Bad bosses

[prentice110]

I work for an individual who likes to play around a little too much imo and it makes me wonder, whats the worst situation you guys have put up with. A couple examples, my boss will roll the windows up in the truck and rip one. On hot days he will dump ice water on you while your doing anything from dragging brush to making flush cuts. Ive quit working for him twice before but keep going back because he pays me $25hr. He never climbed and has no idea what it takes so the stress level can get pretty high sometimes.
Ive worked for more than a few screamers and at least hes not one of those but what I wonder is, is it really worth the $?

 

[clearance]

Funny is ok, until he does it to someone, maybe even a good guy, on a bad day. That guy could be you, perhaps you could explain that to him. Won't be too funny then. Time and a place for funny.

 

[Rftreeman]

I'll bet he's one that can dish it out but not take it.....treat him the same way.

 

[yooper]

lol I worked for an ass like that, was the best thing that ever happened to me, quit and started my own business, he is about 50 miles from me and for the past 4 years I have religiously thrown an add in the local paper there. get allot of business because even the locals know he is a $hit head! try it 100 to 200 an hr some days sure the hell beats 25 an hr. start out small and dont go far in dept. he paid me 23 an hr and now I work half as much and make much more....not to mention the tax deductions

 

[prentice110]

tried that for years yooper, cant stand to lose that much $ any more. Too hard to find good help round here. Too many drugged out punks that like to beat or break your equipment and then look at you funny when you yell at em. thats y i keep going back. everybody else round here wont hire me cuz they think im still gonna do side work or they only wanna give 15hr or they wanna keep me on the ground for 10 to 12 an that aint happenen any more ill go back to fast food b4 i work that cheap on the tree site

 

[prentice110]

oh and trust me RF, he can take it all day long, giggles like a little kid.

 

[yooper]

tried that for years yooper, cant stand to lose that much $ any more. Too hard to find good help round here. Too many drugged out punks that like to beat or break your equipment and then look at you funny when you yell at em. thats y i keep going back. everybody else round here wont hire me cuz they think im still gonna do side work or they only wanna give 15hr or they wanna keep me on the ground for 10 to 12 an that aint happenen any more ill go back to fast food b4 i work that cheap on the tree site

go flip burgers then or take the abuse

 

[oldirty]

drop a duece in his hardhat.

 

[yooper]

drop a duece in his hardhat.

lol..another good one is grape or orange cool aid powder behind the hardhat front head band....looks funny after they sweat and there forehead is colored...or if he wears ear muffs pull out the foam and throw a chicken liver in each one and put the foam back....

 

[Kate Butler]

hm-mmmmmm

Can you spell "hostile work environment"? He is likely to smarten right up if your state board gets an anonymous letter about it.

 

[M.Green - SVTS]

My second ground man position before foreman

I worked for a small residential company in Maine. I won't give the name, but if anyone is looking to be hired on in Maine for a tree company PM me and I will tell you some company's to stay away from specifically this one.

This guy was a nut job. Wouldn't climb anything. If he couldn't use his bucket he wouldn't touch the job. But that doesn't make him bad I'll tell you more that does.

The guy did all his big money jobs during the summer. So everyday we had to look forward to atleast 1 or 2 80' takedowns. Mainly Pine as people in Maine aren't fond of them. Odd huh? The Pine Tree State doesn't like Pine. I don't like them either.

But anyway, he expected us to dive in the pile (and we did it) in between his cuts. And he'd limb up an 80' pine in a half hour and blow out the top. We'd be under him dodging (literally) limbs that were the size of small pine trees and if we didn't do it he'd win like a little girl. It was actually easier on us mentally to dive into this mess then it would to put up with his mental problems.

I can't tell you how many times I've had logs dropped on me. Then he would look down after dropping a limb on top of one of us and it was our fault. But if you didn't dive in you'd get #####ed at. He expected a lot. If he came down from his bucket and all the brush wasn't picked up, he'd throw a hissy fit and stomp around in his Chippewa 4" heels. I still relish the day I quit. The next day was the best day of my life. Waking up knowing I wasn't going to have to put up with his bull####.

I have never in my life seen a grown man cry as much as this guy. He'd drop a log and bust out a window and it was his ground mans fault. Our fault ultimately. Keep in mind I was just starting out residential (went from utility to residential - big difference) and with utility it was total safety. Never get under someone cutting. I was in awe at this guy. I could write a book. Go into the crane jobs. Man I would love to explain how we went about those but it'd take me a half hour to type it. I still can't believe the audacity of that guy.

 

[M.Green - SVTS]

go flip burgers then or take the abuse

Amen to that statement.

There is no way, if I wasn't in the position I am now that I would go back to flipping burgers. No f'n way. I'd much rather be on the ground dragging brush and abusing my body climbing for a low rate then behind a counter with fake meat asking if they want fries with that.

