It's just that way now- or - I've made enough, screw it . . .

[Ranger99]

Last couple of years ( or more)
I've been noticing that you can't
get any work done by a repair
service or tradesmen.
I've had the roofers out either 2
or 3 times during 2022, a plumber,
and something else I can't recollect
at the moment.
None seem to want to show up
before close to 10AM or thereabouts,
they take their hour and a half for
the midday break, then are ready to
leave starting around 3PM.
Not because of other jobs or something
like that because I've checked.
And a good many tradesmen will
set an average job to the side in favor
of a higher priced job even if it
was ahead in line.
Today and this last week there's
been tree trimmers around the area
trimming back limbs that will
possibly interfere with the utility
lines. Yeah, they did cut limbs
and left a terrible blankety blanking
mess throughout the neighborhood
( as if it's not a bfm already from
the various hoodrats and section 8's)

The last decent job I had, there
was ( 1 in particular) a naturalized
citizen ( from Laos ?) that was one of
the hardest working smartest
knowledgeable honest automotive
senior master certified technicians
I've ever seen. Proud American.
Had a mild argument with some
border jumpers from another part
of the service department one time
and was telling them to quit speaking
spanish since they were in America
now, and ridiculed them for not being
grateful to be in America and not trying
to assimilate any better than they had,
etc. etc.
It's a shame to see so much
half a$$ing of everything these
days. People do just enough to
get by and don't take any pride in
doing an exemplary job at whatever
they may do.
No professionalism at all anymore

[wtxbadger]

We have the same problem here and it's been that way for years and extends to the local businesses who can't find enough employees who want to work.

A few years ago we had carpet installed upstairs and hardwood flooring downstairs. The carpet layer was my age and did an incredible job. The first day he and his millennial age helper got all of the carpet installed except for our stairs the first day. The second day his helper wasn't with him and when I asked him about it he said it happens all the time and he can't find reliable help that will stick with him and want to work. He asked me about the downstairs flooring and what we were going to have done. I told him our plans and he said his son would be installing the flooring. Evidently his son started out working with him but they didn't get along real well on the job and his son went out on his own.

I found out why that was the next week. The kid was very talented but was always late showing up, skipped several days of showing up and it took him two weeks to install the flooring in what should have only been a two or three day job.

Getting a plumber to show up is next to impossible as well. The few we have had to use want to know exactly what the problem is and we have been turned down by more than one because they didn't want to work that hard in favor of easier jobs.

[Ranger99]

Yeah
These "professional " tree trimmers
( they have all the big trucks and chippers
and bucket trucks and expensive equipment )
did about as good a job as I could have
if I had access to all the state of the art
equipment and such they had.
The jefe and his segundo came by early
Tuesday as I was leaving for an appointment
and laid out the plan for trimming adjacent
to the property. " We'll be here early
tomorrow " was their exact words ( which
meant Wednesday/ yesterday)
Here and waiting Wednesday.  And waiting.  .
and waiting.  . . . and waiting.  . . . .
Nothing.
Today ( after I called in at sundown weds) I
told jefe that I didn't want anybody in
the yard unless I was HERE and for
absolutely nobody to be hopping
the fence. I would unlock the gates,
and they could enter and exit like
civilized people do.
After a while,  I noticed they'd evacuated
and all the big trucks were gone, and
they'd left limbs scattered everywhere
and empty water bottles, etc.
I'll be taking some photos tomorrow when
it gets light enough for clarity
Roofers are about as bad.
They're supposed to clean up and
check for stray nails, etc. and had
a guy with a big magnet "broom"
thing that he would make 1 pass
and stop and have a cigarette, then
do a 180 and make a pass and stop
and have a cigarette,  on and on.
I got out myself with a magnet-on-a-stick
doo dad and picked up 3/4's of a soup
can of assorted roofing nails.

Some people just aren't suited for
certain jobs. True shame we went
away from merit based hiring years ago

[Dee]

Who can even afford a plumber these days? $100.00 service call, and $300.00 to replace an outside faucet. 

[Mule 11]

Who can even afford a plumber these days? $100.00 service call, and $300.00 to replace an outside faucet. 

Must be Trumps fault...

[Tommyt]

 Roofer and AC is the only ones I’ve hired out.
This year I plan on doing 2 of my houses Roof replacement’s.
Going with metal so I am hiring Help for up top and I'll cut and
take care of everything on the ground..

[DDZ]

I talk to a friend of mine often about this. How there is no pride anymore in peoples work. I tell young kids today if they want to make good money. Learn a trade instead of wasting thousands going to college.  Most kids today though just want to sit at a desk with a computer. Not many care to do any physical labor of any kind. Many of those that do attempt a trade, are lazy, late for work many times. Don't show up for work, or they smoke weed or take drugs that affect their performance.
Back in the day most men at least could do a little of everything. Work on a car, build a building or home, put a roof on, do the plumbing, weld, do concrete work, perform small engine repair, etc. Today so many people have to hire someone to do everything, and as mentioned those that are hired don't do a good job, or it takes forever.   

[Ranger99]

Well I guess showing up
at 9:30AM is the new normal
( if you show up at all)
I'd be much less than happy
if I were having to pay for the
"work " they've done. I really
wasn't expecting them to show
up at all and just leave a mess
like the other crew did a year ago

Just me-  I've always subscribed to
the Cool Hand Luke tarring-a-road
principal of doing a job. Get in ASAP,
bust your butt, and get it done, and
you have the rest of the day.
Like Dragline asked " what do we do
now? . . ."  Nuthin . . . .

