True storie's, Really?
- Thread starter jefflovstrom
- Start date
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"I thought I would start a thread that deal's with everyday stupidity and unusual event's that happen during the day that sometime's get over looked in the other thread. I will start. " Jeff
This is how this thread got started, and I thought it was actually really constructive, and then it got hijacked. I think the point jeff was making, and i agreed with, was that in this business there is no such thing as little ####. The details do matter. if you can't trust a guy to show up on time, or make sure the trailer is hooked up right, or that all the equipment made it back on the truck, do you really trust him on the other end of the rope?
This is how this thread got started, and I thought it was actually really constructive, and then it got hijacked. I think the point jeff was making, and i agreed with, was that in this business there is no such thing as little ####. The details do matter. if you can't trust a guy to show up on time, or make sure the trailer is hooked up right, or that all the equipment made it back on the truck, do you really trust him on the other end of the rope?
BTW Jeff,you can be my wingman anytime
I can agree with the little things like hitch pins, light adapters, safety glasses, etc. That stuff adds up quick on a daily basis. The thing that really ####ed me off was having to check everything every morning on the truck I run everyday. I finnally started locking my boxes and just leave the ignition key in the truck. Boss was furious when he went to take something home but I told him it was that or I just stop and put any saw,blower,etc. on his account next time I don't have all the equipment I need On that truck. Since then he asks me to borrow something. The other two crews might still be having problems but not I.
MackenzieTree
ArboristSite Member
Thats a tough one, it does sound like there is a bit of micromanaging going on:help:, but at least once or twice a day i do have to crack the whip on the two groundies i got over stupid s##t to like looking at old bird nests instead of getting the portawrap ready to go or the bull line untied so we can finish up sometime soon and as far as ppe hardhat on when we get there and off when where leaving otherwise go home. its tough i kinda let my younger brother go who is a good groundy (19yrs old) but would just call out the night before for either poison ivy or sun burn just pissed me off. tried to teach him a lesson by letting him go saying if he doesnt show get another job. i dont know where the line is....
mattfr12
The Bulldog
Get the hitch pins on a chain so they can't loose them. When I worked for the big B I'm not proud of it and it was over 8 years ago but I was late pretty regularly. No one ever said anything about it in three years. When you get it done a lot of times they let things slide. I also had a lot of responsibility and climbed daily so a lot of time I was beat. I went though a lot of climbing lines about every ten trees I'd trade it in and try something new. They where more than happy to do it.
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MackenzieTree
ArboristSite Member
Cant disagree
treemandan
Tree Freak
i think I get it now, I didn't realize you had the Goof Troop working there too. I had the impression that you had problems under wraps but it looks like you are still struggling and you probably always will be until you can afford guys like Beasty...:msp_tongue:
I will trust anybody on the other end of the rope. I will trust him to be human so I am prepared to be hit.
You are just only giving less than half the story of why you wrote up Hitch Pin and Sunglasses along with Pole Pruner and the like. I am sure you don't know the whole stories behind this stuff yourself. Take it easy with that pen. I kinda always thought a tree crew needs to have guy who just stands around and watches out for everybody else.
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mckeetree
Addicted to ArboristSite
I never had a boss that looked like Jeff. He looks like a mean ass old crawfish ready to pinch your finger off. I think I would try to be on time.
sgreanbeans
Treeaculterologist
With Jeff on this, the devil is in the details, when ya let slacking go on, it grows and festers into a bigger problem. Aim small, miss small.
A crew here, not sure when this happened, last few years. They would get lazy on clean up and instead of putting all the gear in the appropriate places, they got in the habit of throwing stuff in the chipper chute and shutting the tray door. The owner didn't like it, but didn't really say anything. One day they show on a job, fire up the chipper and run some saws and saddles thru the Vermeer 1800. Crap like that starts with hitch pens and safety glasses. Gotta keep them tight.
A crew here, not sure when this happened, last few years. They would get lazy on clean up and instead of putting all the gear in the appropriate places, they got in the habit of throwing stuff in the chipper chute and shutting the tray door. The owner didn't like it, but didn't really say anything. One day they show on a job, fire up the chipper and run some saws and saddles thru the Vermeer 1800. Crap like that starts with hitch pens and safety glasses. Gotta keep them tight.
If you need to treat your guys like children, dont expect them to act like anything but that.
