Speak up or shut up?

[mmcmdl]

And ? We have a very large union company contracted for my ex-company . Very expensive for the hourly rate we pay . $120 per hour per employee . They are good , by the rules and by the book . We fought the rigging of electrical issues for years with a local company that could keep stuff going but not to standards . Being on nightshift alone I was faced with way too many electrical issues , some of which I could handle . 440 no thanks . Just don't do it and wont ever . So this was one of the main reasons I retired recently . The company tries to hire " multi skilled " people these days . A roofers card is needed . " Must repair everything under the roof " . For a minimal wage . I was multi skilled as a mechanic/machinist/toolmaker/ but never even dreamed of electrical $**** . Knowing my limits I stayed far away other than replacing fuses etc . Being recently retired , I got out with all my digits but have to think back about all the close calls , the employees I rescued , the first responder calls , the co-workers that were injures and killed . Industry is not for the weak hearted , and I'm glad to be finished with it . In time , I can write about it once my things to do list is done .

To all going into an industrial setting . You are you're only safety defense . You don't and can't trust your daily co-workers . Lock it out . Tag it out . Arc flash is a terrible thing to witness . FI , rambling on .

 

[mmcmdl]

If you ever have received the Frito Lay / Pepsi offer to work over the phone . I'm going to have to post this the next time it arrives . WTF ?

 

[strantor]

it would have been better if you had a one-on-one with the supervisor or owner.

I might have chosen a conversation with the supervisor instead of email

Good call. I realize there are certain situations where people find a face-to-face conversation more tactful than an email and I suppose this fits the pattern but I must admit that my own area of incompetence is in dealing with people, and I've never had a firm grasp on what the criteria is that dictates when a face-to-face is called for. Is there a thumb rule for this?

The supervisor was out of the office today so hopefully he will chalk my breach of tact up to him being inaccessible.

Also I thought that having it in an email would make it more convenient if there were anyone he needed to share my concerns with and/or documentation needed to establish or build upon a case for changing (or removing) the guy's job description.

 

[strantor]

How did this clown ever get hired in the first place?

I'm sure they face the same problem trying to hire a Maintenance Tech as I would face in trying to hire a Nuclear Physicist or a Midwife. They don't know enough to know when a guy knows what he says he knows. They just have to take a chance and hire a guy, see if he works out. That's the reason for such high turnover in this role they have been trying to fill for years.

 

[keeena]

You did the right thing.

 

[strantor]

I’ve worked with men like that. I usually speak to the bonehead first. Tell him what he did wrong, and how he could have known it was wrong.

I did, and have each time. He does not give any warm fuzzies that he receives and understands the feedback. He acts like he something more important to be doing and I'm wasting his time.

I wouldn’t feel bad though. They won’t fire him. Nobody fires people for incompetence anymore. He’ll get some **** poor third hand “training”, and they’ll pat his little bottom on his way back out to the production floor.

They will though. It is the pattern. They hire 1 or 2 guys, give them a couple of months, and if they don't work out they get let go. (And if they do work out, they end up quitting a few months later).

If I were you, and can take the hit, I’d probably fire the company as a client.

Can't take the hit and wouldn't want to. Not over this.

 

[markba633csi]

Don't they have a community college around there? There's usually a few smart kids coming out of there
that need work and have some common sense
Also, maybe put together a short list of things for them to ask the new hires, especially concerning electrical skills, just so they can weed
out the absolute fools, like transformer boy
Yes, most kids are programming geniuses now but there's got to be an analog kid or two. Maybe into motorcyles, or electric guitar amps.
Those are the ones you want

 

[strantor]

If you ever have received the Frito Lay / Pepsi offer to work over the phone . I'm going to have to post this the next time it arrives . WTF ?

Not sure what you mean. I have done some work in the Houston Pepsi plant. I helped an OEM (Linker) install a new bottle capper there and afterwards got pretty regular business from Pepsi but there was some kind of restructuring that drove off most of my contacts there as well as a policy change that made it less feasible for a "small fry" like me to get in the door. Haven't been in there since 2015.

 

[strantor]

Don't they have a community college around there? There's usually a few smart kids coming out of there
that need work and have some common sense

Oh yeah, plenty of colleges, plenty of smart kids. But apparently not many who aspire to work in a wire extrusion plant in the TX gulf coast where it's 105f and humid as Satan's armpit outside and even hotter inside

Also, you should put together a list of things for them to ask the new hires, especially concerning electrical skills

They would sound like the interviewer who I last sat in front of years ago, who asked me (I'll never forget) "do you know how fix a four-eight-zero-VACK?" I asked if they had anyone qualified to interview me. Didn't get the job... weird.

Yes, most kids are programming geniuses now but there's got to be an analog kid or two. Maybe into motorcyles, or electric guitar amps.
Those are the ones you want

The other guy they have, might have some promise. He has the curiosity and listens to the feedback. I've caught a couple of mistakes he made and they were more like "I can see why you thought that would work, you made a logical assumption, but you were just missing this information: (information)."

 

[mmcmdl]

I can't comment yet . Still waiting on paper work .