1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Personal phone use while on the clock.

Discussion in 'General' started by BC, Feb 10, 2022.

  1. FastByKids

    FastByKids Tire Warmers What?

    Brilliant! I had close to the same suggestion that I would communicate to the plant manager. However because the three other plants didn't do it that way... You must be a great asset to whomever you work for!

    I transferred to Phoenix from Houston to help "Turn around the plant". My marching orders was to make sure the facilities, machines, and maintenance were not the issue. As you most likely figured out I'm not the best people person and was told to stay our of production / people issue as that "was not my kitchen".

    So many factors surrounded the plant. Companies from California relocating to the area and of course mass migration of people. Amazon and a few other large companies drove up wages which shattered the plants business model (70% temp workers). The pool of talent was absolutely dismal.

    Long story short, everything got sorted that I could control. However I think Houston knew from the day I stepped foot in Phoenix they were going to relocate to Reno. No way was I going to Reno! So cut my losses, took off for green grass and tall trees.

    I know every generation says the next generation is going to be worse. But I think the next is going to be in deep trouble. The saying I read a couple days ago really made me chuckle then think deep: "If you think things are bad now, in twenty years the country will be ran be e-learned kids taught by day drinking teachers".
     
    SuddenBraking likes this.
  2. R1M370

    R1M370 Dr. P Ness

    His customers probably don't request photos of the deposits so they'll never know how much is in the bag. :D
     
  3. pickled egg

    pickled egg Tell me more

    I think it’s more the economy of time cleaning up the other end of the constipatory spectrum…
     
  4. Trainwreck

    Trainwreck I could give a heck

    I can design parts, program CNC machines, repair broken tooling, and weld random shit together as well as reply to these forums. I have multiple monitors.

    Speaking of cell phone usage.. a few months ago my manager "what the fuck'd" me because I wasn't responding to emails. I was elbows deep in some weld robots tooling trying to chase down some dimensional issues. I had gloves on and didn't want to take the company cell phone out of my pocket to see why it was going off. TBH I figured it was some chain regarding the issue I was dealing with.

    "You have a damn smart watch, cant you look at that then email me back?"-boss.

    "This is MY smart watch, I don't get company emails, or texts from the company cell phone on it. If you want me to get company emails on it, you can buy the smart watch"-me

    It's all about boundaries.

    FWIW my manager and I have a really great relationship, and he knows about my VERY hard lined separation between work and personal life. I wont even go to any company function unless I'm on the clock. If I have to represent for any company, anywhere, I'd better be getting paid. (been here 12 years)

    My wife digs her hand me down Fenix though.
     
    Laz, 27 and FastByKids like this.
  5. Bruce

    Bruce Tuck & Roll


    I must say from personal experience that this is not always the case. Not everyone is created equal, and not everyone can do every job. You're not to blame bro! :crackup:
     
    cav115 and 27 like this.
  6. auminer

    auminer Renaissance Redneck

    This is a lot to cover from my work phone while I am driving and on the clock... :D

    So, I actually used to have this service back in the early aughts when I was making beaucoup bucks for making other people cubic beaucoup bucks. Between the stress and the drinking-snorting-smoking - etc, that lifestyle came to a crashing halt in the ER one night.

    So, after getting my shit together, I decided I needed to figure out something to do. I had "enough" money for the rest of my life if I didn't get stoopid. I was about 80 pounds overweight, so something active but not overly so. Shit scooping seemed perfect.

    After about a year, I was getting tired of no days off, and slow business growth, so I found an existing dookie-scooper business to buy my client base. He offered me a job, so I decided to take him up on it til I found something better. That was damn near 13 years ago. :crackup:

    In the interim, the business changed hands, the former manager got his ass canned and I reluctantly took the job.

    Nowadays I'm training the owner's youngest son to take over running the crew while I am just a dumb dookie-scooper driving around and playing with dogs, which was the original idea.


