i get hired from a company about a month ago for the position of a Welder / Fabricator. ok, so far so good, money is around 15.00hr with benefits, etc.. building awnings. 18gauge.
then they have u clean bathrooms, empty trash, wash floors in shop, etc!!! WTF....... was not told this on interview from owner of company, the only thing i was told that i was going to go on the road once an awhile to install some of these awnings with a crew, well that wasn't easy to lean, since i never tied or laced a canopy to a awning, with that said i wasn't to fast out there, so the company owner let me go last friday!! do u think this is fair?
Fair or not fair I think you have to consider the quality of the employer you were employed with. If you chose to burn rod for a company that expects the tradesmen to also act as janitors then you should sort of expect that they will also act in an unprofessional manner in other aspects of their business. (imho) Even if it isn't fair you don't really have a leg to stand on for any sort of claim, so I wouldn't dwell on the jerk and press on with the job search. (Easier said than done because I didn't just get let go, but worrying about them being fair isn't going to fix the fact they sound like a cracker jack outfit.) Good luck in the job search. It's shut down season at the mills if you are around any!
i know what u mean and the funny part about this company is that they have been in bussiness since 1866, they have a hugeeeeeeeeeeeee reputation....
Well I guess I would probably give my opinion on their reputation if anybody ever asked me what I thought about their product ... It amazes me how companies that treat their employees horribly can last as long as they do sometimes. I've worked for some contractors I absolutely could not stand, but a lot of other people loved them. I guess if you are willing to drink the kool-aid and play ball you can get by at most places. I would really appreciate it if they'd be up front in their job ads though and just say "MUST LOVE PURPLE KOOL AID" because I'd totally be looking for the red kool-aid company.
Kenny...
Time for a trip to the wood shed.
You are a complete beginner... newbie....Greenhorn.
Just days ago, you posted no less than three different threads on this welding forum asking about the most simple Mig parameters that can make metal stick together...
The company lied to you? You lied to them first!!!!!!!!!! You told them you could weld. I suppose you probably told the company that you could run a mig machine without skulking off to a welding chat room in order to secure parameters to do your simple job on standard gage metal too eh?
That's the pot calling the kettle hot!
You are not worth $15 per hour as a welder...
But you snivel like a $40 per hour teamster.
When you gain the wisdom to pack some notes, a textbook or a Miller calculator in your tool box... You will be near taking the first step to making money.... but your attitude is also not worth $15
.
I hope during your current unemployment you take time to meditate on being as valuable as you can for your next employer...
Edit:
I started out in the trades alot like you.... No experience... The only thing I could do was to work very hard, look for things to keep me busy all the time.. anything.... And to make relationships with the more experienced guys so that they could help me learn the stuff I diddn't understand... That meant DOING THEIR WORK and my work..packin tools, cleaning, chipping,,, Whatever!
After a while, If you work hard and pay attention and submit to authority... You will become valuable
Lawrence
I am with Jon you handled that well.
It is a tough world out there and getting tougher.
I too started out once upon a time. I had welding experience both first in my uncles garage @12 years old then Metal shop in High School with two years of V.I.C.A. and the correspondence courses from Hobart.
I started one summer for a fab/steel distributor as a welder helper. The third week I was there welding being mentored by two American Indians who had worked the skyscrapers of New York in their younger days I was asked to become a painter. I was the best painter they ever had, Since I was over on the other side of the plant in my spare time I worked multiple tooled punches, did my time behind a shear separating drop from parts, and because of my yes sir attitude even was trained through experience to do calculations to form gauge plate Material on the Breaks they had. If they would of given me a broom I would of tried to have been the best broom pusher they ever had also. After working for them three summers and a half a day everyday the last two years of High School I was a weldor making more than my dad,(he was a grade A machinist).
Just saying put the shoe on the other foot. Would you want to hire a cry baby beginner or a person with good work ethics.
Again another good post Lawrence
But Good Luck to you KennyCalJr
Marshall
I could not agree more !!!! I am not supposed to be a Loan Officer, Marriage Counselor,Shrink, Bail Bondsman, or Parts runner. However, I DO ALL OF THE ABOVE. It keeps the Job rolling !
