On 7/28/07 9:10 AM, "Brian Robinson (CONTRACT)" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Jim, 
> 
> That is an interesting concept, the subcontracting method..
> 
> Regarding my own business experience, I had to run through dozens of employees
> before I was able to put together a crew that was sober, had individual
> initative, could make their pay stretch between checks and did not attempt to
> kill each other at some point during the day.
> 
> My dad's side of the family are almost all union carpenters and I apprenticed
> with Atlanta Carpenters Union Local 225 after grad school. My great uncle, who
> was my first site superintendent and my second cousin our foreman taught me
> that you had to identify and send the losers back to the hall ASAP in order to
> keep your family fed and sanity on the site. After a couple of years, I
> finally got to the point where if I watched 100 carpenters work for one day,
> just by observing attitude, work habits, and body language I could weed out
> the bottom 10% without much difficulty and little error.
> 
> The Smart Assed College Boy,
> 
> B       
> 
> --
> To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
> uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
> <http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>
> 
I'm the 1st generation journeyman so you can get a better story from my son
who has worked for me, off & on, for the last 12 yrs (6 in Memphis not for
me) so I spent the 1st 10 yrs 'on the bench' only later hiring people t
work. An aside - Mack the Knife in 3 penny opera has the query "what is
killing someone next to hiring them" he has a point.
Anyway I've had to make the trans from treating 'them' the way I wanted to
be treated to how they needed to be treated - they aren't an extension of
me.
I've worked a lot with Russians and it has been a challenge to manage
someone raised in the Soviet system (you pretend to pay us and we pretend to
work).
Yeah, subcontracting to your employees can be a little tricky but where it
works, it works. And it's just that much less you have to pay attention to.
Another thing I've been doing as of late (nothing to do with help) is
telling a prospective customer I have no idea how much its going to cost
without doing a "probe" which will cost this much & then I can give a price.
Works about 25% of the time.
Jim

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>