LLPOH: Follow-up to a Rant

Yesterday I ranted about how I am sick and tired of the pain I go through in order to maintain my small business. Specifically, I was screaming about how my life is made hell by a never-ending series of bad employees, that think I owe them a living and that they owe me nothing for the $85,000 per year it costs me to employ them. One dear poster advised me to “just fire them all and do all the work myself”. That is a great answer, which shows a complete lack of understanding of what running a small business is about. Not that I haven’t considered it, mind you.

In general figures, I employ approximately 100 persons, and these can be roughly categorized as follows:
– 10 employees are absolutely top-notch. I pay and treat them accordingly. I am not one who buys into the “treat everyone the same” bullshit. These folks are outstanding, and I treat them accordingly. Often, other employees come to me wanting something, and when denied, they say “But you let so-and-so do such-and-such”. I am very straightforward when that occurs – I simply respond that when they do as good a job as so-and-so they too will get special privileges. That tends to shut them up.

– About 70 employees are acceptable. They do not cause me too much headache, they generally come to work, they need not too much supervision, etc. However, the job isn’t near the top of their priority list. They are more concerned about other things. Very rarely do they ever move up to the next level – almost never, in fact. However, they do often move down.

– About 20 employees are unacceptable to the business, and I have to work continuously to weed them out. It is hard work to do so, and it requires a lot of skill and experience and dedication to accomplish. Most of the weeding out falls to me as a result. Failure to weed out these twenty on a continuing basis would see my company collapse in very short order.

These bottom twenty are the source of perhaps half the grief in my life. Customers account for perhaps 25%, and the government accounts for the balance. What makes these 20 bad employees? To me, a bad employee is one that does not do his/her job, misses a lot of work, disrupts the workforce, requires and inordinate amount of supervision, refuses or attempts to refuse work-orders, hinders training efforts, works slowly, wastes time, etc.

The reasons that people are bad employees are many, and include the following: drug addiction, alcoholism, criminal activity, gambling problems, problems with their spouses/partners, problems with their children (misbehaviour at school, crimes, attention deficit disorders, etc.), weight and health problems, smoking addictions, outside activities taking precedence over work, heavy indebtedness, problems with sick parents, car problems, general laziness, feelings of being mistreated/unfairly treated/ poorly paid, stealing from me (both goods and time), depression, aggression, false claims of injury/discrimination, attempted suicide (occasionally successful suicide, unfortunately), grandiose sense of entitlement, etc. etc. etc. I see and have to deal with all of these reasons regularly, and by regularly I mean daily. Unfortunately, many of the acceptable employees slide into the unacceptable category over time, for any one of the reasons above.

When I am hiring, in general I need to hire 4 or 5 employees to get one that makes it into the acceptable category. I never seek to hire someone that fits into the top, outstanding category. That is a fool’s errand. Of these 4 or 5, the majority self-select out pretty quickly when they realize that they will actually be required to work. That is not on their agenda. Please keep in mind that all of my employees have the opportunity to make more than the average wage, and can make upwards of $55,000 per year if they are even marginally dedicated. Of these 4 or 5, one or two will require a push out the door, which isn’t too hard to accomplish nor too painful, as it occurs before they are entrenched into the business. And so in the end I am left with one employee that that is acceptable. Hopefully that one will not eventually become an unacceptable employee, but it happens.

Once the employee is entrenched in the business, and falls prey to any of the reasons/situations that result in him/her becoming an unacceptable employee, my job becomes infinitely harder. Managing through those situations is difficult. The best result is to get them back to an acceptable level, as they are trained and able to do the job required, but simply are not doing so. To lose them means going back to that revolving door of hiring 5 to get one, and the costs associated with that are substantial. Additionally, on a human level, trying to salvage the situation is the right thing to do. Some of them I am able to move back up, but a great many I am not. This process largely falls to me, as it requires a significant skill and experience base. The additional fact is that most people simply are unable to confront this range of issues, nor are they prepared to terminate an employee. It is a difficult thing, I assure you.

So, this, in a nutshell, is what I face each day with respect to dealing with my employees. It is never-ending. I have been doing it for over 30 years now, and I am growing weary.

But compounding this are other major issues involved in running a small business.
– The government adds to the burden daily, via an endless stream of red tape, OHSA regulation, Obamacare, etc.

– My customers look continuously for me to drop prices and improve quality of product and service, and take a very short-term view of the world. I lose business to China/Thailand/India et al in a slow but steady trickle.

