Adventures in babysitting

[Anonymous]

I'm gonna break my arm here but it's relevant:
I've had a job since I was 10. Never out of work more than a week. And I always showed up 15 minutes early for any job I punched a clock. That's changed a bit since I drive to multiple locations in a given day so I give a time range now. But the first job of the day I guarantee I'm going to be at least 15 minutes early.

 

[skyhightree1]

I'm gonna break my arm here but it's relevant:
I've had a job since I was 10. Never out of work more than a week. And I always showed up 15 minutes early for any job I punched a clock. That's changed a bit since I drive to multiple locations in a given day so I give a time range now. But the first job of the day I guarantee I'm going to be at least 15 minutes early.

My first job was at 5 hooking up milkers to the cows. I am early to meet my customers by 10 minutes and if for some reason i know im gonna be late i call soon as I suspect im gonna be late. I have only had 1 job where I punched a clock and was always early and definately wasnt late on the first day. My grandpa did not play the late game with people when he was running his timber company nor the row crop operation. He gave you 3 times to be late 3rd time you were unemployed. He treated his workers like his family and expected the same dedication to him thats where I learned and got my business acumen.

 

[cow pollinater]

I'm usually the first guy that people that want to get into breeding with the company that I represent have to ride with. When they have to meet me at the correct location at 2am sharp for one entire week and do it as free training I can tell if they want to work or not. 90% will fail in the first three days and I have no problem telling them strait to their face that unless they're in the hospital there is no excuse and this job is not for them if they give me one. There has only been one that I've said that to that has turned into much and he's not anything special.
I'm where I'm at because I show up ready to work regardless of being sick, hurt, automotive trouble, etc. In twelve years I've been late one time and was literally calling customers from a hospital bed after passing out on the floor trying to get ready to go to work.
Another time I drove a tractor to the first stop with my gear on a pallet and commandeered an irrigators pickup and drove it through my whole route.
A guy that wants to work will get it figured out. If they don't then everything they can think of is a good excuse.

 

[mwj]

I am 65 and have worked a few jobs in that time. The main reason (90%) I saw people fired was there inability to arrive on time! If a person can show up on time and do some work and show some interest in what they are doing to me they are far better than a whiz bang employ that can't show up.

 

[greybeard]

Started the other job today. They show up ready to work. Until about 11. Then he has to run home because he has his girlfriends keys and her cars about to be towed. Gone for 2.5 hrs. When he got back i told him to go back home.
He's done.

Maybe he has a girlfriend that just has or needed that afternoon delight thing going on.
That kinda thing's hard to turn down.

(I'm old but I ain't dead)

I agree but if you are punching someone elses clock you better show will power and turn it down or you will be doing the duffel bag drag home.

Nope, I'd just called Hook (or you) and spooled it up. Jobs are easy to find--I was never without one.
sweet stuff?--not so much.
You'll never find a tombstone with the inscription:
"I sure wished I'd worked more in my life"

I wouldn't and couldn't work for either of you. Surprised each of ya hasn't hired someone to drive ya around all day and open and close gates for ya.

 

[ga.prime]

I had a job I worked at 3 or 4 years where we were paid by the day and not by the hour. You finished your work for the day and you went home or wherever. There were a few that would get to work late every day. This necessitated the boss to require everybody to start clocking in even though we still weren't paid by the hour. The deal was you had to clock in by 7:10. If you clocked in at 7:11 or later your check was docked $10. The rest of the years I worked there, I clocked in at 7:10 every single day. I lived 10 miles away and I'd drive up in the nick of time every morning. I always thought I should have gotten some kind of recognition for that but nobody ever made mention of it.

 

[Anonymous]

I had a job I worked at 3 or 4 years where we were paid by the day and not by the hour. You finished your work for the day and you went home or wherever. There were a few that would get to work late every day. This necessitated the boss to require everybody to start clocking in even though we still weren't paid by the hour. The deal was you had to clock in by 7:10. If you clocked in at 7:11 or later your check was docked $10. The rest of the years I worked there, I clocked in at 7:10 every single day. I lived 10 miles away and I'd drive up in the nick of time every morning. I always thought I should have gotten some kind of recognition for that but nobody ever made mention of it.

