Nobody works' anymore

Knight

Knight

Well-known Member
The cofounders opinion is political. I deleted the rest of the lead in to keep this from being political. It's the contrast between the articles that got my attention. I left the workforce before what the cofounders opinion talks about but do believe he has a point when reading about the 2nd. article concerning worker hiding.

Home Depot's 93-year-old cofounder who said 'nobody works' anymore because of 'socialism'

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...pc=U531&cvid=e9e852ba3a104c95ae17bd37f3300018

Worker says manager told her to go home after finding her in her ‘super secret hiding spot’ after she was hiding for 3 hours
Story by Melody Heald • Yesterday 3:33 PM

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle...pc=U531&cvid=e9e852ba3a104c95ae17bd37f3300018
 

Does it strike anyone else that the art of writing a good article is lost?

The first article states the same facts a few times then just goes on to list contributions to the Republicans.

The second article just lists the fact that there are TikTok things on the internet.

Both articles are put together by people just surfing the internet like any of us might and merely retelling or summarizing what they found.

I wonder where their hiding spot is when they're putting these lame, unenlightening articles together.
Maybe artificial intelligence compiles stuff found on the internet. There could be no human involvement in putting together these "news" articles.
 

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I always worked. My tasks were always very basic, and I couldn't hide. If I didn't give my customer his coffee, or install the widget, or show up and work hard, someone would have noticed immediately. I never got paid for anything except work (no sick pay, no paid holidays, etc.), and I never made much money. Same when I was self-employed.

I have a friend who couldn't go to his workplace for several months because he wasn't vaccinated. But he still got paid. Finally they found a position for him, something he could do from home. Then, his accomplishments were scrapped because it turned out another "team" was supposed to have been given the project.

That kind of "job" is alien to me.

I think anyone who is serving customers or mowing lawns is still working hard, for every penny they get.
 
leastlongprime said:
I have a friend who worked at HD after his outdoor working was hurting him too much. He's a Journeyman carpenter in his late 50's then. He wanted to work more hours, but HD only gave him 20-39.5 hrs/week, and mostly at the lower end and minimum wage.

The problem is not so much that people don't want to work but that they can't get the work to live on.
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This has long been true about retail work. In the case of big box stores and supermarkets, you don't need skilled workers. But the Home Depot needs people who knw what they're talking about.

Well, maybe that's not so true. It helps the customer if the HD guy is knowledgeable but not the Home Depot company.
 
leastlongprime said:
I have a friend who worked at HD after his outdoor working was hurting him too much. He's a Journeyman carpenter in his late 50's then. He wanted to work more hours, but HD only gave him 20-39.5 hrs/week, and mostly at the lower end and minimum wage.
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Your friend sounds a lot more qualified and knowledgeable than most I have run into at Home Depot.
 
Well, I admit, I had a job. That permitted me some nice comfortable "Resting areas" 4 to be exact and all because I was a "Curious George"

The job entailed me to patrol the parking areas. Just wander through. For eight hours three nights a week. Good shoes, but very mind numbing.

So, I wandered down a hallway (Large condo complex) I had a set of keys, so did the main guard (patrolling exterior and responding to alarms in building)

I opened several doors, finding 4 large storage spaces. One had a previous coffee set up, which I cleaned out and set up. So I'd wander about 2 hours, 30 min break, wander 2 hours, hour lunch and kept it up till my sciatic nerve got pinched.

Not exactly hiding per se, but always attentive to radio calls. But hiding for three hours is as bad as just as hard as having nothing to do.

I liked my last job. Busy, busy, busy and if a machine was down, always cleaning was doable.
 
Home Depot has put a lot of mom-and-pop hardware stores and lumber yards out of business over the years. The founder puts a lot of money behind efforts to keep wages low. Who wants to work when working doesn't provide enough income to live on?

I try not to shop at Home Depot if I can help it because of their radical politics. I drive a little further to shop at Lowe's.
 
OldFeller said:
This has long been true about retail work. In the case of big box stores and supermarkets, you don't need skilled workers. But the Home Depot needs people who knw what they're talking about.

Well, maybe that's not so true. It helps the customer if the HD guy is knowledgeable but not the Home Depot company.
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I'll admit, I've always gone to the big box stores when I've known what I was looking for, but went to the little neighborhood hardware stores when I didn't.

I could go to them and say, "There's this bendy little doohicky in the back of the toilet that goes kinda round and round and it broke off next to that rubbery thingy on the side and I don't know what to do."