– I have a cost base of around $85,000 per employee, while my overseas competition has a base of perhaps $5,000 to $10,000 per employee. Just think about that – the labor I use costs almost 20 times as much as that of some of my direct competitors.

– The skill base required to run a successful small business is huge. To run a small business requires a depth and breadth of skill rarely found. A lot of the need for this skill base comes from government mandate, but customers push a lot of it onto the business as well. For instance, how many people reading this have ever set up an accredited quality system? A quality system is extremely difficult to establish and is very expensive to maintain, and generates no return whatsoever save to appease the customer. Other skills required to run a small business include production planning, purchasing, accounting and financial skills, human resource skills, marketing and sales skills, engineering skills, maintenance skills, debt collecting skills, etc.

– Further, the personal risk absorbed by small business owners is substantial. Not only do business owners, in general, risk all of their worldly possessions by establishing a business, they also assume liability for the actions (read possible stupidity) of their employees. What if a driver that works for the company gets drunk and runs over someone while out on a run? What if an employee disables a safety guard because it annoys him, and someone is injured or killed? Who is ultimately responsible for those actions? The business owner.

Although I have rambled on a bit, I want to quickly point out an industry that is suffering mightily due to the pressures of running a business. That industry is doctors in private practice. Doctors spend a large portion of their lives gaining medical skills. In order to run a small practice, they also need to possess the skills described above, and to also be able to navigate the insurance/Medicare/Medicaid/Obamacare system and still turn a profit. Just when and how are they supposed to obtain these skills, given their dedication to the medical profession? Is it any wonder that private practices are disappearing in large numbers, with large numbers of doctors going bankrupt. Spare a thought for those many doctors that visit this site, as their burden is both extreme and unfair. As is that of small business people everywhere.

But back to the question of why do I not just fire everyone and do it myself? To do so would be to eliminate the livelihoods of 100 people, plus there is the flow on effect it would have throughout the community. Perhaps several hundred families would be affected, as the jobs would flow overseas, for sure and certain. That is a decision I am loathe taking, despite being mightily dismayed and unhappy with a lot of my day-to-day work-life. Also, it has been my life’s work to create and build things, and it would be gut-wrenching to walk away.

The day is coming that my business will end, I am afraid, and we are slowly winding it down in response to various pressures. For instance, as customers take profitable goods from us to build them overseas instead, we also then choose to stop making less-profitable goods in order to keep margins in balance. We are managing our products so as to maintain profitability while slowly shrinking the business. However, each day brings a new governmental or customer-generated challenge. We will continue on, but for how long is the question. I guess things will come to a head within the next 5 years. I hope it may be different. But I do not expect it to be. I wonder who will be left to turn out the lights when all small business is gone.

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Hollow man
Hollow man

Thumb ring no problem.

Reverse Engineer

“. If I recall correctly, you are a truck driver.”-Zara

Your memory works about as well as the rest of your brain. I’m a teacher. Private school, not public education.

RE

jmarz
jmarz

LLPOH

Dude, what a great piece! I agree with Muck. You need to start saving these posts as a word document and compile them together then send them to ME to use as a future reference. Haha No seriously.

I am not a business owner and will be one day but I can relate to a lot of your remarks and other TBP member comments. In college, I worked full time for my father’s small business and helped him grow it while I finished school. Essentially, I was an owner without legal ownership since I was heavily involved in the operation and day to day decision making. Even though I didn’t receive profit distribution, I made pretty damn good money on the sales side for a college kid. Customers weren’t handed to me. These were new customers I found and built relationships with so the experience I gained throughout this process was awesome. Stashed away most of the money I made during that time on gold, silver, and mining equities. I wasn’t your typical college kid but now I look back and feel blessed I saw the big picture at that age and executed. It has paid me dividends. Most of my friends today are broke, in debt, or jobless. Most of them didn’t work during college and partied like a rock star. Although my dad’s business was a very small business with 5 employees max, I had my hands on everything. The knowledge and experience I gained while helping my dad grow his business in those 5 years was priceless. I continue to thank my dad for giving me the opportunity to work for him for those 5 years in college.

