New hire

admin

Today we got a new hire from planet mars.., Are line of work is machining and ID slicing of ceramic material , using diamound wheels,, etc. Anyway ,I show him some parts I sliced up ,& I told him to measure the parts w/a 0-1" micrometer,he says it has a #2 & a big line & under 2 small other lines under the big line.I dont know what the world he was talking about ,he bragged,as he has years & years of machining time,but cant read a micrometer,then he falls asleep,says he has some sleepy disorder,,then he takes a break for 30 min, ,then talkes on the phone for 1-1/2 hr,then its lunch time,then he tells some corney joke about women,& on & on & on..finally I told the boss send him off to some other operator ,,Man ...just had to vent here..thanks for understanding!!! LOL
Reply:Feel better now??...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Originally Posted by starToday we got a new hire from planet mars.., Are line of work is machining and ID slicing of ceramic material , using diamound wheels,, etc. Anyway ,I show him some parts I sliced up ,& I told him to measure the parts w/a 0-1" micrometer,he says it has a #2 & a big line & under 2 small other lines under the big line.I dont know what the world he was talking about ,he bragged,as he has years & years of machining time,but cant read a micrometer,then he falls asleep,says he has some sleepy disorder,,then he takes a break for 30 min, ,then talkes on the phone for 1-1/2 hr,then its lunch time,then he tells some corney joke about women,& on & on & on..finally I told the boss send him off to some other operator ,,Man ...just had to vent here..thanks for understanding!!! LOL
Reply:Why did they hire him before even giving him a hands on test like reading a set of mikes on some different parts or setting up some simple part in the lathe or mill???My dad taught me to read mikes and vernier calipers (sp?) when i was just a kid and it stuck in my mind. Maybe that fella could only read a digital read out micrometer.  lolG3miller... 225g, s32p, 250x, 304, 12vs, MSW41     victor o/a thermal dynamics cutmaster 50 lenco panel spotter        hobart hf-boxG3 Farms.....raising cattle, hay, kids and hell, ...oh yeah I'm a fire sprinkler contractor by trade.
Reply:Originally Posted by starToday we got a new hire from planet mars.., Are line of work is machining and ID slicing of ceramic material , using diamound wheels,, etc. Anyway ,I show him some parts I sliced up ,& I told him to measure the parts w/a 0-1" micrometer,he says it has a #2 & a big line & under 2 small other lines under the big line.I dont know what the world he was talking about ,he bragged,as he has years & years of machining time,but cant read a micrometer,then he falls asleep,says he has some sleepy disorder,,then he takes a break for 30 min, ,then talkes on the phone for 1-1/2 hr,then its lunch time,then he tells some corney joke about women,& on & on & on..finally I told the boss send him off to some other operator ,,Man ...just had to vent here..thanks for understanding!!! LOL
Reply:G3 - you're probably correct regarding the digital readout calipers. Last edited by MicroZone; 02-21-2008 at 06:42 AM.John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:Originally Posted by starToday we got a new hire from planet mars.., Are line of work is machining and ID slicing of ceramic material , using diamound wheels,, etc. Anyway ,I show him some parts I sliced up ,& I told him to measure the parts w/a 0-1" micrometer,he says it has a #2 & a big line & under 2 small other lines under the big line.I dont know what the world he was talking about ,he bragged,as he has years & years of machining time,but cant read a micrometer,then he falls asleep,says he has some sleepy disorder,,then he takes a break for 30 min, ,then talkes on the phone for 1-1/2 hr,then its lunch time,then he tells some corney joke about women,& on & on & on..finally I told the boss send him off to some other operator ,,Man ...just had to vent here..thanks for understanding!!! LOL
Reply:I bet he wasnt spanked as a child. but I get the same thing at work all the time( I am a manager at target) and kids ask all the time why do I have to do that? CAUSE I TOLD YOU TO, thats the only reason you need. and do it right or do it twice!!!
