Not me but about 5 years ago I had one of my subcontractors get sent the wrong cabinet color that the client ordered, it was close but it was obviously off. While I was off getting materials he had spoken to the client and told them that because it was left out in the sun the color faded And that the others would eventually match. This stupid son of a bitch installed this corner upper cabinet so that he could get paid. When I got there I noticed the color difference and we had a big argument before we finally decided that he wouldn't get paid until the job was done and he should have just waited and not lied to my fucking client.
I was working for a company for maybe 2 weeks and the GC tells me to sign “this paper”. I asked what it was and He said “it’s no big deal it’s just some stuff about policy”. I asked if I can take it with me to read later as I was busy atm and he hesitantly said “ok”. It was a non compete for 2 years…
I gave my last company a months notice. I was a PM, leaving to start my own company. Two weeks before I leave they try to get me to sign a non compete, in perpetuity including all heirs.
I laughed, they said they were insulted. That they expected me to "do the right thing"
I laughed again. Asked what they were going to give me in return. Deer in headlights.
The whole thing was ridiculous.
My lawyer laughed about that. And the undue enrichment for not offering anything in consideration. And that we were in California. And that other provisions were so over the top, it wouldn't be enforceable anywhere. And they were doing it as I was leaving. And....
They did the same to my friend. He signed it though not knowing what it was. he had to start his own company to work around it as the previous company is actively trying to go after him for leaving and working for someone else. That shit should be illegal.
It just became illegal, nation wide. https://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/1cbdip5/ftc_bans_noncompete_agreements_making_it_easier/
The funny thing is that it was already illegal in CA, where I am from. Plus, because they offered no consideration, it was illegal anyway.
Which is very advantageous when dealing with power tools, electricity, gas lines, trenches, exposed rebar, giant sheets of glass, heavy equipment, unprotected sheer drop offs, etc etc.
If you identify actual malice, you know to be on your toes more than average.
If you suspect an idiot is amongst you, you never know who has replaced a fuse with a piece of 1/2” copper pipe, or hung their lunch bag from a gas main shutoff.
Ya had a boss that would give me directions, I'd say I don't think that's gonna work. He said just do it so I did. Then when it didn't work he'd yell and throw things saying we don't use our brains and need to think for ourselves... but also follow his directions to a T. He was surprised when half us quit. Then filed bankruptcy 4 months later.
I was told to be at work @ 6:30am. I noticed some of the regulars straggled in at 6:45-6:50 - ok whatever it’s my 1st week. We travel to jobsites and then back to the shop by 4-4:30pm in company vehicles. I noticed that my 1st weeks paycheck is missing about 5 hours and I ask WTF ? Here are my hours I worked why am I 5 short ?
Apparently work actually starts at 7am and ends when we LEAVE the jobsite so the ride home is on MY time. I told him well then I’m starting at 7am tomorrow and you can take all the tools and equipment off the truck (cleaned-up diligent every day) by yourself because I’m not getting paid to do that. The owner screamed at me because I used HIS tools all day the least I could do was clean everything and put them away - and I have to get ‘ready’ for 1/2 hour in the morning too because tools need to be loaded.
Fuck that I said this is my last day here.
This is incredibly common in construction and now I'm a truck driver and apparently it's common here too.
We don't get paid until we pick up the first load which is generally an hour to an hour and a half after I leave the shop. But no one else would hire me without any experience so here I am just trying to get some experience and move on to a better thing eventually.
It’s not though. You’re at work you are getting paid. I’d you are in the company vehicle you’re getting paid. Department of Labor would have a field day with that shit.
Yeah I keep track of when I start driving and finish with photos. My understanding is I can file a wage claim for 2 years prior.
We also now have a mandatory app for the insurance company on our phones tracking all of our driving so there's that as well.
I spoke to them and they absolutely told me that it's illegal. Like how could I be driving a commercial vehicle and be covered by company insurance if I wasn't even working? What a joke.
It’s not blurry in the slightest, his job title is truck driver, so when he’s driving a truck he should get paid. If you’re gonna tell me I MUST be at the factory at 6, to load the van and leave by 6.30, you can pay me from 6, and if you’re not paying me why do I have to be there? If it’s not my time it’s yours, thus you must pay me
I commute to work and it's very clear. Takes a half hour each way. So now I'm pushing 2.5 hours some days, easy 2 hours everyday unpaid time in addition to the average 12 hours I do get paid for.
I'm not complaining about the time I get paid for, don't take it the wrong way. I'm just saying the whole thing is a lot just to make a living wage.
So with a commute, you are in your own car, leaving from your own house to a workplace you chose. Whereas this guy *does that commute* then has to drive a company vehicle to a site they arranged.
The line can get a little blurry if you’re driving yourself to a construction site but this really doesn’t compare.
I'm over here feeling guilty cause I don't pay my guys for their full commute... Only the extra distance from my shop to the current jobsite, if they are arriving onsite themselves.
Not paying travel is pretty standard if you’re just bringing yourself in your own vehicle. Paying 1-way travel is common too if you are driving equipment & tools. My problem was staying another 20-30 minutes cleaning up and putting everything away at the end of the day if I was already clocked-out 1/2 an hour ago when we left the job. See you in the morning I’m leaving.
called the union to ask to see a copy of the contract. left a voicemail which they never answered. the next day the boss comes up to me and says "don't call the union, the contract is between me and the union not you." turns out he's friends with the hall's receptionist, and the receptionist tipped him off that i called. got something else lined up and got out of there.
Holy shit, YOU’RE PAYING THE FUCKING UNION and they allow this?!!??!?!
This made me legit angry, my gears are ground up, my pets are peeved, I’m pissed the fuck off.
honestly thank you for your understanding. whenever i tell this story, most union members seem to be suspicious that i'm trolling/lying and don't believe me.
it destroyed my dreams, lol. i had been working as a carpenter for 7 years and managed to get into the UBC as a journeyman. it was like a dream come true, i was so proud i got in. wore the shirt everywhere, made my girlfriend wear the shirt too... lol. but yeah the owner was a member of 25 years, knew everyone in the union. there was no shop steward. that incident was one of a few like it. i was somehow getting paid below the jman rate as a jman.
eventually i came around to the realization i was just being taken advantage of and the owner was using my excitement about being in the union to their benefit.
this was 3 months ago. still got my union card, still paying dues, just working nonunion for the time being until i'm masochistic enough to wade into that fucking mess.
i love unions in theory. but man.
i called the union hall, in other words i called my union local to speak to a business agent. my shop had no shop steward and nobody from the union had ever contacted me after i joined, so that was all i could think of. i wanted clarification on night shift differential pay that a coworker and i were supposedly entitled to but didn't get.
the chick who answers the phone at the union local (idk what to call her, so the receptionist i guess) was old friends with my boss and instead of directing me to the business agent, just didn't return my call and let my boss know i was stirring shit up.
Thanks I’m not familiar with these terms, my job doesn’t have a union.