The elderly gentleman behind the counter (who was a third-generation hardware man) would lead me to the plumbing aisle, hand me exactly what I needed (he was also a psychic), AND tell me how to fix it

If I go to a big box store, I might get a bit lucky and find the *right* person to help me, but usually I get the deer-in-the-headlight look and directions to the plumbing aisle, where I'm just as lost as I was when I walked in through the front door.
 
jujube said:
I'll admit, I've always gone to the big box stores when I've known what I was looking for, but went to the little neighborhood hardware stores when I didn't.

I could go to them and say, "There's this bendy little doohicky in the back of the toilet that goes kinda round and round and it broke off next to that rubbery thingy on the side and I don't know what to do."

The elderly gentleman behind the counter (who was a third-generation hardware man) would lead me to the plumbing aisle, hand me exactly what I needed (he was also a psychic), AND tell me how to fix it

If I go to a big box store, I might get a bit lucky and find the *right* person to help me, but usually I get the deer-in-the-headlight look and directions to the plumbing aisle, where I'm just as lost as I was when I walked in through the front door.
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I just recently discovered that my go to HW store like you describe is closed down.
So it's the deer in the headlights or nothing.
It drives me nuts when I ask somebody in Home Depot where an item is and he remains where he is in aisle 12 and tells me it's aisle 7. Especially when it's an item found hanging on small a hook.
 
jujube said:
I'll admit, I've always gone to the big box stores when I've known what I was looking for, but went to the little neighborhood hardware stores when I didn't.

I could go to them and say, "There's this bendy little doohicky in the back of the toilet that goes kinda round and round and it broke off next to that rubbery thingy on the side and I don't know what to do."

The elderly gentleman behind the counter (who was a third-generation hardware man) would lead me to the plumbing aisle, hand me exactly what I needed (he was also a psychic), AND tell me how to fix it

If I go to a big box store, I might get a bit lucky and find the *right* person to help me, but usually I get the deer-in-the-headlight look and directions to the plumbing aisle, where I'm just as lost as I was when I walked in through the front door.
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So the Aliens assistants who work in retail have made it to the US as well huh ?... not only Deer in the headlights look which is very disconcerting when they literally just stare at you in silence, but that look of total loss of understanding as tho' you were talking a dialect of Outer Mongolian... and don't dare be someone older than 15 asking the question.. because that doesn't even register on their radar..
 
jujube said:
I'll admit, I've always gone to the big box stores when I've known what I was looking for, but went to the little neighborhood hardware stores when I didn't.

I could go to them and say, "There's this bendy little doohicky in the back of the toilet that goes kinda round and round and it broke off next to that rubbery thingy on the side and I don't know what to do."

The elderly gentleman behind the counter (who was a third-generation hardware man) would lead me to the plumbing aisle, hand me exactly what I needed (he was also a psychic), AND tell me how to fix it

If I go to a big box store, I might get a bit lucky and find the *right* person to help me, but usually I get the deer-in-the-headlight look and directions to the plumbing aisle, where I'm just as lost as I was when I walked in through the front door.
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Have an independent two blocks over, the staff, older guys and teenage boys for the heavy lifting. The cashiers, retired ladies and teenage girls. Big surrporter of our community and schools. I love this store!! I can push my lawn mower around there for a spring tune up. Get my veggies seeds and bulbs there. I can ask any question and be taken right to the part I need.
 
hollydolly said:
So the Aliens assistants who work in retail have made it to the US as well huh ?... not only Deer in the headlights look which is very disconcerting when they literally just stare at you in silence, but that look of total loss of understanding as tho' you were talking a dialect of Outer Mongolian... and don't dare be someone older than 15 asking the question.. because that doesn't even register on their radar..
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Not sure if that "but that look of total loss of understanding as tho' you were talking a dialect of Outer Mongolian... " fits the same as hiding but does sound like it could be a close second to not caring about doing the job.

As I posted this seems to be something more recent. I can't compare the job market now to when I was employed. Population increase, higher paying manufacturing jobs lost to other countries I THINK have resulted in employment in the lower paying service job sector. The opportunity to get ahead when 1.36 percent of the workforce in the US is employed in agriculture, 19.91 percent in industry and 78.74 percent in services as of Sep 14, 2022 doesn't seem to me like the opportunities I had in my younger years.

I quit a lot of boring no skill needed jobs but did take with me what I learned each time. That tactic paid off many years down the road for me.
 
I was just in Walmart .....yeah, on a Friday, I know I'm insane.....and I asked a clerk who was stocking if she knew where I could find pumice stones. Dead look. I explained what pumice stones were. More dead look. Then she gestured toward "beauty", where I had already spent several minutes looking.....
"over there somewhere"...

I looked around again and headed back toward her again. She took one look at me and took off like her a$$ was on fire and her feet were catchin'.. there was no way in h-e-double-hockey sticks she was going to hang around and help me find them.

