Why is it so hard to find people that know what they are doing

The same is true of my nearest VW service agent. They couldn't fix a rough idle, after 3 returns, and told me they have to start swapping out parts. But unlike Ford, who will use parts they have in stock as 'test' components, and return them to the warehouse if they don't fix the problem, VW want to charge me for every part they test/try, even if it isn't the one causing the problem.

I'm as capable as they are doing the above, BUT its now getting quite difficult to buy car parts - the market for DIY maintenance on cars has vanished.

That’s because they don’t care enough to do their job right and obtain the necessary skills by being totally involved in what they are doing. They don’t care about anything but getting paid.....they are just a bunch of parts changers and you should notify Wolkswagon.
 
The unsuccessful having larger families than the successful is not a new thing.

@
Tom Brennan, I think the point I was trying to make is that historically speaking (and I mean hundreds of years ago) the intellectual cream rose to the top.

It sure feels like the dummies are far more plentiful than before, perhaps because there are so many avenues to listen to their ravings.
 
The thread title said:
Why is it so hard to find people that know what they are doing?
Probably because people that know what they're doing are also smart enough to know when to keep their mouths shut about that deal.
Second that person opens their mouth and lets it be known that they know their $#!t & can get things done right,everyone automatically expects something for nothing.
What's even worse is when someone that knows that to be the case goes around telling everyone else to contact that person...
See >>> No good deed goes unpunished.

A business that is really good does'nt need much (if any) advertisement,as word gets around quick & they soon have more work than they can handle.
And that typically brings with it an untold plethora of headaches. Hence the phrase "a victim of their own success".

Then there are the business types that just start a given business to sell it off once it has established a solid customer base.
Guess what often happens to the business then ??? Existing talent flees for greener pastures,new workers come in,yadda yadda yadda.

There's a million different ways for any business to end up in the cr@pper.

What amazes me is'nt the lack of skilled labor.
What amazes me is how $#!tty unskilled labor is today.

Just try and find someone that understands how to bag groceries or such.
And their employers seemingly no longer bother to train 'em how to do such either.
Nowadays it's all about finding a warm body with a pulse and filling the position as quickly & cheaply as possible.
They already know that the entry level employment turnover rate is gonna kill them.
So they know they need to get all the work they can outta said employee before they bail.

Ehhh this is one of those topics that just presses all the right buttons to really p!ss one off.
This thread could easily go on ad-infinitum.

:mad:

Bret P.
 
It sure feels like the dummies are far more plentiful than before, perhaps because there are so many avenues to listen to their ravings.
I dumped Twitter several years ago for that reason. It has turned into the cesspool of humanity, and a political toilet for everyone to crap in.

I only use it in case of emergency--literally. Like when we were in Vegas in October 2017 and wondered why there was all this popping nearby, and people were running from a country music festival. The only "news" I could find was Twitter, and finally found a posting that there was a shooter but they weren't sure if there was one, or two, etc. Then the LVPD posted that yes, there was a shooting and they were investigating. I hated reading it as it unfolded, but it made sense of all that chaos in our parking lot (we were at the Tropicana, rear tower, on the angle facing both the airport and the concert venue). Of course, the cesspool reared its head, and the random assnuts were saying "onoz! there are three more shooters inside the casinos!" That was when I tuned back out and uninstalled it.

I touched on it again when that police dog Axe was shot. I heard the shots from the house (sounded like someone lit off a strip of firecrackers), and then saw all the lights when I went to end of our street. I got to the restaurant and people were posting about a police K-9 officer being shot. The cesspool kind of leaked into that one slightly, but I was surprised that people all over the country were pouring in their support.

Don't know what my point is here, except that social media IMHO has really harmed society more than it has helped. And part of it just might be some of these lazy younger people who would rather sit and talk about something, rather than get out and do it. They'd complain about their plumbing issues, but be clueless on how to fix it themselves, or figure out how to call a plumber. I think some of the younger generation are of this entitlement mindset, where they expect things to be handed to them, or solved for them. None of us grew up with that attitude. So yeah, I kind of think those dummies you mention may just be more plentiful than they were in decades past. I can't imagine any of these useless hipsters ever lifting a finger to do skilled trades. No, but they'll lift up a screwdriver and claim they are part of the "maker movement." :rolleyes:
 
So many out there take no pride in their work these days. And I don't see millennials rushing to fill the void as these aging service workers retire. Plumbers, roofers, electricians, HVAC techs...what's going to happen in 20-30 years? At least it can't be outsourced overseas.

