This bothers me on many levels

I have 4 more positions to fill before the end of the year. My phone is ringing off the hook (and answering machine getting full) from people calling begging. It bothers me that things are that bad right now, it bothers me that I only have 4 positions to fill, it bothers me that people are bothering me, but most of all-

IT PISSES ME OFF THAT MY EMPLOYEES ARE GIVING OUT MY CELL PHONE NUMBER TO THEIR COUSINS AND UNCLES AND NEICES TO CALL AND CHECK ON A JOB.

I told the group today the next call I got on my cell phone saying "My cousin Rufus said you was hiring and gave me this number" I would hire on the spot, TO FUCKIN REPLACE RUFUS WHO I WAS FIRING FOR GIVING OUT MY CELL PHONE NUMBER!!!

mixed blessings

Please know that I realize times are hard out there right now. I am the only major employer in the 5 county area hiring right now, and for every position I have to fill I have 35-40 applicants. The last 4 1/2 years have been spent building a major maunfacturing operation from nothing, and growing a related existing operation. When we started the new operation it was me (a VP of Operations), a Dept Manager, and 2 hand-picked operators. We would run one machine, move with the product to the next step in the operation, etc. Since I had designed the central machine to the new process, it was a good opportunity to see firsthand how I had done. 4 of us has now grown to 240.

The first expansion in the summer of 2006 was not too bad, I was able to hire several people just coming out of the military. The timing was good. The second expansion, in Jan/Feb 2007, was something else all together. The economy had not turned sour yet and I had a hard time finding good people. Retention from that round was only 60%. Thid expansion was a little better but not very large.

In the fourth expansion in the summer of 2008 the operation doubled in size in 3 months. The reason for the title of this post is that, the same week we announced that expansion a major industry in an adjacent town completed it's shuttering of operations. The average age of the new hires in that group was 47. Retention from that round- 100% after 18 months. In the fifth expansion, March/April of 2009, I tried hiring a mix of mature workers and younger applicants, hoping the young ones would learn to work from the older ones. Retention rate? 100% of those 35 or older, 20% (1 out of 5) for the young group.

Now we're in the sixth growth phase. In the last 2 weeks I've hired 9, with 6 more to go. Another manufacturing plant is shutting down 12 miles from here. I am blessed to have a rich pool of mature, dependable workers to choose from. But knowing I can't help them all breaks my heart. 140 people suddenly unemployed, average seniority at the facility was 14 years. I'm not done yet, but the average age of those hired thus far is over 50. The ones hired are extremely grateful, being anxious about finding work at their age. I am grateful to have employees who want to work, and show up 99 days out of 100. But knowing for every 1 hired 4 or 5 remain unemployed is tough

Sometimes I hang my head in shame

This company has a policy, which pre-dates me, regarding Sunday pay. Most reasonable companies pay double time for Sunday work, some only pay double time if you worked every other day you were scheduled during that week but even then Sunday is time and a half.



This companies policy is assinine and completely designed to screw the employee:



First of all, Holiday pay does not factor in to overtime calculations. In other words, if we are off say on Labor day and they get Holiday Pay for that Monday, then we come back and work 8 hour days Tue-Sat, Sat is straight time because 5 days x 8 hours day= 40 actually worked, and 8 hours holiday for Monday.



Our payroll period is Sunday thru Saturday. Sunday is only double time if the employee works 7 days inone period. 99 times out of 100, we work Sunday prior to a holiday weekend in order to get production out and still have a long weekend.

We have a legitimate need to work straight through this weekend coming up, Nov 21-22. My beef is that with this assinine policy it goes like this:

The first 40 hours are straight time. Anything over 40, excluding holiday pay, is time and a half. Pay period is Sunday-Saturday. The hourly folks will work Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then get holiday pay for Thursday Thanksgiving (but not for Friday even though the plant is down) and be off Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving. So, they will be working Sunday for straight time, not even time and a half.

Makes me hang my head in shame to call myself an officer of this chickenshit outfit sometimes.

Thin line to tread

In April I hired a young woman for the lab, to run the washing machines. She had interviewed well, having put on the best she had in the way of clothes and letting me know she needed a job without the usual begging. It took about 2 days to figure out she was capable of more than running washers and dryers, and through course of conversation I learned she had 1 year of the Microsoft curiculum at the local trade school. At this time I was also looking for a clerk to handle all the inventory and lotting requirements I've been handling, as well as be a part-time secretary. I decided to give her a try. To make a long story short, she did better than I expected, assimilated the job plus a lot more in a month and a half, and has been a real benefit.

