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What's wrong with people?

chansey

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
171
Location
New Mexico
Occupation
Retired Project Engineering Manager
Do...Teach...Politics

Nige said,

"Those who can - do.
Those who can't, go into teaching.
Those who can't do either of the aforementioned, go into politics.........."

There are exceptions to every assumption ----I've done all three & much more

I can because that is where I started

I teach to educate and train those who can and want to get better

Got into politics to promote technical training and funding to pay the teacher who instructs those who can to promote themselves

I get in the trenches and look all of them in the eye so they know where I have been

Paul
 

Scrub Puller

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Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
3,481
Location
Gladstone Queensland Australia
Yair . . . chansey. I'm curious, what subjects do you teach?

I ask because I certainly would not want you teaching any child of mine.

And this is just the problem mate . . . teachers like you who are incapable of putting together a cohesive block of thought out logical text.


I suggest you sit down and rewrite that #81 post in a manner that conveys just what you mean . . . and repost it because I for one have no clue as to what you are on about.

Cheers.
 

chansey

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
171
Location
New Mexico
Occupation
Retired Project Engineering Manager
Scub, who wrote;

" I for one have no clue as to what you are on about" .... I understand

Paul
 

Scrub Puller

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Joined
Mar 29, 2009
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3,481
Location
Gladstone Queensland Australia
Yair . . . chancey. Well that's something . . . you do understand a clear concise statement of fact.

Now if you could just put this piece of nonsense into context . . . .

I get in the trenches and look all of them in the eye so they know where I have been

Metaphorics and Philosophics are not discussed here very much


Cheers.
 
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fixou812

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
677
Location
Buffalo NY
Occupation
Millwright Equipment Mechanic Welder
I'm just another "victim of public schooling " I too am looking forward to your trench stories!
How would you handle teaching at the speed of your slowest student?
 

chansey

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
171
Location
New Mexico
Occupation
Retired Project Engineering Manager
Scrub Puller,

It is very apparent you haven't been in the trenches. It's ok, some people teach theory from a text book without any "real life" experience, others teach theory based on hands on experiences and use a text book for reference.

Paul
 

fixou812

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
677
Location
Buffalo NY
Occupation
Millwright Equipment Mechanic Welder
Well I've seen people fix stuff and it doesn't seem that hard.
You've got two hands just like me and vice versa.
Picture a shop with a broken excavator to the left and a broken long truck
to the right. In the center is a recliner facing a tool box.
You have a later pointer in your hand, near the chair is a cooler full of cold beer.
 

fixou812

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
677
Location
Buffalo NY
Occupation
Millwright Equipment Mechanic Welder
I wouldn't have to diagnosis. ..look for stuff. ...think or make any phone calls.
just point to the seal driver in the corner of the shop or the third drawer down
where the tip cleaner is. I wouldn't have to bring in any tools or be asked
what the problem is. ...sure would make life alot easier!
 

fixou812

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
677
Location
Buffalo NY
Occupation
Millwright Equipment Mechanic Welder
:confused:Mechinics:
Who changes the bulbs in a firefly tales?
Who tinkered with the motor of a bee?
If bugs have bugs Who fixes them?
Who fixes them is me.
So if you're a cricket who does not sing.
A mosquito with itch less bites.
If you're friends with a wasp that does not sting....
or a spider who's scared of heights.
If you meet a dragon who will not fly.
If you know a weakling ant.
If you see a slug who's getting dry....
if your caterpillar says I can't.
Give me a call I do it all.
 

Former Wrench

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2014
Messages
470
Location
Montesano, WA
Occupation
Retired
Here's my story. It is made up of both. When I was younger I was a diesel mechanic/welder/operator who moved into commercial fishing/boat repair/tug boating. I was always a reader and somehow went to work for an attorney at a law office. When I was 40 I started college as a freshman and got a BA and a MPA. From there I have worked in offices ranging from Tribal Govt. to what I do now which is writing environmental documents and getting permits for road construction projects.

The long and short is that all of it was good and everything I did taught me something that makes up the whole of me now.

My take is there is a lost generation that would die if they had to repair something instead of throwing it away and getting a new one. I still have all of my tools and sometimes when I am fixing something, someone will be there and not even know what the particular tool is let alone what it is for and god forbid, how to use it.
 

chansey

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
171
Location
New Mexico
Occupation
Retired Project Engineering Manager
Read and understand !!!!

Former Wrench is definitely one who has been in the trenches ...... based on where he has been, what he has done and what he has learned. His mind set is not solely based on learning from a text book. Having hands on experience coupled with technical ability is a huge advantage because the depth of the person is far more than most people at the same level.

Not too long ago, I was completing a research grant at the University of New Mexico and had two students working on their masters assisting me. At the same time I was constructing a home and had to install my own 6" main water line. The trench was already dug and just needed some help setting the line and valves. I hired the two students to work for me to install the water line. After 300 ft, the plans called for a valve to be installed. The backhoe operator lowered the valve into the trench and the student began to bolt it in. The operator started honking the horn and waving his hands. The student asked, "What's wrong?" I looked at the valve and said that the operator was trying to tell him he was installing the gate valve backwards. He then picked up the valve and turned it around and bolted the valve in place. After almost 7 yrs in school, this was the first time he got any field experience.

I am sure he had to discuss the incident with fellow students because it took him 3 full weeks to find out he had been skunked.

Paul.
 

rossaroni

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Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Messages
106
Location
SE PA
I looked at the valve and said that the operator was trying to tell him he was installing the gate valve backwards. He then picked up the valve and turned it around and bolted the valve in place. After almost 7 yrs in school, this was the first time he got any field experience.

