Part of aging, I suppose...

[Sahara]

Triple 500 hit the nail on the head. I’m a commercial painter, generally buildings but I’ve done everything from simple murals to oil patch stuff and cars. I’m good at what I do, I don’t do everything but what I do is done with no compromise on quality materials or workmanship.
The internet has ruined everything.
I can’t count the times where a client has brought me in to look at a job, and after hearing me out says “...but I saw on YouTube...”. If I can, I will refuse the job.
Another favourite is “...I’ve done some painting...”.
When I hear that I respond with something along the lines of “You’re telling me that you worked for a company that paid you to be a painter and judged your work appropriately?”
A hundred percent of the times it means they painted a room for their Mom and now consider themselves expert.
I’m sure other trades hear the same thing.

 

[R413]

Zzz

 

[Budnicks]

some people really play the victim way too long, too

the sad part is they get the attention more than they deserve
bitch & moan when they don't get it
seemingly always the loudest squeal, gets the most attention
(grease to wheel reference)
some tell enough lies, they start to believe their own BS
poor me, poor pitiful me

it's being taught from preschool all the way thru college
victims 101, must be a new course, must be on the internet

Now it's in every age, every part of our society today
from the toddler to seniors

 

[68gtxman]

Triple 500 hit the nail on the head. I’m a commercial painter, generally buildings but I’ve done everything from simple murals to oil patch stuff and cars. I’m good at what I do, I don’t do everything but what I do is done with no compromise on quality materials or workmanship.
The internet has ruined everything.
I can’t count the times where a client has brought me in to look at a job, and after hearing me out says “...but I saw on YouTube...”. If I can, I will refuse the job.
Another favourite is “...I’ve done some painting...”.
When I hear that I respond with something along the lines of “You’re telling me that you worked for a company that paid you to be a painter and judged your work appropriately?”
A hundred percent of the times it means they painted a room for their Mom and now consider themselves expert.
I’m sure other trades hear the same thing.

You’re exactly right! I can’t tell you how many friends and family ask for my engineering advice, but then do not follow it. They later call to ask me to help fix their screw up. Sorry, but you made your bed now enjoy reaping the rewards (to mix metaphors ;-).

 

[CudaChick1968]

I can relate to many of these stories both in my past and current career. Virgos are traditionally "helpers" if you put stock in zodiac traits, and it seems some are all too eager to accept it.
Though certain times I've been shocked at outpourings of support (such as post-Katrina from the Barracuda Owners Group, or by FABO members gifting several Gold memberships), it's more frequent that the ones you go out of your way to help disappear into the woodwork as soon as you're down on your own luck.

 

[moparedtn]

...the ones you go out of your way to help disappear into the woodwork as soon as you're down on your own luck.

You get it! that's it in a nutshell, Leanna. I gotta learn to be more succinct like you.
Hope things are going well for y'all over there (lotsa business!). Things are fine with me and the new
gig, where they're giving me the "you're here for life" bit. Oy vey...

some people really play the victim way too long, too

That's a subject for a different thread methinks. Sure isn't the point of this one....
unless of course, you're making a dig at someone specific here, in which case I'd trust you to just be
direct about it?

 

[moparedtn]

I think what it comes down to is, lack of loyalty.

Precisely, especially in the trades as you say.
The way customers have high turnover rates and get bought and sold like candy these days, all
the goodwill and superior service records in the world don't often mean squat, since the person
you dealt with is often gone next time by - and the "new guy" doesn't know you from Adam and
frankly, doesn't care what you ever did for his company.

It's like being on a constant audition for a "new" customer, even though you've been taking care
of that location sometimes for decades.
New faces = new sales drudgery, all over again.
*sigh* I hate the sales part of my gig....

 

[Triplegreen500]

*sigh* I hate the sales part of my gig....

...that's why 15 years was enough for me, in Sales. And, it was FUN sales - motorcycles, ATVs, RVs! But when it quit being about helping customers enjoy their hobby, and turned into "you gotta do better than that because I can go to XYZ down the road and they'll beat you by $500"...ya. I'm out. Service Dept. is much simpler - it's still "sales" in a way, but more black and white. "Yer ****'s broke. We can fix it...or not. It'll cost this much to fix, just let me know!" None of that bargain-shopper bullshit, none of the "I can go to the place down the street..", it just is what it is. Stress level is lower, hours are better, and I have time to do my gigs (if we ever open back up and live music starts happening again!).

