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Me vs Boss

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:10 pm
by ZeroAccess
Ok, here's the deal
I'm a diesel mechanic and where I work we're really slow right now so thats not a whole lot to do.
We've been slow for a while now, so we all just sit around and bullshit.

Well my shop lead doesn't have any idea what he's doing, he doesn't know how to work on trucks or how to do paperwork or hell how to do anything really. So this guy is susposed to tell me what to do? I think not.

Aight, well tonight I got told right when I walked in the door that we only had 2 trucks to work on and to stretch the one I was on to last all night. No problem, I'm lazy and I've gotten good at it. Around 9:30 (we leave at midnight) we get a roadcall in. Here is how the conversation went.

Richard(my shop lead): Glen, I have a roadcall at fresh advantage, I need you to go do it.

Me: Whats it for?

Richard: Brakes locked up, need you to cage them so they can move the trailer.

Me: Do we have a service truck

Richard: Yes

Me: Does it have a compressor?

Richard: Yes

Me: (Ask Chask who is the guy who put the truck together) HEY MAN DOES THE PEICE O SHIT TRUCK'S AIR COMPRESSOR WORK?

Chask: Yea, but it don't have fittings on the air lines and I don't know where they are.

Me: Well ****, aight I'm gonna finish this tire real quick and then I'll **** with the roadcall.

Richard: No, mother****er you'll do what I tell you to do. I'm sick and tired of you doing whatever the **** you want. You'll listen to me and when I tell you to do something you'll do it. All you do is bitch and complain about willie making more than you and this and that. We've all ****ing heard it every day for the last two weeks. Now do the ****ing roadcall.

Me: No

(I then proceed to go to the truck I was airing the tire in and finish airing it up. While I am waiting for the tire to finish airing I tell Richard he could have asked)

Richard: I'm not kissing your ass, you'll do what I say I'm your ****ing boss.

Me: um No, I'm not asking you to kiss my ass Richard look Glen, I have a roadcall I want you to do. When you finish that tire run to blah blah blah and knock it out. ""Aight Richard no biggy man I'll finish it up". What part of that Richard was kissing my ass?

Richard: Either do the ****ing roadcall or leave

Me: No

Richard: fine I'll do the damn thing

He then proceeds to get his tools and does the roadcall, upon arriving back at 11:45 he tries to make some lame joke by saying "**** you" in a nice way. Which I'm cool with because we do joke around a lot. I'm not cool with how he spoke with me, if I was a meaner/more badass of a guy we probally would have boxed.

So um, yea what do I do?

I really don't think Richard does shit except walk in my footsteps constently telling me what to do. Anytime I breath,shit,fart he's there. And he gets made because I'm like "hey richard can ya do this/that?". Reason I ask is because he's NEVER working and always up my ass trying to get me to do stuff.

I've already spoken with my supervisor once about this and just don't know what to do. I'm not going to have some 22 year old kid who doesn't know what he's doing tell me "mother****er you do what I tell you to do". That shit don't fly with me....

so um yea....

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:12 pm
by MobileAudio219
Hmm, are you paid per hour or a flat rate?

The guy sounds a bit over the edge, but if he's your boss you either have to do what he says, or dont, and collect unemployement.

Theres always something else, but it's not always better...

Best of luck to ya.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:40 pm
by ZeroAccess
Well I am paid hourly,
He's like my shop lead and just became that, I don't think of him as my boss. He's more like a nuisance.
I'm going to print this out and hand it to my boss (my actual boss shop manager). and see what he says

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:00 am
by Ryan from Ohio
Well heres a thought for ya.

Tell that boss manager exactly what went down. Tell him you dont think this guy is good at his position and tell him you can do even better given the chance.

If you get the chance just make damn sure your ready. Then make the guy look like an idiot by outworking him. It not always a matter of work, but people skills also. Nobody wants to be demanded on what to do but sometimes it has to happen. Hes out of line, no doubt about that. But at this point he still is the boss.

All else fails pack up and leave. :)

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:30 am
by cargodz
Honestly I think you handled the situation very well by outlining to Richard that you were just asking for a lil respect.
Many a times when a younger individual is put in a supervisory position they are intimidated by the more experienced people around them and try to flex their muscles to show who's in charge. I ran into this with the a couple of the Store General Managers back when I was at Menards... These guys were young enough to be my kids, so I would always sit down with them and explain that I know my job and how to do it and that I would respect them as a boss if they would respect me as an employee that actually knew what he was doing... If they needed something just ask.
This actually worked quite well and in many situations that had nothing to do with me they would take advantage of my experience and pull me aside to discuss problems they were having with other employees.

If that doesn't work, then maybe you, Richard, and the shop manager should sit down to work this out.

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 5:20 am
by OnYrMrk
Excellent advise Michael

first and foremost, don't haul off and hit the guy...it isn't good. don't ask me how I know this..... :D

you know your job, and he knows that too...problem is that he expects respect, but doesn't know how to earn it instead. Teach him how to earn your respect. IT will be much better in the long run.

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 6:27 am
by falkenbd
on another note, I wouldn't go to the boss until you and this guy try to talk about it.

That would probably make things worse, talk to him face to face first. He'll respect you for it, and you'll probably get a little view into his perspective.

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:25 am
by Tim
It is all about respect, he thinks because he is in his position that respect should just be like handed to him. It is not, respect is earned and not given.

As far as time goes who has been there the longest?? I'm guessing you have by the way the post read. Just make sure to cover your...well you get the point.

I think if you guys sit down and rationally talk it out it will be alright.

Tim

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:24 am
by ZeroAccess
I've been there just a week longer but unfortunately this guy really doesn't understand the basics of mechanics nor does he understand the basics of being a shop lead.

I'm torn because I can't work with someone like that whose constantly on my toes and just has nothing else to do except ride my ass. My only downfall is I do complain a lot about my pay it truly bothers me greatly.

What I want to do is sit down with my shop foreman and manager and actually print what I typed out and hand it to them and go from there. I'm just not certain what to do.
This has happened once in the past but no where near this degree and I did speak with him and the managers in the same day and they both knew it. Things got better for a short period but then this starts happening. It wouldn't be a big ordeal if it was just one outburst but there was a lot building to this.
Such as when I'd be walking and talking he'd be like "no you follow me, I'm the boss" that type of shit.
The more I think about it the more I think I should just go talk to them

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:25 am
by ZeroAccess
No shit, they gave him the job because no one else wanted it, by the time I told them I would accept it they already made their decision.