Professionals thread (work related)

[Oswego]

Numbers aren't nearly as bad as I though they would be....first qtr down 8% overall vs last year.

Construction Starts Show Sharp Contraction in April | USGlass Magazine & USGNN Headline News

 

[Oswego]

Having a good mentor is key to success in life and business. I would of just made a real rash decision professionally, but luckily called my mentor before I took action. He talked me off the bridge with a firm verbal slap across the face to wake me up and got me thinking strait again. Even gave me a different plan to work on so that my focus is on my future not the bad from the past. Thank goodness for 20+ year business relationships. He hired me 20+ years ago then 7 years ago I hired him and left him in charge when I left my last job 3 years ago.

 

[Oswego]

Ouch... Oldcastle is closing a plant. Glass company in Burnips permanently closes its doors

Pretty rare for them to shut down a plant, but bean counters gonna count. I can only remember two plants being shut down in over 20 years and this is one of them.

 

[tx_shooter]

My company has already closed one plant that was in Cody, WY and looks like it will be closing down at least one more in the next few months. Both of them were siding material plants.

 

[Silverback]

You can't turn a glass plant back on very easily can you? Seems that all the molten glass in the place would harden and really fuck it up.

 

[Oswego]

You can't turn a glass plant back on very easily can you? Seems that all the molten glass in the place would harden and really fuck it up.

That is correct. They run non-stop for 20+ years and typically they have a 30 year life cycle on them to run non-stop before shutting down for repairs and upgrades. It is not practical to heat then cool them they take so much energy to melt the glass so they keep them running.

This isn't a glass furnace/float plant thats shutting down though. This is what we call a glass mfg but in reality all they do is fabricate glass that's really made by the float plant. We call it a float plant not a furnace because the molten glass literally floats on a bed of liquid tin

We start shutting down float plants and we are in serious trouble....like depression era trouble

 

[Silverback]

So the plant shutting down is more or less the final steps.. the cut into sheets and stack portion?

 

[Oswego]

So the plant shutting down is more or less the final steps.. the cut into sheets and stack portion?

Nope - that's all at the float plant. That sketch only outlines their functions.

The fabrication plant that just closed would receive those sheets via low boy trailer in sheets about 230" x 120" or smaller or larger depending on the glass type then cut them to size, temper them, then sell them to guys like me. They could also turn them into into insulated glass units to be put into window frames by another company that makes the frames. Back in the day when I worked for Oldcastle 50% of our daily volume was for Anderson windows. We would cut all the glass to size, temper it, then drop it off to them daily. They would then insulate the glass and put it into their own frames.

The end product will have a stamp on it showing the glass thickness, plant that tempered or laminated it, along with a production date. That stamp is what L&I uses to see if the product is safe for the public and it also has many other uses like back tracking the supply chain should a bunch of it be deemed defective. Same logo on yoru car windows is on every pc of glass I sell that meets safety ratings

 

[Oswego]

Architectural Glass Company Owners Grapple with Employees Who Don’t Want to Come Back | USGlass Magazine & USGNN Headline News

“Some unemployment benefits have enhanced payments so that some workers are getting paid more,” he said. “Some companies are paying bonuses designed to last as long as the benefits will last to get employees back.”


Some states are beginning to address the issue. Ohio, for example, is asking employers to let them know when workers won’t return to work and other states are expected to follow suit. In the meantime, it remains a problem for some employers which isn’t expected to abate until after the extra funding ends. Right now, it is scheduled to end July 25 if Congress does not extend it.

So after months we are now going to force people back to work? Doesn't that go against most of the reasons they were told to stay home (immune issues/pre existing/etc.)? I'm not taking sides on that crap - just poking holes in it.

We are already having major labor shortages so no one should of ever been compensated more to stay home than they make working. It's simply not logical or sustainable. That's never made any freaking sense to me. We really need to reform gubment from the bottom up

Not for nothing but w/o construction this country would literally fall apart. Our infrastructure is already FUBAR in just about every state. Guess Ill just need to learn Spanish ..... We had to start pulling guys from another local because no one wants to work in the Philly local and we are SWAMPED with work. My core guys love it. Getting time and a half and double time that counts towards their pension and retirement hours they need to accumulate. So when being paid double time you literally deduct 2x the amount of hrs needed to retire + the extra cash. Win win if you don't mind working 12hr shifts

 

[tx_shooter]

My local plant is actually treading this very fine line now. They have setup people on 12 hr shifts for 3 days a week. They have increased production, the people are getting four days off every week, and they are still qualifying for the extra "relief" money.

The whole thing is mind boggling at this point.

 

[Oswego]

Luckily as of today everyone is back to work here, but the hall has no one for us when we need them s we were given an exemption to grab guys from central PA's hall. Good thing about running a small crew is that I can use the hall as a labor pool when I get large jobs I need to "man up" for a day or a month or whatever. I do not like having to do that, but it keeps us lean during slow times so we can keep our core crew working. I never want to be the guy who only has guys working on large projects and they are laid off 50% of the year in between the large jobs. Thats why we bid small filler projects. Shops that do that to the guys are the scum of the earth IMHO. If you are going to hire someone - give them 40+ hrs a week like everyone wants. Not 30 this week - nothing next week - 60hrs the following. My goal is to never have my guys on unemployment - same as myself.

My owner on the other hand is the opposite. He will turn and burn guys. The stack of W2's at the end of the year is usually 2"+ thick

he has no clue what that does to their mindset and work ethic.