 

[Hey-O]

Life is like that, I've been there. I think everyone has their place and time, it may be years or just a few minutes. I was the go to guy for years and then when my time was getting thin, you're gone and time keeps moving without missing a beat. The circle of life, in some cases it's what have you done for me lately. You do for you and yours and just keep moving Ed, it's hard to hit a moving target!! LOL.

 

[Cranky]

It happens Ed. I worked for Chaddsford Winery here in Eastern Pa. for over 21 years managing thier vineyards... My last day was the last time I ever heard from the scumbags Eric Miller and his wife Lee who were the founders. Not a card, an e-mail NOTHING. It's been 11 plus years now and had I known what pieces of **** they were I would have never given them all that I did over the years... I see people getting millions for spraying a gallon of Round-up.. I probably have sprayed 25,000 gallons of that... Other chemicals I sprayed are no longer legally allowed to be used anymore... But it was how I was raising my family. Looking back I wish I would have not gave my weekends to the job like I did and being away from my family meant nothing to them when the time came... Farming never takes a break and neither did I.

Might help ease your mind some if you thought more about you did it for your family and not for the slave driver owners....and the only thing I get is a few laughs with some of the guys that retired about the same time I did. Some places are much nicer to work for but what we got was a paycheck and pretty much not much else.

@moparedtn and the others that replied. Oh man....the stuff I read here sure falls right in line with some of the stuff I went through too. One of the things different was when I first hired on, the young guns got all the crap jobs but once we became old guns, we were still expected to do the crap jobs while the kids got the cushy jobs. Nope....that ain't happening on my watch and it didn't. This older fart ain't climbing 35 feet up a refining tower to remove an MOV while some newbie 1st class machinist is on the ground watching me do that. "Get your *** up there or this job ain't gonna git done"! This one particular job got killed when I refused to do it while the newbie 1st class kid whined about it. I'm sure it got handed over to contractors that evening.

Just the other day my old boss (2 years younger than me) and I were talking about how there wasn't anyone in the refinery that was there 30+ years ago that experienced the freeze of 89. And from what we hear, it was much worse this time. So glad to be out of that sheet hole.....

 

[Roger63]

Ed I to have one of those "things" happen to me in the past couple of weeks. It's been boiling under my skin . As I am recovering from my surgery and making huge progress in getting back to normal I had come to the conclusion that running the big truck was gonna be to much for me. So I had been working on going smaller with a 1 ton truck. My wife does this and does quite well. I let it be known to the company I was contracted to what my plans were. 1 week later 2 of my so called friends fill the spots available for me. I helped build this company I was there 14 years which doesn't sound like much but in the trucking industry that's a lifetime. I don't mean much to any of them, but that's ok because they don't deserve me. So I'm just going to retire.

 

[moparedtn]

...that's why 15 years was enough for me, in Sales. And, it was FUN sales - motorcycles, ATVs, RVs! But when it quit being about helping customers enjoy their hobby, and turned into "you gotta do better than that because I can go to XYZ down the road and they'll beat you by $500"...ya. I'm out. Service Dept. is much simpler - it's still "sales" in a way, but more black and white. "Yer ****'s broke. We can fix it...or not. It'll cost this much to fix, just let me know!" None of that bargain-shopper bullshit, none of the "I can go to the place down the street..", it just is what it is. Stress level is lower, hours are better, and I have time to do my gigs (if we ever open back up and live music starts happening again!).

Totally agree with you there. I've held all positions in fire sprinklers a fella can over the decades (short of
owner, which I'll never do) and far and away the part I love best is being out there, inspecting and servicing
stuff.
Unfortunately, after being out of work over half a year, the only thing that popped up (and thank God it did!)
was a sales gig. Oh well, I can do that too if need be...

 

[QuickBpBp]

Might help ease your mind some if you thought more about you did it for your family and not for the slave driver owners....and the only thing I get is a few laughs with some of the guys that retired about the same time I did. Some places are much nicer to work for but what we got was a paycheck and pretty much not much else.