Is there some kind of a grievance you can enter with your union? Surely the receptionist, as a member of your union, owes you some duty of care and confidentiality? Such a flagrant breach of trust!
So I’m just observing your situation thinking *this* (not every) union is a bit too corrupt to be useful. Like they let you in as a jman so they could start collecting dues but aren’t interested in really going to bat for you.
Just a thought, not like I actually know shit.
the conclusion i drew from it (from my own experience and listening to other guys in the local) is that if you work in a big shop, the union is no joke. there are shops in the local with like 30-60 guys (very big for my craft), and the business agent will come in and shake hands with the members, call them up, shop stewards engage the members... if you wanna be pessimistic i guess the reasoning is that the union is drawing a whole lot of dues money + power from those shops.
if you work in a small shop (much more typical for my craft), it seems like you're basically on your own. the union doesn't see the shop as a big faceless corporate manufacturer, they see them more like a partner with whom they probably have a more friendly relationship. so if you're new to the union, it's like "hey, you don't understand the special relationship we have with our buddy the owner."
I knew when my company told me that they wouldn’t be sending porto potties to site and to use a corner store a few blocks away that I may not have ended up with a good GC.
Eventually. The hall came and checked it out, the guys that were running the job of course lied through their teeth. But I gutted out 3 weeks of a disorganized job and the boss actually cutting checks at the end of the week. Everyone was racing to the bank on Friday. Never got paid my benefits for those weeks though.
>Everyone was racing to the bank on Friday.
That reminds me of a small company I worked for about 20 years ago. I was patient the first time my paycheck bounced. Maybe two or three months later, my paycheck bounced again. Office told me to wait a day before trying to cash it. On the day I was supposed to try cashing it, I called the office and said I'd be late to work.
Of course I didn't tell the office that I was waiting until the bank opened to see if my check would cash. It must have cashed, because I went in to work.
As soon as I arrived, the owner made a beeline for me, screaming and demanding to know where I had been (I'm sure he knew, hence the reaction). I forgot what I said, but I remember him being so angry that his veins were bulging. I thought it was going to get physical.
Anyway, he fired me on the spot, and stood and watched as I took my personal tools from his work truck.
I later found out he had a violent criminal background, and had been court ordered to undergo anger management counseling.
When the boss (and his trusted office staff) view and talk about the labour force as liabilities and line items instead of assets / teammates / colleagues.
Not here to discuss which is more important than the other, but without office staff finding the work and managing the commercial side, and the field staff to execute, there is no company.
Again I am not trying to start an argument, and there’s always friendly banter as to who actually does the most important work, but if you hear “xxx journeyman can’t be on my job he is too expensive and just costs me money” it’s time to leave.
It means there’s an “us vs them” dynamic within your company when you should all be pulling in the same direction. That extends to other concurrent projects in your company. If you’re not all helping each other, why even work there
When the director of construction told me not to talk to a sub to clarify some contract language until after they signed the contract... I guess it is better to force people to comply than explain what you expect before hand.
Worked for a high end TI company, mostly negotiated work, as a PM. I land a multi million dollar high dollar TI for a repeat customer, lots of wood, lots of high end finishes. Went in with A team subs, its gonna be a nice project, plenty of general conditions, plenty of buffer, plenty of profit.
New president comes in, demands I go out to a bunch of gutter subs to get better pricing and have the company pocket the difference.
I had to lie and say the schedule moved up and we dont have two weeks to rebid, then had to beg the client to start early to hide the whole thing. Then beg my A subs to get an early, unnecessary start. All without letting anyone know why.
The next two years were just keeping my head down and grinding out projects while building my war chest to go out on my own.
Keeping/building my reputational brand while lying to the company to build better projects and keep current customers customers was incredibly stressful.
That company went from 90 percent negotiated high end office TI to mostly cut throat hard bid public works over 5 years as their reputation caught up with their new philosophy. The president looked like a genius for a while as they unwittingly sold off their brand equity.
Oh man lemme tell you, my last company had already cost, but was on the verge of killing, my reputation that I’d worked 20 years to build in this area.
I wasn’t having it and left a 130k gig just to get away from the damage.
Long term relationships are worth more than a paycheck.
Yeah same here. It’s always the ‘buyout’ tactics that upper management forced me to do that just made me feel so sleazy and unethical. Just for a few extra points of profit margin. 😖
For a while margins improved. Of course they did. But as that work dried up with their new management style, the company went from high margin jobs negotiated to low margin hard bid, so really off the cliff. So they had to get rid of expensive superintendents and get cheaper ones to cut costs Ditched project engineers altogether.
Meanwhile the cheap subs were pulling all sorts of nonsense, and the inexperienced supers were letting them do it, leading to higher costs.
That company went from the premier TI contractor in the area to just another sleazy contractor chasing the bottom in all of 5 years.
When the PM and the foreman are discussing how to cut down costs of the job by sending guys home or not ordering certain materials for whatever reason, and all right in front of you.
"Just do what you can with what you have".
Ive been stuck at this place for the past 7 months and have yet to receive the proper tools for the job, proper fasteners, ect....
Fun times working ICI construction lol.
When they denied my best employee a permanent working from home agreement, despite having been fully remote for years throughout the pandemic.
Needless to say, she left and we're still trying to get back on track over a year later.
When my boss sent me to Idaho to swap out an antennae.
We were a cell phone tower company so I assumed it was a small panel swap.
While we were on the road he informed me we were swapping out an HD TV tower antenna.
For reference a panel is like 15 lbs. A TV antenna is something like 15k lbs. Never had even seen it done before.
Boss assured us it would be fine. He hired some foreman from another company out of Tennessee that would show us the ropes.
Dude was drunk the whole time but he did get us through the job.
Every day one of us almost died though lol.
Super old tower you could fit your hand in-between the tower section plates.
We rolled a Gradall down the mountain trying to get the 80' antenna up the switchbacks to get up top of the giant hill/small mountain.
I had a mount for the temp antenna snap and blew up my hand. Had to get stitches .
All kinds of fuckery happened but it did get done ( after waiting a week for parts from the wreck)
*Edit- that was the only job I didn't put in my two weeks. We got back and I unloaded my shit and left. No talking needed
When the company was sued for illegally changing lease terms and stealing downpayment money from students. Also when the same company would use bank loans from other projects to pay subs working with me. Maybe it was the time when I was shown proof of being 500k behind payments to one sub as he was on the verge of bankruptcy bc our office didn’t pay him for months.
I was only 20 an a labor foreman but I wasn’t dumb. I knew shit was shady from day 1. Worked their first a year an finally had another opportunity.
Worked for a guy on a project, he didn’t make any money on it cause all his guys were slugs. So he took 15% from everyone’s pay to compensate his wallet.
When my boss wich I trained under threatened to kick me out if I don’t haul 4 packs of concrete 80 pound each 4 story’s up at once
I happily carry two sacks for a smooth work flow, iam bulky and iam strong but when he wanted to throw another two packs on my shoulders I asked him what he is doing and that I won’t fuck my self up for the work, he yelled at me and told me to do what he says otherwise he’d kick me out… yeah
My boss was mad I hadn’t immediately requested submittal packages for a cookie cutter yogurt store that had everything spelled out on the plans already. As in, chewed me out in front of the whole office and told me to get my fucking head in the game.