Obviously, since her desk is in the ante-room coming into my office, we interact a lot. I like to get to know all the people who work for me (often considered a weakness by my superiors) but have learned a lot about this one in particular. She is 24 and a single mother (never married). The father of the baby is drug dealer and she has served 4 months herself for being a 'mule'. She talks extensively about wanting to seperate herself from her past as a drug addict. Her baby spent part of the time she was in jail with a foster family, part of it with her family. She does not qualify for State assistance with health care and child rearing because she refuses to officially name the baby's father as such. Georgia has a law requiring this in order for mothers to get assistance, the State then goes out and recovers expenses from the deadbeat dads. The problem? If she names him in order to get the assistance, he automaticaly gets visitation and partial custody, and she doesn't want the baby exposed to the drugs, etc, he is involved with. So she chooses to tough it out and go it alone.

She has been doing good with her efforts to start a new life, but 3 weeks ago she started dating one of the contractors working for me. Since that time, her performance has dropped off, she looks like she is not getting enough sleep, and there have been a couple of days I have suspected she has been on something other than caffeine. Her attendance has deteriorated, and by the book I should have fired her this past Thursday based on attendance during her 90 day probationary period. Instead I had a long heart to heart about lifestyle choices, and how close she was to losing the job.

So, there are 2 days left in her probationary period. She becomes eligible for our health insurance on Wednesday. If she signs on, then goes into rehab, it's a problem. We are a small self-insured company. The premiums we all pay are based on total expenditures. There are 112 employees on our insurance at the moment. If she becomes #113, then we spend $100,000 on rehab, everyone elses premium goes up by $892/year or $74/month. Do I have an obligation to all the rest of the employees to avoid this risk? Or does this girl deserve a chance to turn her life around? Despite anecdotal evidence she is still making bad choices?

Aiy aiy aiy. I have 48 hours to decide.

Ain't life as a rich white guy boss a piece of cake?

So, do I take it back, or not....

Turns out the "something the wife had going on" on Memorial Day that kept the boss away from work was a battery of medical tests. After expressing that I hoped everything was o.k., etc, etc, he said, in a Snidely Whiplash voice,

"hehehe, I bet you all cussed my name all day that day, didn't you? Well. you never know"

Asshat

Un-Fucking-Believable

So, we're starting up a new piece of equipment. My boss, President of the company, is with us. He has a nasty habit of chewing tobacco and spitting in the nearest receptacle. Usually it's the nearest garbage can, but this being a brand new machine we don't have cans out there yet. So what's a man to do? Mostly he spit in a pile of rags which would soon have to be picked up by my new hire operator, a 19 year old name Tony. Soon after the Boss walks off Tony picks up his Dr. Pepper sitting on the operators station and, in that 19 year old boy way, throws about 1/2 of it down in one gulp.

Then throws up (literally) all over the electrical console and operators station.

You guessed it- his drink was full of tobacco juice.

I know everyone bitches about their boss, but I'm telling you- mine has serious issues. Everyone who works here is just a piece of property to him.

It's official

My boss is a jerk. About 9:00 he called me on my cell phone

"Where are you"

"I'm leaving the shop heading back toward FR"

"I'm in your office. Come meet me here."

So, I go back and find him just outside my office. We go in and sit down, and chit-chat about production and the new equipment we're buying. Directly he says

"Tell your regular salaried guys they'll be getting a check Thursday. It's a supplemental check for them working Monday. You and Jack don't get one."

"O.K. I'm sure they will appreciate the gesture"

"Goddammit G (the owner) is making me do it."

"Oh"

"So, what you doing this weekend?"

"I don't know. Rootie left town for a few days with #4, the others are off with friends whose families are going to the beach or something for the weekend"

"So, you're a bachelor this weekend"

"Yeah, I guess so"

"Lucky bastard. I wish I was, I'd go play golf. Anyway, enjoy the weekend"

"You too. I'll see you Monday morning"

Then, as he walks out my door he says, very sheepishly, "I won't be here Monday. The wife's got somethin going on"

Mother Fucker

Uncanny

Scott Adams hits just a little too close to home, sometimes

Hmmm

So, the HR Manager comes up to me a little while ago and says "The Chief asked me if I knew why you was so agitated. He said you seemed to be a lot more uptight than he's ever seen you."

Think fast Daddio......

"Well, it might have something to do with never seeing my family, and my wife's announcement that if I wasn't going to be around for the (non) holiday weekend then she was leaving to find someone to talk to for a few days."

