groundmen (drive me nuts, make me laugh,....)

Rugged made
Wesspur
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The only work that I know of up here that I could do but won't due to a lack of knowledge in that area is phc I am starting to learn about it but I'm not going to do anything until I am certified and have the correct local certs and have more time in the business to learn about more diseases.
 
Hang in there and you might dabble in the 101 forum.

Also...you won't learn more about diseases by "time in" but rather by cracking books and attending seminars. Join the ISA, get their book list and start buying them instead of vid games and IPods. Just my $.02
 
I think the young guy is doing fine. He sure can hold his own in a conversion. I know, that doesn't count for much in tree work, but he kinda sounds like he has been in a tree too. None of you thought he was so young. That says something as well. How many guys that young do we know that can carry on intelligent conversation. I believe when you find a gem in the rough, it should be polished, not berated for not being shiney. Who knows, he could turn out to be a young Treevet.
Perish the thought!
 
Which can't happen if the barrel is broken from abuse.
I'm not saying to make things EASY for him, just add an occasional word of encouragement while kicking his backside.
 
treevet said:
On my 5th gm since last fall. This one might stick...but I always think that.

He just informed me that his last tree job his boss is about 300 lbs with arms the size of a ham hock but he quit because he is going to change into a woman and he can't take it.

Ground men are the cheapest people on the face of the earth. 10 degrees out and got 2 pairs of brown dollah cotton gloves with holes all over. Borrow your gloves and you never see em again.
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I've only yet been a gm so far, but honestly, I completely agree. The morons I worked with were mind-numbingly dumb and useless. Half them blowing there paychecks on blow and barely able to pay there bills, the other half don't want to get out of the trucks. I worked for a private company for three months or so last year doing residential work but then it slowed down and the boss wanted to lay off some of the gms that were working there for 8 years and keep me on, but move me from residential to utilities. I turned him down cuz I didn't wanna work with a bunch of drugged out brainless gms. Glad that I'm going to be done with that crap soon
 
I think the reality is that the arborist/treeman has come light years as far as respectability....but the assistant or groundman...has not. And they are bringing us down. There is vast room for a high degree of professionalism from treatments to making a property shine with clean up to finesse in rigging to comportment or behavior, etc. etc. 99% of the time they fall miles short in all categories whether drugs or lack of caring or what ever is the reason they just don't measure up. And judging from the number of calls I get from any ad there are plenty seeking the job which by the way pays the bills despite not paying a ridiculous mentioned $30. per hour (insane). They just want to take the job and the money and occupy the space and be almost worthless or worse even a liability and embarassment.
 
Up until now Ive been lucky enough have worked with mainly A grade groundies - kinda made me wonder what all the fuss is about these pile polishers and lolly gaggers but now I fully understand. A genuine pile polishing lolly gagger has snuck into my crew, hes pretty damn good: spends lots of time wandering around "looking for something to do", keeps his water bottle 80 yards away from where everyone is chipping (we all know chipping is thirsty work so lots of trips to and from water bottle-ALWAYS empty handed), grabs the rake at log time, always on the blower when its rake time. Yesterday I caught him harshly barking out orders to my other newer groundy- the newer guy is frickin awesome in comparison, absolute top notch worker and has keen interest and knowledge in the operational side of the job.
 
Got a new side job, but my equipment hasn't come in yet, so I was stuck on ground duties while the other guy got to swing around and prune a beautiful 75' cottonwood.. can't wait to be up there!
 
that brings up another dislike of mine about the groundman blues. Say you got a gm that does sidies on the company after work and on weekends, then drags ass (with a cigg in one hand and lunch pail in the other) when he comes in on Mon......is he worth full pay? :chop::popcorn:
 
Sure isn't. But I wasn't the guy you're describing either, I wasn't slacking off. Boss even said "You did good today bro. We were both impressed" cuz it was the first time I've worked hands on with both of them. I've done one post-cut clean up and a couple quotes with the boss, but that was the first time I did rigging and such with him and his climber. Admittedly I did have the groundsmen blues, but that didn't prevent me from working my butt off
 
Back in the day your weren't a tree man unless you had a paint pot snapped on your saddle with a screw top that had a paint brush attached in the pot. One day the under the bridge gm (lived under a bridge) completely painted his boots with the paint pot and was so proud of it. He didn't understand it was tar and not really paint. Guess no worries about getting stains on stuff under a bridge (right next to the Delaware River...actually had a pretty nice view).
 
treevet said:
Cottonwood that close to house? Huge future high risk hazard tree Ryan. Also lets hope people have some respirators when the cotton starts flying like a snow storm.
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That why we were called. Removed all the limbs over the house, pretty sound tree though. Also had two small Manitoba Maples I think (you probably would know them as Box Elders) further down the fence that the neighbor had us prune cuz they didn't want anything hanging on there side of the fence. Buggers hated trees it seems, only thing they liked was the dead Schubert in there front lawn. My boss used to "dress wounds" too haha
 
I've been a full time ground guy for about 6 years now and climbing for 2. I've worked for several tree companies all of which didn't really care about their employees that much only if you showed up and didn't **** their equipment up. The company I worn for now is a local father and son company that a good buddy of mine has been with for 5 years. I've known the owners for a few years and they treat me with respect which is all I ask. I show up early to work to check oil and fuel in all equipment and trucks and sharpen saws. I do this because they treat me well and I know how much things cost as I do a lot of climbing on the side and have all my own stuff. I also work my balls off for them. I'll be the best groundie if you just give me good tools, ppe, a paycheck every Friday and just show me respect. A young climber trying to get his own thing going on the side is the best ground guy IMO. Now to all you bucket guys you need to learn how to pick up a branch and stop barking orders like your the only guy who knows a damn thing.
 

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