First day at new job, jury is still out...

Anonymous-0 · Oct 4, 2010

Started the new job today but don't know what to think yet. I got the dirtiest ugliest job in the shop. I'm not sure if they figure I'd get it done faster or why I was put on it. The foreman did say they wanted it done fairly quick. I have to extend an old oilfield skid. A guy outside cut the old steel bulding off it and now I have the job to cut it apart and lengthen it as well as trim off all the old stuff that was welded to the checker plate. It's painted and has a bunch of other crap on it that burns. There were some big pipes cut off and an air arc would have perfect to shave them off flush but they don't have one. The bottom flanges of the H-beams are bent up pretty good. How are you supposed to mark out nice square cuts on bent up beams? I got pretty close but what a nasty, dirty job for the first day. I've built a lot of new skids but never extended an old POS skid before. I got several holes in my new coveralls and a couple burns from slag blowing back. If I do a good job, I hope I don't get stuck doing the next one. I'll have see how it goes for the rest of the week. The shop is less than 2 years old but looks like it hasn't had a good clean up for 5 years. It would be nice if they at least cleaned the walls and floor in the lunch room, which isn't even big enough for everyone. Only about 10 guys in the shop but half eat their lunch in the shop. It is a job but I'm undecided yet if it's a good job and 10 hours is a long shift for sure.

Of interesting note is that foreman said the skid had to be lengthened 2 ft. but when he brought the blueprint over, I pointed out the skid had to lenghtened 4 ft. The first thing he told me in the morning was to measure the skid. I said 20 ft. and he said 2 ft. had to be added. Even when the blueprint said 24 ft. overall, he said 2 ft. had to be added. I don't know if he had brain fart or what. Dave

jddriver · Oct 4, 2010

Dave remember who is boss

Anonymous-0 · Oct 4, 2010

I know who the boss is. Good thing he showed me the blueprint. It wouldn't have been my fault if I did what he told me. Hopefully tomorrow's a little better. I think it will be. Dave

senoj · Oct 4, 2010

Yes but remember the blue print is in writing and figures, the boss is verbale and you are the new guy. Been in this very same situation myself. Check with the engineers , if print is correct ask them to strighten out the boss foreman. wait for his instuctions, Remember you are walking on thin ice.I feel for you but do remember this if you remain with the company. gg

Anonymous-0 · Oct 4, 2010

suck it up and stop being a cry baby. big deal the lunch room and shop is not to your level of clean.

you are the new guy....... you really dident expect to get gravy on your 1st day did you?

al in ark · Oct 4, 2010

first day and complaining already???

Anonymous-0 · Oct 4, 2010

He might be testing you out, to see if you heed the print.. IF you have to make it shorter than the print, get it in writing..

Anonymous-0 · Oct 4, 2010

If the pay is right go for it.There's lots of work up that way for fab-welders so here today gone tomorrow.Nobody owes anyone anything except a days pay.

TomR Ont · Oct 4, 2010

135 Fan, Dave you are dammed if you do 22' or 24'.
If you do 22' he can show the owner you can't read a blue print that say 24'. or he may have got verbal instructions to do 22' and you won't take instructions, put you down to make him look good.

DON'T LISTEN to the guys that say suck it up - don't whine, that is a lot of bull, when you come here say what's on your mind, and most of the time someone will help instead of criticizing, ridiculing or just putting you down.

Good Luck with the new job.

Anonymous-0 · Oct 4, 2010

Thanks Tom. I think the foreman realized he made a mistake or thought the skid was 22 ft. to start with. It is nice to have somewhat of a clean lunch room. The one there looks like someone was burning flux-core in there with door closed. Not often you start a new job and get the dirtest job right off the bat. Like I said, I'm not sure what to think. Maybe they figured someone with less experience would have trouble with that job? Don't know. Dave

Dick2 · Oct 5, 2010

Don't know about you, but if it were me and I had access to the building on weekends - - I'd take supplies and clean the lunch room myself just to show them that I care!

