Part of aging, I suppose...

Greed is the killer of all things good.

Ron H said:

Some of this has to do with a person’s internal fears. Some like to lead by using it treating their people like **** and others are just good sorts of people usually having some self-confidence and even instilling it in others. I can say from recollecting bosses I had over the years. The fear-ridden sorts tend to be more incompetent and are ever-scared their weaknesses will be identified. They tend to keep their lips on any asses from above they think will protect them and help them aspire. And sadly, I’ve seen this work with a few box a rocks dimwits. People that treat others like crap such as being a **** wad to waitresses and their spouses do so IMO cuz they have fear demons they’re unable to handle.

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Yep. If you ever want to see the true character in a person, observe how they treat the wait staff in a restaurant.

DeltaV said:

With age comes wisdom. Fortunately, for me, I acquired a very high level of cynicism at a young age. Time has proven me right.

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As much as that may have helped you....that's gotta be a rough way to live, my friend.

Sahara said:

I was truly fortunate to have the boss that I started with 21 years ago. Previous to this I worked in the oil patch where they worked you like a slave and treated you like an animal. Some were animals, I have to admit.
Up here government jobs are hard core affirmative action. Hard core.
My department had hired every aboriginal painter around. None were any good. As a last resort, they try a white guy, me. They tell me up front that as a white guy they can’t give me a “real” job, just casual. That’s fine.
I show up for work the first day, and my boss sends me to finish up a job that four other guys were on. It’s a school. I go into the kitchen, and it’s a complete gong show. Half done, shitty workmanship, there were even paint footprints where they had stepped in paint and then walked on the counter tops. They had spent the days smoking pot and driving around the reserve in the government truck trying to pick up girls.
I immediately go back to my boss and tell him if this is the sort of work that he expects from me that they should find another guy, I’m not it.
He says that he had no idea that it was that bad, to do the best work that I was capable of, and that he would back me up. Twenty one years later I am still there. That boss died suddenly but subsequent bosses have followed his lead.
Because I have integrity they trust me completely. I have complete autonomy to do what I want. Nobody checks on me or bothers me. My mandate is to find stuff to paint and paint it. I do. My personal rules are: that you don’t have to work hard, but you do have to work. Don’t steal ****. Do a good job.
Three simple rules, but apparently beyond the abilities of many up here.

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Not just there but every where. Grandson was helping grandma paint on on of our jobs. For some reason the next day grandma could not make it. That day when we got to the job he was told he was to fix grandma's screwups. Never had to do one of his jobs over again after that. But guess that was how we all learn.

moparedtn said:

Yep. If you ever want to see the true character in a person, observe how they treat the wait staff in a restaurant.

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My wife was one of those staff members for years. We know about all our waiters by name and most of the cooks. They know who we are when we come threw the door, what we want to drink and pretty much what will be ordered. We always leave a tip no matter the service.

Bout 15 yrs ago, we finally moved into our brand new station. The walls crumbling down around us. We weren’t in there a week, when the Chief revoked all the retirees ID’s to get in the station. A newly retired guy said to me, “Once you’re in you’re a guest, Once you’re out you’re a pest”
I’ll never forget the disappointment in his eyes.

At the end of the day, I got them, I worked my *** off and it wasn't for free! This *** cost money!! Everyone wins if you do something for the right reasons, pick your reasons.

Yep. If you ever want to see the true character in a person, observe how they treat the wait staff in a restaurant

Retail too. I'd like to think I treated the five guys I worked with fairly. All but one quit within a couple of weeks of me being fired. I did everything I could to not just sit at my desk and bark orders. I told my guys there was nothing I would ask them to do that I wouldn't do myself. Some said I was a good manager for doing this, others said I was a pushover for not being a dick like a typical boss. I dunno, I did the best I could, and slept with a clear conscious.

satilite73 said:

Yep. If you ever want to see the true character in a person, observe how they treat the wait staff in a restaurant

Retail too. I'd like to think I treated the five guys I worked with fairly. All but one quit within a couple of weeks of me being fired. I did everything I could to not just sit at my desk and bark orders. I told my guys there was nothing I would ask them to do that I wouldn't do myself. Some said I was a good manager for doing this, others said I was a pushover for not being a dick like a typical boss. I dunno, I did the best I could, and slept with a clear conscious.

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There ya go.
That's still true in what I do to this day - the younger fellas that go out and do what we do, what I usually
have sold/arranged to be done, know that I won't sell anything I won't do myself.
They also know if they half-*** it, there will be a "go-back" - and I'll probably be the one doing the going back
and it won't reflect well on them if I do.

Duckmanreno said:

Money is relative.
The more money you have the more relatives you have.

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The more relatives you ACQUIRE.

I was very fortunate with my first job that my boss (one of them being the co-owner of a machine shop - Gene) took me under his wing as I was not let’s say stellar as a 17 year old punk. He was like my 2nd dad in many respects. He taught me to operate, setup, and repair machines. He later had me doing all sorts of things from ordering materials, shipping, QC, then assistant foreman of the mill & drill department. He was super organized, just complete opposite of the other owner – Wayne and his wife had 1% ownership making Gene 49% owner that eventually would become an insurmountable issue. Wayne had his sweet spots depending on his mood; but usually made you feel like a 2nd class citizen. He developed a serious drinking problem. With Gene, you wanted to do any work for him to the best of your ability cuz he appreciated it and he worked this way. One day I came in and asked Gene “What do you want me to do today Geno”? He said “I don’t know Ronny; I bet you can figure it out”. That was him, what a way to instill confidence and make ya feel worthy.

