stress caused by work

[andy volkerts]

Am already doing that, with mixed results I might add. Three of the four are getting it, and the grandchildren are already aware of how fuc--- up things are, the new generation is our only hope to try to undo what our generation and the ones before have messed up. I wont see it in my lifetime, but some of you younger members might see a start. All we have to do is reverse climate change before half the planets coastal areas are under water. Do away with all forms of greed (good luck with that one). Help our unfortunate brothers and sisters to have a better way of life. Tall orders, but they can be done. If it doesn't happen we can all bend over and kiss our collective ass-- goodbye....

 

[Bixby Bill]

I spent 30 years as a diesel, construction equipment, and small engine mechanic, mostly working for tractor or construction equipment dealers. The first place I worked after graduating from Diesel mechanics school was a large John Deere dealer, run by Mr. Pakulis who started it in 1949. It was the best place I`ve worked, but once he retired and his spoiled kid took over, treated people like third class citizens, and drove the co. into the ground and I got laid off, all my other places of employment have gradually gotten worse and worse. Last year I finally got married at 47 years young, moved into my wife`s old (1744) family farm, and quit my job to turn the place back into a working farm. As a mechanic I reached a point a couple years ago that I couldn`t even make ends meet, while all around me I`d see people on welfare capable of working and living better than me. Plus I was finding that my bosses and managers were younger than me, and they all had the mentality that they weren`t going to have an old guy tell them how to have their company make money or run it more efficiently.
The only way I`d really make money was to run my own business, but I didn`t love the work enough to make it into my life. Now my wife brings home a good paycheck, and I`m busy every day clearing land, rebuilding buildings, and working on getting a hydroponics set up going, and building greenhouses. I`m busier than I`ve ever been, but I`m also a lot healthier, in good shape, and the biggest thing is that I`m happy! Now I`m working for ourselves and our retirement. If you wake up in the morning and dread going to work, for any reason, it`s not worth it and it`s time to make a change. Now that I`m out of those places, I can see how I was going downhill with depression and my health gradually getting worse every year.
Now I`ve got a nice old house to do some digging around too!
Our goal is to eventually become self sufficient and grow all our own food and produce our own power. The country isn`t headed for any more happy times, and some day if you can`t survive with the skills you have, you might be in trouble.

 

[suzanne]

Rick, why do require so much supervision?

Bill, you are very lucky, you remind me of my neighbor, he is a mechanic not making ends meet too well also.

 

[OsiaBoyce]

Ya know that stuff is adjustable? I was a scaffold builder for many years, at first we had no safty equipment, then we had to start wearing those full body harness's w/ 100% tie off. Pis sed a lot of us, but ya know what? It was a damn good idea, falling 2 or 300 ft. would just suck.

Oh, and before I was a scaffold builder, I helped build hyperbolic cooling towers. That was 600' in the air on a 4' walkboard. Before that I was a lineman climbing poles. Something about doing something that could kill me just gave me a rush for many years. Nowdays I think I must have been outta my mind.

My mamma, friends and family thought I was nuts. Good thing I met Paula and got out of that stuff....................................wait a minute that's not the reason why.

 

[Uwharrie digger]

Suzanne, I think every job has its ups and downs. I have worked at 4 jobs,the last being a school teacher for the last 28 years. All of them have had their moments when you just want to say the heck with it. Teachers in NC not only face unruly kids, parents that give you no support. But now you have idiot politicians that took away tenure, won't pay you anymore for a masters level of education want to base your pay and whether you have a job on if your students pass the EOG test, They keep cutting positions and expect more and more out of you while not giving you a pay raise and are going to give vouchers which going to put school systems deeper in the hole. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, I got 180 days to go!

 

[suzanne]

Good for you! You are going to retire and not have to put up with punk-ass loser's anymore.

Dana used to run with the wrong crowd and hitch her horse to the wrong wagon. I can't tell you, how many time's I had to appear in court on her behalf. I said to her, "Look here, Dana, the guy's you hang with are going to wind up in the big house and the girls you hang out with are going to wind up pregnant. Final wisdom - when you sleep with dogs, Dana, you are going to get up with flea's. Dana did not listen. She thought the dog's she was hanging out were gold plated/special. My grandmother and I had to deal with Dana a lot, costing us sleep and peace of mind.

Now Dana is doing well in college and doesn't want me to buy her stuff because she want's to be independant. I just want to stop here and say, "Thank God"!
'

 

[suzanne]

Osia Boyce: Risk is relative. If 2 ironworker's fall off the steel on a 3 year job, that's just the way it is. If you wrap them up in a bunch of rope's and sling's, 4 ironworker's are going to die because their safety equipment prevented them from getting out of the way of an I-Beam in time. Safety people are pretty retarded but they finally figured that out. Some people that aren't too brilliant seem to get into the safety field because they then have the power to feel important by making construction workers miserable. Remember, construction worker's are on a time table and have a quota. Safety men do not.

Safety has gotten ridiculous to the point to where we are required to tie off if we climb 4 feet off a ladder. The rope that is supposed to support us if we fall ( called a lanyard) has a 6 foot strech. So we must waste a lot of time tying off safety harness'es on anything available to comply. That was in the early day's.

It must be better now, right?

Wrong. Today's safety harnesses'es have a stretch of 13 feet before they are played out but you have to wear one if you climb 4 feet.

 

[suzanne]

I just have one more thing to say. All of the accident's I have seen in the last 15 year's were what you would call freak accidents. The worker was following the rules, the contractor was following rules, but someone ended up on a slab anyway. The accident's I observed the previous 10 year's were due to contractor negligence.

 

[cowseatmaize]

I tried to figure out what this was about but had limited success skimming over it.
Oh well, I don't get paid for it anyway.

 

[RICKJJ59W]

ORIGINAL: cowseatmaize

I tried to figure out what this was about but had limited success skimming over it.
Oh well, I don't get paid for it anyway.

[8|]