After 2 years

[Aunt Phil]

Today I hit a garage sale worth walking up to.  Fellow about my age who had a metalworking hobby, woodworking hobby & hotrod hobby.
I was on the little plastic box calling my buddy who wanted a torch set, tanks & Smith torch on a cart $200-.
Then I called the bud looking for a drill press.  After 3 minutes I told him to get Divorced and see if his grew back.  I dumped his number out of the phone.
Then I sat there talking to the seller for half an hour waiting for the guy coming for the torch.

Prices weren't bad, he just got to the point where his hobbies weren't fun, so he's keeping the tools he needs to keep his house running, and selling the rest.

Spent an hour there, and didn't buy a damn thing.  I already had all of it.
At least a young man got $700 worth of torch for $200.  I guess it was a good day.

[Papaw]

Good job! Help the youngers get quality at a good price.

[Chillylulu]

What else ya got to do that's more important than being a friend? I don't know you, but from what I have seen here you've been pushing those cubs forward for quite a while.

Sometimes to help a guy out and you find him a tool at a 70% discount. Other times you help a guy  out by telling him to get a divorce so that maybe he will start producing testosterone again and cutting him off from your dialing list.

You're a better man than me. If I found a great deal like that I would have bought it even if I already had one, figuring someone I knew could use it, then watching it get older in my overpacked garage.

Anyway, good on you. Its all better than watching Springer or Oprah or whoever is on tv now

Chilly

[bonneyman]

Hey, good for you! Us older folks gotta help out the young wrench rats. If we don't, who will?

They sure aren't learning about it in school these days.

[Aunt Phil]

What else ya got to do that's more important than being a friend? I don't know you, but from what I have seen here you've been pushing those cubs forward for quite a while.

Sometimes to help a guy out and you find him a tool at a 70% discount. Other times you help a guy  out by telling him to get a divorce so that maybe he will start producing testosterone again and cutting him off from your dialing list.

You're a better man than me. If I found a great deal like that I would have bought it even if I already had one, figuring someone I knew could use it, then watching it get older in my overpacked garage.

Anyway, good on you. Its all better than watching Springer or Oprah or whoever is on tv now

Chilly

Chilly, my score sheet says about 1 out of 25-30 is worth the effort.  Kid who got the torch I've known since he was 7, his dad did some work for us in the 80s.  Dad brought him by abut 10 years back and asked me to keep an eye on him and kick his ass when needed since dad was moving to Texas. 
Dang kid is one hell of a piano player, concert grade, but things being what the economy is, there ain't even a cathouse looking for a piano player.  He did the machine shop program in high school but that trade is deader than cathouse piano playing around here. 

I sat wtih him a while, took his measure and hooked him up in the fire extinguisher business.  Kicked his ass a few times and convinced him to learn every facet of the business.  He did, and moved to a National Company doping extinguishers.  He took most of the accounts he served from the original company too.   Old boss called and chewed on me, I asked if he called the kid and listened to the recordings of the crap going on in his office.  He fired 2 of his managers.

Kid bought his first house 2 years back, OWNS a Harlet & a car, both paid off, collects enough rent off half of his house to pay the mortgage, so he lives there for taxes & insurance. 

He knows he owes me, and if I call for help he's on the way.  He'll even show up to pour concrete.

I will 100% guarandamntee if he hadn't showed up and bought that torch it would have gone in my van for a ride to my place.  I could have turned it for $600 fast, and would have.

I figure around 60 years back an old fellow who didn't have to and dang sure didn't get paid to taught me and probably kept me from getting killed too.   Creator left me here to do the same, and just like ol Herb, we play with 52 cards and winner gets paid.  Gamers don't get second chances, and there is no line for sorry on my deposit slips.

I got a thick book of people won't get the time of day from me, and I can buy another book if I need.

[Chillylulu]

I like your way of thinking.  Did your friend go to work for Western States Fire Protection? They're simply the best fire protection comoany out there and have gotten into extinguishers in the last 5 or 6 years.

Larry

[john k]

The guy selling all his shop tools, that kind of bothers me.    When an older person, retired maybe suddenly loses interest in what has kept them motivated, and it becomes a chore, its a sign of a medical condition.   Rather than sell his stuff, maybe he should of got a checkup.   On the other hand, am always ready for a good deal. 

[Aunt Phil]

Chili he works for the Big company that rimes with spitplex and really isn't worth spit.

Just as I expected, he called today and asked could he come by and learn.  I told him to bring the torch.  Hour later he rolls in on the Hog, I knew he ddin't bring the tanks.  Fool kid also didn't bring the torch handle, just cutter & 2 heaters.

