He's been at it all day

[AMS417]

Congrats on finding a resolution. Since I started buying and selling real estate I have been ripped off by virtually every manor of contractor, I know how you feel. The latest was $5k for some under house work I was too fat to do without opening the subfloor in nearly every room. I ended up having to do it anyway to fix what this guy half assed. For the last couple of years I been buying tools, watching videos and learning how to fix everything I can. My dad has been a big help too. I didn't grow up around him, so I missed out on a lot of helpful skills growing up but we are slowly making it up now. He has a general contractors license and has built several houses on his own. He manages all his own rentals and has taught me "every dollar you pay a contractor is a dollar you didn't get to keep". I still don't like doing roofing and don't have the tools or the license for HVAC but I have found reliable guys for that.

Sounds like you have a good contact now for future work. It got so bad at one point I wanted to start a handyman service, just because I know you can make a good living if you show up, and do quality work.

 

[AndyG]

I'm a contractor , and baths have been a big part of my world for a long time.

The shortage of experienced people in the trades is horrible, and the Calvary isn't coming.

We have been so busy filling the corner office we forgot to teach people how to build it.

I don't know what the future holds, but my plan is to scale down, do fantastic work and work less people.

Between people that can't show up, have personal issues, every substance abuse issue known to man .....and the people that are simply untrainable, America is in a world of hurt.

 

[AMS417]

Buddy of mine just left OTR trucking as an owner operator to go to work for his son in-law as an HVAC tech. The son in-law owns the business and cannot find good young help at any price. Buddy was looking to get off the road because the hours versus the pay just aren't working out anymore. Shit is all out of whack right now. The company I work for has been struggling to fill supply chain positions for years. Young folks just don't want to work with their bodies. Though they are finding out a degree is no guarantee you will be a CEO.

 

[AndyG]

Buddy of mine just left OTR trucking as an owner operator to go to work for his son in-law as an HVAC tech. The son in-law owns the business and cannot find good young help at any price. Buddy was looking to get off the road because the hours versus the pay just aren't working out anymore. Shit is all out of whack right now. The company I work for has been struggling to fill supply chain positions for years. Young folks just don't want to work with their bodies. Though they are finding out a degree is no guarantee you will be a CEO.

" Go to college and make something of yourself" implies you are failure if you don't.


"Work smart, not hard."

It's all a bunch of lies, a dream of an easier life for future generations ...that has sold them short of the realities of how to be productive, effective people.

What kids need to be taught is how to survive , how to màke it , on their own-how to row their own canoe.

Kids need to learn how to work, how to get things done , how to serve others, and make an impact.

That works ...and crosses over into every vocation.

I told my 16 year old son this week if he didn't learn how to get things accomplished this world will eat him alive . Make work your friend, master it, and life can be a little easier.

 

[Squatch]

Buddy of mine just left OTR trucking as an owner operator to go to work for his son in-law as an HVAC tech. The son in-law owns the business and cannot find good young help at any price. Buddy was looking to get off the road because the hours versus the pay just aren't working out anymore. Shit is all out of whack right now. The company I work for has been struggling to fill supply chain positions for years. Young folks just don't want to work with their bodies. Though they are finding out a degree is no guarantee you will be a CEO.

Proud to say that my youngest son has been working with his brother-in-law for the past four years in masonry. He's now joining up with a bricklayers union as an apprentice. He's twenty-two years old, and I couldn't be more proud of his work ethic. We need more young folks who don't feel that a job at the computer is the only way to go. Hell, the world is always going to need its ditch diggers!

 

[toximus]

I'm a contractor , and baths have been a big part of my world for a long time.

The shortage of experienced people in the trades is horrible, and the Calvary isn't coming.

We have been so busy filling the corner office we forgot to teach people how to build it.

I don't know what the future holds, but my plan is to scale down, do fantastic work and work less people.

Between people that can't show up, have personal issues, every substance abuse issue known to man .....and the people that are simply untrainable, America is in a world of hurt.

