04-16-2013, 05:28 PM
When I first took a job with a local home builder I was young and completely ignorant of practical carpentry and such. In construction n00bs are generally called helpers or more simply, wood toters-- because when you don't yet have a skill you are only good for manual labor.
So when I got my first job I carried lumber to the builders, kept them nails to work with and even (happily) fetched them cold water to drink-- in turn, when I had caught up my work, they would show me how to do a wall layout or let me use the nail gun for a bit when the foreman wasn't watching.
Before long I had learned how to do the builder's helper's job and when he called in sick one day that was my chance to show the foreman that I had learned enough to advance-- consequently I got just a tad more respect from he and the crew.
Years later I feel very comfortable in building anything that needs building and run crews for others or myself. Nowadays the helpers we get are unbelievably slow-witted and come to the job without a single skill-- and they don't seem to have any great ambition to learn anything either.
Contented to carry lumber and fetch things for the skilled laborers, they putter about all day and use every second of free time to talk on the phone and smoke cigarettes rather than attempt to better their position.
If that wasn't bad enough--
I hired this guy a few months ago that has made me more angry than anyone I can remember. Not only does he have zero skills, he is also quite possibly the most arrogant person I have ever met. Instead of listening to my builders when they tell him things that could help him, he argues with them-- then goes around attempting to find fault with others work when he can't even read a tape measure!
How is it possible to be that ignorant and yet feel that you can come into a new field and begin to 'school' seasoned carpenters?
He is no longer with us (fired, not killed
), but I imagine my crew will be talking about him for a long time to come.
So when I got my first job I carried lumber to the builders, kept them nails to work with and even (happily) fetched them cold water to drink-- in turn, when I had caught up my work, they would show me how to do a wall layout or let me use the nail gun for a bit when the foreman wasn't watching.
Before long I had learned how to do the builder's helper's job and when he called in sick one day that was my chance to show the foreman that I had learned enough to advance-- consequently I got just a tad more respect from he and the crew.
Years later I feel very comfortable in building anything that needs building and run crews for others or myself. Nowadays the helpers we get are unbelievably slow-witted and come to the job without a single skill-- and they don't seem to have any great ambition to learn anything either.
Contented to carry lumber and fetch things for the skilled laborers, they putter about all day and use every second of free time to talk on the phone and smoke cigarettes rather than attempt to better their position.
If that wasn't bad enough--
I hired this guy a few months ago that has made me more angry than anyone I can remember. Not only does he have zero skills, he is also quite possibly the most arrogant person I have ever met. Instead of listening to my builders when they tell him things that could help him, he argues with them-- then goes around attempting to find fault with others work when he can't even read a tape measure!
How is it possible to be that ignorant and yet feel that you can come into a new field and begin to 'school' seasoned carpenters?
He is no longer with us (fired, not killed