 

[Oswego]

Freaking media.... title should be "Construction sites deemed safe - OSHA inspector's focus shifted to nursing homes in time of need"

OSHA Construction Safety Inspections Plunge 84% in Pandemic

 

[Oswego]

Some pics from my jobsite from yesterday. Almost done. Got 2 floors left. Would of been done 2 months ago but Covid hit

& Wilson sucks. I prefer Raco. More pocket depth for 1/2" glass and don't have to reinforce the sills at the 1/4 points for every lite of glass. We ended up just ripping 3/4" ply and blocking every sill. Luckily it's a known issue so I bid it accordingly otherwise that would of hurt $$ adding the costs for 6 floors worth. Wilson's sill extrusion just bends under the weight of the glass.

Wonder how all these open space offices are going to function now? I just hope the check clears........

everything's closed.....still no parking

 

[CowboyTaco]

That's a very good point that I never considered.

Back at my last company, we had a room full of cubicles for my team. At that time, I managed a Service Desk. It wasn't the best setup, but everyone had their own space and could talk to customers without hearing the conversation of the person next to them.

Then upper management decided to update the workspace for the NOC and wanted to add us to it. They wanted to make it a "statement" work space. We were basically in a fish bowl with the open concept. It ABSOLUTELY sucked! Putting phone support in a room with another team and no sound deadening or dividers of any kind. Team morale took a nose dive that day and never recovered.

 

[Oswego]

I share an uninsulated wall with one other office. When it was our accountant it was fine because I never heard a peep out of her. Well she's morbidly obese and didn't want to go up and down the stairs so when we made new offices she got a desk on the first floor and our other PM moved in behind me. God forbid she kept the office and started working off the weight....now she will just get thicker. New employee that took her office talks on his cell phone on "speaker phone" and yells into it all day long. I'm going to start wearing headphones to drone it out. Going on week three and I'm about to go next door and tell him to maintain some sort of noise control. His 24 personal calls a day are what really pisses me off. Guy acts like he has no time to do his job right hoping no one notices he's never working . He's the reason I got my own office 2 years ago - after a year I could not stand sharing an office with him any longer. He's the morbidly obese guy who likes to play god w/the thermostat.

 

[Silverback]

Well my new working conditions are great.. I have my office and my wife has hers.. I have a thermostat on my side of the house and she has a thermostat on her side of the house. We use the Amazon CIA devices as an intercom to talk to each other. Little one has her PC in her room with a CIA device as well. So everyone is far enough away from each other we can't hear them on phone calls, meets, etc. Not too bad actually.

 

[CowboyTaco]

I share an uninsulated wall with one other office. When it was our accountant it was fine because I never heard a peep out of her. Well she's morbidly obese and didn't want to go up and down the stairs so when we made new offices she got a desk on the first floor and our other PM moved in behind me. God forbid she kept the office and started working off the weight....now she will just get thicker. New employee that took her office talks on his cell phone on "speaker phone" and yells into it all day long. I'm going to start wearing headphones to drone it out. Going on week three and I'm about to go next door and tell him to maintain some sort of noise control. His 24 personal calls a day are what really pisses me off. Guy acts like he has no time to do his job right hoping no one notices he's never working . He's the reason I got my own office 2 years ago - after a year I could not stand sharing an office with him any longer. He's the morbidly obese guy who likes to play god w/the thermostat.

Replace the thermostat in the office with a "smart" thermostat and set the acceptable ranges so that no one can change it without a passcode.

 

[Oswego]

If I don't find a new job before the end of this year - please flame me relentlessly. As soon as I get my end of year commission check - I need to get the F out of this mess.

Think I'm going to hand in my resignation 2.0 this Friday, except this time I won't allow myself to get baited back with hollow promises from a person with no honor or pride. No way I'll be giving a months notice this time like last time - those days are long gone when he didn't do anything he promised last time I resigned 2 winters ago. Think I'm obligated to a min of two weeks so I can collect my left over PTO per our company manual. Trying to negate net loss - already walking away from a ton of $$$ in sales commissions. Did my best to stay until I got that check, but at some point mental health is more important than $$$ and I'm pretty much checked out at this point.

 

[Taco Loco]

Think I'm going to hand in my resignation 2.0 this Friday, except this time I won't allow myself to get baited back with hollow promises from a person with no honor or pride. No way I'll be giving a months notice this time like last time - those days are long gone when he didn't do anything he promised last time I resigned 2 winters ago. Think I'm obligated to a min of two weeks so I can collect my left over PTO per our company manual. Trying to negate net loss - already walking away from a ton of $$$ in sales commissions. Did my best to stay until I got that check, but at some point mental health is more important than $$$ and I'm pretty much checked out at this point.

The economy is a bit mixed right now, there is a bunch of other under or unemployed folks competing for jobs, but you know your situation the best.

Good luck with the decisions you make over the next few days.

Just spend more time at “job sites” and get your shit done before dropping any notice, drop resumes and have the start date pushed out far as they will let you.

 

[Oswego]

Think my focus will be getting my house fixed up over summer then focus on looking for a job. Basically take the money a carpenter would of made on me and kick it back to myself. Won't be able to buy mom a fence if I do take an extended vacation so that sucks. But I can go a year w/no salary w/o issues. Maybe 6 months of fixing the house/not working. Should only take me 3months if I start holding myself accountable at home like I do at work. Will deplete my emergency and land funds but in parallel could unlock the potential 6 figures of equity I have in the house if decide to sell it off. I'm so indecisive sometimes putting my feet into the fire is the only way to get stuff done - I'm a gluten for punishment it seems. Think on my last day Ill just tell Linkedin I'm on the open market then hopefully a flood of good job offers comes in. Jobs I wanted that I'd have to move to get are looking for immediate occupancy so time to shit or get off the pot.