OkiePC
Lifetime Supporting Member
It's not their fault, but there is no comparison between the work ethic of the younger generation or two and ours. It's not their fault that free range parenting has gone out of style. It's not their fault they can't be sent outside to find something to do on their own as toddlers...
It's not their fault that when they were kids, you couldn't just band together a group of eight year olds with hand saws and hammers and have them run off to go build a tree house on some random property with scraps they literally stole from a nearby home construction site on a Saturday morning. When was the last time you saw a gang of pre-teens walking down the street carrying lumber and hand tools, completely ignored by all the adults?
It ain't their fault they can't tell a box end wrench from a pair of pliers by the age of six. It ain't their fault that mandatory knowledge no longer includes changing bike tubes, building fort furniture and bike ramps, doing wheelies on your Huffy for 3 blocks. It ain't their fault we have more than 3 channels on TV and less than five daily hours of dirty, heart pounding, bloody, sweaty laughter and tears.
No the kids can't come close to comprehending the lifestyle that made us what we are, but they're not to blame. And it wasn't some small number...more than 90 percent of the kids I grew up with played hard all day every single day outside, running amok, with their minds and their hands turning and churning non-stop. Everybody was out there. And at least half of us had shop class in grade school or junior high at the latest.
This might hurt some feelings but it is reality. This was before home box office, when the only handheld 'lectric game was Coleco electronic quaterback, and before childhood obesity was a "thing". We were too darn busy to get fat. We were too hyperactive to get addicted to staring at any single gadget. It isn't fair to expect modern young adults to be able to work half as hard as us 50-somethings.
As for your value in the workplace...In the maintenance field, you will always be nothing more than a necessary evil. You contribute nothing unless something is broken. It's your fault that it broke down, and it is your fault that it is taking you too long to get it running again. I know that is not the truth, but that is how it will always be viewed. Good maintenance is really much more than waiting for things to break, but even your precious p.m. program is money “they” feel is wasted. Life's not fair. Deal with it.
If you want to be paid what you're worth, work harder than everyone else in your entire company. All day, every day, work harder than everyone else around you. And by work harder, I really mean be more productive. Be more creative. Make the biggest dent in the numbers that makes it easy for "them" to see your value. Apply for a new job every year whether or not you accept it. Don't make them think you aren't loyal, don't brag about it, just make sure the right "leaker" finds out you have "an appointment" and sees an envelope in your pocket with the word resume on it.
Ask for more money or other compensation after you let “them” know that you know --- what you're really worth. If they say no, or even “hell no”, what was it that you lost by pushing for more? A few minutes of your time, but you have raised the eyebrows of those who will see your ambition and either send you off to bigger and better things or capitalize on your aggression. But before all that, do an assessment of yourself. Judge yourself against the competition. Be brutally honest with yourself about what you are worth. Are you another dime among a dozen?
This older generations of mean and rough and tough old bastages will work circles around you whipper snappers for another decade or so then we're going to suddenly up and vanish. The next group of technicians will be smaller and therefore more valuable than we were per capita. So be ready to get paid. Get smarter, work harder and go get what's out there to be taken because the competition is really very weak.
I could rant on for another half hour, but I have to sleep four hours so I can work sixteen tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that.
pIeAcE!
It's not their fault that when they were kids, you couldn't just band together a group of eight year olds with hand saws and hammers and have them run off to go build a tree house on some random property with scraps they literally stole from a nearby home construction site on a Saturday morning. When was the last time you saw a gang of pre-teens walking down the street carrying lumber and hand tools, completely ignored by all the adults?
It ain't their fault they can't tell a box end wrench from a pair of pliers by the age of six. It ain't their fault that mandatory knowledge no longer includes changing bike tubes, building fort furniture and bike ramps, doing wheelies on your Huffy for 3 blocks. It ain't their fault we have more than 3 channels on TV and less than five daily hours of dirty, heart pounding, bloody, sweaty laughter and tears.
No the kids can't come close to comprehending the lifestyle that made us what we are, but they're not to blame. And it wasn't some small number...more than 90 percent of the kids I grew up with played hard all day every single day outside, running amok, with their minds and their hands turning and churning non-stop. Everybody was out there. And at least half of us had shop class in grade school or junior high at the latest.
This might hurt some feelings but it is reality. This was before home box office, when the only handheld 'lectric game was Coleco electronic quaterback, and before childhood obesity was a "thing". We were too darn busy to get fat. We were too hyperactive to get addicted to staring at any single gadget. It isn't fair to expect modern young adults to be able to work half as hard as us 50-somethings.
As for your value in the workplace...In the maintenance field, you will always be nothing more than a necessary evil. You contribute nothing unless something is broken. It's your fault that it broke down, and it is your fault that it is taking you too long to get it running again. I know that is not the truth, but that is how it will always be viewed. Good maintenance is really much more than waiting for things to break, but even your precious p.m. program is money “they” feel is wasted. Life's not fair. Deal with it.
If you want to be paid what you're worth, work harder than everyone else in your entire company. All day, every day, work harder than everyone else around you. And by work harder, I really mean be more productive. Be more creative. Make the biggest dent in the numbers that makes it easy for "them" to see your value. Apply for a new job every year whether or not you accept it. Don't make them think you aren't loyal, don't brag about it, just make sure the right "leaker" finds out you have "an appointment" and sees an envelope in your pocket with the word resume on it.
Ask for more money or other compensation after you let “them” know that you know --- what you're really worth. If they say no, or even “hell no”, what was it that you lost by pushing for more? A few minutes of your time, but you have raised the eyebrows of those who will see your ambition and either send you off to bigger and better things or capitalize on your aggression. But before all that, do an assessment of yourself. Judge yourself against the competition. Be brutally honest with yourself about what you are worth. Are you another dime among a dozen?
This older generations of mean and rough and tough old bastages will work circles around you whipper snappers for another decade or so then we're going to suddenly up and vanish. The next group of technicians will be smaller and therefore more valuable than we were per capita. So be ready to get paid. Get smarter, work harder and go get what's out there to be taken because the competition is really very weak.
I could rant on for another half hour, but I have to sleep four hours so I can work sixteen tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that.
pIeAcE!
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