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Thread: What is your work ethic like?

  1. #1
    If you can't hack it, you don't own it! Oneslowz28's Avatar
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    Default What is your work ethic like?

    I have been thinking about this all day and I really would like honest input from other people. What is your work ethic like? How hard are you willing to work to put food on your table? Would you ever quit a paying job because "I am worth $xx and hour not the $xx you are paying me"

    I started working when I was 13 on my grandfathers construction sites. For the most part I just cleaned up the site and moved materials from point A to point b. Up until 15 this was only during the first few weeks of summer so I could make enough $$ to go to a theme park or buy some new video games. When I turned 15, I would work 3 days a week after school and during that time he taught me how to lay out and dig the footers for foundations. The work consisted of me hand digging a lot of ditches, making sure things were on grade and the layout followed the dimensions on the blueprints. The whole time he would ride me harder than anyone else on the job site. I use to go home every night mad at him for making me work harder than everyone else. Over the years he continued to work me harder and hold me accountable for more than any other employee he had. I was always resentful for that, when he taught me to lay brick he held me to a standard above his own, while guys who had been working for him for years laid way below his standard for me.

    When I went to college I would come home every other weekend and most of those Saturdays were spent on one of his job sites working, even if I was the only person there. A few weeks before he passed away, he was real weak from the lung cancer covering most of his lungs. He pulled me down to his wheel chair and told me that he wanted me to finish college and get a job where I did not have to bust my ass to put food on the table, but that I should never be afraid or ashamed to work hard if I needed to. That sentence is the reason I started my photography company. It is also the reason I went back into construction this year partnering up with my uncle.

    I look back now and realize that he rode me so hard not because he thought I did everything wrong, but because he wanted to instill a very strong work ethic in me. It was not enough for him to teach me how to work, He wanted me to take pride in my work and to know what an honest days work was. That is the reason I spend 50-60 hours a week in the company and then come home and spend another 20-30 here at TBCS.

    Even though I am at the top of the company, I still get out to the job site and work my ass off a few times a week. There are still a few guys there who I worked with in my teens and who worked for my grandfather for 20 years. They have woke up and busted ass every morning for the last 30 years or so. They are the type of guys who never complain, are always willing to teach and maybe even learn something new. On the other hand I have some mid - late 20s and 30s guys who are hard workers too. They may complain a little more than the older guys but they for the most part work hard.

    Now I will get to the reason for this post.

    A couple months back I hired 2 guys, both of whom were in their early 20s. Actually now that I think about it, one of them was 19. They both complained about everything. From how hot it was, to how heavy the materials are, and even how everyone worked too hard. Well both of them wound up quitting after a week or 2. So I hired another guy. James was 21 and would work hard for the first 2 days of the week and slack off the rest. After a short talk he wound up picking the pace up for the rest of the week. That lasted about 3 weeks. Then one of my regular laborers had a Dr appointment, so I went to the job to take up the slack. I worked at a normal to me pace and don't really consider it "busting ass". That day I worked circles around James. I literally tended 3 masons on my own (including stocking materials) to his 1. He wound up quitting a few weeks later because the work was "too hard" for him.

    A month or so later I hired 2 guys from a temp service. Both worked hard for the first week or so and then they took a nose dive. IIRC both were in their early 20s. One of them wound up leaving for a permanent position at a carpet factory. The other stayed a few weeks and left. So I went back to the temp service. We really only needed one guy. They sent a guy over. He was in his late 20s. I was spending a lot of time in the office so I never really got to know him very well. On a Friday, I went to the job site with about 2 hours left in the day. We needed some mortar mix so I phoned our supplier and ordered 20 bags. It showed up right as everyone was knocking off. I didnt want to unload it all by myself so I offered the new guy $25 cash to stay for 10 extra minutes and help me unload it. He quickly declined and went on a mini rant about how I was asking too much of him and how we work way too fast. He quit right there. I make a decent living and even I would have stayed back for 10 min and unloaded 10 bags of mix for $25. So after he left I went over and began unloading the mix off the truck. The 50+ year old driver came out said "lazy S.O.B's like that make me sick" and helped me unload the bags. I tipped him $25.