Reply:I had a nephew once tell me that his teacher told him people who work with their hands are stupid. I asked him to explain how it was that his father made about twice as much a year as that teacher as a tool pusher (now a drilling consultant and it's way beyond that). I actually had to spend considerable time a few years back teaching college students to read a ruler and use a framing square. Plumb scary it is. I do know a part of the problem I think. I went to school with a whole bunch of people that became teachers, and the majority were far from impressive when we were in school. You should see some of the usage and grammar in the letters teachers sent home via my kids, lmao. I knew my trade before I finished high school, but out in the oilfield you can't even hire a 15 year old to sweep the shop any more as oilfield welding is now classed as a hazardous occupation. Pretty sure it's the same for many skilled trades as well.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:I call this effect the "touchy feely syndrome."  Society as become so worried about people's feelings and self esteem that kids are never told that they are wrong.  Don't get me wrong guys, I'm just a pup compared to most of you, but I share most of your oppinions on this issue.  I can remember being in a classroom doing some makeup work from an absence while two teachers were discussing how to mark incorrect answers on homework papers.  They were so worried that a red "X" would hurt the students' self esteem that they decided to use green check marks on all the correct answers!  Now I grew up in the country, and helped the old man do countless repair jobs around the farm and on the house, even helped him build all the kitchen cabinets for our house.  He taught me A LOT about that sort of thing, but I got NONE of that in school.  I graduated with several kids who probably can't read a tape measure to this day.  Like someone said, boys, raised by women, with no male roll models.  I stopped to help a young man out the other day because he was on the side of the road with his hood up.  He had a flat tire and didn't know how to change it! I asked him if his folks had not taught him how to do that and he said "Nope, just gave me the keys and a cell phone."  I taught him how to do it, and he said "Thanks, but I'm going to sign up for AAA now."  I left, laughing, thinking that this kid is going to be dependant on others for the rest of his life.Contact me for any metal polishing needs you may have, my avatar is a pic of a standard, painted fire axe that I ground, sanded polished and buffed to a mirror finish.
Reply:joethemechanic wrote:"We now have a generation or two of men, raised by women, who never learned how to be a man."Brother, that is friggin poetic!Yeah, yeah, I know you are a weldor too. But, are you a good one?
Reply:Originally Posted by Jolly RogerI had a nephew once tell me that his teacher told him people who work with their hands are stupid. I asked him to explain how it was that his father made about twice as much a year as that teacher as a tool pusher (now a drilling consultant and it's way beyond that). I actually had to spend considerable time a few years back teaching college students to read a ruler and use a framing square. Plumb scary it is. I do know a part of the problem I think. I went to school with a whole bunch of people that became teachers, and the majority were far from impressive when we were in school. You should see some of the usage and grammar in the letters teachers sent home via my kids, lmao. I knew my trade before I finished high school, but out in the oilfield you can't even hire a 15 year old to sweep the shop any more as oilfield welding is now classed as a hazardous occupation. Pretty sure it's the same for many skilled trades as well.
Reply:I actually managed to mess around and get two degrees. I did it kind of late and mostly for myself. Have they done me any good, nope, but it's sure funny some of the looks I get when people find out a welder has them. I got pretty lucky as most of the teachers I had were those who had made their living at what they taught, burned out at it and went to teaching (mostly computer science teachers, especially programming, it's a very high pressure career field). My youngest son started doing high school algebra in 4th grade, and what have the teachers and school done. Put him in vo-ag classes and convince him he wants to be a carpenter. Geometry, though I made it through it and it is incredibly useful, kicked my butt and says well dad it's pretty boring. Reason why, 'cause it's too easy. They had him in 7th grade doing 4th grade math because that was where the lowest student was at. It's called the dumbing down of America I think. No child gets left behind, but the others suffer for it. I've known a few college welding instructors and with one exception none of them could make a living at it. The one exception got old enough that it was getting hard on him and went to teaching.When getting out of the army I had to go through career classes and one of the instructors asked how many here think you need a college degree to make a good living. Everyone in the class except me raised their hands. He said just go ask any good plumber or other skilled tradesman what they make.Teachers don't like me anyhow when they find out I think we should drug test them all, make them pass yearly certification, and tie wages into increased education (I'm talking technical masters and phd's here, not the ones in education) and the performance of their students.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:Originally Posted by ironkenjoethemechanic wrote:"We now have a generation or two of men, raised by women, who never learned how to be a man."Brother, that is friggin poetic!