"Damn"

"Yeah, and since The Chief reacted like I had just asked him if I could have sex with his daughter the last time I asked for an assistant, I can't promise Rootie it's getting better any time soon. Right now I'm just engineering and taking bids for this expansion. soon I'll be trying to train people and start it up, in addition to running my current job. I guess I'll just put me a cot in my office and hope Rootie will let me in the house for Sunday dinner."

"God Damn"

Knowing how good HR people are keeping your problems in confidence, I'm sure the Chief already knows about the conversation, which took place 15 minutes ago.

Bad case of the fuckits

We roll our product up on things called A-Frames. It is basicly a giant roll with it's own wheels. We have about 300 of these now, of which 75 should be condemned as unsafe. The journals are more weld thanoriginal steel. These 300 are of 9 different configurations, hving been bought a few at a time through the years. This makes it tough, because you have to hope that you can find one that will work on the piece of equipment you are trying to run.

So now, I'm in the midst of building a new $2.3 million expansion. There will be 5 new pieces of equipment that will wind on A-Frames. The bare minimum number I need is 90 to run everything 5 days a week. I was in a moth-balled plant last week with 420 identical A-Frames. I negotiated to buy 120 of them for $100 each (their value by the pound, as scrap iron, is about $65). I figure this allows for some product to be held for quality purposes, or maybe some A-Frames to be in the shop getting bearings replaced, etc. Anyway, it allows some breathing room without having to hunt for empty A-Frames.

The Chief changed the requisition to 70. I tried to explain that 90 was the minimum number, and offered to go through the calculations that brought me to that number.

"Oh I don't doubt you need 90. If you only have 70 you'll have to act like a manager and keep product flowing."

I can't wait to tell the owner that his $2.3 million expansion is idle for want of $5000 worth of scrap iron. I had budgeted $550 each for the 90, which was the cost of new ones. You'd think I would get an Attaboy for finding used ones at a good price.

I have a happy place!

I have a Happy Place! Go to www.sweetdaddio.blogspot.com

M%&*@$# F)#^&!

The Chief has decided that we don't make money when we aren't running (duh-huh you say), and that includes what is a holiday for the rest of the world. Not only are we running Monday instead of having cookouts and drinking beer like everyone else for Memorial Day, we are also running Saturday. The people can rest Sunday. I will come back later with statistics, but Labor Day last year we ran too, and productivity was 58% of standard. We didn't get any time off for Easter either, so we have to go back to Christmas to find a holiday we actually recognized out here. And we got Sunday and Monday off for Christmas. WooHoo 2 whole fuckin days. I can't remember how I spent them, I'm sure I wasted them somehow.

Happy Mother's, Rootietoot

A salute to the Mother of my children, Rootietoot.

She gives up so much to take care of the family. She drove aged mini-vans for many years, and is last on the wardrobe purchasing priority list. She is always here when they get home from school and listens to how their day went. She does laundry (lots of it) and cooks meal every night (except Sunday). I know sometimes she has to feel like we don't notice all she does, but we do. It has been many years since I didn't have clean socks and underwear in my drawer, and the boys can say the same. I notice, and the boys do too even if we don't always say so. And as they get older, they appreciate the full meal and the time at the dinner table every evening, talking politics, football, and current events.

Thanks Rootie, we all love you so much!

Mother bitch session

My mother, bless her heart, is buying a car for #1 son. She has taken to subtle comments, aimed at me no doubt, such as "well everyone seems to be kicking the poor boy while he's down, so I thought I would help him."

I guess I'm the one who's kicking him while he's down.

There's a widower my parents know who has a '91 Buick that was his wife's. He has decided to get rid of it, so my mother has bought it and is having a mechanic go over it. She will then allow #1 to make payments to her.

I'm certainly not opposed to him getting wheels, or to her helping him, but he will wind up not making payments, she will call me complaining about it, and I will have to tell her she made the deal with him and it is between them.

Why am I so negative about this? I have lived/known her for 43 years, and him for 19. I know with fair certainty how this will go down.

And she is enabling his behaviour, by making this easy for him. Now he will have more money for drugs and alcohol.

Progeny Bitch Session

Things are going well for #1 son at work. His boss is happy, his boss's boss is happy, the owner of the company talked with him at length yesterday then told me last night he was a firm believer in nepotism and that #1 was obviously bright enough that we should put him in management training.

So why am I bitching? I pick him up at 6:30 every morning. For a long time now, if I wake up early I will go on to work and have incredibly productive hours at before everyone else gets in. Now I wait for him. Several times I was done at 6:00 or 6:30 in the evenings, but his machine is still running so I wait till 7:00 or 7:30.