I'd also check the blueprints very carefully and make sure that they have not been any changes to the prints - then do the best job that you can. I've been in some very difficult situations but just kept on plowing ahead - and things turned out for the better for me.

Anonymous-0 · Oct 5, 2010

Welcome to oil pacth work, any job I ever had I started with the worst dirty job there or the oldest truck to drive, never expected to get the good stuff the 1st day,went to rent a fishing tool from a big drilling co. yesterday and they had a poor guy cleanding a rig with air grinder and wire brush cup, rig was folded up he was doing the derrick 11 feet in the air crawing round trying to get into all the nook and crannys.

Puddles · Oct 5, 2010

Dave they're testing you in several ways!
When ever I hired someone without a huge reputation I would have them run a rivet buster chipping concrete piles. Or some other crappy task.

This happened to me quite a few times when I was a foreman. One time I just came home from a project in the Strait of Georgia driving the longest concrete piles ever driven on the west coast, (at that time). Got sent to a little marina project 15-miles from home. Superintendent hadn't arrived yet, foreman said “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE”! Says I got nothing for you, you can pick up papers in the parking lot for all I care. Hey for $30.00 an hour I'll pickup papers.
Another time I got sent to a small project to help out. First task was to hand dig a ditch.

Mind you this was all for the same company I worked for, for years, and years.

Someone will always be testing you, one way or another! :wink:

Lumpie · Oct 5, 2010

You sure do biatch a lot. Must really suck to have a life like yours.

showcrop · Oct 5, 2010

Dave, I don't take it that you are crying since you say that you are still undecided. Everyone that I ever hired I hoped would be a super star. I would read it that they had a rush job and that your test performance showed that you were their best shot at getting it done in time.

guido · Oct 5, 2010

Hello 135 Fan,
Are you not wearing leather coverhalls?
Long sleeves for your arms and shoulders?
The only thing you need to do is show them what you got, and that is all. Pointing out the right measurements is one of them. Actions speak louder then words.You said the jury is still out?
Give it sometime, its only day one!

Guido.

JML755 · Oct 5, 2010

Prior experience and reputation don't mean squat until you prove yourself. Whenever I've started a new job, I've tried not to be cocky, give 110%, be a team player. Usually takes a while to get accepted. Sounds like you did well if they didn't tell you to stay home today. :lol:

As for the 2' confusion, I suspect that the foreman just had a lapse. The blueprint is right unless it's wrong. :lol: If he wanted to correct it, he should have checked with engineering or whomever and red-lined it for you right then and there. I sure wouldn't make any verbal changes unless they were marked up on the print. Especially if you're the new kid on the block.

trucker 40 · Oct 5, 2010

They are probably going to throw every lousy job they can find at you for a while.They are going to see if you will quit.For 26 dollars an hour it doesnt sound like you had too bad of a job.I mean thats good pay.Lots of people dont get pay that good and do the same thing or way worse than you are doing.Look at that show Dirty Jobs some time.I doubt anybody except maybe the owner gets anywhere close to what they are paying you,and they are crawling through sewer lines and all kinds of stuff.At least you are cutting and welding.If you think thats bad Im sure something way worse will come your way.Dont make much out of what they say,like they want it done quick.Well right.I dont think this kind of stuff is something they want a guy who is making good pay to stay on.So maybe if you do that they will find a good job for you with nice new steel.Youll appreciate a good job more by then.Or maybe if it takes you what they think is too long they wont waste time finding you a good job and just mess with you until you quit.