We don't need to wait 20 or 30 years ,the theft of 500,000 high paying commercial & industrial construction jobs is complete and I watched it happen durring my 32 years in bldg trades ,I started off as an apprentice roofer & Waterproofer in 1976,became a Master after 4 years trade school & received my 1st journeyman's card ,I was immediatly transferred to the sheet metal Dept and spent another 4 years earning a Journeyman card in Architectural sheet metal so I could perform both jobs & not get into trouble with the union ,on my 9th year i began being prepped to become the company crane operator by spending weekends in the yard getting hands on experience with my 1st crane and Pettibone , after completing the course in heavy equipment operation I became one of 5 full time crane operator at the company ,I used that experience to jump ship & sign on with the world's 7th largest construction company and spent the next 22 years with them .

When I 1st apprenticed in 1976 the Commercial roofing trade was 70% white & 30% black ,Mason's were 70% black & 30% white ,cement finishers were 99% black ,plumbers were 70% white & 30% black ,sparkys and operating engineers were ,90% white & 10% black ,Iron workers were half native American and half white ,all job feilds fell right in with the country's population percentages per race and showed extremely equal opportunity employement for AMERICANS .

That all began to change in the late 1990s and it didn't take long to realize all American tradesmen we're being phazed out In favor of illegal Hispanics ,every winter as work slowed down and American tradesmen we're laid off for the winter the main office would only call back 90% of our workforce ,we'd start the season short handed the 1st 2 weeks & out of nowhere came 10 to 15 Mexicans with basic construction knowledge who were immediatly put through apprentiship schools and shake and baked into journeymen overnight ,in the year 2000 my company started replacing Black & White Americans with Mexicans they actively sought out with a recruiter based in Guadalajara Mexico at the rate of 15 to 20 men a year ,I watched my white and black friends I'd worked with for decades lose their boats ,campers ,summer cottages ,sports cars , motorcycles ,empty their children's college funds ,cash out stock portfolios ,sell their wedding bands etc until finally losing their homes and being forced into poverty within 6 months of formerly being middle class ,I couldn't stand it so I called La Migra every job we went to ,sometimes illegals would be arrested and deported but most times not ,in 2002 one of the big shots from our home office in Sweden climbed up on my crane and told me " the next time immigration shows up YOU are FIRED ,the last decade I worked my base salary was $240,000 before travel pay and bonuses so my options were to take a job at a scab company earning $15 an hour running a sorry boom truck ,or STFU & ride out my days doing everything I could to become a wallflower ,we had roughly 40,000 employees in 2002 and by the time I retired in 2012 the jobs I worked had only 2 or 3 token Americans out of up to 100 men on the job ,it wasn't millennials who destroyed the commercial & industrial construction industry ,it was politicans allowing forigen based mega contractors like Skanska Global to replace US tradesmen with 3rd world Hispanics willing and wanting to work 90 hours a week at double production rates than US journeyman we're putting out , when I was a roofer in the 70s our 20 man crew tore off & put back about 100 squares a day ,the last roofing job I ran crane on in 2010 the Mexicans we're tearing off & installing 200 to 220 squares a day ,most share housing with 20 men per house and 1st thing payday is to hit Western Union and ship 90% of their $2,500 paychecks to Mexico .

The reason millennial Americans refuse to work construction is simple ,the big union company's who pay journeymen $30 to $120 an hour and build americas factorys and high rises refuse to hire and apprentice them ,when they look for work in residential construction their starting pay is $12 to $15 an hour with foremen only making $25 an hour ,they can earn the same pay working for McDonald's and not have to work their fingers to the Bone .

Until something concrete is done to deport the 10 million illegal aliens currently robbing America's construction industry of 500,000 jobs and supporting our national economy, no US citizen will be willing to enter the job market as a blue collar bldg trsdesman,if I wasn't a token minority my employer would have replaced me with an illegal alien too .
 
The unsuccessful having larger families than the successful is not a new thing.

Successful and not-successful isn't really my issue. One can be 'unsuccessful' financially and still work hard and have ethics and values to pass on to children.

There was a time when those that chose to have larger families had to work hard to survive. They weren't less fit to be parents they were just not as well off. And in reality they likely often ended up with better, more able to take care of themselves offspring than the rich.

Now the more kids people have the more handouts they get. A recent quote from a co-worker with several kids "I know how to game the system" or the one I was told by a teacher that they heard from a parent "I had the kid what else do you want from me?"

Sorry, I get a little bitter around the time of year that I hear all the people at work that decided to have kids with deadbeat losers, who left them, celebrate all the money they are getting back on their taxes.