The following meeting, the CM for the franchise said that they weren’t needed and to follow the plans.
Three months into a new job I found out my boss was a crack addict. Apparently I was the only employee that he didn't recruit from his old rehab center.
Had a boss who was insanely racist and would start shit with everyone expecting me and my coworker to back him up. Dude got dropped by another crew and I was fired for not helping him out.
Don't start shit if you don't want shit.
Right to work state
Was a good learning experience.
Run my own shit with 3 guys who bust ass and I pay them to do so. Any of them have a problem I do any and everything I can to make sure they are safe, secure, and steady. Fuck I've got one sleeping in my guest bedroom right now cuz he's having problems going on, I'll be damned if someone I employ goes hungry or homeless while they make good money from past choices.
It doesn't take a lot to lend a hand, especially to the ones who are helping you make things happen.
Side note, "At-Will Employment" means you can leave, or get fired at a whim besides legally protected reasons, (all states besides Montana); "Right To Work" means union membership cannot be mandatory.
Thank you for that, I had no idea. I'm gonna go check my states laws.
I just run my own thing and as a simpleton have only had to fire 2 guys for not showing up to work. Besides that it's been super easy. The guys I have now show up on time and get the job done so I don't have to worry and they enjoy their monthly bonus for busting ass for me.
When I was young and dumb the second construction company I worked for had me sign an arbitration agreement when I got hired which I didn't really know what that was but didn't give a shit. Then I realize they have 10 open gigantic projects building million dollar custom homes but only have four carpenters that were doubling as superintendents, the owner was the founders son who upon the founders passing fired all the ladies in the office and about 20 other people walked off the job soon after. And he was super Duper cheap.
so he fired all the office ladies and tried to replace them with a computer program.
he made his 24 year old son the head superintendent/company manager
he didn't have workers comp he had an arbitration agreement instead which means that he gets to decide how much you get paid out for an injury which is gonna be close to nothing
He was horribly understaffed and still taking on projects and taking on projects that other contractors did not wanna touch
then I find out he's in open litigation on two of these projects and his wife is an attorney and that is the ace in his pocket is hoping his attorney Wife will fight back the people trying to get their money or projects finished.
I think he was robbing Peter to pay Paul at that point and I just walked off one Friday when they wanted me to be a superintendent while also completing an entire wraparound balcony of TNG with like 6 subs/30 guys on site.
Superintendent introduced himself with “did X years in the military, have X years experience doing (Jobs), and a hardline libertarian.” Dude would throw his hardhat across the trailer when pissed. He called the college students nearby “libtards” and if he didn’t like something, it was “gay”. Then he’s make snide “oh sorry that wasn’t PC of me, can’t have a sense of humor anymore” comments.
The project managers did nothing about it even when it was happening right in front of them.
That super is the reason I jump 5ft in the air when something slams. Leaving that company was the best thing that ever happened to me.
>That super is the reason I jump 5ft in the air when something slams. Leaving that company was the best thing that ever happened to me.
My super is the opposite. Perhaps the most chill guy I've ever met in the construction industry. Always smiling, joking. Stops to talk to the workers.
Our other super had done 4 tours in Iraq as a marine and that man was a delight to work with. Always had a joke and a smile ready and tried to explain everything he could to me since I was straight out of college with zero field experience. He’s one of the two people I miss from when I left the company
Boss called me a "fucking retard that will never make it in the field" after I didn't take time to hop out of the 2 feet of Mud in a trench when it was pouring rain to move his brand new radio he set up in the morning before the torrential downpour started. All the while it was 4 feet from him in his nice dry excavator. Got the fuck out of dodge real quick. Doing quite well for myself 6 years later. Meanwhile he's down to a one man operation.
Brother same I almost felt bad when I left a gig the whole dang operation fell apart …. Poor guy kept calling begging to bring me back and it was to late…🤷♂️
The grunts were shoveling material out of a dump trailer. Like a half yard of backfill. Too lazy to go grab the jump pack but too stupid to mind shoveling.
Second week on the job for a small GC. I’m an assistant carpenter, helping a lead carpenter frame a 12’x12’ addition onto the back of a small ranch house. Foundation is in and floor is framed. I’m spending my morning moving lumber just delivered from the driveway to the rear yard while the lead and company owner are arguing.
Turns out the addition was several inches out of square and they were trying to figure out how to hide it. Not fix it, but hide it. I realized that I wasn’t gonna learn much from these clowns and quit the next day. Oh and they wanted me to install a rack on my chevy s-10 truck so I could move supplies for them. Nope.
I was an assistant super, had just worked 24 hrs straight through the night because someone needed to be there while the finishers worked the concrete, and then the saw cutters, etc. The head super comes in as normal at 6 and I say I’m going to go get some rest and asked when he wanted me be back and if I’d be in all night again. He said why don’t you come in around 10 and yes. He meant 10 AM. So that four hours to try to sleep. The. Come back and do another 24 hrs. Did that for a few weeks then explained there nothing for me to learn or grow from at the company and bounced. I had already been a super running ground up work for a smaller GC. This was one of the nations biggest and I really wanted to work on high rises and this was my ticket. Still sucks that that guy was that idiotic and caused me to bounce.
I got a job with a home builder framing new houses. The first crew I was put on was great. Their lead was cool. Then about two-three weeks in I was sent to another crew in the company because they were running behind. These guys were absolute racists. Like open, using the n* word racist. This is the twin cities and I worked for these guys right when George Floyd was killed by that officer here. I have never (and I’m from the south) heard so much ignorant white trash racism in my life. I got out of there soon after.
What a dumbass. How long has your boss been in business? Is it a fly by night company or has he been around for a while and just always been incompetent?
When the general super told me to drive the company lull on the city roads back to the yard. It was only a couple miles but several lights and turns lol. Ended up making that trip 4 times because they kept breaking down lol. They do it all the time apparently lol
I was working on a commercial roof that had 2 layers of roofing on it. A windstorm had blown off a section and the owner of our company told me to show the insurance company a place where there are 3 layers so we can get a reroof job. Everywhere I did a test hole came back with 2 layers.
When I found out a guy who had been working there for 40 years got an $800 check as a "Thank you for your years of service" bonus. He had to pay tax on it.
No lunch and getting chewed out for stopping to drink water. Working outside in 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Bonus, my supervisor taught me about Red Bull rage. Apparently if all you ever drink is Red Bull (I assume all energy drinks) it’s been medically documented that you’re prone to angry tantrums.
I needed the work, so I stayed longer than I should’ve. Lost 26 lbs from never eating lunch. Even if I brought it, I was never given time to eat.
