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Employees Are The Worst

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
Tx, you said you went to a rough school? You know as well as I that the character of a person is partially intrinsic but also developed by experiences. Homeschooling doesnt allow for this, even with social interactions, it is controlled and pointed in the direction you want. IMO, being able to succeed and be productive in an environment that is not hand picked makes for a much easier transition into adulthood. Everyone wants the best for our kids but I dont think sheltering them from reality is in their best interest.

Your making some assumptions about the environments there. How things are done in school are not the same as they were when I went into school.

Everyone gets a participation ribbon, no real 1st places. Shoot, I remember the teacher used to call out your name with your grade on a test (or at bare minimum call out your name and a range of what you might have made; "These are the kids that made an "A", "B" etc"). Don't do that anymore as that may "psychologically" damage the kid.

It's just not the same. Schools nowadays are just a glorified babysitting service and I fail to see how that is going to be teaching them to be successful in life. That and the BS politics that's going on, that's a lot of irrelevant static.


This reminds me a bit of how we now treat bullying. Its not right but trying to bury it is not doing any children any favors. It is part of developing coping skills. You cant stop bullys in adult life. Its better that you learn to deal with them early on.

I agree here, bullying, peer pressure etc, but I honestly don't think we ever handled that right and we aren't always considering every avenue that a bully has to a kid nowadays.

Then, of course, you have some teachers that believe in the "boys will be boys" sentiment and knew and let happen some pretty horrible things (and this was in a private HS as well).
 

equippaint

Active Member
Your making some assumptions about the environments there. How things are done in school are not the same as they were when I went into school.

Everyone gets a participation ribbon, no real 1st places. Shoot, I remember the teacher used to call out your name with your grade on a test (or at bare minimum call out your name and a range of what you might have made; "These are the kids that made an "A", "B" etc"). Don't do that anymore as that may "psychologically" damage the kid.

It's just not the same. Schools nowadays are just a glorified babysitting service and I fail to see how that is going to be teaching them to be successful in life. That and the BS politics that's going on, that's a lot of irrelevant static.




I agree here, bullying, peer pressure etc, but I honestly don't think we ever handled that right and we aren't always considering every avenue that a bully has to a kid nowadays.

Then, of course, you have some teachers that believe in the "boys will be boys" sentiment and knew and let happen some pretty horrible things (and this was in a private HS as well).
Personally I think we often look back and recollect things differently than they actually were. Theres a lot that goes into child development and many improvements/realizations have been made over the years. While many things seem dumb on the surface, it may be whats best despite our gut reaction. I dont like the participation award concept but there is no harm in not always putting the winner on a pedastal either. You are still the winner even if others get praise as well. As you grow and enter the workforce, the participation award is easentially the system we embrace. You cant just keep the best guy and grow, you will always have the underacheivers that get rewarded with a check every week. The achilles heal of the most productive workers, is the better than the rest attitude they develop, the inability to function in a team environment and the subsequent unsustainable demands for more and more from the employer. Their attitudes make them useless. I dont know for sure but id venture to say that this method is to quell some of this.
I think all in all the schools do a good job given their resources. Policies, subjects and strategy are dictated by politicians rather than educators so hands are tied. Its not just about what you learn from a book either.
My 1 petty gripe is that my daughter (kindergarten) is allowed to bring water to drink in class. They should have to wait for breaks, theres a certain bit of discipline learned with that. Adults are just as bad though.
 

rjssigns

Active Member
I wasn't speaking of kids or even grownups who just plain don't wanna learn and would rather spit in your face..... but of people trying to learn, regardless of what the subject is. From arithmetic, to auto mechanic to sign making..... if they truly wanna learn, than it's our job to teach and be prepared to explain it various ways, until the lightbulb goes on.

People on this site or kids as students, I don't have the time for a lazy gimme, gimme, gimme kinda person. In school, they'd be expelled for holding up those who really wanna learn. In adult life, I just ignore their dumb a$$es.

Ever wonder why some people who are newbies around here will get my attention one way or another ??​

Understood Gino. Here's the deal. Desire to learn can only take you so far. Some folks have an all consuming desire to learn a skill, subject, language only to find out they don't have the aptitude. While they would get an A for effort subject matter competency won't be there.