JMOR · Oct 5, 2010

(quoted from post at 11:17:14 10/05/10) They are probably going to throw every lousy job they can find at you for a while.They are going to see if you will quit.For 26 dollars an hour it doesnt sound like you had too bad of a job.I mean thats good pay.Lots of people dont get pay that good and do the same thing or way worse than you are doing.Look at that show Dirty Jobs some time.I doubt anybody except maybe the owner gets anywhere close to what they are paying you,and they are crawling through sewer lines and all kinds of stuff.At least you are cutting and welding.If you think thats bad Im sure something way worse will come your way.Dont make much out of what they say,like they want it done quick.Well right.I dont think this kind of stuff is something they want a guy who is making good pay to stay on.So maybe if you do that they will find a good job for you with nice new steel.Youll appreciate a good job more by then.Or maybe if it takes you what they think is too long they wont waste time finding you a good job and just mess with you until you quit.

Kinda reminds me of the old saw, " If you don't like your job, don't worry, someone else will have it soon enough".

Anonymous-0 · Oct 5, 2010

He was probably whining on the way to work...

Complaining because the "new guy" gets the dirty job. What does he expect? A plush office and a secratary to bring you iced tea?

Inability to deal with superiors. I'd fire ya before lunch if you questioned me after I told any newbie TWO times what I want.

Unreal....

rustyj14 · Oct 5, 2010

I went to a new job in an auto body shop. The boss asked me if i could do arc welding. I had done some, so he showed me an old Jeep Wagoneer and said he wanted to fit a snow plow onto it. Only trouble--it was a plow off a little Jeep and the wagon was much larger!
But, i got to work. I had to cut the thing into 4 pieces, then had to make splices to lengthen and widen the frame-work. Then i had to tack weld it while it was bolted on, then remove it all and weld it solid, so it would be good to use.
Fortunately, old Charlie Koegler happened by that evening, saw how i had it all tacked together, so he finished it. He was a retired welder, and knew much more han me!]
I guess i made a good impression, as i stayed there for about 8 years.

After i got out of Army, they had the "On-the-job-training" thing for Veterans, so i signed up for it, to learn the auto body trade. All i ever learned at that place was how to sweep floors, and polish the boss's Cadillac every morning. The owner got the money and i got the shaft, but i did learn something there, too. And went on to make my living at auto work.
So--stick with it! When they find out that you want to learn, and can follow orders, and do the work,--things will improve!

Dick L · Oct 5, 2010

So you think that was a dirty job? July 26th 1956 I started work on the Ohio Turn Pike. The North plaza at the West end of the pike had the skimmer in the sewage tank catch and bend down about two feet into the sewage two days before. The day before they had pumped it down to four feet below the bend. They had rigged a chain fall over the end to pull it back up. It was close to 90 degrees and my first task on that first day was to be lowered down on a swing board with a huge rose bud torch to heat the eight inch I beam so it could be bent back up. It took all day with only three of four brakes. I don't think they would have stopped if it had not been so hot because when you stopped heating you just about had to start over. We had it looking fair by the end of the day. I stunk so bad that Mom had me dump all kind of stuff in the bath tub to tone it down. the next day they put me in the cab of a gradall that the remote had gone out so I could move it forward along the ditch bank when the operator it the horn. Still close to 90 degrees sitting a narrow steel cab with no fan.

Did I say I loved every minute of it except the stink that took a month before it toned down to where I could get close to my wife to be. I never once had a single thought of not going back to work.
I didn't know how to work steel with a rose bud or even what a rose bud was before that day. They stood at the top and directed me and explained why I was doing what I was being told to do. I know I was their robot but I could never have learned any younger.

Anonymous-0 · Oct 5, 2010

Today was better. I was still crawling around on the floor but I think the foreman is happy with my work. The skid did need to be extended 4 ft. Extending a skid with 3 8 inch wide flange beams when it's only 2 1/2 ft. off the floor isn't the funnest thing to do. Web's were done vertical up with 1/8" 7018 and I was lucky enough not have red hot balls of slag land on me doing the overhead welds on the flanges. Maybe that's experience? The other guys in the shop are working on brand new fancy mud tanks. I suppose it's possible that they figured I might get it done reasonably quick. I think it's just my project. They don't clean up at the end of the day and it's a little frustrating having to hunt for tools. I spent 10 minutes looking for the rosebud and found it by fluke. It is much better having a tool crib where tools are actually returned. Dave

Puddles · Oct 6, 2010

(reply to post at 20:10:17 10/05/10)

Dave I can't think of a single place I've worked that didn't stop 10 to 15-minutes before the end of shift for cleanup.