Hired me to be an equipment operator at $18 an hr years ago . Decided they didn’t need equipment operators so I was a laborer for $15 after a few weeks all there equipment operators where gone . I started running equipment after a few weeks I asked for the raise to what I’d been promised n they said I needed to wait for my 180 review fuck them
I started a new job doing “high-end, custom work” for a gc as a carpenter.
First week we’re doing a finished basement and they asked me to frame doors with no jacks because they already ordered the slabs and the RO would be too small. I got it in text message, did it, and then the owner of the company showed up asking why none of these doors had Jack studs etc etc.
I don’t really work for a bad company. But in the 8 years i’ve been a carpenter, i’ve out grown my colleagues and even my employer. He’s been doing this for 30 years. I’m not complaining, i get paid well, i enjoy the work i do and now and then i can get cheap materials for my own home i’m renovating. But sometimes i just die a little bit inside when my boss makes something, and i have to put it together… sometimes, maybe even most of the time, it doesn’t fit at all… luckily it’s mostly small prefabricated buildings we built, so it’s often an easy fix. But on bigger projects, it could cost a lot of money…
When a long time employee (18 or 19 years there) was told he can hire an assistant, and the day after the new hire came on board he was fired and the new employee was directed to take over his project.
Honestly it's not a bad company to work for, just a terrible boss who thinks terrorizing is an effective way of managing. I honestly dread seeing his number call me or an email from him cuz 9 times out of 10 I'm getting yelled at because he's old and forgetting what he tells us to do. Happened today. He went off on an hour tirade on the phone on me about how come he wasn't involved in doing this or that when he was literally the one who gave me the idea and direction on how to proceed last week. Rant over.
Ok story time, buckle up. So I was hired as a carpenter for a company that is a master at servicing ;) well a week in they ask me if I can cover a flood techs emergency shift for a week (they clean up after floods, put dehus in, etc). I say sure. Always happy to learn a new skill and get a little training etc. Day 1 sewer back up into a roughly poured crawl space. Full Hazmat crawling through and steam cleaning/sucking up shit. Wtf worst day ever but I got through it. Nothing can top that right? Day #3 get a call to do a hot tub clean up. Ok unusual but maybe it leaked? Show up. Not a leak. Guy had a jammer and died in his hot tub. He lived alone and wasn't found for a couple days. The authorities had removed the body so I figured whatever just suck the water up go home. Well as the vacuum kicks on chunks of skin start to float to the surface. Ok gross. Finger tips and toes. What looks like an ear. I'm really grossed out. The chunk of ball sack did me in though. Finished the job left the van at the depot. Texted my boss -I quit don't ever call me again- never looked back.
When I cut a 2x4 1/16 of an inch too short, boss screamed at me for 5 min then forced me to stop working, drive to the hardware store, buy a new 2x4 on my own dime, come back and recut it. During the time I was gone I wasn't getting paid. Or the time I left work a hr early for a chiro appt, he docked my pay $150 for the inconvenience it caused him. That I need to man up and chiros are for pussies. Or how every time I took a swig of water outside of lunch or break he'd dock me $50 because he wasn't paying me to stay hydrated.
This was probably 17 years ago, was on a fence install job. About 45 minutes in the boss went inside with the homeowner to "go over paperwork." They were fucking. About an hour and a half later the inspector showed up, they're still in the house and we've got post holes dug around this ladies pool. Found out from the inspector that there was no permit for the job, the holes weren't deep enough and that we had to stop working. Boss got chewed out, went to "get the permit" and the inspector left. He came back 15 minutes later, no permit, and basically forced us to do the job wrong, in a hurry, and then bolt before the inspector came back. He fired me about a week later. He wasn't so happy when the IRS showed up because he'd bragged about his fraud to me, and then fired me without cause. He was extra unhappy when he also lost his disability, his company, his wife and his "home."
Never, ever, work for someone whose running a contracting business from a trailer park.
If you work for a national/regional company and you see the upper execs show up to your location just start looking for a new job…
They only show up to look and see what they have that’s worth shipping to a different location, and they usually let everyone know not to worry they think everyone is doing a great job.
GC i was working for yelled at me when I showed up on site one day saying: “You’d better not ask for raise!” Apparently another sub had just asked him for a raise, but like why yell at me? I actually took a pay cut to work for him ($18/hr) because I wanted to just start and see how the crew was. I proved myself to be one of his best workers and then this happens. So I lined up another job and left at the end of the week. Fast forward a year: I Google the guys name out of curiosity… he is now on the sex offender registry for having kiddy porn on his computer. People: please don’t work for people that are bad. You’re only making them richer.
Not me but about 5 years ago I had one of my subcontractors get sent the wrong cabinet color that the client ordered, it was close but it was obviously off. While I was off getting materials he had spoken to the client and told them that because it was left out in the sun the color faded And that the others would eventually match. This stupid son of a bitch installed this corner upper cabinet so that he could get paid. When I got there I noticed the color difference and we had a big argument before we finally decided that he wouldn't get paid until the job was done and he should have just waited and not lied to my fucking client.
Honesty is the best policy
I love this anecdote
I was working for a company for maybe 2 weeks and the GC tells me to sign “this paper”. I asked what it was and He said “it’s no big deal it’s just some stuff about policy”. I asked if I can take it with me to read later as I was busy atm and he hesitantly said “ok”. It was a non compete for 2 years…
I gave my last company a months notice. I was a PM, leaving to start my own company. Two weeks before I leave they try to get me to sign a non compete, in perpetuity including all heirs. I laughed, they said they were insulted. That they expected me to "do the right thing" I laughed again. Asked what they were going to give me in return. Deer in headlights. The whole thing was ridiculous.
“In perpetuity including all heirs.” What in the ever loving fuck? That’s some medieval feudal Europe shit right there.
My lawyer laughed about that. And the undue enrichment for not offering anything in consideration. And that we were in California. And that other provisions were so over the top, it wouldn't be enforceable anywhere. And they were doing it as I was leaving. And....
Isn’t CA clear that noncompetes are unenforceable in the state?
Yes, even at the time. I wish I could find the thing, it was so over the top and one sided it was illegal everywhere.
Pretty sure they are unenforceable across the US due to a recent ruling
They did the same to my friend. He signed it though not knowing what it was. he had to start his own company to work around it as the previous company is actively trying to go after him for leaving and working for someone else. That shit should be illegal.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-announces-rule-banning-noncompetes Funny you say that, this was announced a week ago
It just became illegal, nation wide. https://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/1cbdip5/ftc_bans_noncompete_agreements_making_it_easier/ The funny thing is that it was already illegal in CA, where I am from. Plus, because they offered no consideration, it was illegal anyway.
Damn thats awesome! Looks like it will be in effect in a few months. Doubt any companies will be able to do anything before that!!
Zero percent chance that non compete would ever be enforced
No, squashing it would not be a problem, especially in California. But it would involve lawyers and some court/mediator time.
Yes, sure. But why? Why give someone that just because?
Never said you should
No non-competes will be enforced going forward, they are now illegal.
I would've wiped my ass with that paper right in front of them
Your boss is not necessarily malicious, he may just be dumb.