My job has places me regularly in contact with lots of Indians. All throughout my toilet fiasco I wished that it would have been as easy as working with those guys. 9 times out of 10 they're hard working, ask an honest wage, respectful, and don't give up until the job is done. I don't mean to come off as anti-American, but if Americans don't want to work or do a good job, we will find people who want to work and do a better job.

 

[toximus]

Reminds me of a quote: “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

Even in the last 5-10 years we've seen parenting change from helicopter parenting where they hover hover their kid and if things get too hard they lift them out. To bulldozer parenting to become normal where they push any obstacles out of their kids way before they even get to them. A kid grows to be effective when they can struggle through hard things.

 

[AndyG]

My job has places me regularly in contact with lots of Indians. All throughout my toilet fiasco I wished that it would have been as easy as working with those guys. 9 times out of 10 they're hard working, ask an honest wage, respectful, and don't give up until the job is done. I don't mean to come off as anti-American, but if Americans don't want to work or do a good job, we will find people who want to work and do a better job.

Man look around ... Hispanics have found a world of opportunity doing things our young people never will. They will finish the brick on a house with car head lights.

A lot of todays' young people are a joke.

 

[AndyG]

Reminds me of a quote: “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

We are victims of our own affluence ...you can be pretty sorry here and still live ok.

 

[AndyG]

Proud to say that my youngest son has been working with his brother-in-law for the past four years in masonry. He's now joining up with a bricklayers union as an apprentice. He's twenty-two years old, and I couldn't be more proud of his work ethic. We need more young folks who don't feel that a job at the computer is the only way to go. Hell, the world is always going to need its ditch diggers!

A good equipment operator makes 25+ an hour. Some way more.

 

[AMS417]

" Go to college and make something of yourself" implies you are failure if you don't.


"Work smart, not hard."

It's all a bunch of lies, a dream of an easier life for future generations ...that has sold them short of the realities of life.

What kids need to be taught is how to survive , how to màke it , on their own-how to row their own canoe.

Kids need to learn how to work, how to get things done , how to serve others, and make an impact.

Hell yes! Thought it doesn't alway work out.

I struggled with this early in life, poor family, no one graduated, I got kicked out of school frequently junior and senior year and subsequently expelled permanently from my high school. Got a girl pregnant at 18 didnt know what to do but find a better paying job and take care of the kid. Still with the company 20 years later and worked my way out of the trenches and into the bosses office. Married the highschool girl I knocked up later on at 25.

Raised my kid differently, prepared him and showed him how to get things done. Set aside money for him to go to college. He did, and failed every class, mostly due to attendance. He just didn't go. Then he started paying for it, because I cut him off after 2 semester. Same shit, no drive. He stopped going to school and went to work full time, at WalMart. I can't live his life for him, but I wanted him to want more. He's 21, when I was his age I had a three year old, and two jobs. Maybe he needs to knock a girl up?

 

[AMS417]

Reminds me of a quote: “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

I literally quoted this today. Its some real shit.

 

[AndyG]

Hell yes! Thought it doesn't alway work out.

I struggled with this early in life, poor family, no one graduated, I got kicked out of school frequently junior and senior year and subsequently expelled permanently from my high school. Got a girl pregnant at 18 didnt know what to do but find a better paying job and take care of the kid. Still with the company 20 years later and worked my way out of the trenches and into the bosses office. Married the highschool girl I knocked up later on at 25.

Raised my kid differently, prepared him and showed him how to get things done. Set aside money for him to go to college. He did, and failed every class, mostly due to attendance. He just didn't go. Then he started paying for it, because I cut him off after 2 semester. Same shit, no drive. He stopped going to school and went to work full time, at WalMart. I can't live his life for him, but I wanted him to want more. He's 21, when I was his age I had a three year old, and two jobs. Maybe he needs to knock a girl up?

You did the right thing.

What we have going on is extended adolescence.

I didn't wake up until 26, there was no pressure to.

All that wander are not lost, but I really encourage young people to stop wasting their precious time, it's what your life is made of.