[JeffG]

People keep complaining about being short staffed. How the heck are people paying their bills? I know when we were running full bore around here, and I had a full time income, (I'm retired now)  there was never enough money. Kids, cars, cable TV, the works.... how are some of these people living. I can't imagine having one of the "options" being not working!

I do think we are seeing a loss of staff in retail and fast food/resturant at both ends of the spectrum. Whereas before the great virus, if you were having a problem with a new employee, or there needed to have a decision made, an experienced manager would step in and straighten things out... there is no experienced manager in many cases. It seems everyone has less than a year on the job.

 Leaving your business for the weekend with a bunch of high school kids is never a good decision. Gas stations, McDonald's, Subway, Chipoltle to name a few. By Sunday afternoon,the trash cans are full, the bathrooms are a mess, none of the tables get wiped down, and the counter people are confused or half asleep. (I didn't say stoned. ) And the owners are nowhere to be found.

So no, I don't get it.

[DDZ]

I think what a lot of people are doing now is just going into debt. Personal debt in this country just rose another 350 billion to 16.5 trillion. Credit card debt alone rose 13% in a year, that is pushing a trillion dollars. They say the average debt per American is 96,000.  Why wake up to an alarm clock when you can just buy everything on a credit card? 

[Ranger99]

Yeah
Dang so-called tree trimmers came
back and dabbled a bit more and
finally started cleaning at their mess
I say cleaning at, because they did a
very poor job of it. I went out a bit earlier
and ended up with a walmart plastic
sack bulging with their trash they threw
down carelessly. Water bottles, food
papers, candy wrappers, starbutts coffee
drink containers, paper towels, etc.
Probably should have brought 2 sacks,
but I didn't expect so much slobbery.
That's just the side alley and street
frontage. I'll have to do the backyard
clean up tomorrow or the next decent
day. A good many twigs and stubs
and what would be some burnable
firewood if it wasn't junk wood.
Maybe some of the hoodrats will
pick up the larger pieces after I
get everything out front, and
hopefully they'll try to burn that
in their fireplaces instead of
paper and cardboard.

It's always something.  . . .

[Mule 11]

Last couple of years ( or more)
I've been noticing that you can't
get any work done by a repair
service or tradesmen.
I've had the roofers out either 2
or 3 times during 2022, a plumber,
and something else I can't recollect
at the moment.
None seem to want to show up
before close to 10AM or thereabouts,
they take their hour and a half for
the midday break, then are ready to
leave starting around 3PM.
Not because of other jobs or something
like that because I've checked.
And a good many tradesmen will
set an average job to the side in favor
of a higher priced job even if it
was ahead in line.
Today and this last week there's
been tree trimmers around the area
trimming back limbs that will
possibly interfere with the utility
lines. Yeah, they did cut limbs
and left a terrible blankety blanking
mess throughout the neighborhood
( as if it's not a bfm already from
the various hoodrats and section 8's)

The last decent job I had, there
was ( 1 in particular) a naturalized
citizen ( from Laos ?) that was one of
the hardest working smartest
knowledgeable honest automotive
senior master certified technicians
I've ever seen. Proud American.
Had a mild argument with some
border jumpers from another part
of the service department one time
and was telling them to quit speaking
spanish since they were in America
now, and ridiculed them for not being
grateful to be in America and not trying
to assimilate any better than they had,
etc. etc.
It's a shame to see so much
half a$$ing of everything these
days. People do just enough to
get by and don't take any pride in
doing an exemplary job at whatever
they may do.
No professionalism at all anymore

To be honest. Or a dik. Don’t really care how folks take it. Mebbe some should be able to do their own dirty work because the trade workers don’t need them... I do my own roofing, siding, framing, concrete work, gutter and siding work, painting, plastering and a plethora of other jobs that nowadays ya neeed a “specialist for” in the past builders did every dirty job, now we have career 1 field “specialists”

[Dixie-Dude]

I have relatives who's kids are 30+ and are still at home.  My youngest is 30, owns a home, has 2 kids, a truck and a car.  He never got a college degree.  Have a niece, who is around the same age, spent $80,000+ in a liberal arts school getting an English degree.  Still at home, and is looking for a job. Another semester or two, she could be an English teacher. 

[moamonkey]

Have to say, the last guys that took trees out of my yard were real workers. Two guys hopped out of the vehicle before it was parked and started dropping trees. Once the vehicles were parked, more guys jumped on cleanup. They knew their jobs and got right to them, cleaned up and were gone in no time. I really appreciated them.

[Lloyd Smale]

 my nieces husband fits right in there. He took on an addition and 3 decks for me. hes been a contractor for 25 years and his employees are sons and cousins so he has the same work force today he had 5 years ago so no labor shortage excuse. He took on that job for me and said one week two weeks max. 3 months later i blew a cork and got him and my niece together and told them. If the job wasnt done in a week i was keeping all his power tools left on site and that they were locked up and hed have to bring more tools. He thought i was joking and showed up with one guy and asked to use his tools. I laughed and shut the door in his face. The next day he had 8 people there and in two days was done. Then he had the balls when it was all done to tell me costs were higher then he quoted and wanted another 2k. I laughed at him and shut the door again. We still dont talk but i never cared for either one of them anyway. They have always been money grubbing people that would screw anyone for  a dollar. Funny thing is my older sister warned me before i hired him. Her daughter got screwed by him too but it was tough to find someone at that time and i thought a relative wouldnt screw me. Got a good life lesson there. Had to laugh at the 10 to 3 thing. That was a good day for that crew. Most times they would start at 10 and go to lunch at noon and start drinking and never came back. Its no wonder they had to screw people to make a living.