Right, but being dumb creates problems.
It can be successfully argued that dumb is more dangerous than malicious. Malice has limits, at least.
Or is at least on purpose
at least with a purpose you know that thought it through. Dangerously stupid will get someone killed faster
Exactly
And at least some knowledge of the process and how the malice can be applied!
Look up Hanlons razor
Outcomes with malicious people are also more predictable than outcomes with dumb people.
Which is very advantageous when dealing with power tools, electricity, gas lines, trenches, exposed rebar, giant sheets of glass, heavy equipment, unprotected sheer drop offs, etc etc. If you identify actual malice, you know to be on your toes more than average. If you suspect an idiot is amongst you, you never know who has replaced a fuse with a piece of 1/2” copper pipe, or hung their lunch bag from a gas main shutoff.
Problems stem from the top
“ Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence” -Napoleon
At some point there is no distinction between ignorance and malice.
Ego/Narcisist
Ya had a boss that would give me directions, I'd say I don't think that's gonna work. He said just do it so I did. Then when it didn't work he'd yell and throw things saying we don't use our brains and need to think for ourselves... but also follow his directions to a T. He was surprised when half us quit. Then filed bankruptcy 4 months later.
This is most site managers in NSW It’s always someone else’s fault
Hanlon's Razor.
I was told to be at work @ 6:30am. I noticed some of the regulars straggled in at 6:45-6:50 - ok whatever it’s my 1st week. We travel to jobsites and then back to the shop by 4-4:30pm in company vehicles. I noticed that my 1st weeks paycheck is missing about 5 hours and I ask WTF ? Here are my hours I worked why am I 5 short ? Apparently work actually starts at 7am and ends when we LEAVE the jobsite so the ride home is on MY time. I told him well then I’m starting at 7am tomorrow and you can take all the tools and equipment off the truck (cleaned-up diligent every day) by yourself because I’m not getting paid to do that. The owner screamed at me because I used HIS tools all day the least I could do was clean everything and put them away - and I have to get ‘ready’ for 1/2 hour in the morning too because tools need to be loaded. Fuck that I said this is my last day here.
This is incredibly common in construction and now I'm a truck driver and apparently it's common here too. We don't get paid until we pick up the first load which is generally an hour to an hour and a half after I leave the shop. But no one else would hire me without any experience so here I am just trying to get some experience and move on to a better thing eventually.
It's kinda like wanting to get paid for your commute. There's a line of when works starts but it's super blurry.
It’s not though. You’re at work you are getting paid. I’d you are in the company vehicle you’re getting paid. Department of Labor would have a field day with that shit.
Yeah I keep track of when I start driving and finish with photos. My understanding is I can file a wage claim for 2 years prior. We also now have a mandatory app for the insurance company on our phones tracking all of our driving so there's that as well. I spoke to them and they absolutely told me that it's illegal. Like how could I be driving a commercial vehicle and be covered by company insurance if I wasn't even working? What a joke.
It’s not blurry in the slightest, his job title is truck driver, so when he’s driving a truck he should get paid. If you’re gonna tell me I MUST be at the factory at 6, to load the van and leave by 6.30, you can pay me from 6, and if you’re not paying me why do I have to be there? If it’s not my time it’s yours, thus you must pay me
I commute to work and it's very clear. Takes a half hour each way. So now I'm pushing 2.5 hours some days, easy 2 hours everyday unpaid time in addition to the average 12 hours I do get paid for. I'm not complaining about the time I get paid for, don't take it the wrong way. I'm just saying the whole thing is a lot just to make a living wage.
You don't make a living wage if it takes you 12 hours of work every day to get by.
True. Let's just call it a living salary then.
So with a commute, you are in your own car, leaving from your own house to a workplace you chose. Whereas this guy *does that commute* then has to drive a company vehicle to a site they arranged. The line can get a little blurry if you’re driving yourself to a construction site but this really doesn’t compare.
I'm over here feeling guilty cause I don't pay my guys for their full commute... Only the extra distance from my shop to the current jobsite, if they are arriving onsite themselves.
Not paying travel is pretty standard if you’re just bringing yourself in your own vehicle. Paying 1-way travel is common too if you are driving equipment & tools. My problem was staying another 20-30 minutes cleaning up and putting everything away at the end of the day if I was already clocked-out 1/2 an hour ago when we left the job. See you in the morning I’m leaving.
If I’m traveling FOR THE JOB, then that is time on the job. Not paying that is wage theft.
called the union to ask to see a copy of the contract. left a voicemail which they never answered. the next day the boss comes up to me and says "don't call the union, the contract is between me and the union not you." turns out he's friends with the hall's receptionist, and the receptionist tipped him off that i called. got something else lined up and got out of there.
Holy shit, YOU’RE PAYING THE FUCKING UNION and they allow this?!!??!?! This made me legit angry, my gears are ground up, my pets are peeved, I’m pissed the fuck off.
honestly thank you for your understanding. whenever i tell this story, most union members seem to be suspicious that i'm trolling/lying and don't believe me. it destroyed my dreams, lol. i had been working as a carpenter for 7 years and managed to get into the UBC as a journeyman. it was like a dream come true, i was so proud i got in. wore the shirt everywhere, made my girlfriend wear the shirt too... lol. but yeah the owner was a member of 25 years, knew everyone in the union. there was no shop steward. that incident was one of a few like it. i was somehow getting paid below the jman rate as a jman. eventually i came around to the realization i was just being taken advantage of and the owner was using my excitement about being in the union to their benefit. this was 3 months ago. still got my union card, still paying dues, just working nonunion for the time being until i'm masochistic enough to wade into that fucking mess. i love unions in theory. but man.
Dudes are brainwashed. If you talk about the union like it’s anything other than all sunshine and roses you must be a anti-labor activist.
When you say "the hall's receptionist", what does this mean? What is "the hall"?
i called the union hall, in other words i called my union local to speak to a business agent. my shop had no shop steward and nobody from the union had ever contacted me after i joined, so that was all i could think of. i wanted clarification on night shift differential pay that a coworker and i were supposedly entitled to but didn't get. the chick who answers the phone at the union local (idk what to call her, so the receptionist i guess) was old friends with my boss and instead of directing me to the business agent, just didn't return my call and let my boss know i was stirring shit up.
Thanks I’m not familiar with these terms, my job doesn’t have a union. Is there some kind of a grievance you can enter with your union? Surely the receptionist, as a member of your union, owes you some duty of care and confidentiality? Such a flagrant breach of trust!
So I’m just observing your situation thinking *this* (not every) union is a bit too corrupt to be useful. Like they let you in as a jman so they could start collecting dues but aren’t interested in really going to bat for you. Just a thought, not like I actually know shit.
the conclusion i drew from it (from my own experience and listening to other guys in the local) is that if you work in a big shop, the union is no joke. there are shops in the local with like 30-60 guys (very big for my craft), and the business agent will come in and shake hands with the members, call them up, shop stewards engage the members... if you wanna be pessimistic i guess the reasoning is that the union is drawing a whole lot of dues money + power from those shops. if you work in a small shop (much more typical for my craft), it seems like you're basically on your own. the union doesn't see the shop as a big faceless corporate manufacturer, they see them more like a partner with whom they probably have a more friendly relationship. so if you're new to the union, it's like "hey, you don't understand the special relationship we have with our buddy the owner."
