COUNT DOWN

DerStrom8

Joined Feb 20, 2011
2,390
Damn I thought you where the boss...
Heh, I have often considered going into business for myself, whether it be starting my own company or being a contractor, but never had the know-how. I enjoy my job though, even though I do occasionally have someone breathing down my neck.
 

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
No matter how high you go, there is always someone that gives you pressure. Even CEOs have share holders to worry about and owners of businesses have customers.
I have a young guy (welder) working for me, just turned 20. He's sharper than your average welder but he has authority issues. I've found the ways to direct him that work best, but it took some time to figure that out.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a procedure for a team operation, and to test the effectiveness of the operation, we pulled some girls from the office and handed them the procedure and had them go operate some machinery as part of the team. The role i assigned to the welder was "low man on the totem pole" of the team. In accordance with the procedure, one of the girls gave the welder a command to start up a gas-powered water pump, and he held up the evolution by refusing the command with a reply of "I ain't nobody's bitch." I pulled him to the side and said "look, bro: you are somebody's bitch, and you're always going to be. It's just part of life, and you need to learn to accept it. If you're part of society, you're always going to have someone telling you what to do, whether it be your boss, your landlord, the police, a homeowner's association, whatever. I don't like being told what to do either, and that's why I used to run my own business, but guess what: even then, i had people telling me what to do; if anything, it was worse. Even the president answers to other people. The only people who answer to nobody are the homeless who live under the bridge. Is that where you want to spend the rest of your days?"

That little nugget of wisdom seemed to irritate him even more; not sure if it bounced around in his head and fell out, or if it settled somewhere in the back. But he did go start the pump after that, and spent the rest of the day pouting. Next day he was fine and i haven't had any more problems out of him lately.
 
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