I have 8 people working under me right now; all of them are screwdriver turners (and temp employees). 1 does everything I ask even stacking rocks, 3 of them do most of what I ask (but complained a lot about me asking them to stack rocks), 4 of them sat on there lazy asses when I asked them to stack rocks, and threatened to call HR because they were screwdriver turners not “rock stackers”
Take a guess which employee is being offered a fulltime job and which 4 are on the “first to be laid off list.
Just saying
So.. four guys are performing the job they are hired to do, to the extent that they have a leg to stand on if they spoke to human resources about you asking them to do something outside of their trade ... and this makes you angry because you didn't hire them to also be laborers? If you wanted laborers and whatever trade you are alluding to them doing then you probably should have stated that fact up front. If you want someone to clean latrines, weld pipe, and do office work that's great, but how about being up front with what you expect them to do.
Just saying.
I think if you wanted to be a vital employee you would do anything thats asked of you. If i have to lay one of two guys off, one is an average fabricator but never *****ed about anything i ever made him do, was a self starter and always on time
The other that was very talented and great at fabricating but always *****ed when told to clean up the shop and would sit around doing nothing instead of looking for and doing things that needed to be done.
Guess who would get laid off?
There is a difference between doing tasks pertaining to your trade and job and doing things that do not pertain to your trade or job. Keeping busy doing one's trade is a lot different than keeping busy by cleaning someone's latrine. If you want a janitor hire one or find someone you can shame into doing anything you want them to regardless if it is related to their job description or not.
well good luck with that attitude but don't complain about why your currently unemployed.
I learned along time ago if i was getting an hourly wage then no matter what i did on the clock it all paid the same. If this was a union shop you might get somewhere whining to your union boss, otherwise don't wounder why your unemployed. You were asked to do things that you thought were beneath you and whined about it.
By mechan 
Date 04-10-2012 03:43
Edited 04-10-2012 03:45
Except if one's contract precludes that ... but sure. Absolutes are a great way to approach life. If you are referring to me whining about something then I am fairly perplexed. What exactly is a "union boss"? Could you explain the "union boss hierarchy" just in-case I find a need to whine about something some day.
The guy said he was getting $15.00/hr. So, maybe things were slow and rather than sending him home with 30 hours, they found something for him to do for extra hours.
Now, I haven't drawn an hourly wage for quite a few years, so feel free to correct me. Doesn't more hours equal more money?
Money makes the payments where I come from.
He never said it was for "extra" hours, so read into it what you will. Where does one draw the line for extra hours the street corner or the truck stop?
I have worked a lot of jobs in other shops where we had to clean the restrooms, floors, office, do the receiving, shipping, as well as fabricating and welding. And, in my shop, everyone takes turns cleaning the toilets and taking out the trashes. I don't care if you like a pig pen/messy bathroom or not, it WILL be clean and everyone takes their turn.
As to the OP, someone needs an ego/attitude adjustment. Do EVERYTHING asked of you. Keep your ears and eyes open. Ask questions when you aren't holding up production. Come in early. Stay late. Learn all you can. And be grateful for every penny you can earn while learning more about welding.
Have a Great Day, Brent
When I was an apprentice tool & die maker, I had to shovel snow off the office steps in the winter, and cut the grass around the shop in the summer. Just part of the job. When they hired another apprentice, He got to shovel snow and push a mower. This is what You get as low man on the totem pole while learning a trade.
My buddie worked in an auto body shop. He had an "end of day routine" to do, sweep up the floor, drian the water from the airlines, etc. Once again, the crap work goes on the "new kid".
Once a journyman, I might have balked if I was asked to do the crap work while the new kid was doing trade work, but that didn't happen.
I too agree with the others that as an employee, You do what needs to be done.
Union situations are different, there You do only the work listed in Your job description. If You do anything else, You are taking food out of the mouths of some other guy's childern, He will file for wages, and they will pay BOTH of You for the work You did. This is a black mark on Your record as well as Your foreman's.