Flip side is some are actually great at learning what they think they wanted to do. Then find out their chosen profession isn't where they want to be.
A former student is a fantastic graphic artist. Got her degree and a job then realized she hates being in front of a computer. She works for my new sub and made a pair of 4'x10' backlit panels for one of my jobs. She is absolutely in love with production.
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
Personally I think we often look back and recollect things differently than they actually were. Theres a lot that goes into child development and many improvements/realizations have been made over the years.

As well as regressions.

While many things seem dumb on the surface, it may be whats best despite our gut reaction. I dont like the participation award concept but there is no harm in not always putting the winner on a pedastal either. You are still the winner even if others get praise as well.

I didn't necessarily say winner. I firmly believe that there has to be a goal type of system. Something that compels a person to try to strive for the best that they can be (for some, it won't matter though), not necessarily a winner. A participation type of system doesn't quite achieve that.

As you grow and enter the workforce, the participation award is easentially the system we embrace. You cant just keep the best guy and grow, you will always have the underacheivers that get rewarded with a check every week.

I think the workforce you entered into is quite different then the one that I was in. If you weren't able to keep up and it was clear your were an underachiever, more often then not, you were culled at some point.

I'm surprised that you didn't experience that given Florida is an "at will" state (or at least was, I don't know if that's changed or how).

The biggest change to that is if the person in question ticks one or more boxes of some type of identity politics issue. Then it's hard to get rid of them.


I think all in all the schools do a good job given their resources.

I would like to think that, but I don't see it. It may have started off that way when all this stuff was starting to come down, but it's been this way for so long, just reached a point of apathy. Then you have those teachers mentoring the incoming teachers and those new teachers start off getting that apathetic approach. Student teaching really disillusioned the ball and chain. It really did.

Policies, subjects and strategy are dictated by politicians rather than educators so hands are tied.

I agree and that actually doesn't make for an argument of pro school either (at least in my mind). Unless those policies, subjects etc don't disturb you enough to think otherwise.


Its not just about what you learn from a book either.

I don't think anyone ever did say that. There is a time and a place for everything. But, just because one location was the traditional spot for various learning aspects, doesn't quite mean that it still is, especially as things change (you mentioned one aspect of that in the quote directly above). And sometimes they are forced changes and not natural progression changes.


My 1 petty gripe is that my daughter (kindergarten) is allowed to bring water to drink in class. They should have to wait for breaks, theres a certain bit of discipline learned with that. Adults are just as bad though.

Some things that we attribute to learning as discipline and a good thing, aren't exactly the best for our bodies. That kinda feeds into what you were talking about in the first part. Improvements/realizations were made. This could be one of them. I'm probably more sympathetic to this particular aspect as my formal education was in equine reproduction and nutrition and in the grande scheme of things, there are alot more similarities then differences when you talking about members of the same class (in this case mammals).

This is something that we could debate for quite a bit and I don't think there is one one size fits all answer. And because there is no right answer, what may work for one, may not work for the next. All I have to do is look into my immediate family to see different results and paths taken in regard to this very matter.
 

HulkSmash

New Member
Over the 10 years I have been self employed, i have learned a lot when it comes to hiring. A good friend of mine has been mentoring me as well with this. A few things are important when hiring.

Multiple interviews. First we do 1 phone interview. Then 1 in person. and 1 final one before the hire. You can get a good read on someone once you've met with them that many times. Make sure they
they fit your core and values. Don't just hire to fill a position until you can find someone better, it will always back fire. trust me...

If your employees suck - you are part of the problem. I've learned this the hard way.
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
My 1 petty gripe is that my daughter (kindergarten) is allowed to bring water to drink in class. They should have to wait for breaks, theres a certain bit of discipline learned with that. Adults are just as bad though.

America is now OBSESSED with hydration for some reason.
 

Stacey K

I like making signs
If you have 1-2 employees you pay at $20 hr they will probably do the work of 2-4 employees and not make mistakes. I'm guessing most of us can get more done in one day than most people do in a week - just like a $20 employee.
 

FireSprint.com

Trade Only Screen & Digital Sign Printing
We have really great people, but we invest alot in them. Health Ins, 401k, 3 Weeks PTO. It's not cheap, and we want to get our rockstars' wages up higher yet.
 

DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
We have really great people, but we invest alot in them. Health Ins, 401k, 3 Weeks PTO. It's not cheap, and we want to get our rockstars' wages up higher yet.

This is what so many people fail to understand, top to bottom. You get talented people, you do what it takes to keep them. If you pay an exceptional employee average wages, they're not going to hang around.
 
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