Frustration with 2011

#1
I grew up my whole life in the shadow of heavy industry.

Like many of you Americans I assume.

I look around and see things and remember the fat around the edges,
and by that I mean men all kinds of them stumbling over each other as we struggled to make the steel or mine or make paper all those things that used to mean something in our ecconomy.

I know we can't turn the clock back.

But remember when:

You could tell your foreman to piss off and get lost because you had work to do?
It was his job to get you everyhting you needed plan ahead and provide suport and safety advice as needed.
What the hell happened to that?
A good boss was a real man that you trusted to look after you interests and you made him look good so everything happened as it should. The work got done and everyone was happy.
Now a foreman micro manages everything and runs like a rabbit because he is more scared of lossing his own job than making sure you have wha you need to do yours.

Remember the finnish go home overtimne job?
The boss said look here guys. We have an issue and I need this fixed tonight.
He ordered the Pizza and chicken wings and case of coke and you dod that job ASAP. Then you went home on the pre agreed amount of pay and everyone was happy. The problem was fixed, Boss and crew looked like Heros and everyone went home with a sence of pride.

Remember when a real boss was a man that said this is not something we can continue with......
Its not safe for example, and everyone would brain storm and find a way to make a bad thing less of that. A real boss would roll up his sleaves and jump in there and we got it done. Maybe we broke a rule or two but we did it and everything was fixed and life went on.

Remember when we had a Stewart.
And he locked horns with the foreman....
Then the doors closed and we solved the problem right there and then?

So, ME THINKS.....
Thats part of the reason we don't make steel and paper anymore.
We have bean counters and HR people and all kinds of General foreman and super intendents and managers with Univerity degrees and no idea what they are talking about who stick their noses in and prevent the kind of on the shop floor fixes from ever happening in the firts place....

No girly pictures on the b Board seems to be more important today then actualy doing something productive.....

I miss the old days.
I miss having a boss with a set of balls who would stand up to me when I was wrong or back me up when I was right. And the big bosses had no idea what we all did as long as the turns came off the line.

Thats whats wrong with the world according to me and it pains me to no end.
Sooner or later they will fire my ass I guess.
My boss hasn't the balls to take a stand and I'm scared of the HR girl half my age who writes me up for saying an off colour joke.

Sad world....
 
#2
P.C. and safety are the two highest priorities in todays workplace....P.C. not because they are worried about it being morally right, but because they're worried about lawsuits.
Safety...they could care less if you fall down and break your neck...as long as it happens just outside the gate...it all boils down to money. We have signs where I work that say "Nobody gets hurt...ever!!...it's like a threat. Then the post the safety record....754 days without an incident....755 days without an incident...they hand out a "saftey bonus" once in a while....why...because they want you to be "afraid to get hurt"...if you do you'll spoil their precious safety record...no crummy $200 bonus for the union members at Christmas time ...you'll be vilified..everyone on site will hate you for it.

The result...people get hurt just like they always have....twisted ankles, burns, cut fingers, broken toes...but they don't dare go to medical. They stick their bloody hand in their pocket and hide it or they limp home and patch it up themselves or go to the doc-in-the box. The company knows this...and they love it!!...it's their dirty little secret but they love it.

The "boss" used to be the guy who paid his dues.....30-40 yrs on the job...then they made him foreman. Today the boss is some nitwit they hired online or got from some temp agency...it doesn't even matter if he's familiar with the work...as long as he can "manage others"....:doah:

The worst part of it all is it can never go back to the way it was....it's too late...all of the industry is gone....where the huge GM plant used to be, there is rubble...the old Ford plant....gone...EXXON Resrearch and Engineering....ditto....along with all the thousands of employees and hundreds of small suppliers, restaurants, taverns, contractors, etc they supported....places that stood since the 1940's...gone forever ! And I'm just talking about a 5 mile radius in my area :doah: ....never mind the rest of the country.... Detroit....etc....

it's all downhill from here..... I feel sorry for my kids and their kids. :sad:



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MB165

Active Member
#3
I know what you mean guys. Not alot of industry here anymore, the GM astro van plant in Baltimore closed years ago (nafta)??, lots of abandoned industrial space in the city. Those H-R people are obsessed with documentation and being politically correct in the workplace.
Our schoolboard closed its vocational tech school. Instead they offered classes to teach how to be a manager and engineer and such. Guess they figured it was to trashy teach skilled trades. One good note they reopened the votech center a few years later because they realized not all students can be managers or can pass college. The automotive class was filled with a wait list the first year.
I know my kids are going to suffer from what is going on right now, im leaving them everything I have when I die. :shrug:
 
#4
Once in a while I'll catch a whiff of yesterday...choking dust of transferring grain at the elevator...cleaning out the pit in the hog barn...stacking bales in the hayloft...burning ditches and leaves every fall...

smell of kerosene and soot from the JP-5...cutting oil from the football field-sized machine shop...holding your breath but still catching fumes from the acid tanks...polyester resin from the boat factory and body shops...nitrocellulose lacquer...