 

[toximus]

Hell, the world is always going to need its ditch diggers!

I think it comes down to 2 things. 1) We need to believe and treat all humans equally and not look down at others due to their jobs. Even the CEO needs garbage men to do his job. 2) We need to encourage youth to go after their dreams and to be their best. If working as a bagger at the local grocery store is the best thing they can do, awesome, we need them! If inventing something life changing is the best they can do and working as a bagger is only a stepping stone, awesome, we need that too!

 

[AMS417]

I think it comes down to 2 things. 1) We need to believe and treat all humans equally and not look down at others due to their jobs. Even the CEO needs garbage men to do his job. 2) We need to encourage youth to go after their dreams and to be their best. If working as a bagger at the local grocery store is the best thing they can do, awesome, we need them! If inventing something life changing is the best they can do and working as a bagger is only a stepping stone, awesome, we need that too!

Balance, we need a balance of encouragement and accountability. My kid is a lot better than most in the fact he hasn't been in trouble, and he's a decent person. He lacks drive, and I don't get it. Maybe it will come, but if he thinks I will leave him an inheritance, hes fucked. My elder years are going to be awesome. I plan to die broke and well worn.

 

[Squatch]

I think it comes down to 2 things. 1) We need to believe and treat all humans equally and not look down at others due to their jobs. Even the CEO needs garbage men to do his job. 2) We need to encourage youth to go after their dreams and to be their best. If working as a bagger at the local grocery store is the best thing they can do, awesome, we need them! If inventing something life changing is the best they can do and working as a bagger is only a stepping stone, awesome, we need that too!

Just to be clear, I wasn't being snide or belittling ditch diggers. What I meant was that there are some types of work that no computer or desk jockey is ever going to be able to do. I have full appreciation for those who bust their asses at their jobs, especially good old fashioned manual labor.

 

[AndyG]

Kudos to @toximus for being willing to pay more, and shame on the high end plumbing service for sending a tech out unprepared for a common repair (a flange is like $5 ) and trying to capitalize off their own ineffeciency. A good plumber would have pulled the toilet in 7 minutes, identified the flange because they know what they are looking for, fixed it , and fixed what likely caused it (not being secured to the slab or subfloor) installed a thick ring , new bolts , and caps , and checked his work and been gone in under an hour.

Also the tech should have checked his truck , you have to know what you have , and just as important, what you don't .

Quality is never an accident.

I've seen plumbing services dig a line up and want to fly a helicopter over and do a yard sign , make a big production, and try to charge unreal prices.

Bottom line is they showed up unprepared and tried to make it pay. That's wrong. He sure handled it with class.

 

[toximus]

Just to be clear, I wasn't being snide or belittling ditch diggers. What I meant was that there are some types of work that no computer or desk jockey is ever going to be able to do. I have full appreciation for those who bust their asses at their jobs, especially good old fashioned manual labor.

I didn't take your comment that way at all. I was just commentating on your comment.

 

[Squatch]

I didn't take your comment that way at all. I was just commentating on your comment.

Okay, man. I wasn't sure if I had worded it poorly enough that someone might get the wrong idea. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[toximus]

Back to being on topic, I forgot to share the saddest part of the toilet fixing... After the kid replaced the flange, he flushed the toilet again, I popped my head in at that moment to ask how things were going (I'm pretty sure he hadn't eaten lunch or dinner at this point), and the wax ring wasn't tall enough so water just wooshed all over my bathroom floor and ran into the crawl space through whatever cracks are in my floors/walls. There was so much water everywhere and there wasn't enough towels in my house to contain it all... My dehumidifiers finally caught up today. The kid waited 30 minutes to hear back from his crew to see if they could bring him a taller ring and finally asked me if we had a hardware store in town and went out and he bought one himself.

Also, just when you get settled in on the toilet, it still rocks... I'm running to the hardware store in the morning to grab some shims and caulk and going to do this myself...

"Toximus' Jeep and Toilet Repair, where the rust is thick and the sewage is deep, Tox speaking, how can I help you?"