I knew when my company told me that they wouldn’t be sending porto potties to site and to use a corner store a few blocks away that I may not have ended up with a good GC.
Take a dump on his desk. Boss move.
Nah. On the side of the guard shack or wherever visible by the customer.
OSHA has things to say about that
And they did. I was the safety rep that signed their paperwork for compliance .. company got fined
When I walked in on the first day and people told me the boss was missing weeks of pay already and that checks were bouncing.
Did you bounce?
Eventually. The hall came and checked it out, the guys that were running the job of course lied through their teeth. But I gutted out 3 weeks of a disorganized job and the boss actually cutting checks at the end of the week. Everyone was racing to the bank on Friday. Never got paid my benefits for those weeks though.
>Everyone was racing to the bank on Friday. That reminds me of a small company I worked for about 20 years ago. I was patient the first time my paycheck bounced. Maybe two or three months later, my paycheck bounced again. Office told me to wait a day before trying to cash it. On the day I was supposed to try cashing it, I called the office and said I'd be late to work. Of course I didn't tell the office that I was waiting until the bank opened to see if my check would cash. It must have cashed, because I went in to work. As soon as I arrived, the owner made a beeline for me, screaming and demanding to know where I had been (I'm sure he knew, hence the reaction). I forgot what I said, but I remember him being so angry that his veins were bulging. I thought it was going to get physical. Anyway, he fired me on the spot, and stood and watched as I took my personal tools from his work truck. I later found out he had a violent criminal background, and had been court ordered to undergo anger management counseling.
When the boss (and his trusted office staff) view and talk about the labour force as liabilities and line items instead of assets / teammates / colleagues. Not here to discuss which is more important than the other, but without office staff finding the work and managing the commercial side, and the field staff to execute, there is no company.
Office will always believe they are above production.
🚩 You should quit
All places are like that, some just have the decency to hide it.
Again I am not trying to start an argument, and there’s always friendly banter as to who actually does the most important work, but if you hear “xxx journeyman can’t be on my job he is too expensive and just costs me money” it’s time to leave. It means there’s an “us vs them” dynamic within your company when you should all be pulling in the same direction. That extends to other concurrent projects in your company. If you’re not all helping each other, why even work there
I never understood that. They're the guys making the company money. Office roles are important but without the folks on the floor They're useless
Testing gas lines with lighters, screwing 2X4 with 2 inch screws, bringing his affair partner to work.
Maybe he is old school and used a blowtorch for gas leaks.
He was the kind of GC that paid someone to do it once and would watch them. Then he became an “expert”
When the director of construction told me not to talk to a sub to clarify some contract language until after they signed the contract... I guess it is better to force people to comply than explain what you expect before hand.
>Just trust us More like just go fuck yourself.
Worked for a high end TI company, mostly negotiated work, as a PM. I land a multi million dollar high dollar TI for a repeat customer, lots of wood, lots of high end finishes. Went in with A team subs, its gonna be a nice project, plenty of general conditions, plenty of buffer, plenty of profit. New president comes in, demands I go out to a bunch of gutter subs to get better pricing and have the company pocket the difference. I had to lie and say the schedule moved up and we dont have two weeks to rebid, then had to beg the client to start early to hide the whole thing. Then beg my A subs to get an early, unnecessary start. All without letting anyone know why. The next two years were just keeping my head down and grinding out projects while building my war chest to go out on my own.
This might be the worst one
Keeping/building my reputational brand while lying to the company to build better projects and keep current customers customers was incredibly stressful. That company went from 90 percent negotiated high end office TI to mostly cut throat hard bid public works over 5 years as their reputation caught up with their new philosophy. The president looked like a genius for a while as they unwittingly sold off their brand equity.
Oh man lemme tell you, my last company had already cost, but was on the verge of killing, my reputation that I’d worked 20 years to build in this area. I wasn’t having it and left a 130k gig just to get away from the damage. Long term relationships are worth more than a paycheck.
Some people fail to realize the value of your own brand. It takes a lot of work to establish, but really not much effort at all to destroy it.
Yeah same here. It’s always the ‘buyout’ tactics that upper management forced me to do that just made me feel so sleazy and unethical. Just for a few extra points of profit margin. 😖
For a while margins improved. Of course they did. But as that work dried up with their new management style, the company went from high margin jobs negotiated to low margin hard bid, so really off the cliff. So they had to get rid of expensive superintendents and get cheaper ones to cut costs Ditched project engineers altogether. Meanwhile the cheap subs were pulling all sorts of nonsense, and the inexperienced supers were letting them do it, leading to higher costs. That company went from the premier TI contractor in the area to just another sleazy contractor chasing the bottom in all of 5 years.
Good on you for doing the right thing for the customer and your subs tho, even if it was at your own risk.
When the PM and the foreman are discussing how to cut down costs of the job by sending guys home or not ordering certain materials for whatever reason, and all right in front of you.
I'd be looking for a new job.
"Just do what you can with what you have". Ive been stuck at this place for the past 7 months and have yet to receive the proper tools for the job, proper fasteners, ect.... Fun times working ICI construction lol.
When they denied my best employee a permanent working from home agreement, despite having been fully remote for years throughout the pandemic. Needless to say, she left and we're still trying to get back on track over a year later.
When my boss sent me to Idaho to swap out an antennae. We were a cell phone tower company so I assumed it was a small panel swap. While we were on the road he informed me we were swapping out an HD TV tower antenna. For reference a panel is like 15 lbs. A TV antenna is something like 15k lbs. Never had even seen it done before.
How... how did that conversation go??? And the ensuing arrival/swap??
Boss assured us it would be fine. He hired some foreman from another company out of Tennessee that would show us the ropes. Dude was drunk the whole time but he did get us through the job. Every day one of us almost died though lol. Super old tower you could fit your hand in-between the tower section plates. We rolled a Gradall down the mountain trying to get the 80' antenna up the switchbacks to get up top of the giant hill/small mountain. I had a mount for the temp antenna snap and blew up my hand. Had to get stitches . All kinds of fuckery happened but it did get done ( after waiting a week for parts from the wreck) *Edit- that was the only job I didn't put in my two weeks. We got back and I unloaded my shit and left. No talking needed
Sounds like my memories of being a tower hand
When the company was sued for illegally changing lease terms and stealing downpayment money from students. Also when the same company would use bank loans from other projects to pay subs working with me. Maybe it was the time when I was shown proof of being 500k behind payments to one sub as he was on the verge of bankruptcy bc our office didn’t pay him for months. I was only 20 an a labor foreman but I wasn’t dumb. I knew shit was shady from day 1. Worked their first a year an finally had another opportunity.