    Yards are yards unless they are way oversized. We charge based on # of dogs & frequency of service.

    I think that answers everything...
     
    beac83, SuddenBraking and 27 like this.
  7. Ducati89

    Ducati89 Ticketing Melka's dirtybike

    I think you know the correct answer here, Bruce:D
     
    Bruce likes this.
  8. 27

    27 Well-Known Member

    thanks for taking the time... hope you don’t get canned :crackup:
     
    Ducati89 likes this.
  9. In Your Corner

    In Your Corner Dungeonesque Crab AI Version

    A job that requires phone use is a whole different animal.
    I believe the OP was talking about a situation where there is no need to be on your phone
    when you're at the shop, but it's a real convenience when out on the job site.
     
  10. 27

    27 Well-Known Member

    you in GR? I see you talk about Grattan and some GR businessmen before...

    your work sounds interesting... are you in a manufacturing company or a tooling/robotics supplier/services for them?
    What products? Auto? Medical? Furniture?

    Just curious...
     
  11. Robin172

    Robin172 Well-Known Member

    Sounds like Broome's next gig.
     
    Sudowoodo and Sabre699 like this.
  12. CBRRRRR999

    CBRRRRR999 Well-Known Member

    Had a guy painting for me in a high end community and he was constantly on the phone. It looks bad as they pay well and expect a lot. Put him up a 24 foot ladder with cut in brush and bucket to incentivize him. He's great at his side jobs, just a crapy employee even making bank.
    On my other job ( commercial spearfishing) we had almost 0 phone/ internet coverage anyway other than my sat phone. Guys lives were for real at stake during the work day. We had a very strict no phone, no radio and no TV policy when someone was in the water. Someone had to have eyes on the clock and watch for bubbles, sharks or fish and listen for yells or whistles.
    Different work situations need different solutions. As long as safety comes third and fart jokes are appreciated I'm flexible on down time entertainment.
     
    Sudowoodo likes this.
  13. 27

    27 Well-Known Member

    What kind of fish?
     
  14. Sudowoodo

    Sudowoodo Error 404: Skill not found

    Fish sticks
     
    MachineR1, CBRRRRR999 and 650 RACER like this.
  15. SuddenBraking

    SuddenBraking The Iron Price

    Lol.......they don't always see it that way. Been fired from my last two gigs, although that meant from last summer until a couple of weeks ago I was getting paid from two different places without working. I'm in demand so I've got leverage negotiating my agreements, and I have less than zero patience for bullshit.

    Start a new gig on Monday, for better or worse. We'll see how long this one lasts :rolleyes:
     
    Ducati89 likes this.
  16. FastByKids

    FastByKids Tire Warmers What?

    ^You must pm me your magic formula: Fired from last two gigs but still getting paid from them? And still being in demand? :crackup:
     
  17. CR750

    CR750 Well-Known Member

    The "empowered kids" as I call them usually come around in a year or two. We were getting 4 year engineering degrees, and most of them were on the cell 2-4 hours a day in the beginning. As their work load and scope increased they seemed to come around, not all but most. The worst part was them crying in my fucking office. Many of these kids have never been tested or pushed in their lives, then they come to a complicated problem without an easy solution and they break down. I have said more than once the solution is not on the internet or Wikipedia but in the data which you need to analyze. I always had to bite my tongue, I wanted to say so bad DO NOT BE A FUCKING PUSSY, WHY YOU ARE IN MY OFFICE CRYING LIKE A LITTLE BITCH. Unfortunately HR would not approve so I would tell them to take a break and get it together.

    Edit: after a couple of years the criers were good engineers, just took time.
     
    Phl218 and FastByKids like this.
  18. Trainwreck

    Trainwreck I could give a heck

    Kalamazoo

    I work in the medical device industry for a full time career. I also have my own fab/design business that I do in spurts.