I don't want people to starve but I think they should have to scrimp and save and work hard; not go out partying 3-5 nights a week on the rest of us.
 
<snip> They'd complain about their plumbing issues, but be clueless on how to fix it themselves, <snip>

I did feel pretty good when the really good plumber said I had done the piping for our water softener the right way. And even when the less than stellar Corian guy had to ask a couple of times if I had really tiled our entire kitchen counters and backsplash myself. I should have taken that as a hint and just tiled the bathroom ;)
 
and care about what they are doing?

Last year our roof sprung a leak. It is a concrete tile roof. I'm slightly handy around the house but figured rather than worry about if I'd fixed he problem every time it rained I'd pay someone to come out and fix it right the first time. I searched through reviews and found a well rated place that got back to me quickly, I took the day off work, paid them a good chunk of money and it was fixed.... until last night.

My first thought was to call them today and try to figure out when they could get out there and take a look at it and probably end up with them saying it was a new problem that wasn't related to the one they fixed or something like that.

Thinking about how much of a hassle that would be I climbed up on the roof in the rain and found the problem and did a temporary fix to get us through until the rain lets up in a few days and I can seal it right where the water is clearly finding its way through (the 1" section that wasn't properly sealed when they built the house) and trim a couple tiles down by 1/8 to 1/4 so that it actually matches the other side of the area where the water flows fine and doesn't have blockage issues that push the water up into that 1" section missing sealant.

They had cleaned up some blockage and replaced some wood that had rotted but didn't actually address the cause of the problem. Were they somehow less knowledgeable than a person that had only ever been on a roof once before? Were they just lazy? Were they counting on a follow-up repair call? What is wrong with people?
This is why I do most repairs myself. And with the internet and a good IQ it's not hard to figure out what's wrong.

I sent a Silverado instrument cluster to Georgia to get fixed and it only worked for a year. I went to a youtube video and it showed me the exact resistor cluster to check. Sure enough, one of them had what looked like a really iffy connection. I carefully resoldered (required low heat to prevent damage) and it's worked ever since.

Heck, I replaced my own water heater, discovering Pax pipes and sharkbite while doing it. Piece of cake. DIY saves money but, more importantly, ensures it is repaired right!
 
I do everything myself, that way I only have myself to blame if it goes. There is something about the vested interest that a homeowner has with his house that no contractor has.
 
I do everything myself, that way I only have myself to blame if it goes. There is something about the vested interest that a homeowner has with his house that no contractor has.

The other plus is you don't have to take the day off of work and sit around for hours waiting for yourself to show up.

I guess I need to learn to trust myself more.
 
The only contract that I've shelled out for in the last forever long period is a septic tank replacement. I went with the guy that everybody around me uses, and, one who has a soild reputation around here in our north county area, and in his own south county area, of the county to our north..
I'm still filling in the compaction issues. And, with this latest round of storms, water has managed to findd a way into the old septic tank, and now dirt is collapsing into it in a small sinkhole like occurrence. So, today, I have a small stack of sandbags next to the hole, and keep feeding it content, hoping it eventually stops.
This is from a job that was done three years ago?

Did I mention this one?
He needed to bring in a semi-trailer rig of gravel for the job; actually one of those semis and trailer rigs where the trailer gets loaded into the main bed, and dumped that way. A true large semi dump truck.
Well, he dumped his first load, and, drove back towards our driveway exit, to load his trailer, with his large back door open in an upward fashion. He neglected to notice our overhead power pole, and lines, which also had our telephone cable, and, an irrigation controller cable suspeneded from it; the power cable was high up, with the tele cable and irrigation clock cable suspended below it.
Well the large hook that captures the door and locking mechanism caught the irrigation clock cable, and, he didn't notice. The diesel motor didn't notice the load. It wasn't until I yelled furiously at him that he was pulling our power pole over that he stopped his truck.

I was that contractor that cared. We built, finished, furnished (custom built furniture), some of the finest homes ever built.
What I was witnessing in this extremely rare moment of bringing in an outsider to do work, was just an abomination of idiocy. His explanations of why he failed to close the trucks rear door were laced with Dude, bro, man, and very few apologies. He just shrugged it off. As a septic guy, I'll call him a shithead.
 
,the last decade I worked my base salary was $240,000 before travel pay and bonuses.

Dayum!

We complain about entertainers and athletes and stock brokers making money when we don't pay our teachers. Never thought crane operators would be in that category! Good for you though.

Seriously though, I get your main message, which is not often heard from this particular perspective.

However this is a far too political topic for AK so I'll leave it at that.
 