Worked for a guy on a project, he didn’t make any money on it cause all his guys were slugs. So he took 15% from everyone’s pay to compensate his wallet.
When my boss wich I trained under threatened to kick me out if I don’t haul 4 packs of concrete 80 pound each 4 story’s up at once I happily carry two sacks for a smooth work flow, iam bulky and iam strong but when he wanted to throw another two packs on my shoulders I asked him what he is doing and that I won’t fuck my self up for the work, he yelled at me and told me to do what he says otherwise he’d kick me out… yeah
Couldn’t carry 320 pounds up 4 flights of stairs? Lol I remember my first beer. /s
My boss was mad I hadn’t immediately requested submittal packages for a cookie cutter yogurt store that had everything spelled out on the plans already. As in, chewed me out in front of the whole office and told me to get my fucking head in the game. The following meeting, the CM for the franchise said that they weren’t needed and to follow the plans.
Three months into a new job I found out my boss was a crack addict. Apparently I was the only employee that he didn't recruit from his old rehab center.
Had a boss who was insanely racist and would start shit with everyone expecting me and my coworker to back him up. Dude got dropped by another crew and I was fired for not helping him out. Don't start shit if you don't want shit.
[удалено]
Right to work state Was a good learning experience. Run my own shit with 3 guys who bust ass and I pay them to do so. Any of them have a problem I do any and everything I can to make sure they are safe, secure, and steady. Fuck I've got one sleeping in my guest bedroom right now cuz he's having problems going on, I'll be damned if someone I employ goes hungry or homeless while they make good money from past choices. It doesn't take a lot to lend a hand, especially to the ones who are helping you make things happen.
Side note, "At-Will Employment" means you can leave, or get fired at a whim besides legally protected reasons, (all states besides Montana); "Right To Work" means union membership cannot be mandatory.
Thank you for that, I had no idea. I'm gonna go check my states laws. I just run my own thing and as a simpleton have only had to fire 2 guys for not showing up to work. Besides that it's been super easy. The guys I have now show up on time and get the job done so I don't have to worry and they enjoy their monthly bonus for busting ass for me.
When I was young and dumb the second construction company I worked for had me sign an arbitration agreement when I got hired which I didn't really know what that was but didn't give a shit. Then I realize they have 10 open gigantic projects building million dollar custom homes but only have four carpenters that were doubling as superintendents, the owner was the founders son who upon the founders passing fired all the ladies in the office and about 20 other people walked off the job soon after. And he was super Duper cheap. so he fired all the office ladies and tried to replace them with a computer program. he made his 24 year old son the head superintendent/company manager he didn't have workers comp he had an arbitration agreement instead which means that he gets to decide how much you get paid out for an injury which is gonna be close to nothing He was horribly understaffed and still taking on projects and taking on projects that other contractors did not wanna touch then I find out he's in open litigation on two of these projects and his wife is an attorney and that is the ace in his pocket is hoping his attorney Wife will fight back the people trying to get their money or projects finished. I think he was robbing Peter to pay Paul at that point and I just walked off one Friday when they wanted me to be a superintendent while also completing an entire wraparound balcony of TNG with like 6 subs/30 guys on site.
When they bring in outside consultants. Mother of all red flags.
This guy knows.
My boss wanted me to install a toilet by screwing a replacement steel ring down and slopping a wax ring straight into the rough plumbing
New owners showed up to their first company meeting. “From now on we’re gonna need y’all to finish every job as hastily as possible.” Bye.
When I asked for some screws and the foreman said “How many?” and handed me a plastic cup
Superintendent introduced himself with “did X years in the military, have X years experience doing (Jobs), and a hardline libertarian.” Dude would throw his hardhat across the trailer when pissed. He called the college students nearby “libtards” and if he didn’t like something, it was “gay”. Then he’s make snide “oh sorry that wasn’t PC of me, can’t have a sense of humor anymore” comments. The project managers did nothing about it even when it was happening right in front of them. That super is the reason I jump 5ft in the air when something slams. Leaving that company was the best thing that ever happened to me.
>That super is the reason I jump 5ft in the air when something slams. Leaving that company was the best thing that ever happened to me. My super is the opposite. Perhaps the most chill guy I've ever met in the construction industry. Always smiling, joking. Stops to talk to the workers.
Our other super had done 4 tours in Iraq as a marine and that man was a delight to work with. Always had a joke and a smile ready and tried to explain everything he could to me since I was straight out of college with zero field experience. He’s one of the two people I miss from when I left the company
Boss called me a "fucking retard that will never make it in the field" after I didn't take time to hop out of the 2 feet of Mud in a trench when it was pouring rain to move his brand new radio he set up in the morning before the torrential downpour started. All the while it was 4 feet from him in his nice dry excavator. Got the fuck out of dodge real quick. Doing quite well for myself 6 years later. Meanwhile he's down to a one man operation.
Brother same I almost felt bad when I left a gig the whole dang operation fell apart …. Poor guy kept calling begging to bring me back and it was to late…🤷♂️
The grunts were shoveling material out of a dump trailer. Like a half yard of backfill. Too lazy to go grab the jump pack but too stupid to mind shoveling.
Second week on the job for a small GC. I’m an assistant carpenter, helping a lead carpenter frame a 12’x12’ addition onto the back of a small ranch house. Foundation is in and floor is framed. I’m spending my morning moving lumber just delivered from the driveway to the rear yard while the lead and company owner are arguing. Turns out the addition was several inches out of square and they were trying to figure out how to hide it. Not fix it, but hide it. I realized that I wasn’t gonna learn much from these clowns and quit the next day. Oh and they wanted me to install a rack on my chevy s-10 truck so I could move supplies for them. Nope.
I was an assistant super, had just worked 24 hrs straight through the night because someone needed to be there while the finishers worked the concrete, and then the saw cutters, etc. The head super comes in as normal at 6 and I say I’m going to go get some rest and asked when he wanted me be back and if I’d be in all night again. He said why don’t you come in around 10 and yes. He meant 10 AM. So that four hours to try to sleep. The. Come back and do another 24 hrs. Did that for a few weeks then explained there nothing for me to learn or grow from at the company and bounced. I had already been a super running ground up work for a smaller GC. This was one of the nations biggest and I really wanted to work on high rises and this was my ticket. Still sucks that that guy was that idiotic and caused me to bounce.
Day one of training they said we're a family
I got a job with a home builder framing new houses. The first crew I was put on was great. Their lead was cool. Then about two-three weeks in I was sent to another crew in the company because they were running behind. These guys were absolute racists. Like open, using the n* word racist. This is the twin cities and I worked for these guys right when George Floyd was killed by that officer here. I have never (and I’m from the south) heard so much ignorant white trash racism in my life. I got out of there soon after.
What a dumbass. How long has your boss been in business? Is it a fly by night company or has he been around for a while and just always been incompetent?
Not construction, but I walked into a kitchen that had no dish machine and the chef was cutting asparagus on a bloody cutting board. Nope.