As far as I know, she's still running. And I still am without a pumice stone. My poor calluses.....
 
Big Retail started making even Bigger Bucks when they stopped training their "floor associates" and reduced their hours.

Call it serendipity that self-interested second(and 3rd)-generation box-store owners took over the family business just as self-interested millennials entered the workforce. They don't wanna work, they don't wanna pay you to work, it works pretty well. And when AI catches up it'll work perfectly....for Big Retail.
 
jujube said:
I was just in Walmart .....yeah, on a Friday, I know I'm insane.....and I asked a clerk who was stocking if she knew where I could find pumice stones. Dead look. I explained what pumice stones were. More dead look. Then she gestured toward "beauty", where I had already spent several minutes looking.....
"over there somewhere"...

I looked around again and headed back toward her again. She took one look at me and took off like her a$$ was on fire and her feet were catchin'.. there was no way in h-e-double-hockey sticks she was going to hang around and help me find them.

As far as I know, she's still running. And I still am without a pumice stone. My poor calluses.....
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Michelle buys hers at a ladies day-spa.
 
Lately been going to Ace Hardware for home improvement purchases. For reasons including and other than what has recently popped up and is basis for this thread.

Validates my decision to sidestep HD. Regrettably, RYOBI tools are sold exclusively through HD. Were it not for that I would not go there at all.
 
However, I have been to the "Local" store "I'm looking for an egg beater style drill" Guy looks at me "Sorry we don't carry them"

I go to the manual tools, it's in a locked case. I go back he says "See? I told you"

"It's in a locked case, can you unlock it so I can buy it?"

"But I just said it wasn't"

"And I saw it's there. Or are you going to prove me a liar or will I prove you one?"

The other guy is looking at him, he huffs and grumbles, then walks there, (mumbling) "Something smart a--hole thinks he's so smart"

I pay for it and leave. Back three days later for bigger drill bit, old guy who was besides huffy guy sees me "Back again?"

"Need a bigger bit now, where that other guy?"

Guy smiles, "I don't like liars or lazy people. So he's no longer working here"

I also buy propane from them. It's been $2.99 for 6 years. Soon, it'll go up. Soon.
 
Disgustedman said:
However, I have been to the "Local" store "I'm looking for an egg beater style drill" Guy looks at me "Sorry we don't carry them"

I go to the manual tools, it's in a locked case. I go back he says "See? I told you"

"It's in a locked case, can you unlock it so I can buy it?"

"But I just said it wasn't"

"And I saw it's there. Or are you going to prove me a liar or will I prove you one?"

The other guy is looking at him, he huffs and grumbles, then walks there, (mumbling) "Something smart a--hole thinks he's so smart"

I pay for it and leave. Back three days later for bigger drill bit, old guy who was besides huffy guy sees me "Back again?"

"Need a bigger bit now, where that other guy?"

Guy smiles, "I don't like liars or lazy people. So he's no longer working here"

I also buy propane from them. It's been $2.99 for 6 years. Soon, it'll go up. Soon.
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They keep the manual drills locked up? :unsure:
 
Rolling on the floor laughing out loud at the manual 'eggbeater' drill post. What do these young whippersnappers know about manual tools anyway (snicker, snicker)?

Perhaps 'Nobody works' anymore'. But a manual drill does. No battery or electric power required, thank you very much.

Recalling a library book I once checked out on woodworking. Was halfway through it when I realized the author had no power tools or electric lighting in his workshop. All hand tools and natural light. But I drift off-thread. Oops.
 
Disgustedman said:
However, I have been to the "Local" store "I'm looking for an egg beater style drill" Guy looks at me "Sorry we don't carry them"

I go to the manual tools, it's in a locked case. I go back he says "See? I told you"

"It's in a locked case, can you unlock it so I can buy it?"

"But I just said it wasn't"

"And I saw it's there. Or are you going to prove me a liar or will I prove you one?"

The other guy is looking at him, he huffs and grumbles, then walks there, (mumbling) "Something smart a--hole thinks he's so smart"

I pay for it and leave. Back three days later for bigger drill bit, old guy who was besides huffy guy sees me "Back again?"

"Need a bigger bit now, where that other guy?"

Guy smiles, "I don't like liars or lazy people. So he's no longer working here"

I also buy propane from them. It's been $2.99 for 6 years. Soon, it'll go up. Soon.
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Heh, reminds me of the only time in my life I could afford a brand new car. I told the salesman I'd like to test drive one of the cars on the showroom floor. He acted flustered and said I couldn't test it unless he knew I was "committed" to buying it. ??? I bought a car elsewhere.
 
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