There is an office supply commercial on the radio that explains how much money employers loose each year because the office is unorganized. Like to see an analysis of how much money your new employer is loosing!

Anonymous-0 · Oct 6, 2010

ever worked const. ?

Puddles · Oct 6, 2010

(quoted from post at 11:33:12 10/06/10) ever worked const. ?

rusted nuts if you're talking to me? Yes, all my life, 3rd generation heavy civil union construction. :wink:

Little taste of what I use to do.

Anonymous-0 · Oct 6, 2010

They lose a lot of money because they are too focused on trying to get stuff done quicker. The problem with that is that they are either too cheap or don't have the funds to fully equip the shop. Waiting to use the overhead crane is kind of normal in any shop but having to hunt down tools or not having enough welding machines is frustrating. Apparently they don't have enough power to run more welders. They have about 6 MM 252 MIGS and only 2 stick welders. I was using a stick machine and someone else needed it so I had to grab a MIG machine. Lifted it out of a mud tank and then had to hunt through a jungle of cables, extension cords and torch hoses to find the power cord for it. Got it set it up and it didn't have a gun. Had to rob a gun off another machine. On the contrary, I've worked in shops where the day shift rolls all cables up and 15 minutes later the night shift rolls them back out in exactly the same place. The 10 hour shifts are 10 hour shifts. I've worked 10 hour shifts before where they've been a little lenient of coffee breaks or had an extra one. Not here, 30 minutes for lunch and 2 15 minute coffee breaks. It's heavy hard work and you're beat at the end of the day. I think I'm doing a good job even though I'm crawling around on the floor a lot. I shouldn't have told them I'm good with cutting torch. Dave

Puddles · Oct 7, 2010

The construction company I worked for, for all those years didn't allow coffee breaks! I think the longest shift I ever worked with them was 22-hours with only a 30-minute lunch break. Now that sounds horrible but it really isn't. Working on derricks we pretty much did as we pleased, as long as the crane was working that is all the office ever cared about, and that we met quota! We generally ran a 3-man crew, with a deck engineer, and crane operator. When the rigging started getting too big we went to 4-man crew. As long as the majority of the crew was on deck one of us could sneak in and grab a quick cup of coffee and a candy bar. But never an organized set down coffee break!
I can't remember every detail of each jurisdiction's union contract, but it seems as most had it written in the crews couldn't go more than 5-hours without eating, but there was always a clause about paying more money not to stop and eat. We always took the money! :lol:

Anonymous-0 · Oct 7, 2010

Yeah I was talking to you. was just surprise about the companys cleaning up after them selfs never work on a job that big, have hauled lots of ready mix. one compandy I worked was a dump I came in one morning and the lunch table was cover with blood, asked the night guy what the ell happen? he cut up a deer on the lunch table! then he didn't know that water cleans up blood tryed to use brake cleaner! another time at the same place driffen guy walked though old black diesel tracking it into the lunch room at quiting time, the operations manager right behind bitching like ell bout it. I look down and the manager was leaveing biger foot prints, as he had big feet. what a dump that place was!

Puddles · Oct 7, 2010

rusted nuts the company I worked for the majority of my career was all about their assets. People being their # 1 asset, but then it was all about their cranes, then their tools! In their 100 + year history there wasn't a soul who get a crane to go to work before at least a 20-minute warm up in the mornings, and a 15-minute cool down at night.
I can't think of a place I ever worked, (Alaska to Southern California) that it wasn't in the union contract for 10 to 15-minutes clean up for personal tools.

First day at new job, jury is still out...

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