First lesson was the ass chewing about wearing a new sweatshirt around flames.

Naturally he asks is it true you can really cut with just Oxy like he heard.
That ate a few minutes demonstrating.  He admitted he tried.  He just didn't know the steel had to be heated first.  He does now.

Then he learned cutting really can be clean, even with arthritic hands.  That lesson plan ended with the lecture about how the hell do you expect to master 1 of my trades in 3 hours?

Then he learned gas welding on steel.  Naturally there was the question of where the joint would break in a Crescent wrench bend test.  Gee, ripped right out of the parent metal where I said it would.  How about that.

Then he got a quick lesson in brass holding copper gutter together and another in washing brass onto the bottom of a cracked Kohler tank.  Damn yellow metal did exactly what I said it would.  Must be I've done this before.

I handed him a set of tip cleaners, rehearsed the boy, cautioned him about overdrilling and got my compensation for the lesson by letting him work it off moving some heavy stuf I didn't want to handle.

If he practices and learns I may teach him how to torch cut stainless with O/A.  That can't be done according to some professional "teachers" I've enjoyed embarrassing.

John, the fellow selling is pretty obviously in some arthritis trouble and can't stand for long.   He has also pretty much finished all the woodworking and metal working projects he wants to do.  Definitely a rare situation.
I might yet go back and see about a couple items I really don't need but might be handy in the future.

[rusty]

>wearing a new sweatshirt

Remember the '70's ?
Remember polyester shirts?
Remember Job interview welding tests?

Oh, gawd we interviewed some loosers....

[Aunt Phil]

>wearing a new sweatshirt

Remember the '70's ?
Remember polyester shirts?
Remember Job interview welding tests?

Oh, gawd we interviewed some loosers....

Aw shit, how about the 60s with the knit shirts with the metalic looking thread running through the weave?

The loosers just kept coming Rusty.  They kept getting worse too.

In 01 or 02 Buzzard Breath gave Suzi the "secretary's" daughter a job interviewing & testing loosers looking for jobs.
He taught her how to butter a cupon with stringers using 6013 and a buzbox.  Little darling was damn good too.
HALF the "certified weldors" who came in the door walked out without striking an arc.  Of the ones who burned a stick, half of them couldn't match that little gal's quality or speed.

When she turned 18 she hired on summers doing mostly TIG, and doing it damn well.  Paid for her schooling welding.

I'll teach anybody all I can, IF and only if they will put in some effort.  No effort= get the hell out of my life.
I don't repeat unless you got paperwork saying you got a hearing problem either.

[Chillylulu]

They (before spitplex, just grimsmell) broke out of 669 fitters with their "final offer" in 1994.  I bid against them here, but not such a big deal.  They play a little corporate dirty, in my mind.

If your friend is any good (from the sound of it his biggest problem is just now-a-days youth stupid) I can help you bring him over from the dark side. Get him into the trade on the side where they have to pay you for your blood & sweat.

I've been involved in a lot of school retrofits in the last decade. High schools don't care to prepare the non college bound, it seems.  No trades training.  I learned to use an O/A set-up in my year at high school, welding and cutting.  Now they don't have auto shops or metal working classes. If they do, its at a single place in the district -away from the rest of the students.

The kids that used to go into trades are shuffled off to night colleges where they learn on computers and then just enough to pass a ged and get them out.

I think maybe some of the common sense stuff we learned hands on just isn't taught anymore.

So, like I said, I'm greatful for my journeymen who taught me -and for those like you who are still teaching.

Larry

[Papaw]

I think maybe some of the common sense stuff we learned hands on just isn't taught anymore.

That's certainly true!  I glad I was able to teach my boys some.

[Aunt Phil]

They (before spitplex, just grimsmell) broke out of 669 fitters with their "final offer" in 1994.  I bid against them here, but not such a big deal.  They play a little corporate dirty, in my mind.

If your friend is any good (from the sound of it his biggest problem is just now-a-days youth stupid) I can help you bring him over from the dark side. Get him into the trade on the side where they have to pay you for your blood & sweat.

I've been involved in a lot of school retrofits in the last decade. High schools don't care to prepare the non college bound, it seems.  No trades training.  I learned to use an O/A set-up in my year at high school, welding and cutting.  Now they don't have auto shops or metal working classes. If they do, its at a single place in the district -away from the rest of the students.

The kids that used to go into trades are shuffled off to night colleges where they learn on computers and then just enough to pass a ged and get them out.