 

[M.Green - SVTS]

lol I worked for an ass like that, was the best thing that ever happened to me, quit and started my own business, he is about 50 miles from me and for the past 4 years I have religiously thrown an add in the local paper there. get allot of business because even the locals know he is a $hit head! try it 100 to 200 an hr some days sure the hell beats 25 an hr. start out small and dont go far in dept. he paid me 23 an hr and now I work half as much and make much more....not to mention the tax deductions

The boss that I explained above lives 15 miles away from him and he gives me the finger when he sees me rolling around with my chipper, 1 ton dump, and my tow behind boom lift and pickup. He asked me when I quit if I wouldn't compete and I told him "You know I have a chunk of money coming in from a settlement. Right when that comes I am going to do what I can to survive." He knows that I am making almost 10X what he paid me and doing less work. Only I treat my help like gold.

 

[StihlRockin']

I'd love to have a lengthy post on this subject, but I'm short on time right now.

My first advice to you is to be brutally honest. Tell him you appreciate your pay, but you're feeling disrespected with his antics. If he has any sense at all and you're being forthright with your info and forwardness, maybe he'll realize he's going too far and make your life easier.

I'm sure he appreciates you, as per his pay to you, but doesn't realize how his antics affects you.

Take him out for a cold one and tell him what you think.

Best of luck buddy,

StihlRockin'

 

[tree md]

I used to have a boss that could be a real ass. He was a good guy when we weren't working but a total A-hole on the job. He was kind of a crabby old guy. He had gone through a divorce and had a young GF that was using the crap out of him. Most of the time he sat around alone when he wasn't working. He was in his 60's and was one hell of a treeman though. I had a lot of respect for him in that regard. He would chew ass on the job and blame everyone else when something went wrong. Onetime he moved the dump and didn't set the brake right or something and we lost all the air for the brakes. He blamed me for that and when I reminded him that he moved the dump after I drove it to the job he nutted up on me and denied moving it. Kind of strange. However, he had a truck crane and was the first one I worked with who taught me how to do aerial lifts. I wanted to learn what he knew so I stayed on. He liked to hire cheap Mexican labor though and there was hardly any way to communicate with these guys other than sign language. About a month after I left him he was killed when his cable got stretched out then swung back into the high lines. Not sure what happened but it was discovered that he was yelling at his Mexican laborers to not take the choker off of a log, they thought he was yelling at them to hurry up (as he usually did), they took the choker off and it swung into the lines killing him instantly. His longtime friend and groundman tried to shut down the crane and the moment he touched the electrified crane he was killed as well. They had worked together for 40 years. I'm glad I moved on before that happened. I wouldn't have wanted to see it. Even though he was an ass on the job I had a dogged respect for the old guy and learned a lot from him.

 

[prentice110]

if he wore a hard hat i wouldve done that already, one time i warned him about a dead hanger in a sibierian elm that fell into the first crotch, he didnt listen. i came down in the boom for gas and saw a trickle of blood coming out from under his baseball cap and asked him what had happend. he said "you know, you did it!". To this day he thinks i threw a branch at him. I realized later the hanger came loose before i could get to it. now i know some of you are going to read this and wonder Why i didnt get it down right away but, well yes i should have but this guy doesnt give you the time to. this particular job was 3 sibierians for a municipality, on a severe grade, i dont know how to judge grades but ill tell you this hill was like a 35-40 degree angle. Plus there were 40 mph gusts, and there was a primary under these things! anybody ever cut wispy elms in wind from a bucket before? how do you cut something when your stationary, and the 6-8in cut is swaying 10ft to your left and another 10 to your right?! isnt there some kind of osha reg about wind and boom trucks? What about hills and lifts? anybody here ever feel nervous when there in a bucket on a hill like this?

 

[BC WetCoast]

Pump his gloves full of grease.

 

[BC WetCoast]

I
But anyway, he expected us to dive in the pile (and we did it) in between his cuts. And he'd limb up an 80' pine in a half hour and blow out the top. We'd be under him dodging (literally) limbs that were the size of small pine trees and if we didn't do it he'd win like a little girl. It was actually easier on us mentally to dive into this mess then it would to put up with his mental problems.

That's how you're supposed to do it. Prevent a rat's nest from building up.

 

[tree md]

When I'm in the tree I make sure everyone knows to stand clear when my saw is running. I will put some limbs on the ground then wait till the guys get it cleaned up, drop a top and wait and let them limb it and drag it off before I start dropping big wood. It takes a little longer in the tree but I believe it's quicker for the overall job to let them clean up as I go. I don't bury them in wood. It's a biotch to try to clean up limbs with heavy wood on top of them not to mention that it can put tension on the limbs making the job more dangerous.

 

[BC WetCoast]

I can't tell you how many times I've had logs dropped on me. Then he would look down after dropping a limb on top of one of us and it was our fault.

A bucket operator purposely drops a limb or stub on me, its a race. Can he get down before I can get to the override switch. See how he likes sitting straight up in the air for a while.