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Where have I been lately?

375 views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  CanadianHobbyFarmer 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Well in case anyone was wondering where I've been I've finally found a few spare minutes to update y'all. Last month,the 6th precisely,I unexpectedly lost my job of 21years. OK, maybe it wasn't entirely unexpected as I have believed the new management team was coming after me as well as others who's pay rate and vacation time, etc. Were not in keeping with the way the company wished to structure itself for possible sale in the not too distant future. Many of us older guys found ourseleves being extremely highly scrutinized and getting written up at unprecedented rates for stuff that in the past wouldn't have even been a blip on anyone's radar. Of course under that pressure and scrutiny I eventually gave them enough ammo to make a case to let me go. So on the morning of Oct. 6, when I made a simple mistake and cost the company some time and just a few bucks, they pulled my plug. 21 years working on forklifts and various material handling equipment and I have seen many guys, including me who have made far more costly errors than the one that got me canned but such is life.
The good news is that I found new employment, basically the next day, though it took two weeks and a few days for me to go through the back ground check, physical and drug screening and all the modern hiring procedures for me to actually start work on the 25th. I have left the industrial truck repair field and went back to my automotive roots, which I have actually been thinking about doing for a cfew years now anyway.So two full weeks in and I'm beginning to settle in nicely and for the first time in many years am actually enjoying my job. It is flat rate and were going into the slower season I'm told so right now the money ain't so hot, but the guys assure me it will get much busier. If that's the case, I will be able to nearly match my former pay on average over the year and like my job to boot, so all is not bad but looking brighter.
No work has been done since I lost my job on any of my tractors so there is nothing to report on that front. I hope to resume my Bolens rebuild in the spring, but for now, money and weather are going to put that to bed for the winter. I will be in touch from time to time and hope to have more going on here in the spring. So hope everyone has a good and safe winter and I wish you all well until we talk next.
 
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#2 ·
Glad you have the employment thing on the mend! Drop in anytime and check what's going on with the rest of us! Just because you aren't working on a tractor doesn't mean you have to stay away! Who knows, you might help someone else or learn something about your Bolens!
 
#3 ·
Been in the auto repair field for most of the last 30 years myself, worked flat rape for a while just a few years in, told myself that I'd never work on that basis again when I left that shop. Now a days, the job I have now, I'd make a killing at it most weeks, but as a fleet mechanic for the State, the work we do in our shop, about 80% of which is the "gravy" that the dealership guys cry for.... but I'll take my hourly, thanks. Been back at it now for almost 3 years.

On your old job, I have actually been trying to help a buddy locate parts for 2 old forklifts that he has been working on down at his farm;

One is a Clark, has an inline 6 Continental, the other one I do not remember the brand (Yale I think, been a couple weeks since I saw it last) That one has an industrial version of a Dodge Slant 6. I'll PM you with what we are looking for.

I, too, got away from auto repair for a few years about 10 years ago.

Other than the time at the dealer, I have been mostly a brake/suspension/alignment guy. ASE (the certification people) came up with a new category for what I did, probably 15-20 years ago, "Undercar specialist".

I went into industrial maintenance for about 2-1/2 years, did better at some things there than others, was just starting to really get a good handle on that when I got hurt in my own front yard, got a Dr that liked to play games, so I lost that job due to FMLA time expiring. Went back to school, for a field where they eat up all the 20-some year-olds but won't give a 40-some year old that wasn't literally born into that profession, the time of day. 1st job back working, I had to do min wage, while I watched my then 17 year old son out earn me. A couple jobs (and slightly better pay at each) passed then I got my chance to finally make decent money again

(though w/o all of the OT available at the steel mill, not quite as good as I had it just before that chain saw "bit" me)

But the point of all this is that it seems that once you have been into auto repair for a good chunk of your life, it seems like you are "stuck" there. You may leave the field, but strangely you always wind up right back at it,

Like the song "Hotel California" says, "You can check out but you may never leave"..... I know that they weren't talking bout this line of work, but they very well could have been.
 
#4 ·
Quote:

"On your old job, I have actually been trying to help a buddy locate parts for 2 old forklifts that he has been working on down at his farm;

One is a Clark, has an inline 6 Continental, the other one I do not remember the brand (Yale I think, been a couple weeks since I saw it last) That one has an industrial version of a Dodge Slant 6. I'll PM you with what we are looking for. "

I am pretty sure that it was Massey Ferguson that also used the industrial slant six in their combines. If you are looking for engine specific parts it might be easier to locate an old combine than a forklift for parts. Massey dealers may even still be able to get parts.

Jim
 
#5 ·
Glad to here you found a new job that you like Backyardtinker. I worked for a company, installing and servicing commercial telephone systems, where the owners decided to retire and hand the business down to their kids. They always felt that the sales end of their business was more important than the service and customer support (or at least valued their sales people more than their technicians and CSR's) and the kids were even worse. They had to scrap their retirement plans in less than a year and take control back from the kids, but not before losing a lot of people they did not want to, mostly techs, but a few CSR's and some managers. They lost a few of their better sales reps as well, the ones who knew that with poor after sales service, repeat sales and referrals would dwindle. I changed fields when I quit, and I have been through a few different jobs since then, but I have stayed in construction since and I am much happier.

Jim
 
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