as an empty truck is a vacuum and nature and truck owners hate vacuums. It was my job to pick the battles we could win and keep the maximum amount of iron in the field that was not scheduled into the shop for PM or component swap due to hours or rebuild because of failure.
Because of the way the shop staff was organized with the Shop Superintendent, two supers under him, several service writers, a safety guy, the shifters, working foreman and a crew that was very talented, that job has been one of my favorite positions ever. The crew didn't need me asking dumb questions, they did have to tell me what they were up against what they felt they needed and a approx timeline to "out the door." In the particular case of the short in the 2 inch bundle of spaghetti that is the loom of a 793 the tech looked at me and said he didn't know... not the answer I was looking for but considering the considerable tenure and talent this man had it was the answer I settled for and 3 shifts later and many many diagnostics later he produced a runner.
My job was easy because that crew was beyond good as well as all the support to the shop including our Cat residents. If I would have dropped dead on the floor, they would have mucked me out and the jobs they were working on would have got done.
It didn't matter that I was female it really was/is a mute point. Anyone in that position can determine fairly quickly who can and who can't.
I was blessed with a group of techs who could really produce. I just got out of the way and made sure that they could safely fly at it.
I was proud of them then and I am still proud of them now. It was my honor to have worked with them.

On a regular basis/ quite the norm, there was always 2-3-4 shiny shoed blow-hards standing in your way LOOKING, when u were "trying" to work..
I finally said, "ALL u pencil pushers, get outta my way".. {AC/DC.. Back in Black}
& it worked rather nicely.. Cuz they KNEW who they were..& there was no 2nd guessing, "is he talking about me?"
OR just stop working all together.. I was asked, "what are u doing?".. & said, "just waiting until u fellas get outta my way so I can fix this.".. OR if I was in a bad mood, it would come out WAY different..

Hated audiences, did not care for Shop owner or fleet manager questioning my every move or what I was doing and why. Was a working foreman just at half my career as Mechanic as well self directed contractor on the side, did not need more pressure and yes TPGSC approach works REALLY well, stop and stare back, when they ask you what's up say 'Waiting until you're OUT OF MY WAY', and they will get the message when on the clock.

My stock comment to get rid of onlookers or rubberneckers is/was always - "I wasn't aware that this was a spectator sport".

Other than that not much to be said apart from what's been said already. Make sure you have the photographic evidence of the driveline well saved.

There must be some kind of employment standards branch in Iowa. Suspended without pay because something broke that you pointed out to them and they didn't act on isn't your fault. They owe you the lost days wages at the very least. I worked at one place where the only reason one Sr. manager got his job was because he went to the same church as the owners. Didn't have a clue. I quit because of his incompetence and so did several others before me. It was so bad at one time that the millwright foreman told him he had stay out of the shop because too many good millwrights were leaving and they can't spend all their time training new guys. He stayed away for awhile but then went back to being the idiot he is. Of course the HR person was so far up his butt it wouldn't have mattered what anyone who had issues with him said.

When there was abunch of'm standing around BSing.. I liked to walk by & say, "Cant get no work done like THAT, fellas".. The dumbfounded looks on their faces was priceless.. as they scattered..

I worked at West Edmonton Mall and they had a flood at the ice rink from the roof made of skylights. Not the 1st time. This idiot and a 2nd one just as bad were standing on the 2nd floor talking on their cell phones watching everybody else cleaning it up including the new female manager of the mall. It was company policy not to do personal projects on company time but the 2nd idiot wanted us to make some bear bait traps for him so the 2 idiots could go hunting on the weekend. The apprentice made them but he was the 2nd idiots nephew. Not a bad guy but he never seemed to get the abuse everyone else did... Hmmm. We always wondered if he was telling stuff to his idiot uncle.

thepumpguysc said:

When there was abunch of'm standing around BSing.. I liked to walk by & say, "Cant get no work done like THAT, fellas".. The dumbfounded looks on their faces was priceless.. as they scattered..

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Two of our guys (both happen to be boss’s pets of course) spend hours (and I mean hours at a time) talking instead of working. I’ve said before that it’s nice that our company lets couples spend time together at work so they don’t miss each other when not at home.

Final update on the situation. I accepted a job at the local Caterpillar dealership that actually happens to be closer than the John Deere dealership. The position is mostly heavy trucks/ semis with some ag and some heavy equipment mixed in. after getting a good grasp of everything I hope to progress into a service truck after say 5 years. I have not had the luxury of telling my service manager that two weeks is all I have left yet

Caterpillar has excellent training. Is that Altorfer out by you?

Blue924.9 said:

Final update on the situation. I accepted a job at the local Caterpillar dealership that actually happens to be closer than the John Deere dealership. The position is mostly heavy trucks/ semis with some ag and some heavy equipment mixed in. after getting a good grasp of everything I hope to progress into a service truck after say 5 years. I have not had the luxury of telling my service manager that two weeks is all I have left yet

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Good deal

You could always give them a to-day notice instead of a two week notice lol

Don't burn bridges without a significantly good reason. Feeling good is not one.

Wot he said......
I’d be asking the present employer for a reference before I left.

They were kool enough to give u the job in the 1st place.. don't screwm over.. get that notice in writing & lay it on the mngr's desk.. PRONTO..
IF he wants to "talk about it", he'll call u in the office..
BE SURE to DATE IT..
You know, a lot of companies have adopted the policy that,, if u do not give a 2 wk notice, you don't get your vacation & personal time when u leave..!!!
THATS just something to think about..
IF its a substancial amount.. stay the extra days/week & just tell the other people that u cant leave your current employer "hang'n" & U NEED TO work out your notice..
It worked for me.. when I got hired at another company, they wanted me there "yesterday" & kept pushing the point.. I finally said, "LOOK, I've been w/ this co for 20 YEARS.. I believe I owe them something.. I HAVE TO work out a 2 week notice.".. "YOU wouldn't like it if I did THAT to you, would u??"

Two week notices are a bunch of crap passed on down from a by gone era and typically were only used for salaried positions. Most states are work by convenience, so ask yourself if the employer would reciprocate if the shoe was on the other foot.

My last employer had the habit of sending off sales staff that were leaving by having them turn in all the computer stuff at the time they gave notice and terminating right then and there. I signed up for two weeks of vacation time and on the first day of my vacation I turned in all my stuff, cleaned out my work station and then went to the manager and gave him the letter of resignation. When he asked why, I told him I could no longer work in a toxic environment, turned around and left. Those people tried telling the industry I had retired. I told the industry that I fired them for cause.

2 weeks notice..? You lot are lucky, my contract says I have to give 90 days.....

For the most part we don't work under contracts here. Employment laws rule the employer / employee relationship.

Mechanic jobs believe it or not is a small group.. pretty much everybody knows everybody..
& they're just a phone call away..
Try walking off a job w/o notice around here.. if u didn't have a job to go to.. it would be a cold day in h*ll before u DID..