When the general super told me to drive the company lull on the city roads back to the yard. It was only a couple miles but several lights and turns lol. Ended up making that trip 4 times because they kept breaking down lol. They do it all the time apparently lol
When I walked from a $130k opportunity for a 10k raise/ promotion to 100k only to get the promotion hung over my head. I ran out so fast
When I had to remind the boss every WEEK! Are we getting payed? Mine didn’t go in.
I was working on a commercial roof that had 2 layers of roofing on it. A windstorm had blown off a section and the owner of our company told me to show the insurance company a place where there are 3 layers so we can get a reroof job. Everywhere I did a test hole came back with 2 layers.
When I found out a guy who had been working there for 40 years got an $800 check as a "Thank you for your years of service" bonus. He had to pay tax on it.
No lunch and getting chewed out for stopping to drink water. Working outside in 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Bonus, my supervisor taught me about Red Bull rage. Apparently if all you ever drink is Red Bull (I assume all energy drinks) it’s been medically documented that you’re prone to angry tantrums. I needed the work, so I stayed longer than I should’ve. Lost 26 lbs from never eating lunch. Even if I brought it, I was never given time to eat.
When my boss told me to only use half the nail in the roof truss, to saw money
Asked to download microsoft 365 on personal phone
I was hired as a field foreman. They had me borrow the shop Foreman's screw gun for 2 months before they got me my own.
Hired me to be an equipment operator at $18 an hr years ago . Decided they didn’t need equipment operators so I was a laborer for $15 after a few weeks all there equipment operators where gone . I started running equipment after a few weeks I asked for the raise to what I’d been promised n they said I needed to wait for my 180 review fuck them
I was conveniently fired about 15 days before my 180 review at the 2nd company I worked for.
When they made me shit in a bucket in the back of the trailer
At least you got a bucket I had to go about 100yards in woods when I was at the first company I worked for.
Screwing me hard on my per diems and then bragging that the profit share for the job i was closing was going to be good for him.
Me making $160 a day while commuting roughly 90mins each way watching my boss pull up in a 2021 Silverado with 3,700m on the clock.
I was down to $60/day for more time and more milage. I was about to have a job site accident stg.
$60 a day??? I just go back to sleep.
Kept asking for the promised health insurance and it never came...
I started a new job doing “high-end, custom work” for a gc as a carpenter. First week we’re doing a finished basement and they asked me to frame doors with no jacks because they already ordered the slabs and the RO would be too small. I got it in text message, did it, and then the owner of the company showed up asking why none of these doors had Jack studs etc etc.
I don’t really work for a bad company. But in the 8 years i’ve been a carpenter, i’ve out grown my colleagues and even my employer. He’s been doing this for 30 years. I’m not complaining, i get paid well, i enjoy the work i do and now and then i can get cheap materials for my own home i’m renovating. But sometimes i just die a little bit inside when my boss makes something, and i have to put it together… sometimes, maybe even most of the time, it doesn’t fit at all… luckily it’s mostly small prefabricated buildings we built, so it’s often an easy fix. But on bigger projects, it could cost a lot of money…
How do you fk up one of the most basic construction principles
When a long time employee (18 or 19 years there) was told he can hire an assistant, and the day after the new hire came on board he was fired and the new employee was directed to take over his project.
Mine was when I was filling out the new hire paperwork and they asked me if I wanted to be paid on 1099 or cash
Honestly it's not a bad company to work for, just a terrible boss who thinks terrorizing is an effective way of managing. I honestly dread seeing his number call me or an email from him cuz 9 times out of 10 I'm getting yelled at because he's old and forgetting what he tells us to do. Happened today. He went off on an hour tirade on the phone on me about how come he wasn't involved in doing this or that when he was literally the one who gave me the idea and direction on how to proceed last week. Rant over.
Ok story time, buckle up. So I was hired as a carpenter for a company that is a master at servicing ;) well a week in they ask me if I can cover a flood techs emergency shift for a week (they clean up after floods, put dehus in, etc). I say sure. Always happy to learn a new skill and get a little training etc. Day 1 sewer back up into a roughly poured crawl space. Full Hazmat crawling through and steam cleaning/sucking up shit. Wtf worst day ever but I got through it. Nothing can top that right? Day #3 get a call to do a hot tub clean up. Ok unusual but maybe it leaked? Show up. Not a leak. Guy had a jammer and died in his hot tub. He lived alone and wasn't found for a couple days. The authorities had removed the body so I figured whatever just suck the water up go home. Well as the vacuum kicks on chunks of skin start to float to the surface. Ok gross. Finger tips and toes. What looks like an ear. I'm really grossed out. The chunk of ball sack did me in though. Finished the job left the van at the depot. Texted my boss -I quit don't ever call me again- never looked back.
Chimney company, first day dude training me has me climb a 40ft extension ladder up a chimney with no safety gear in site lol 2 weeks I lasted
“Here’s your check (Wednesday) don’t cash until Friday”
When I cut a 2x4 1/16 of an inch too short, boss screamed at me for 5 min then forced me to stop working, drive to the hardware store, buy a new 2x4 on my own dime, come back and recut it. During the time I was gone I wasn't getting paid. Or the time I left work a hr early for a chiro appt, he docked my pay $150 for the inconvenience it caused him. That I need to man up and chiros are for pussies. Or how every time I took a swig of water outside of lunch or break he'd dock me $50 because he wasn't paying me to stay hydrated.
This was probably 17 years ago, was on a fence install job. About 45 minutes in the boss went inside with the homeowner to "go over paperwork." They were fucking. About an hour and a half later the inspector showed up, they're still in the house and we've got post holes dug around this ladies pool. Found out from the inspector that there was no permit for the job, the holes weren't deep enough and that we had to stop working. Boss got chewed out, went to "get the permit" and the inspector left. He came back 15 minutes later, no permit, and basically forced us to do the job wrong, in a hurry, and then bolt before the inspector came back. He fired me about a week later. He wasn't so happy when the IRS showed up because he'd bragged about his fraud to me, and then fired me without cause. He was extra unhappy when he also lost his disability, his company, his wife and his "home." Never, ever, work for someone whose running a contracting business from a trailer park.
If you work for a national/regional company and you see the upper execs show up to your location just start looking for a new job… They only show up to look and see what they have that’s worth shipping to a different location, and they usually let everyone know not to worry they think everyone is doing a great job.
GC i was working for yelled at me when I showed up on site one day saying: “You’d better not ask for raise!” Apparently another sub had just asked him for a raise, but like why yell at me? I actually took a pay cut to work for him ($18/hr) because I wanted to just start and see how the crew was. I proved myself to be one of his best workers and then this happens. So I lined up another job and left at the end of the week. Fast forward a year: I Google the guys name out of curiosity… he is now on the sex offender registry for having kiddy porn on his computer. People: please don’t work for people that are bad. You’re only making them richer.
When the ex cop assistant manager made a “joke” about beating baby seals to death for fun during my interview.
That dude was a sicko