I can relate to you on the fact that I enjoy building things. Primarily, what gets me going is growing businesses. The past couple years I have been working for a few manufacturing companies so I am starting to understand how challenging the manufacturing business truly is. Although I’m not involved on the production side (I’m in outside sales), I’m still fascinated so I typically pick the brain of our production and plant managers who have extensive experience. The more technical knowledge I have, the better value I can provide to my customer. I’m constantly trying to develop professionally so I tend to absorb as much information as possible in the business world. Based on the posts you have made here for some time now, you are certainly the owner an ambitious, driven employee would like to work for. Not to mention, you pay your great employees well since you understand they are a rarity. Based on what I’ve seen, it is important small businesses pay their great employees well since most of the big corporations that serve as competition will bring them in if you don’t. After the first year I started working for the manufacturing companies I’m employed by, I had a vendor with a large corporation offer me a position in sales. I would have had some great territories and pay would have been good. I never mentioned this to my boss since it would have tarnished the relationship with his vendor and would have ruined the relationship I had with the vendor. Most people would have used that to demand more pay from their employer but I felt like my employer was really taking good care of me. If my current employer wasn’t taking good care of me, I would have taken the offer. My situation is unusual since my employer knows I want to start a business one day but I think they are just hoping I’ll change my mind since they want me to manage one of their companies in the future after I gain more knowledge in the industry and biz.

Another key aspect I’m recognizing is that it is important the owner and management develop a strong team that embraces each specialized skill they can bring to the table. The do it on you own approach can only take you so far. When I moved to Texas after I finished school, I told my dad that he will never be able to see the true potential of his business until he eliminates this “Do it on your own” mentality.

Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to post this. For a striving to be entrepreneur, your posts are valuable. I’m in no rush to start a biz since most of the frustrations you have pointed out are just not appealing to me right now. I’m going to continue to learn, grow, and make money and when the environment and time is right to take the plunge, I will be equipped. For now, I’ll let my employer take most of the risk of running a small business in this environment and I’ll make the best of the experience and money. If you ever come to Texas for a business trip, let me know. Love to meet up for drinks. Drinks on me!

Zarathustra

“I’m a teacher. Private school, not public education.

RE”

Well excuse me. Thanks for longwinded boring teachers such as yourself, I became adept at doodling. Thank you.

Reverse Engineer

“Thanks for longwinded boring teachers such as yourself, I became adept at doodling. ”

We’re even. Short attention span loser students like you is why I quit teaching in the Public Schools.

RE

Llpoh
Llpoh

Damn, what great comments y’all. Will get responses coming shortly.

Howard – hijack away. I thought your rant was classic and long overdue.

Administrator

Zara

RE can also count to 7 million.

efarmer

RE,

Had some time to kill, so went to your website for the first time. I see I was the first one there this month.

Still, it didn’t such too bad.

EF

llpoh
llpoh

First, let me address the Admin’s dig at me re the guy with the thumb ring. I have literally employed thousands of people in my career. The Admin has probably employed, what, two accounting clerks and a big-titted receptionist in his time. And this is what I have found – if it looks like a pussy, smells like a pussy, and walks like a pussy, it is a cat. The kid with the thumb ring looks like a pussy. My experience is that people with such affectations are soft – and soft people don’t tend to work for me very long. That said, I would probably give him a chance if he uttered the magic words in the interview “I will work hard and come to work every day”. anyone who doesn’t say that in an interview – be it for Mcdonalds or for CEO of IBM is an idiot. Whether he survived or not then would be up to him. I do not pay factory workers based on how they look but rather on how they work.

RE says he won’t/wouldn’t work for someone “who doesn’t show proper respect”. Whatever the fuck that is. I suspect he means he wants his ass kissed every day before he starts work. Not gonna happen in my plant. However, what he would get is left the fuck alone so long as he does his job well. Not going to get attaboys, not gonna get high-fives – he would get left the fuck alone to do his job, and he would get my assurance that no one would fuck with him at work, at all, ever. If that isn’t good enough, they can take it down the road, because I have 100 employees and I do not have time to be their kindergarden teacher handing out gold stars every time they fingerpaint.

Hollowman is right – a lot of folks, esp. the young, are only interested in having fun, and the job comes second to everything else. But they sure do want the money. The just want it for free.

Zara – gotta disagree with you. Good people, especiallly good managers and salesmen, but it applies to virtually any good worker, can work anywhere. There is no sort of manufactuing facility I could not run, in my opinion.

Indentured Servant – you are right and have prompted an idea for a follow-up article (everyone say Hallelujah!). Bad employees screw things up for everyone. If they are allowed to keep their jobs, or not change their ways, they will kill the whole organization. They are the proverbial bad apple.