I have worked for all sorts of people, and seldom saw micromanagers do anything but give themselves reason to increase there own workload while turning staff into order taking zombies.
I have a guy who gets to work sometimes 10 mins early, sometimes 15 minutes late. But he works his butt off, quotes, climbs, invoices, and puts in the kind of hours I do. Hes incredibly honest and puts his all into his work. Of the 99.5% of things he does well to I hold this above his head because traffic is unpredictable and he likes to drop his wife off at work? Heck no, if shes happy, hes happy.
If you pay your guys out for making small mistakes you will have them waste 45 minutes at the end of a job looking for a 6$ pair of sunglasses or eat up extra time being gentle with a half broken 4$ rake rather than admit they broke it because they are not being taught to be responsible for the work, they are being taught to be compliant to your management style.
My guys hate to get things wrong, not because I chew them up about it, but because they take pride in there work and they care about how I feel about them. My guys ROCK. They think for themselves, work incredibly hard and occationally screw up. So do I.
If you have been in this biz more than 5 years and dont have great staff, its not the staff thats the problem
I have worked for all sorts of people, and seldom saw micromanagers do anything but give themselves reason to increase there own workload while turning staff into order taking zombies.
I have a guy who gets to work sometimes 10 mins early, sometimes 15 minutes late. But he works his butt off, quotes, climbs, invoices, and puts in the kind of hours I do. Hes incredibly honest and puts his all into his work. Of the 99.5% of things he does well to I hold this above his head because traffic is unpredictable and he likes to drop his wife off at work? Heck no, if shes happy, hes happy.
If you pay your guys out for making small mistakes you will have them waste 45 minutes at the end of a job looking for a 6$ pair of sunglasses or eat up extra time being gentle with a half broken 4$ rake rather than admit they broke it because they are not being taught to be responsible for the work, they are being taught to be compliant to your management style.
My guys hate to get things wrong, not because I chew them up about it, but because they take pride in there work and they care about how I feel about them. My guys ROCK. They think for themselves, work incredibly hard and occationally screw up. So do I.
If you have been in this biz more than 5 years and dont have great staff, its not the staff thats the problem
Pelorus
Uva uvam vivendo varia fit
I kinda like the rest of what you wrote, but have trouble digesting that last part. Although several have come close to greatness, they eventually move on to greener pastures and brighter lights. I'm sure Joe Wonderful is out there somewhere. Him and his cousins work for you?
treemandan
Tree Freak
Sorry Jeff, I was just dimayed with all yer years to see you griping about hitch pins. You got to have better stories than that.
I think that is all pretty much true, particularly the last sentence. That said, not everyone is in your market, and some business models simply don't support having qualified, loyal staff. Sometimes the market simply does not pay enough to compete with better jobs, so the better employees flow towards the better jobs.
In my urban market, good employees with a good work ethic that are willing to sweat in the sun, get dirty, and finish profitably are hard to find. Once they get trained how to do the work, they buy a truck and compete with me. This creates a market where I and all my licensed, insured, "sign on the truck" competitors must bid against the better workers we trained to do the business.
It's a dog-eat dog market in my area, and you must treat lower quality workers with quite a bit more supervision. Sometimes this means "micromanaging".
treemandan
Tree Freak
This is all true. When Jeff put up this thread I was expecting real horror stories.
I would not have written the guy up for losing the hitch pin, I would have written him up for saying," I don't know."
From what Jeff is saying there seems to be some passive agressive stuff going on.
treeclimber101
UNCLE BUCK
when I was younger I worked for a retired coast guard capt. Doing trees landscape and land clearing , he was a complete and total ####...... But he knew that having a younger group of guys working for hime I mean there were 60 some guys 30 of us were under 25 , we would go to the shore 3 nights a week and he allowed us to crash in the shop so when we wpuld come back at night around 3am we would go straight to work and sleep wherever you passed out , and if you could hang hungover he was fine with it but if you #####ed and moaned or drug ass he would be on ya like a real monster... There was no write ups there was just long hot days and a lot of neck breathing as a punishment and we loved it , it was a ssweet compromise ...
I bet the hitch pin guy was baked when he lost that pin! Definitely sounds like there was some short term memory loss at play there. Maybe jeff should bust out the pee cup on him!! :msp_scared:
treemandan
Tree Freak
I meant with the guys he is writing up.