    I lucked out a few weeks later and hired an old friend who was down on his luck and wanted a fresh start in life. He has been with us ever since and at the pace he is working, he may move from laborer to apprentice by the new year.

    This brings me to this week. We have been building a home, for the last month and a half. My uncle has half our guys working out of town and I have lost 2 guys in the last 3 months due to failing random drug testing. As a result I have been having to spend more and more time on the job site and less time working on my other duties. So Monday I had a guy call and ask if I had any entry level positions open. I told him to come in and bring a resume. Tim's education stopped at the HS level and had several years of retail experience but not any construction experience. He seemed eager to learn and came off as willing to work, so I hired him. That same day I called and had Man Power send over a temp, I requested someone with day labor experience. On Tuesday they sent me a 22yo named Ruben. I went to the job site and introduced them, and gave them their duties. They both were to work side by side with Jack my oldest laborer (been doing it for 16 years) and told them to do what ever my foreman told them to do.

    This is where I should mention that I pay all my new labor help $10/hour and if they make it to the 6 month mark I will give them a $.50 raise. Well Ruben lasted all of 1 day and quit yesterday after lunch. He apparently got pissed because my foreman told him to put his cell in his car because he would not stop texting and talking on it. Well today Tim showed up at the office around 3pm and asked me for a raise.... Yes he had been there 2 days and was already asking for a raise. I asked him why he needed the raise, hoping he would say something like he cant feed his kids or his bills are overwhelming him. If he would have said that, I might have considered it. His reply was "I really want to save up for Burning Man next year".... So I asked him why he thought he deserved a raise. His reasoning was that he "is worth more than $10 an hour" and "he is an asset to our company". No shocker here but I declined his request for a raise. 99% of my decision was because he has been with us for only 2 days. When I declined the raise he gave me the finger and said "eff you, I can find more work" and then quit.

    So What I want to know, does everyone under the age of 25 think that hard work is beneath them? Do they feel entitled to get paid more just because "they deserve it" with no valid reasoning to back it up? Do you look for a job, just so you can get a paycheck every 2 weeks? Is taking pride in your work, and earning the respect of your coworkers really that passe?



    Wow that was long. I needed to get it off my chest though. Thanks for reading.

  2. #2
    rawrnomnom diluzio91's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is your work ethic like?

    im 19, and i was lucky enough to have a friend with a PC shop hire me, but if i needed money i dont care what i do so long as they pay me for my work. I dont go out of my way to "kiss up" to the boss, but if they ask me to cover a shift or stay late i do it if i dont have something school related in the way. I work fast food (on campus, similar to a fazolies maybe?), but we do watch a lot of kids go through and quit because they dont want to put food in the oven, or washing the stir fry pots isnt what they where hired for. As far as the speed thing, i settle into a decent pace with whatever i do, it may not be as fast as everyone else, it may faster than the people around me. but its the pace i can maintain while still having the same quality of work that is needed.
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  3. #3
    Resident 100HP water-cannon operator SXRguyinMA's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is your work ethic like?

    In all honesty I'd do whatever was needed for my family. I started work at 15, as an assistant in an office. Nothing crazy but it gave me some spending money. I worked there for about 2 years, and left because I had graduated high school, and went to phoenix for MMI.

    I worked at FedEx there for about 3 months, and got tired of them calling me in to work @2AM, then drive an hour there, work for maybe 2 hours and get told to go home because it was too slow. After 2 weeks straight of that I told him that was it. No point spending more on gas and ruining my sleep for an hour or two's worth of work. After that I started at a local bike shop, and was there for over a year as a lot tech (washing bikes, basic assembly, oil changes, tire changes, etc etc), and only left there because I was done with MMI and was moving back home.

    And since I've been home I've worked at a few different bike shops as a tech, then eventually as a service writer, and I'm currently the Parts Manager/Service Writer/Salesman, and in April it'll be 3 years at this shop. I did work at a warehouse nights for a bit when I got home, but only until I found a job at a shop. I was a temp at that warehouse, and I told the supervisor that I was giving him my 2 weeks because I had found a job at a shop. He replied "Well it doesn't matter you're just a temp." Not even a "Thanks" or "OK" or anything, just that. Needless to say I didn't finish out my 2 weeks.