One day we were inspected by OSHA, and after this fiasco, Geno says “Ronny you’re in charge of our safety program.” That had me doing some studying finding all sorts of career opp’s at the time as OSHA was only a few years old then. I enrolled in college part time while still working here and eventually set off in this field after I graduated. Not long after this, Gene had enough with Wayne’s miss-management and struck a deal to end the partnership not cash out…he requested some of the machinery and setup his own small shop.

Wayne got to drinking more and spent most of his time at a local bar as the biz continued to tank leaving the management to a couple long time employees; but his line of credit shrunk unable to buy steel. One of the largest customers, one they had since they started, bought the steel for him to do a big order. WDF, Wayne used this steel to do a couple other jobs! Goodbye biggest customer they had. Not long after this, employees arrived to work one morning to find the place locked up…by the IRS. That was that.

Yeah, it was a sad day when I heard Gene passed away. Even his nursing home staff was heartbroken as they said he was just a wonderful man to be around.

Sorry for the long story here; but speaking of bosses/company owners on this thread, I couldn’t resist talking about one standout in my life.

moparedtn said:

There ya go.
That's still true in what I do to this day - the younger fellas that go out and do what we do, what I usually
have sold/arranged to be done, know that I won't sell anything I won't do myself.
They also know if they half-*** it, there will be a "go-back" - and I'll probably be the one doing the going back
and it won't reflect well on them if I do.

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Their job they can fix it. It is called the learning process. Their sales and probably salary. Yep let them suck it up.

Guess I look at it from a different angle, friends are friends and family is family.. outside of that I really don't care if someone snubs me or for whatever reason decides to no longer value our relationship.

As the child of a highly gifted father (machinist, mechanic, fabricator, etc) I learned at a very young age how people work. He would come home from work and be met by neighbors or so called friends waiting on him to fix their cars, machine a part or weld something.. when the job was done you wouldn't see them again until the next time they needed something. I still remember people coming out and demanding that he fixed something for them when he was working on our dirt bikes, they'd preach to him about how their car was more important then a silly bike. He even let a so called friend live on our property free of rent for years, he even got a loan to buy the man a semi so he could work! Fast forward to today and nobody comes to visit him, nobody gives two shits and this family lives 1/4 mile down the road! What I witnessed as a child gardened me to the facts, know your friends and forget the rest, I'm not waisting any time on this earth worrying about those who don't care nor will I help those who won't help themselves.

mopar 3 B said:

Their job they can fix it. It is called the learning process. Their sales and probably salary. Yep let them suck it up.

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If it's a repair job, I need to go see what they've done (or not done) in order to determine what they WILL be doing
when they go back, yes.
If it's an inspection, if I'm being called into it they've either a)omitted something (or done what we call a "drive-by
inspection") or b)upset the customer somehow, in which case I have to go "smooth" things and see for myself
if it was ours or simply an incorrect or unreasonable customer.

moparedtn said:

If it's a repair job, I need to go see what they've done (or not done) in order to determine what they WILL be doing
when they go back, yes.
If it's an inspection, if I'm being called into it they've either a)omitted something (or done what we call a "drive-by
inspection") or b)upset the customer somehow, in which case I have to go "smooth" things and see for myself
if it was ours or simply an incorrect or unreasonable customer.

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Thought they were called salesman. But yes been there and coped with the aftermath for years.

I used to be open to helping people that were broke down until the last time. I was driving back to my office after lunch and came upon a young lady with her small kid in the backseat in a precarious situation stopped off a narrow road partially blocking the lane. Pulled up behind and put on my flashers then asked her what the problem might be. Well she was out of gas in her old beat up car. I pushed her car back several feet to a driveway to get it off the road then said I'd go to a gas station to get a can of gas for her. I paid a deposit for the can, filled it up, and back I went to her car. After filling it up I told her to start cranking the motor and she had run the battery pert near dead. So I got my jumper cables out and got the car running.

But with the hood open, I noticed the throttle linkage was in a bad way; this was a lot of years ago and can't recall offhand exactly what alarmed me; but told her about it saying it needs to be looked at soon. I said maybe your husband or friend who knows cars can take care of it, otherwise you need to get it to a shop. Well...THEN she starts accusing me that I damaged it!
I said "Lady, I wasn't anywhere near your carb, I just hooked up the jumper cables and noticed it". She continued saying "There weren't nothin wrong with it before". Like she'd friggin know. If it hadn't been for her kid in the car I'd have tossed a few expletives out but said "Here's the gas...you can to return to the gas station and you'll get the cash deposit back and the gas is on me...but lady lemme tell ya driving your kid around...get what I told ya fixed soon."

**** was I peeee-issed!

moparedtn said:

As much as that may have helped you....that's gotta be a rough way to live, my friend.

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All good here

Sahara said:

I show up for work the first day, and my boss sends me to finish up a job that four other guys were on. It’s a school. I go into the kitchen, and it’s a complete gong show. Half done, shitty workmanship, there were even paint footprints where they had stepped in paint and then walked on the counter tops.

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Sounds like these guys.....

sadly, what I type for the OP will be blocked as he has me on ignore...
But "YES", it is sad to think "WE" have spent a lifetime helping/taking care of and even fretting...worrying, emotional toll, and some loved ones, friends, business partners want to push us side.
Humans can be greedy/cold, self centered.
Ya know?
After all these years I still wear my heart on my sleeve
I need to toughen up a bit.

There’s an ignore button? I feel like I just won the lottery!
*** edit *** I’m aware there’s an ignore setting. I’m kidding.