...all gone...

but I go in the garage and smell the gas...jump on the minibike to go for a ride........and smile:thumbsup:
 
#5
Things are sort of that way where I work "the old way" but a little voice keeps telling me....... watch out the fangs are coming.
(I hope that voice is wrong)

Right now there is a lot of good cooperation going on with everyone for the most part trying to make the transition work but I suspect as things get rutted in it might take a turn for the worse.Not that I would/could blame the company I just think at some point they will have their fill of the BS and do some cleaning out.(but not to much)

This coming winter will try us all I think.

The new company has been very good to us I think and I just want it all to work out for the best, I have almost forgotten about the constant threat of layoffs and cutbacks under the old so called "leadership".
 

Neck

Growing up is optional
#7
You know, that kinda hits home! I paid my dues (thirty years getting filthy dirty) I had balls, I didn't have a problem telling the Supe he's clueless and to stay out of my way. I did what it took to keep the fire engines rolling and the power guys up in the air where they needed to be, and I got my mechanics everything they needed to do their job and or make their jobs easier, and had thirteen years of seniority, but unfortunately you cant go backwards once you switch unions, the bastards laid me off anyways.
 
#8
i know what your saying, i live in industry pa. in the shadow of pittsburgh. in our county alone we had jones and laughlin J-L STEEL,crucible steel,babcox and wilcox B-W STEEL,american bridge, pittsburgh tube,hydrill and many many more major steel producers and hundreds of smaller support bussines's ALL GONE! most all between 1985-90 a few were sold and reopened under foriegn ownership the few companies that lived are closing or leaving now in this depresion. about the only thing we make now is pizza and crack. a couple places survived that are total hell holes ok pay no benefits forced o.t. this week layed off next then called back, ive been in this racket since 1978,its over guys it cant come back no newbs want to learn the skills and if they did theres no place to get a job thats worth a shit in the industry anyway. i pray for my children and grandkids for what lies ahead. they have educations but only thing that diplomas good for if theres no jobs left is a good fire starter. our only chance BUY AMERICAN MADE OR DO WITHOUT if humanly possible
 
#9
I'd like to think there is a day coming when all speak up or vote or do something that actualy forces some change on the political side.

Tell them this is no way to treat us....

Give us the means to make a living, treat us with some dignity, pay us a decent wage....

Do these things and we will do what you ask and more, not just for us but for our wives and kids and comunity.

But I think they did a pretty good job of shitting all over the working man.
Now there are very few of us left willing to stand up and do something.
We're getting gray and pot bellied and not too many young guys with fire in their bellies like I had years ago. Now I look over my shoulder and check to see if there is a guy taking my picture or video taping me. I watch waht I say and type ( except night like to night after a few beer and some deap contemplation )

In reality I think its very clear to people on my side of the boarder that Mr. Bartolucci would simple call the OPP in and call us all terrorist or anachists and tear gas and bust our heads with billy clubs. Responsible people don't rebel, so declare the war measures act and send in the police to arrest and club just like durring the G20 summit.

I guess as long as there is a roof over head and food in the fridge those fellow at Queens park and the big bosses down on lakeshore have nothing to worry about.

But if it gets any worse I just might decide its not worth sitting down to protest.
I'm not that old or stupid and certainly not scared of cop or hired goon with a club...

Some of those goons on the line in 09 were pretty big and young.....
Hmm....
Most of those cops on the line in hind sight were pretty good to us and turned a blind eye to a lot of stuff.

You know I hate like to think how divided and messed up things are. I can't even be sure of who the bad guy is in all of this. The lines blur and my actions were probly not much better than the SOB that poisoned my dog on the picket line. That is if you figuere throwing some eggs and rocks at a scab is about even with feeding a dog some meat with broken glass in it.


Half drunken rant ended.......
 
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#10
your right, ive gone grey, got fat and the fires fading fast maybe my youngest childs generation (shes 20) will take it to the streets I'll back them 110% and be beside them if they do . god knows my generation is letting the man crap down our throats, and has for about 10 years. when the fire burns in the young ones from lack of a chance to prosper things may get nasty i hope so. sometimes i feel like the lone ranger
 
#12
Yeah look what happened in Syria, Libya and Egypt!
Careful:

Them are fighten words.....