    I have been getting scared lately though with the economy, as the shop I work at is just an expensive toy store. We sell ATVs, snowmobiles, Vespa scooters and RVs (travel trailers, 5th wheels etc). Well when times get tough the first thing everyone stops buying is toys. Luckily though this year has been picking up a lot so far. I've also been contemplating going back to school to get my bachelor's in electrical engineering, and I'm currently looking at several different schools, each with a different price and schedule

    I do take pride in my work (as a tech, and with my side business) as I'm responsible for someone else's pride and joy. It's not a car or truck, but a motorcycle or ATV or jet ski. It's something that people have fun with. I might spend a little more time at my expense just to make sure something is done right. And if I go over options with the customer, and they decline or offer a "mickey mouse" fix, I tell them politely that I won't do it that way. If they want me to fix it it's going to be done the right way, because my name is all over their machine.

    and I'm 26 (27 in Jan) BTW

  4. #4
    Case Wizard blaze15301's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is your work ethic like?

    im 18 and i busted my ass off at a farm for a summer i m talking 10-14 hour days for maybe 7.00$. but i did it because it helped me greatly in my work ethnic. the only time i will refuse to work or my work ethnic sucks is if im treated like ****. that is why i lasted at McDonald for a month. i was always taught that if you dont think you can manage the job dont take it. and to never give up. just grit your teeth and take it. if your paying these guys 10 bucks an hour and all they do is labor work and are quieting then they are morons.
    Quote Originally Posted by AmEv View Post
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  5. #5
    I come from a land down under. simon275's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is your work ethic like?

    Wow what a bunch of slackers.

    It is true that if you are treated like **** then you will do **** work. But asking for a raise after two days. Seriously.
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  6. #6
    If it isn't stock, it's modded! slaveofconvention's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is your work ethic like?

    Can I get a raise? I think, say a 30% increase will work....

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    If you can't hack it, you don't own it! Oneslowz28's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is your work ethic like?

    I too will be 27 in Jan. What really gets me is that no matter what I do, I work as hard as I can to do the best job I can. In my 3rd year of college I worked part time as the maintenance man at the apartments I lived in. Mostly 2-3 days a week. I was only required to put in 15 hours but there were times where I would put in my 15 and clock out, and still finish up my work orders because I knew they had to be done.

    I know 35 and 45 year old men with a wife and 3-5 kids who will not work because "I am worth more than the market will pay me" and they live on welfare instead. I offered a guy I know a job making $12.50 an hour to cut lumber and clean up the job site when there was nothing for him to do. He has 3 kids and a wife who wont work. They live in welfare and every time I see him, all he can do is complain about how bad his life is.

    When ever I see a friend from my past, they think I won the lotto or something because I own my home, drive a new truck, and dress nice. Some just say I am lucky because I went to college and had a grandfather who left me a business. But the truth is, I have what I have because I work hard for it. Sure I was left a business, but 4 months in to owning it, the housing market collapsed. I got to where I am today because I was willing to do any kind of work to keep my head above water.

  8. #8
    If you can't hack it, you don't own it! Oneslowz28's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is your work ethic like?

    Quote Originally Posted by slaveofconvention View Post
    Can I get a raise? I think, say a 30% increase will work....
    Colin, I like you so much that I will give you a 150% raise and a 30% of your annual TBCS income bonus.

    You can expect a check with a lot of 0's in a few days!

  9. #9
    If it isn't stock, it's modded! slaveofconvention's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is your work ethic like?

    WOOT!!!!

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  10. #10
    Like a Lightning Bolt in Your Cheerios! Drum Thumper's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is your work ethic like?

    I thought we decided that the 150% raise was across the board for ALL members...
    Quote Originally Posted by artoodeeto View Post
    aw heck guys. We're modders. Let's just build our own, shall we?

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