Novista – another example that good folks can do just about anything. As IS and you say, money isn’t a motivator in the long run especially. I believe anyone that accepts a job is obliged to give their best efforts so long as they are accepting the money. If they think there is a disaprity between their pay and the job, they should move on, not reduce their efforts. It is the right thing to do.

Flash – nice passion. Beyond my pay grade to know really what wil work.
Zara – nice torching.

Jmarz – you are indeed a wise young man. It was smart not to leverage your job offer unless you were certain you would be leaving the current job shortly even with the raise. Such leveraging always leads to job loss within 12 months, in my opinion. It spoils the relationship on both sides. If you want a raise, negotiate it based on what you are doing and have done and the value to the business. Leave everything else out of it. If you do that, then no matter how the chips fall, you can maintain the relationship in a positive manerr. But leveraging is the kiss of death. Keep growing – you are doing great.

Howard – I hope it doesn’t come to losing you from medicine. What a clusterfuck.

Administrator

FU

I was managing a staff of 8 when I was 25 years old. And I had to fire two 60 year old women.

I currently have 20 people working for me. I’ve fired 6 people in the last two years.

llpoh
llpoh

I know none of the ones you fired was the big-titted secretary. (Weren’t you afraid of discrimination claim by firing 2 60 year old women? Although 25 years ago it was probably safer.) (Plus I was talking about hires not fires.)

But I seriously have no doubt you would have the fortitude to manage people, which includes hiring and firing. Anyone can hire. What most cannot do is fix their mistakes by firing someone.

Hey, you started it!

Admin disciplining his secretary:

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Administrator

llpoh

You are showing your age. I’ve never had a secretary in my life. Plus, they haven’t called them secretaries since the 1980s.

Reagan was still President when I fired those two worthless old hags. Age discrimination wasn’t even a known concept.

Stucky

jmarz

First, nice post. I enjoyed reading about your dreams.

In one sense you amaze me. After reading Horror Stories by Edgar Allen llPOH … you SILL want to be a business owner?? Wow.

Is this you?
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Stucky

Secretary disciplining Admin
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Administrator

Stuck

I wish I had that head of hair.

MuckAbout

RE, do not prevaricate. You were a truck driver for a number of years or all those old posts were total flycrap. You teach now up in iceland.

My memory is not even close to yours in capacity or accuracy but there’s a limit..

If I were still doing my thing for Corporate America, I’d hire you in a minute and be sure, in advance, that I’d suffer for it but it’d be worth it.

Back in the day, I was managing an Island out in the Pacific – part of the Pacific Missile Range – and hired an electrician after a telephone interview. He showed up in due time (you had to fly military 2400 miles West of Hawaii to just get to this island) and told me that they wouldn’t allow his wife to board the C-141 for the trip. He knew full well when hired that it was an unaccompanied position and his wife was not going to be able to come. Next day, on a commercial Air Micronesia flight guess who showed up.. His wife….

Shit hit the fan with the Army (who manages the missile range) and they both had one more night on that island (in the brig) and both were escorted by MP’s out to the next Air Micronesia flight back to Honolulu the next morning with both of them screaming about suing everyone in sight.

As far as I know, they ended up in Honolulu broke and lonesome..

Dummies.

I’d still rather hire and fire myself in an open shop than manage a union shop. That’s a fate worth than death and I done that too.

MA

llpoh
llpoh

Muck – a union shop would be untenable. Currently I am able to reward employees based on performance, and I am able to manage and deal with employees on a case by case basis. all of that would disappear in a union shop. There have been many attempts to organize my plant, but my employees, so far, have had no interest whatsoever.

flash
flash

Llpoh..
I was waiting for you to weigh in on admin’s questionable hire.
FWIW , I wouldn’t hire him for two reasons…he smokes and his hands are too soft for a twenty something male.

Administrator

flash

He’s a thinker, plus he made the Dean’s List in Women’s Studies.

flash
flash

Congratz Stuck.. you almost out did yourself with pic as nasty as the bugling hemorrhoid .
…unless of course that’s you and Ms Freud , then it’s “you two sure look great.”

Stucky

flash

Nah. My hair isn’t that long and “Ms Freud” is way too tall. Also, I can’t tell if she’s spanking him, or pulling a watermelon out of his ass.

BTW … there’s a pretty nasty ass picture in the “What Wall Street Thinks of You” thread.

Reverse Engineer

“RE, do not prevaricate. You were a truck driver for a number of years or all those old posts were total flycrap. You teach now up in iceland. “-MA

I WAS a Trucker. Zara claimed I AM a Trucker. Is there something about understanding the difference between the Present and Past Tenses that becomes difficult with Alzheimers?