And really, I'm o.k. with it since it's a chance for him to get ahead. All I asked of him was that he save $300/month towards a car of his own. He was bringing home $340/2weeks on his old job, now he brings home $350-$365 every week. Last Thursday, the first milestone date we had agreed to, he showed a ticket from the ATM showing $305. Today I asked him if that money was still in his account, since he is supposed to have $600 by June 1. He went off on me, about how I'm trying to control his money and have since he first went to work at Taco Bell 3 years ago. All pissy because I made him pay his own car insurance. My deal to all the boys was/is I will provide a car for 18 months so they can save and buy their own, and I will pay insurance 3 months so they find a job and get started. If they keep a 3.0 GPA, I'll pay their insurance past that. He never achieved a 2.0 GPA, and blew the hell out of his money. 18 months in, all he had was his most recent paycheck.

Bottom line- he does not still have the $300. My deal with him was I would provide transportation for 90 days. Realistically, he should be able to save $1500 in that time. he will have nothing. I will quit giving him rides, and he will lose his job. It's 18 miles from his apt to the plant, a little far to walk.

And somehow, once again, his travails will be my fault. I guess in essance he is right. I failed to teach him what he needs to make it in the world.

Boss Bitch session

I would love to bitch about my boss, and his habit of "recycling" paper by printing on the back side of old reports and the confusion it has led to this week when the wrong side of the paper is looked at, but I probably shouldn't

The Preacher would be saying "SHIT" right about now

Sleeper B just ain't getting it. He walks off for a smoke break at bad moments, and when co-workers come over to help him in a bad moment (they all do that for each other) he steps back to let him have the trouble, or he steps out for a smoke. I have observed this myself, and so have his foreman and supervisor. He says everyone's out to get him. I am about to fire him again.

SHIT!

They aren't all bad

Lest I fall into the trap of the mainstream media and only report bad news:

Carl is 22, he came in as part of the 2nd wave, last August (the recent hirings are 4th wave). I knew he was going to be a father, he's been excited about it since he found out. Carl has been on time every day except when he asked to go for an ultra-sound with his girl friend 2 months ago. Monday I overheard a conversation between him and some of the guys from the other part of the plant in the canteen.

"Man, what'd you go and get married for. Now she won't get no money from the State"

"I don't care, he's going to have my last name on his birth certificate"

"Man, you stupid. Just shack up then she can get money from the State"

"I don't want money from the State. I want to be married"

"Man, you stupid"

Tell me at least part of the problem in the black community isn't cultural.

(Relatively) painless

O.K. All hired up and fully staffed after just 3 days of interviews. As mentioned earlier, sleeper B is back for a second chance, and one more young man was hired. He had the complete 2 year automotive course in high school, so maybe he can move up into a mechanic's spot later. Also hired- 1 young lady with computer skills. She's starting out in the testing laboratory, but she may wind up as a clerk for the production area.

The others are all 35 years old (+). One guy has what can only be described as contagious enthusiasm. He worked one job for 14 years, before the plant shut down. He then got his liscence to drive trucks, but didn't like being away from home. 2 other woment were hired as well for quality control and/or the testing laboratory.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Oh yeah this will do....

Interviewing again- I generraly trust my secretary to "pre-screen" applicants, but she occasionally lets one get through. Remember the young man with the hoodie covering everything but his eyes and nose?

So, she interupts my lunch saying she has one I "really need to talk to." O.K. I tell her to bring her on down. It turns out to be an extremely pulchritudinous young woman wearing a halter top and low riser jeans. She has enough metal through holes in her ears, lips, cheeks, and eyebrows to make a new machine for the plant. Tattoed on her right forearm in large letters is "Bossy", on her abdomen just above her jeans is "Delicious", in the back partially obscured by the elastic of her exposed thong is "Lickit". I give her the tour of the plant just like I do all the other applicants who make it past Lauri, and it becomes apparent she is acquainted with several of the guys on the floor. As we walk past each work area the guys stop to watch. "O.K. I'll have to fuss at the guys" I think. It's their problem, not hers.

Until we are walking out of the department and she stops at the door, leans forward to put her hands on her knees, and grinds her hips for about 1.5 seconds.

It took me 30 minutes to get the guys back on task. I'm afraid she might be a disruption.

I asked Lauri what the hell she was thinking. She implied she owed me one for something but was vague about it.

I didn't hire the young lady because she didn't have the computer skills I was looking for.