Reply:Well, my sons for the most part grew up without me around very much (wasn't my choice) but I am quite proud of the way they have turned out. Dad taught me how to use my head to solve any problem I ran up against, mom taught me to cook and use a sewing machine (among other things). All have been incredibly useful. Education wise my grandfather gave me some of the best advice I ever got: if you learn nothing else learn english and math because the key to the knowledge of the world is in books, and you can't do anything without math. Truer words were never spoken.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:I dunno, I'm working on my second semester of welding at the local community college. Last week in lecture, my instructor made a joke about calling his classes a college education. In some ways they are, just not in the traditional degree sense.  Obviously welding is not just knuckle busting, there's a lot of science involved, learning the manipulation is just one big part of the process.  Maybe the classes do qualify, but it sure was funny at the time. Okay, my rambling is through
Reply:We all start out somewhere. As the years go by we tend to accumulate quite a bit of knowledge. It's easy to take for granite what we know sometimes. I had a similar experience the other day when one of our fitters came by looking over my shoulder at the set of plans I was looking at for bidding purposes. It was a large project, and had a large foot print of a first floor. I made the remark to him "that it was in 3/32" scale as well" (trying to impart to him just how big that 1st floor was) and his reply was "what's a 3/32"? I had to come back with something smart I  said "it's 1/32" less than a 1/8". He still looked puzzled. I was amazed. I gave him a quick education about our english system of measurement. He no longer works for us either. On the lack of inspiration some of our younger work force seem to be working with is sad. Even though I've had the fortune to work with some of the most motivated younger people recently as well. Unfortunately one them decided it was a good time to join the marines! Got hand it to him though!
Reply:I have to say that the imperial system of measurements confuses me a lot. You might noticed me going '0.9mm wall.... ah, about 9/256"... uh, 0.035"?' because I'm never sure when exactly you switch between binary fractions (1/2, 1/4, 1/8...) and thousands of an inch. Don't get me started on the way you measure speed or power. Admittedly some of it is funny, like the speed of light being about 30,000 furlongs per fortnight or about 300 Mm/s, so having both being 3 then some zeros is kinda cool.
Reply:Originally Posted by stickkidI dunno, I'm working on my second semester of welding at the local community college. Last week in lecture, my instructor made a joke about calling his classes a college education. In some ways they are, just not in the traditional degree sense.  Obviously welding is not just knuckle busting, there's a lot of science involved, learning the manipulation is just one big part of the process.  Maybe the classes do qualify, but it sure was funny at the time. Okay, my rambling is through
Reply:Originally Posted by gnm109Welding really does qualify as part of a college education. There is really a lot of science in welding. I already had two degrees (BA and JD) when I took a one-year general welding class in 1995. I received 6 additional units and got two semesters of A for my trouble. The class was 4 hours a week at night and it was the most I ever learned from ANY instructor. The class had a one-hour lecture and three hours of welding. I loved every minute of it and didn't miss a night! I think everyone should study welding like any other class. (I also think every man should have at least one good woman, a good dog, a good handgun, one good rifle, a nice TIG, MIG, Stick, O-A and some grinders, cutters, a bandsaw, a bead blasting cabinet and a nice rod oven......, oh yeah, a Harley and a Martin D-28 guitar. I almost forgot!)
Reply:You left out a good fishing rod with a Penn reel. My luck on finding a good woman hasn't worked out real well, and I just won't trade my old Les Paul and Mosrite for anything, not even a Martin, heheh, though I wouldn't mind having the Martin in the pile.I actually think the welding degree is a great idea as long as it is a comprehensive program. You should hear them squeal back home when they find out they have to take math, english and science classes. Like anything else it's all what you make of it. I didn't learn a whole lot getting my associates in computer science but I had been working in computers since before windows came along. Now my bachelors in art was a totally different story. I chose it because I wanted the challenge of something I knew nothing about.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:[QUOTE=Jolly Roger;166842]You left out a good fishing rod with a Penn reel. Only if it is an old Penn before they turned to crap, I still use green 704's and Squidders older tham me.Disclaimer; "I am just an a$$hole welder, don't take it personally ."
Reply:Originally Posted by ironkenI'm short yhe guitar and bead blasting cabinet.......crap!!! Can I swap the cabinet and guitar for a '39 John Deere A?