110% was for my family BUT it was a double edge sword as I missed out some things with my oldest BUT my wife had the $$$ to go do things with-out me. Working for myself now since 2010 I did not miss one of my youngest's soccer game even with them being over an hour away most times... It was a lesson learned when it was all said and done I always went above and beyond to insure the best crop in that particular season. That being said I thought there would be a value in it if the industry went south there wasn't. They even knew in January they were walking away from the vineyards they never told me until literally the last grape was harvested... That same year I was redoing my kitchen and maybe knowing I was losing my job it would not have been an $18,000 job but they didn't care enough about me personally. So when I asked the Financial Manager why no one told me since they knew for 10 months? He told me because they(the founders) were scared I would walk away and leave them with no one to operate the equipment or manage the vineyard for the last season.. They also NEVER let the other employees know that I was no longer going to be employed thier anymore...I was the second longest person employed there besides the wine maker not including the founders... My wife felt horrible for me at my last Christmas party when the owners met me and told me not to mention anything to anyone. The founders KNEW they were on thier way out too and thier $$$ was in the value of the company and were to be paid a percentage of that value. They did not want the public to know they were no longer involved in growing thier own grapes but would be purchasing ANYTHING in and out of state that was available to make thier wines. It was always about them and I thought otherwise for decades.. My first big job when I went out on my own was converting close to 30 acres of grapes back to regular farmland. It was a tough task as I planted and grew those vines for so long BUT someone WAS gonna get paid to do it so I did...

 

[Ron H]

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.

 

[CudaChick1968]

I just saw this and it fit perfectly.

Thanks for the well wishes Ed but truth as always, 2020 was like gangbusters around here (with everyone treating the down time/isolation like winter) ... right up until November 3.

Previous Januarys have seen 35-50 projects in line. Only five jobs have arrived since the election. For the first time since 2009, I almost have my backlog cleared.

And I don't like what I'm seeing.

 

[SattyNoCar]

At my last job, there was a change in upper management, that caught a lot of people off guard. Where the company had been 'family oriented', the new management didn't give a rats *** about you or your family. My last few yrs there as a store manager, I was told point blank, if someone was having personal problems, didn't matter who it was, or how long they'd been there, that person was to be eliminated. I was expected to make it to where they'd quit on their own, or find a legit (however petty) reason to fire them, because "a person dealing with problems, isn't focused on work. And if they're not focused on their job, we don't need them".

Less than three years later, after having been told this, my Mom got cancer. I knew I was going to be fired. And about 6 months later, I was. Don't be silly, they didn't come right out and say I was fired because my Mom was sick, but for how petty the reason given was, I knew the real reason. I'm sure my age played a part in it too as not one of the five employees in the store after I left was over 25 (I was 51).

All my effort and hard work to move up the ladder over 13 yrs amounted to squat.

Yet, the manager I took the store over from when I started, was known to start verbal arguments with customers and pull not so ethical 'stunts' to get more money from a customer, was promoted to a regional manager. Oh, and he was in his early 30's

My only satisfaction about the whole thing is that the stores (sales) numbers pretty much tanked after I left.

 

[Sahara]

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.

 

[DeltaV]

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

 

[Duckmanreno]

Sad but true. I do know that the more money you have, the more people seem to care about you.
Surprise!

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

 

[multimopes]

Way too many job related horror stories. It's sad to see so many good folks get **** on. I always had a long commute and it took me 5 years to finally get in to a company that paid well and had excellent benefits. But it was the best thing that ever (work wise) that happened to me. Unfortunately, the government broke up the company 2 years after I got in and little by little, all that was good started going away. I worked up through 3 levels and finally got into management. I had an excellent record and worked with a good group. They were union and I had come from there and we all got along just great. I did my job the best I could and was on call 24 hours a day, 7 day a week for more than 10 years. I helped put together a load shedding program that saved the company over a million dollars one year and got both recognition and a good monetary reward. Then things began to deteriorate, down sizing, lay offs, force reductions, etc. Then I went through a divorce. I took the very last decent package that was offered but reality hits hard. I was promised to be called back and my office was locked up for 3 years with an off system key, just waiting for my promised return. Unfortunately, a coworker knifed my in the back and that was the end. I guess it doesn't matter as the company ended up merging with a French company and eventually by another foreign company completely. It did do something in the way of my point of view though. I realized that a job is just a job and that's what I had; a job. I have always had a different way of seeing this. From my point of view, a career is something that you enjoy doing and would probably do even if you didn't need the money. Anything else is just a job. If I had a career, it would be a 24 hour combination of being a professional wine and beer taster, food critic, movie critic and lastly, a mattress tester; (" I am not too sure about this mattress boss, I need to put a little overtime in on this one!") At this stage of the game, I may never be able to retire but it's not a bad job other than working rotating shifts. I do enjoy reading about the experiences of other "real" people, (the ones that work Monday to Friday with weekends and holidays off), I did have that during my 10 years stint in management. Over all, I feel quite lucky as I still have decent health and a good sense of humor,,,, and I have a wife and my car!