Someplace at CSIS head quarters this evening a computure that reads text scaning for bad words is logging this thread and adding it to my C-215 internment file ( incase of revolution break glass and lock the socialists up ).

I amagine the completly illeagal agency ( CIA lol ) in the USA has opened a file on you and is actively processing the papers to send you to that nice Cuban resort.....
 
#14
Keep electing those millionaire politicians ....... they are looking out after your money so they can get it in their pocket . Why do you think they want in office ?? Does anyone really think Michelle Bachmann wants to help you .... LOL . It is really too bad a lot of our population is too ignorant to vote , more interested voters would help .


Gotta admit though this is a classic photo of her at the Iowa State Fair

 
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buckeye

Well-Known Member
#16
There is no working man anymore. There are men who want to work but the rest of the story is well documented. If you don't drive this or live here you just aren't a success. I will drive my old Ford truck. I will live in a home that I can afford. I will sacrifice so I don't have to work til I die. There is a whole generation lost to knowing how to work. Thank you Mom and Dad for teaching me what work is and what it is like to do without.
 
#17
There needs to be a voting IQ test because the "kids" that were all geeked up last time didnt have a clue who/what to vote for except to vote for the big O.

It really doesnt much matter anymore because it looks as if the whole system is coming to a halt soon.
To much greed and it appears the pyramid scheme has run its course.
(last ones are the big losers)

I'm doing better now than I was 3 months ago but my wife is still out of work but we still have a considerable/worrisome amount of debt.
(I plan to have ZERO debt in 3 years)

I have seen some results of government money being spent on infrastructure improvements and that has put lots of people to work this summer but nothing more than usual.
 
#18
There needs to be a voting IQ test because the "kids" that were all geeked up last time didnt have a clue who/what to vote for except to vote for the big O.

It really doesnt much matter anymore because it looks as if the whole system is coming to a halt soon.
To much greed and it appears the pyramid scheme has run its course.
(last ones are the big losers)

I'm doing better now than I was 3 months ago but my wife is still out of work but we still have a considerable/worrisome amount of debt.
(I plan to have ZERO debt in 3 years)

I have seen some results of government money being spent on infrastructure improvements and that has put lots of people to work this summer but nothing more than usual.
Seen this?
Idiocracy Mash-up - YouTube
I must admit it was funny for a while but I stopped laughing about 1/2 through the film. Kind of depressed me actualy....
 

Oldsalt

Well-Known Member
#20
Yes. There is a problem. The earliest, that I know of, that the problem was outlined was by a Roman approx. 100 AD. He stated that to get elected it will become increasingly necessary to promise more than your competitors in free things to the voters [further steps toward socialism]. To stay in office the freebees have to be delivered. His belief was that the system would then implode at some point and thereby declared that any democracy was, sooner or later, doomed. He was right about Rome. Now we see a modern world where most countries are proceeding down the road of "Tax Those That Produce and Give to Those That Don't". [To make everything "Fair" is the Liberal mantra]. Virtually all South America countries are stuck with a series if rulers that get elected by way of promising more, more, more freebees for the masses. The producers are sadly outnumbered at the polling booths by the folks that feel the government is 100% responsible for their welfare. In Europe we see Greece as a prime example of the math impaired population driving a country into bankruptcy. There are 5 other EU nations that are severely at risk due to Socialism. My friend in Brazil informs me the tax rate for him is 45% to provide for the freeloaders.

The US is not quite ready to the implode but the tax burden to industry and businesses and employed people is getting to be confiscatory. With a liberal Congress and a Socialist/Pink president thing will not turn around soon. The math impaired Socialists cannot, for some head-in-the-sand reason, see the OBVIOUS fact that, when taxed, no company or institution is going to fail to pass on the added cost. They WILL NOT commit suicide. The folks getting the Socialist money are then faced with higher cost of living and must rely upon the government to further increase taxes! The big belly ache I see in this thread is the specter of US jobs going overseas. Being math impaired the Liberals can't connect the dots! When a lower percentage of people are producing the price of that countries exports will rise in comparison to another country's cost of production. Why is that a big surprise??? But what do I hear, far too often, in posts? The opinion that politicians are doing the wrecking! No, we get the representation we deserve! You voted for them based on selfish self interest! The socialist idea that an individual should not be responsible for their OWN welfare has made for a voting block of aliens, ethnic ner-do-wells, union members with blinkers attached, uninformed youths, and Limousine Liberals [the last have absolutely no excuse for being so stupid] that can't be matched in numbers.
 
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