Reply:I've had my Penn about 20 years now. I have way too many rods and reels, but it is by far my favorite, just way too small for the fish we have down here.MOZ...what the h@ll is a furlong, or a fortnight for that matter (I believe those terms are way before my time, LOL)? The only thing I have ever seen furlongs associated to is horse racing and I've never been to one so I don't really know what it is. Do you use the metric system in Aus? Didn't have much trouble with kilometers because that's what we used in the army, but liquid measurements were sure enough fun.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:Aus is metric, and since I grew up with it I don't have any problem with it - it's all just adding or removing zeros. And almost all the units fit together like Lego blocks... power is volts times amps, not volts times amps times a fiddle factor to convert from VA to horsepower (or BTUs per hour, or whatever you lot measure power with... I'm sure the US has creeping standardisation (SI units) and most of you will understand watts as a measurement of power).A furlong is 10 chains ... hey, you're the ones who use them, don't come whining to me when you don't understand your own units :P  (and before you ask, a chain is 66 feet, and a mile is 8 furlongs. See, it all makes perfect sense )Last edited by Moz; 02-23-2008 at 06:51 PM.Originally Posted by Jolly Roger Do you use the metric system in Aus? Didn't have much trouble with kilometers because that's what we used in the army, but liquid measurements were sure enough fun.
Reply:WoW!Look where this thread has gone.....zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:I've hired 3 since november to be my assistant. #1 couldn't make it to work even when I would stop at a truckstop in his small town to pick him up and take him to work. #2 might have worked out but went to work where his wife was working to cut his transportation cost in half. #3 is currently a guest of Washington county until the end of the month. He was sure God would get all the charges thrown out.  I'll give him another shot when he gets out. He wants to work bad enough that he rode a motor scooter 20 miles in 8 degree weather to get to work for only an $8 an hour job. $8 an hour is all my boss will let me pay them and my boss wonders why we only get people no tools, no skills and often no transportation.
Reply:There are alot of technical programs around here, so we do get good people comin in the door. But for every one of those there are two who were "machinists" at the last place because they know where the cycle start button is on a Fanuc control.I have also seen lots of people who cant even read tape measures, figure out decimals, convert said decimals to fractions etc...I still think the scariest part is that these people are given jobs in these enviroments, and they just have no idea about the dangers all around them.They arent aware of their enviroments. I dont care, let 'em hire more morons. It makes me look like a rocket scientist, and it gives me something to laugh about
Reply:I know what you mean on the pay. My boss was paying helpers $6.50 an hour in '95 and couldn't figure out why he couldn't get any decent help. I pointed out to him that I was getting $6.50 an hour as a helper in '75 (I was 15 and you now have to 18 to work in the oilfield). Some of these guys were married and had kids, can't blame them for leaving. Locals down here think they should get at least 10 an hour with no experience, and still get paid for just standing around talking. Can't seem to grasp the concept of work. The majority that do show up looking for work are drunks or crackheads and I don't need them or the problems they bring.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:Every once in a while a good hand will walk in the door but it doesn't happen often at all.  I've been running the second shift for 2 years now and have been through dozens of people.  Some I've had to fire and some just couldn't hang.  There have been lots that said they could weld and couldn't run a decent bead to save their lives when it came to it.  Everyone that hires in how gets the same treatment, I treat them like idiots until they prove me wrong.  Sadly, most of the time I'm right.  One guy that really sticks out was a man pushing 50 and supposedly had 30 years experience.  I thought maybe I could learn something from him (I learned most stuff from old hands).  He came in with an inflated ego telling us about how good he was  After he screwed some stuff up I was watching him pretty close and caught him counting the lines on his tape  How in the hell does a man go 30years in the business and still have to count the lines   He built some standard 10' open handrails one night.  They are 42" tall with 2 legs, one on one end and one in the middle.  The other end welds up to another rail in the field.  So there's 58 1/2 hanging from the remainder of the top rail and 58 1/2 halfway down sticking out from the middle upright.  He built the rails and sent them to paint, the painters hollered at me to look at them because one of the rails was 2" out of square   You could see it from across the shop.  There was around 10 rails in all and all of them were wrong.  He no longer works for the company DewayneDixieland WeldingMM350PLincoln 100Some torchesOther misc. tools
Reply:Originally Posted by ironkenI'm short yhe guitar and bead blasting cabinet.......crap!!! Can I swap the cabinet and guitar for a '39 John Deere A?