I'd bet you gave your employer his dollars worth every minute too.
Show up early, show up on time I don't care. But don't show up late and unprepared to work. Especially for what I pay. My expectations match what i pay. Both are high.

 

[ga.prime]

I had a job I worked at 3 or 4 years where we were paid by the day and not by the hour. You finished your work for the day and you went home or wherever. There were a few that would get to work late every day. This necessitated the boss to require everybody to start clocking in even though we still weren't paid by the hour. The deal was you had to clock in by 7:10. If you clocked in at 7:11 or later your check was docked $10. The rest of the years I worked there, I clocked in at 7:10 every single day. I lived 10 miles away and I'd drive up in the nick of time every morning. I always thought I should have gotten some kind of recognition for that but nobody ever made mention of it.

I'd bet you gave your employer his dollars worth every minute too.
Show up early, show up on time I don't care. But don't show up late and unprepared to work. Especially for what I pay. My expectations match what i pay. Both are high.

Yep, the boss liked my work. I don't think he ever looked at my time card and that's why he never said anything about me clocking in at 7:10 every day for years on end. :lol2: You sound like a fair enough employer to me, hook!

 

[skyhightree1]

[Nope, I'd just called Hook (or you) and spooled it up. Jobs are easy to find--I was never without one.
sweet stuff?--not so much.
You'll never find a tombstone with the inscription:
"I sure wished I'd worked more in my life"

I wouldn't and couldn't work for either of you. Surprised each of ya hasn't hired someone to drive ya around all day and open and close gates for ya.

grey funny you mentioned the gates
http://richmond.craigslist.org/grd/3972837349.html

 

[cross_7]

:clap:
I'm not so sure about all the talk about how hard they work but this is a true a statement as I have ever heard

Nope, I'd just called Hook (or you) and spooled it up. Jobs are easy to find--I was never without one.
sweet stuff?--not so much.
You'll never find a tombstone with the inscription:
"I sure wished I'd worked more in my life"

 

[Dave]

:clap:
I'm not so sure about all the talk about how hard they work but this is a true a statement as I have ever heard

Nope, I'd just called Hook (or you) and spooled it up. Jobs are easy to find--I was never without one.
sweet stuff?--not so much.
You'll never find a tombstone with the inscription:
"I sure wished I'd worked more in my life"

I don't know about that. I think I will have it inscribed on my Dad's tombstone when he passes. I have literally had 6 or 7 weeks of paid vacation on the books. Take a couple of days off and he is telling me that I shouldn't be taking time off. I should be working.

 

[greybeard]

Hook reminds me of a man named Frank.

 

[greybeard]

A man walks out to the street and catches a taxi just going by.
He gets into the taxi, and the cabbie says, "Perfect timing. You're just like Frank."
Passenger: "Who?"
Cabbie: "Frank Feldman... he's a guy who did everything right all the time. Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happened like that to Frank Feldman every single time."
Passenger: "There are always a few clouds over everybody."
Cabbie: "Not Frank Feldman. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the Grand-Slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera baritone, and danced like a Broadway star. And you should have heard him play the piano! He was an amazing guy."
Passenger: "Sounds like he was something really special."
Cabbie: "There's more. He had a memory like a computer. He remembered everybody's birthday. He knew all about wine, which foods to order, and which fork to eat them with. And he could fix anything. Not like me - I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out. But Frank Feldman, he could do everything right."
Passenger: "Wow, some guy then."
Cabbie: "He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Frank, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good. He would never answer her back, even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too. He was the perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Frank Feldman."
Passenger: "An amazing fellow. How did you meet him?"

Cabbie: "Well... I never actually met Frank. He died, and I married his widow..."