BTW, I just wrote an article “Simple Kind of Man” laying the enitre blame for the corrupt and sick society we live in on the Silent Generation. I’m sure you will enjoy it. 🙂

http://www.doomsteaddiner.org/blog/2012/03/21/simple-kind-of-man/

RE

llpoh
llpoh

Admin – I figured as much on both counts – hell, I do not have a secretary. Those days are gone. But it is a nice photo, don’t you think?

Administrator

llpoh

It was 75 degrees on campus the last few days. Think back to your college days on 75 degree days. Multiply that photo by 100.

llpoh
llpoh

My answer to Admin’s photo of thumb-ring guy:

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llpoh
llpoh

Admin – wheer I went to school the co-eds looked like fucking beached whales. No joke. The college dining hall was named Thayer. After a couple of months they all had what was universally known as a Thayer-layer.

It has made the Urban Dictionary : http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=thayer%20layer

Administrator

llpoh

I’m sorry to hear that. Bad Boy Ben is still enjoying the sights today.

llpoh
llpoh

Actually it was a godsend – we used to just get drunk all of the time instead of being snatch hounds. The Hoffman rule was always in effect (which states one time in a hundred that you try you would get laid, but 100 times in a hundred when you tried you would get drunk). We always went for the sure thing.

Except this one guy I knew who would just walk up and ask a girl if she wanted to screw. Time after time he did this, and time after time he would get slapped. Sometimes they would slap crap clean out of him. But he was not deterred. Eventually he would find a taker. He cared not about looks, tho. All was fair game.

And another guy followed the rule “go ugly early”. He had a pretty good strike rate, but not perfect. Sometimes he would spend hours talking to a butt-ugly girl and then get nada. Hoffman rule was better all-in-all.

MuckAbout

Oh man! That picture above reminds me of a four story building on the small barrier island off Recife, Brazil (the island was where the big ships tied up and was connected to the mainland by a bridge).

I was working on a Tracking Ship on the Eastern Test Range at the time (USAS American Mariner – otherwise known as the American Millionaire).

The building was fondly known as “Three Floors of Whores” and was a popular first stop after being at sea out by Ascension Island for 30 days. Served great ice cold Brazilian beer — among other things.

Why “Three Floors of Whores” when it was four stories? In Brazil, the ground floor is almost always used as parking area and the first floor is our second floor.

Sure did like that beer!

MA

MuckAbout

SHUT UP THAT FUCKING AD>>>>>>>

Administrator

I just killed the talking ad.

flash
flash

Ahhh..to be young , in debt , unemployed and in possession of a very costly but worthless degree…you earned it ,baby. .
Served up on a plastic platter by the thug infested Federal government as easy marks for predatory lenders i.e. campaign financiers.

Debt and buried: US students slaves to their loans
http://www.rt.com/news/debt-student-loan-gray-737/

The image of 23-year-old Stef Gray tells of the widespread debt epidemic among college graduates, desperate to find work.

“Right now, I can’t even get a job cleaning toilets for minimum wage. I’ve tried a local motel, there’s nothing,” she told RT. “I’m just begging for any sort of work. Walking around, applying to Starbucks, McDonald’s, like I did when I was 17. And it makes me think: ‘Wow, why did I even go to college if this is what it’s ending up with?’”

Armed with a Master’s degree in geography and US$130,000 in student debt, Gray collects $200 in monthly food stamps and sells text books on eBay to make extra cash.

“I’m approximately two months behind on my rent. I have no idea how to catch up,” she continues. “I lie awake at night completely freaking out about this. I’m frightened about being evicted.”

But no matter how much she loses, she is obligated to keep paying back her private loan to Sallie Mae, America’s largest private lender.

“I took out $40,000 in loans and I’m already owing $65,000, and I’ve just graduated a couple of months ago,” Stef added. “Twenty-five thousand dollars in interest came out of nowhere.”

jmarz
jmarz

Stuck

Haha LLPOH calls it like it is and I like people that are honest. He has pointed out some really interesting costs and risks that only a business owner can understand. From a macro-economic perspective, it is incredibly risky to start a business right now even if you have the capital and have identified the niche. Hopefully, in about 5 years, government will be smaller, taxes will be lower, and the Fed will be abolished but at the rate we are going it will be the opposite. I don’t know if I can hold out 5 years before taking the plunge but we will see what happens. If I was single, I would pack my bags and move to Mongolia and start a business. For a young, sharp businessman, Mongolia could be a home-run in 5 years. Not to mention, you could raise money fairly easily from investors, if needed. I’m married so this isn’t an option.

