Inadequate help

[mjc]

May 21, 2017 20:09:26 GMT -5 steev said:

I've agreed to start a new helper Monday; I knew her from the bunny store. Should be an easier training, she being English-speaking. The learning-curve may be steeper for some of my clients: she's Upper-Branch Muskogee, a dyke, and has lots of ink, including facial. Well, they've adjusted to me, so I expect they'll manage.

You know, if she can actually do the job and hold a reasonable conversation, there may not be much adjustment needed.

[steev]

I'm not really worried; this is the NorCal Bay Area; "acceptable" is pretty loosely defined; in the unlikely event that a client has a problem, well, that's why I'm not a bench-chemist with one boss anymore; I now have ~fifty; I love the freedom of being able to "fire" anyone who can't get with the program, with little impact to my bottom line. I do have one client who has expressed concerns about the possibility that my Hispanic workers might "case" her place and come back to rip her off; I take that as a negative view of my judgement (aside from what it says about her possible xenophobia, for which I have minimal patience); she's already on probation.

I think this is going to be fine.

[prairiegardens]

Good luck!
I threw all my permaculture principles out the window today ( well not all) when I ran across someone in the area who has a real honest to god tiller and I got him to come pulverize everything except the trees and tulips. That will at least give me a level area to walk on, unexpected lumps and valleys being a tad problematical these days, and make the neighbors temporarily happy, before it all comes back a solid sward of thistle. Sigh. The blowtorch weeder will get a workout this spring. But I am happy, at least one project done how I wanted. He did a really good job. Mixing in the old hay and such not that easy, even with a good tiller the stuff that's dries out and brittle is easy, the stuff with still a little green to it, not so much.

Even black plastic tarps don't kill thistle, had one on an area since last spring as an experiment, all sorts of thistle sprouts, admittedly looking pale and stressed but there . Sometimes it's easy to understand why people use chemicals but it's taken about 4 years to begin to think they're gone, not going to go there.

[steev]

So she didn't show on Monday; I called; she said she'd thought I meant next Monday, that she's house-sitting in Marin, but she'd try to get a stand-in; one called and agreed to come Tuesday; he showed and I set him to work that was potentially all day, having an appointment with a cable-installer, who didn't show, so I went to the vendor-store to see WTF; cost an hour to get that straightened out and another appointment next Tuesday. Returning to the "work-site", I found about an hour's work done and no worker!

It's said that whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.

I just wish I knew what I've done to piss them off, so I could do as much more of it as possible, before they take me down.

[mjc]

It's nothing you've done...it's just your proximity to the Pacific Ocean. The closer you get, the higher level of general 'crazy...

[steev]

Now that's a judgement with which I would differ. Certainly I'm closer to the Pacific, but it's my observation that a very high percentage of the seriously "out there" here are "immigrants" from more homogeneous, conventional, conservative states (and countries), in which they felt neither tolerated nor valued. These are the people who innovate, thinking "outside the box"; I think they have been greatly instrumental in driving the economy of Cali to sixth-largest in the world. I have often thought that much of the movement of people within the USA is very analogous to emigration/immigration between countries; for example: the migration of blacks from the South, as opposed to forcible immigration from Africa, not to forget the post-Civil War migration of southern whites (some of my closer kin).

I realize that your response to my pity-party was prolly just joking, but I must admit that I take the whole cultural/racial diversity thing seriously; perhaps sometimes I'm a tad touchy, but I got more than enough of that "not fitting into the pigeon-hole" as a kid; some of us are neither "round" nor "square" pegs. I'm neither offended nor attacking; be well and prosper.

[mjc]

My wife is originally from CA...so, yes, I joke about it a lot.

I kind of see it as the 'freshman' syndrome...kid goes off to college, cuts loose and well. CA, at times, is just one big party, the only problem is, nobody is sure what it's for.

[prairiegardens]

wow I hope your luck turns when your tattooed lady starts.

Your remark about round and square reminded me of a paragraph in a book I recently read, in reply to a comment that a mutual aquaintence marched to a different drum the response was"I'm not sure she hears a drum. If she hears anything at all, it's tambourines. You can't do anything but dance to a tambourine, and the likes of us will never catch the rhythm."

I know that's not helpful but I liked the image.

[philagardener]

May 24, 2017 4:37:51 GMT -5 prairiegardens said:

wow I hope your luck turns when your tattooed lady starts.