I think maybe some of the common sense stuff we learned hands on just isn't taught anymore.

So, like I said, I'm greatful for my journeymen who taught me -and for those like you who are still teaching.

Larry

Spitplex is a TYCO company.  Need we really go further in qualifying the slime they wade in?

I taught him well, he has carried a mini recorder from day 1. 
Let's say 2 bosses left because they didn't know about the recorder, and another left because he didn't know about carbon paper. 
The level of paranoia in the district office is HIGH.  Every company vehicle is GPS equipped, and every year they BUST at least 1 employee on a vehicle violation.
The boy has been trained on how to play that game as well.  Boss really looks bad when he chews your azz for being late to a call in a GPS equipped van when company policy says OBEY all traffic laws.  Games can be fun when you know how to play.

Couple years back the district moved across town, and I sort of appeared at the old location to eyeball what was being scrapped.   Christmas came early that year, and I damn near scored the hydrotest chamber & board so Big S didn't have to pay to remove or pay ongoing rent as long as the well remained.  Unfortunately the district boss got last minute notification a removal contractor was coming.  Big S paid a lot of money to pull the well and sit it in a parking lot for a year.  They RI'd the machine, and realized they don't have a man in the district with paper to operate it.

Didn't bother me much, I made friends with the 3 fitter bosses.  I just wish Big S stocked more small diameter pipe.

The kid was talking about transferring to sprinklers a while back.  I changed his mind by letting him carry 10 feet of schedule 80 for a while.  He decided extinguishers were heavy enough.  A few months back they made him an offer to move to the alarm/cctv side, and he moved.  Far less stress than extinguishers since he doesn't constantly have to sell.  He is making damn good money, and given all the regulations, chances are good the job will last.  He can always go back to extinguishers.

Speaking of fitters, I gotta say that trade sure ain't what it was back in the 60s.  Dang kids got no idea how to rig a block & tackle any more, and a lot of them respond to instruction with "we didn't learn that in apprentice school".  Old mechanics seem to teach real quick by asking if they learned the way back to the Hall. 
Probably mostly caused by the schedule 10 tube and o ring couplers. 

[Chillylulu]

Chilly 《===== 669 sprinklerfitter since August, 1982.  Still have my card, in the office since 1987.   Don't hang pipe, but I keep our guys busy.

Careful Phil, those are my brothers!  You know its road fitters, none of us has seen the hall -  its in Adelphi MD.  Lol.   

At least I got my bookwork through Penn State - now the poor kids get some community college.  You are right again about the training level.  Our fitters see that - we train our people and even have an accredited training center. The good people want more and better training. The others don't work all year.

My son us a 4th year electrical apprentice.  2 nights a week, three hours each night.   Thats in addition to full time work. He already has several years of university also.  Showed up on his first job, a journeyman took him under his wing and told him if he stuck with it he would be able to own a home and afford a nice truck. Nick told him "I own a house, I am on my 3rd bike (2nd Harley) and my truck is 4 months old."  He seems smart, but only in the last couple of years has he started to believe me about quality tools.

Even the MEP trades aren't what they once were.  Even though I hate to admit it, they are all safer than we were. 

You guys here could probably help.  One of my assignments this year is to teach our new engineers to value our customers.  I cant seem to think of a way to get these kids to respect our customers.  We caught one 24 yr old leaving the office to "go fire a customer."  What do you do?

[Aunt Phil]

Have you told the kids that the customer you have generates more income than the 2 you'll have to hunt up to replace that one will for a few years?

Dam people have no friggin idea what it costs to bring a first time customer in the door, or how little profit most new customers generate the first couple years.

I'm a poor example though, the last 20 years I was with a company that had an open book policy.  It's hard for a kid on the shop floor to understand why he makes 15 an hour doing work the company bills at over $50 an hour, and they generally get antsy when they find out.  Fine Junior, just tell Suzi you want to sit down with Buzzard Breath off the clock and look at the reasons.  Figure on investing about 2 hours of YOUR time learning.  I never understood how the computer did it, but it could deliver a report including all costs broken down to hourly rate.  Add up the cost of the shop, tools, taxes, insurance, vehicles, heat, electric and a few other things and you can get from 15 bucks to 50 bucks fast.

A few who did the sitdown didn't show up, most stayed on and improved themselves.

Never recall 1 heading out to fire a customer, but I do recall a company that sent 9 off in a Limo Thursday afternoon.  Limo ride ended at the Unemployment Office.  2 of the 9 were stealing, the other 7 were supporting the theft.  State's still pissed about that.