Hello KennyCalJr;
I can relate somewhat to your post. I have been hired as a welder several times and wound up sweeping floors, painting floors, mowing, buffing beams, wiring, painting and anything else they could come up with at the time. They did this so I could stay during slow times. Being on the end of a broom for eight hours is not the best way to spend the day but I look back on it as them doing me a favor. They could have sent me down the road. With them keeping me around, I was able to pester the old guys and ask them questions that have served me well over the years. Doing the stuff you don't want to do now will help you do what you want to do down the road; at least in my case. I wouldn't assume that after years of this, the sweeping, mopping and cleaning are over though. I will still grab a mop or broom and clean when needed or asked. Its all part of the job. I hope you have better success in the future.
Have a good one;
Matt
My kids have known since about 2 years of age, that life is not "fair". If you are expecting it to be, you'll live a long life of dissapointment after dissapointment.
They also know that people will lie to them from time to time.
KennyCalJr if you plan on traveling thru the world with everything being "fair" and no one ever "lying" to you, well, good luck because you're going to need a lot of it.
J
By Superflux 
Date 04-10-2012 20:30
Edited 04-10-2012 20:51
KennyCalJr,
So.... everybody has a price.
Would you have been willing to swab the toilets for $17.00/hr?, $20.00, $30.00? Would $40.00 an hour been more Fair?
I've been Shop Foreman and had to swamp the bathrooms for $15/hr.
I think you should have "Shown them" you have a real man's pair in your Levi's and drug up when they handed you the broom and mop.
Instead, you moped around until they fired you, then came here whining in your little boy Underoos looking for sympathy.
Sure, we all are worth more than we are making, just not to that particular/present employer.
Heck, right now, Dracula does more during the day than I do at work. Yet, they pay me to come here every day and not do anything.
NOW THAT IS UNFAIR!!!!
Would someone in here grab me a tissue???? I'm having a Dr. Phil moment........
This type of attitude is far too prevalent in young people nowadays. Welding is one of the crafts that you just can't BS your way into. Face it kid, you lied about your skills and got busted. What's not fair, is you wasting that employers time.
I worked for a large Cat dealer here in Tennessee. We would get slow and we would paint new yellow lines on the floor to keep the OSHA-nator happy. One day we loaded up a pickup truck to go move furniture at the owners house. Another day I was driving the class 8 flatbed with crane to pickup a D11 engine. My trade, mechanic to rebuild engines, transmissions, hydraulics and so on. Kinda didn't matter if I was outside running the weed whacker, it all paid the same. Low man on the totem pole they might want to test you out to check your bi_ch meter and see how you respond.
I used to work for a company that built train cars. They hired me as a welder and that is what I did for 10 to 15 hrs a day. Nothing but burn wire, 1/16 dual sheild and .052 metal core all day long. A welder working there could go through a 60lb. spool of wire in one shift! There were lots of days that would have gladly traded places with the janitor. As well as I remember he worked at a leisurely pace and probably made about the same per hour as I did.
Manual labor is part of their job description.
I am not saying that I am going to lay them off but when we run out of work and have to lay some people off.
The guy that makes my life easier is already off of that list
BTW I personally stacked more rocks than all of them put together after they were all sent home for the day, because it was something that needs to be done.
I got all types, it has taken a while before I get rid of some of the way we always did things and figure some issues out about labor, ideally what makes each one tick. Sometimes guys wonder about my helper,,, he has his faults and isn't as attentive as he could be, not real thorough but is improving but I like working with him. He comes up with a gem on occasion but the biggest thing is the pace and never complains, no matter what, doesn't bother with drivel about every problem he has, not an interruption at every chance and I get no kickback with a new plan at every turn.
Some guys come in the middle and got 10 new ideas and it really fools with the flow, they think I justconceivedd the plan in the last 30 seconds where in reality have been working out details way prior to the actual event. Ittakes somee time for some guys to get in the grove of the boss, to have confidence and sometrustt, many guys never get this or try too hard to get ahead of me, don't realize I have done this before, maybe more than once. Welders are as good as anybody and better than most at being able to be pointed in the right direction, myself, I spent several years in the trades and even though I am not that bright you can usually point me in the direction of the gang box and I can go from there. Lot of people need to be told what to do.
haveve another part timer that is one of the best I have worked with, equipment operator, can master any machine in short order and can be pointed and shot for the most part, knows where we sposed to be at the end of the day, knows just how much, how fardoesn'tnt bother him a bit to jump off and grab a shovel or rake if that is what it takes to get it done, can keep his eye on the ball.