Your remark about round and square reminded me of a paragraph in a book I recently read, in reply to a comment that a mutual aquaintence marched to a different drum the response was"I'm not sure she hears a drum. If she hears anything at all, it's tambourines. You can't do anything but dance to a tambourine, and the likes of us will never catch the rhythm."

I know that's not helpful but I liked the image.

Very cymbalic!

[SteveB]

May 24, 2017 4:37:51 GMT -5 prairiegardens said:

wow I hope your luck turns when your tattooed lady starts.

Your remark about round and square reminded me of a paragraph in a book I recently read, in reply to a comment that a mutual aquaintence marched to a different drum the response was"I'm not sure she hears a drum. If she hears anything at all, it's tambourines. You can't do anything but dance to a tambourine, and the likes of us will never catch the rhythm."

I know that's not helpful but I liked the image.

I'd love to know what book that was, that's an awesome quote!

[SteveB]

May 24, 2017 0:53:11 GMT -5 mjc said:

My wife is originally from CA...so, yes, I joke about it a lot.

I kind of see it as the 'freshman' syndrome...kid goes off to college, cuts loose and well. CA, at times, is just one big party, the only problem is, nobody is sure what it's for.

I'd guess the party is an amazing celebration of life!

[steev]

First: given that one has dealt with what must be done to keep things running, partying is, indeed, a celebration of life; the dead don't party, nor feast, nor have sex; we, the living, must indulge ourselves in activities forbidden us in death. We'll have ample time to be dead; there's no reason to rush to it.

Second: dancing; Shiva is said to dance; why is whatever we do not also dance? Are we not moving through time/space? Is there any reason that we ought not see whatever we do as dance, however mundane or arduous it seems? How could tambourines not be helpful?

Perhaps I'm just dealing in Cali craziness. Never mind.

[steev]

So far this week I've also started two other guys who didn't come for a second day; three duds in one week is a record; I'm amazed at how many guys would rather stand around on the street than have a regular job at $15/hour. I guess they'd rather be paid as if they know what to do without total supervision. If the tattooed lady shows, I may never hire another Hispanic, documented or not. The notion that one is worth more per hour is fine, but I think these guys don't do the math on how many hours they're employed/unemployed, nor the seasonality of the work they want; it's analogous to the dumb-asses who engage in "profitable" criminal activities and don't factor in the time they spend incarcerated, earning diddly-squat. Oh, well, it's not my job to educate them; I've got too damned much work, as it is.

[prairiegardens]

SteveB the quote was from the Whisper Of The River author Ferrol Sams.

Steev I recently ran across an older guy with a sign will work for food outside a coffee shop with his dog. Spoke to him about work, he was all gung ho but he had this that and the other lined up to do first, last I heard he is in another province. I suspect he makes as much from people giving him money as he does from any random work, several people gave him bills ranging up to $20 while we were chatting. 

otoh I posted a whine on my FB page and the younger guy who I was waiting for to finish moving the hay bales spotted it and the bales were delivered next morning. I hadn't mentioned him by name but someone suggested I post on HiS FB page asking sweetly when he was intending to finish the job.  I wasn't going to do that, he's a super nice guy and I was frustrated but not angry enough to out him like that as he works hard when he - eventually - shows up. He didn't know that of course. But I'm not trying to rely on him to help in a business, what you are dealing with boggles the mind.

[steev]

I used to employ a guy who was very fringe-y: approximately homeless (he'd only live where he didn't have to pay rent); very religious; given to drug-abuse; hard-working; strong (he'd spent lots of time on the weight-pile while doing hard time, so penitentiary arms); if he wasn't working for me, he'd go collect bottles and cans, getting ~$30 worth in 3-4 hours; he was utterly contemptuous of "will work for" panhandlers; "Sure, they'll work a bit, then come back to steal the tools they now know where to find."

I'll call for confirmation that Tattooine (sorry; couldn't resist the Star Wars reference) will be coming; I really need that to work, although the guy who just flaked was referred by her (don't yet know the ramifications of that); if it does, I think she'll want to buy the business, once she's gotten the system down.

If it doesn't work, I think I'm gonna start to bail on this "working for a living" thing. "Working to live" is getting more enticing. If I were just working 4-6 hours a day on the farm (far more than I get there weekly now). I'd be happier than a pig in shit.

I'll hang in long enough to fold the cost of materials to build the house into the business, drop my ad, and work while my clients fade out, or I just get done with it, whichever comes first. Having the business entails having a place to keep equipment (and myself) in town, which is an expense. So many balls to keep in the air; W C Fields was, as a young juggler, I think, able to maintain a 16-ball cascade; so impressive.