    My job description is strange, but that's mostly because I made it up and got people who could make moves to make it a position...

    I showed there was a need for the company to have someone that can do what I can do as a full time position. I do a lot of CAD design for tooling and fixtures (welding, CNC, cutting, and assembly aid tooling). I also program the CNC code to manufacture the tooling I design, assemble it, test it, and implement it onto the floor (I do what I can to have others do all the stupid paper work for validation and procedures type stuff... I lose motivation and would be willing to quit if given too much clerical work) I also will assist out maintenance team with repairing, reverse engineering, and modifying existing tooling.

    On average most of our weld tooling costs around $25,000-$175,000 to get some of these tooling houses to even call us back. My first project I designed, built and implemented a tooling system that was quoted out at around $65,000. I did it all for around $8,000.. It had less bells and whistles that ABC TOOL said is "standard" on all their systems, but for a weldment that had maybe 9 subcomponents, I didn't think prox sensors and ladder logic was necessary.. Standalone air systems run to a 2 finger switch for clamping, and a few poke-yokes to help operators have visual cues keeps the scrap down. ...after that, the whole thing just started steam rolling. Now we only ask vendors to do things I simply don't have time for. My department now has 5 people and it's estimated that we have saved well over 7 figures in the last 4-5 years alone, accounting for welding CNC, and assembly aid tooling.

    I am also a SME in human error prevention practices.. I was often tasked with root causing why some of our operators or processes create scrap. (not so much anymore as we feel I am more value added in tooling design) I honestly really love the human error prevention stuff, my co-workers said should start a consulting company around that.... However, TBH I look and talk like a hoodlum and I think I would would struggle with 1st impressions. Would you hire someone that looks like he just tried to steel your sub woofers, to tell you how you can improve with your processes and training?

    I am also on a few teams that work on process and systems improvement for manufacturing. (think lean manufacturing)

    In the winter time I get bored and I hate the cold. I am still hourly, so I will work OT on the weekends helping out our hand weld department as I am still certified in all of our welding processes. lol

    Basically, my company can't/won't call me an Engineer without adding "technician" at the end. This is because I don't have a degree, and I have no plans to get one. Even with them paying for it... However, I have combatted that with denying every single salaried position they have offered me unless it had a BASE salary of 20% more that what I grossed the previous year. Odd enough, they will have no problem calling me an "Engineering Manager" and have offered that as an avenue i could pursue.. However, I am not interested in management anymore. I am more of a "cradle to the grave" person and I like to work alone as an individual contributor. I still have about 5 years left of merit increases before i am "maxed out" in what i have been told ins their highest hourly job grade. So that's an opportunity for 2027.

    I googled and YouTube'd my way into learning CAD design, CNC programing, and machining, and I have bee welding in shops since I was 16. (mostly TIG) I got a pirate version of SolidWorks, 9 years ago. I got decent at it... Bought myself a legit copy when I started my home fab shop. I then showed my full time job what I could do. Then "lied" and told them I knew how to program CNC machines.. So they gave me a MasterCAM seat. Then I just learned it on the fly.

    I'm a real fuckin weird dude. I just obsess over things that interest me until I am real good at them or I realize I don't like them. Helps out if they end up making me money.

    My work is interesting, because I made it up. It has kind of job locked me, but I am really fortunate to be given some shots at things.

    ...I also have no idea why I cant just reply with a normal answer..
     
  19. FastByKids

    FastByKids Tire Warmers What?

    @Trainwreck , I'd be the co-worker to change / move six things in your office. Then watch you subconsciously put everything back to exact location before I moved it. :crackup:

    Just taking a guess if that would be you. :D
     
  20. SuddenBraking

    SuddenBraking The Iron Price

    I'm pretty good at what I do and make companies lots and lots of money:D

    And to be clear, I "got fired" because I told both the bosses (also the owners) so suck their own dicks and let me know how it tasted.

    [​IMG]
     

Share This Page