I truly believe we all have our calling in life. Trying to figure out the gift we have been given and how to best use it is the hard part. I think I’m beginning to realize it is business. I’m still young so I may be wrong but there is an interest I have for business that can’t be controlled; a focus and drive that is scary.

Flash

It is sad that my generation is getting fucked in the ass. I don’t like to bitch and moan but it really sucks. The average college grad is strapped with debt and no job. My friends are either unemployed or working jobs that blow. A few lucky ones have good jobs but they are engineers. What absolutely amazes me is how the government tries to act like the employment picture is getting better. I believe in the past couple years, universities have seen very high enrollment since our government has been encouraging more college debt. What is going to happen to these students when they graduate and enter the job market? They will most likely live with their parents until they find a job and will be a slave to the debt for the rest of their lives. Our government has fucked everything up and we will have to deal with it one of these days.

flash
flash

jmarz
The myth has and is forever been that a college degree indicates one has been thoroughly educated ,but if that where the case Ron Paul would be a shoo-in.
Instead whats been created are document mills designed by financiers to milk young muppets of what little cash they can squeeze out of a depressed economy, also created by the same financiers ass raping the kids.

TeresaE
TeresaE

It sickens me to no end that we “graduate” master-level students that do not understand the basic tenants of compound interest and contracts. Things that should be taught at the junior high level, especially in light of evidence that the entire country signs shit without understanding more than two phrases in their ten page legal documents. Sickens me. They call it education. I call it theft.

llpoh, I love reading your rants, it takes me back to larger companies where I was blessed to face the same type of days.

And it doesn’t matter the industry, I’ve seen it with techs, engineers, general assembly, controllers, assistants, clerks, salesmen and the like. The percentages play out across all industries and education levels.

One of the best things about the forced downsizing has been the side-blessing of losing our pain in the ass employees. The two we have left are the top of the heap when it comes to work ethics, attitude, company property and the like. We are truly blessed which is why we haven’t shut down machining and turned into a warehouse for imported (with a sprinkling of USA) made parts.

We are right at the point where we might need to add another employee. Though I want to grow, the thought of the bullshit leads me wishing we wouldn’t.

When I was in sales, one of my first managers warned me about customers that make you jump through hoops to get the sale. These were invariably the same customers that you lost your ass on as their issues were always a fire. Hiring employees is the same exact thing.

It always amazed me when the only questions, or statements, an applicant could come up with were about hours, benefits and time off. They could not care less about even pretending to be interested in the business. If they show that side at interview, you can bet that you will be dealing with them through employment.

Keep them coming llpoh, it is refreshing to see somebody fighting the good fight and telling the truth about our national delusion of us all being hard working, ethical, moral evangelicals.

llpoh
llpoh

Teresa- I was hoping you would weigh in. Always good to read your posts. Realism is so refreshing. Business folks do not have time for what ifs whenn the what is’s are choking them to death.

Yep – the delusion of hard-working America must end, as it simply is preventing us from seeing the real problems. The problems we have are everywhere, the enemy is us, and self-congratulatory belief we are collectively doing good jobs is killing us.

AWD is right – take a look at us collectively. Do we look like hard-working people? Hell no. We look like a bunch of fat, lazy asses – which is pretty close to the truth. TBP members excepted.

Reverse Engineer

Teresa and LLPOH

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RE

llpoh
llpoh

RE is still an ignorant ass. Some things never change.

Colma Rising
Colma Rising

llpoh:

I had to comment real quick, now that I have time.

Check out the awesome additions to my thumb ring! I got them with my latest student loan disbursement!

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That shit’s DOPE.

You should see them with the arc-welder…. fabulous…

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OSHA may not like it but it’s better than a shot of espresso!

Llpoh
Llpoh

Colma – google up some photos of some welding accidents and other accidents associated with wearing rings. Lots of rings = bad idea.

Colma Rising
Colma Rising

That’s what I was getting at…

A friend’s wife was nagging him that he JUST HAS to wear the wedding ring, blah blah…

Ring+Arc welding= Zapzapzap

Llpoh
Llpoh

Colma – yep. My dad arced out a metal watch and once. For the rest of his life he wore leather only. He learned quick.

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