A first timer in the ditch and he picks up and bolts in a 130lb valve by himself? Keep your 70 year old mechanic, I want the kid for a laborer!:)
 

chansey

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
171
Location
New Mexico
Occupation
Retired Project Engineering Manager
Rossaroni,

Sorry, he's not available at the moment, he's now a civil engineer with a master degree and who knows, he may be the head of his own company.

I agree he would make an excellent laborer. Would need to do a few things for him. Heavier gloves, he got blisters in 2 hrs , a larger brimmed hat because he is very light skinned and sun blocker.


Paul
 

oldtanker

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Joined
Sep 25, 2010
Messages
463
Location
vining mn
Occupation
Ret
This just in. Local guy here who works as a supervisor for a construction company that's big enough to run 3 or 4 interstate highway jobs in that many locations. They are looking for laborers and people are walking out of interviews when they are told they may be 2-3 states away and working 50 or so hours a week. Same people crying cause they can't find work. Wife works at a convenience store that's looking for help both part and full time. People again turning done jobs because of evening and weekend scheduling.

Rick
 

JDOFMEMI

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Joined
Jan 3, 2007
Messages
3,074
Location
SoCal
This just in. Local guy here who works as a supervisor for a construction company that's big enough to run 3 or 4 interstate highway jobs in that many locations. They are looking for laborers and people are walking out of interviews when they are told they may be 2-3 states away and working 50 or so hours a week. Same people crying cause they can't find work. Wife works at a convenience store that's looking for help both part and full time. People again turning done jobs because of evening and weekend scheduling.

Rick

That seems to me to be the result of the nanny state we now reside in. It has become easier and more fruitful to sit and whine while collecting welfare/unemployment/disability, or whatever other program that the state comes up with than to actually get a job. That may not be convenient to their schedule. Might have to miss a TV show they like or something.

I run into a steady supply of those that want a job, but when they realize the job involves actual work, and might be hard or dirty, then they decide to go on down the road.
 

lantraxco

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Jan 1, 2009
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Elsewhen
Or they have children or other family members to take care of, or the wife/girlfriend has her own job and they can't afford daycare because they actually are not on welfare. It's not like the old days when everybody had an extended family or decent neighbors they could trust to look after the kids. There's plenty of laziness and pickiness out there sure, but take it from me there's a lot of desperation too, and people that would rather do without some things to be home with the family most nights. It used to be the job was everything, well it shouldn't have been then and given the attitude of the average employer towards his robots, er, people, it's no wonder a great many of us won't whore ourselves for a couple bucks.
 

kshansen

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Mar 11, 2012
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11,127
Location
Central New York, USA
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Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
Or they have children or other family members to take care of, or the wife/girlfriend has her own job and they can't afford daycare because they actually are not on welfare. It's not like the old days when everybody had an extended family or decent neighbors they could trust to look after the kids. There's plenty of laziness and pickiness out there sure, but take it from me there's a lot of desperation too, and people that would rather do without some things to be home with the family most nights. It used to be the job was everything, well it shouldn't have been then and given the attitude of the average employer towards his robots, er, people, it's no wonder a great many of us won't whore ourselves for a couple bucks.

Lantraxco,

Very well said I've done my best to do my job for the same company for 45 years and now less than a month before I retire as the only mechanic at this quarry they are still trying to decide who will take over and are just now taking about posting the job. Need a 1/2 inch bolt drop by hardware store and pick up one, need a experienced heavy equipment mechanic just call up the store for one of those. Oh and only offer 1/2 of what I am getting paid and expect him or her to show up with $10,000 of tools that everyone at the quarry will be borrowing.
 

Buckethead

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Apr 4, 2007
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1,055
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Waterfront
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Operator
There's plenty of laziness and pickiness out there sure, but take it from me there's a lot of desperation too, and people that would rather do without some things to be home with the family most nights.

Good point.
 

chansey

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
171
Location
New Mexico
Occupation
Retired Project Engineering Manager
What's Wrong with People

Most employers really don't know what an individual does to keep an operation running, the creative things you do to cut costs and and the knowledge you have regarding any number of things.

It's sad that an employer really knows your worth once you're gone. They always think you make far too much for what you do and never take into consideration the worth of the tools you have to do your jobs quickly and efficiently.

When I retired, my former employer promoted one of the young oilers to do the work at half my salary, with little tools and even less experience. Before the end of the first 4 months they had 3 men in the shop. Go figure .....

What's wrong with people, where is the savings from not having a top notch person doing the work ??? Wait, I know, they have to pay more and there aren't any replacements.

Paul
 
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kshansen

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Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
11,127
Location
Central New York, USA
Occupation
Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
Most employers really don't know what an individual does to keep an operation running, the creative things you do to cut costs and and the knowledge you have regarding any number of things.

It's sad that an employer really knows your worth once you're gone. They always think you make far too much for what you do and never take into consideration the worth of the tools you have to do your jobs quickly and efficiently.

When I retired, my former employer promoted one of the young oilers to do the work at half my salary, with little tools and even less experience. Before the end of the first 4 months they had 3 men in the shop. Go figure .....

What's wrong with people, where is the savings from not having a top notch person doing the work ??? Wait, I know, they have to pay more and there aren't any replacements.

Paul

:iagree:exactly

A lot of that sounds familiar, my first wife's dad was the only supervisor in the licence plate factory in the State prison near here, NO Not an inmate;), after he retired he learned that they put three guys in there to take over his job!

In my case over the past 4 decades I have built up a pile of special tools I made to do my job like the pushing blocks to remove and install bushings in loader linkage. They are just odds and ends of scrap round chunks of metal that I have scrounged up and with a little time on the lathe made them to push the bushings in or out with steps to stop them at the right spot to leave room for seals. Nothing fancy looking but make the job easy and fast. What will happen to these tools when I leave in 20 days? And how many bushings will be destroyed by someone trying to beat them in with a big hammer?
 
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