We don't need to wait 20 or 30 years ,the theft of 500,000 high paying commercial & industrial construction jobs is complete and I watched it happen durring my 32 years in bldg trades ,I started off as an apprentice roofer & Waterproofer in 1976,became a Master after 4 years trade school & received my 1st journeyman's card ,I was immediatly transferred to the sheet metal Dept and spent another 4 years earning a Journeyman card in Architectural sheet metal so I could perform both jobs & not get into trouble with the union ,on my 9th year i began being prepped to become the company crane operator by spending weekends in the yard getting hands on experience with my 1st crane and Pettibone , after completing the course in heavy equipment operation I became one of 5 full time crane operator at the company ,I used that experience to jump ship & sign on with the world's 7th largest construction company and spent the next 22 years with them .

When I 1st apprenticed in 1976 the Commercial roofing trade was 70% white & 30% black ,Mason's were 70% black & 30% white ,cement finishers were 99% black ,plumbers were 70% white & 30% black ,sparkys and operating engineers were ,90% white & 10% black ,Iron workers were half native American and half white ,all job feilds fell right in with the country's population percentages per race and showed extremely equal opportunity employement for AMERICANS .

That all began to change in the late 1990s and it didn't take long to realize all American tradesmen we're being phazed out In favor of illegal Hispanics ,every winter as work slowed down and American tradesmen we're laid off for the winter the main office would only call back 90% of our workforce ,we'd start the season short handed the 1st 2 weeks & out of nowhere came 10 to 15 Mexicans with basic construction knowledge who were immediatly put through apprentiship schools and shake and baked into journeymen overnight ,in the year 2000 my company started replacing Black & White Americans with Mexicans they actively sought out with a recruiter based in Guadalajara Mexico at the rate of 15 to 20 men a year ,I watched my white and black friends I'd worked with for decades lose their boats ,campers ,summer cottages ,sports cars , motorcycles ,empty their children's college funds ,cash out stock portfolios ,sell their wedding bands etc until finally losing their homes and being forced into poverty within 6 months of formerly being middle class ,I couldn't stand it so I called La Migra every job we went to ,sometimes illegals would be arrested and deported but most times not ,in 2002 one of the big shots from our home office in Sweden climbed up on my crane and told me " the next time immigration shows up YOU are FIRED ,the last decade I worked my base salary was $240,000 before travel pay and bonuses so my options were to take a job at a scab company earning $15 an hour running a sorry boom truck ,or STFU & ride out my days doing everything I could to become a wallflower ,we had roughly 40,000 employees in 2002 and by the time I retired in 2012 the jobs I worked had only 2 or 3 token Americans out of up to 100 men on the job ,it wasn't millennials who destroyed the commercial & industrial construction industry ,it was politicans allowing forigen based mega contractors like Skanska Global to replace US tradesmen with 3rd world Hispanics willing and wanting to work 90 hours a week at double production rates than US journeyman we're putting out , when I was a roofer in the 70s our 20 man crew tore off & put back about 100 squares a day ,the last roofing job I ran crane on in 2010 the Mexicans we're tearing off & installing 200 to 220 squares a day ,most share housing with 20 men per house and 1st thing payday is to hit Western Union and ship 90% of their $2,500 paychecks to Mexico .

The reason millennial Americans refuse to work construction is simple ,the big union company's who pay journeymen $30 to $120 an hour and build americas factorys and high rises refuse to hire and apprentice them ,when they look for work in residential construction their starting pay is $12 to $15 an hour with foremen only making $25 an hour ,they can earn the same pay working for McDonald's and not have to work their fingers to the Bone .

Until something concrete is done to deport the 10 million illegal aliens currently robbing America's construction industry of 500,000 jobs and supporting our national economy, no US citizen will be willing to enter the job market as a blue collar bldg trsdesman,if I wasn't a token minority my employer would have replaced me with an illegal alien too .
That "horse left the barn" thirty years ago when an attempt at real reform in California was dashed against the rocks by an out of state small town appellate judge.
 
@mfrench that is a harrowing tale. Same thing happened with my mother and a load of gravel......darn near pulled the conduit clean free from the house.

@tubed I'm missing the reference. Can you shine a light on it?
 
We're buying a new home. The guy building them has a great reputation, and builds a class house. He's doing a 19 house development. The first three are finished - two sold before they were done, and the third sold in one or two days. The next two, ours and the mirror of it across the street, are sold. They just finished sheetrocking ours. He figures they'll be done first or middle of March. We were there the day the foundation was poured. He started two others now - foundations are poured and they're framed. I think they're both sold already.

There are other new homes being built across town that won't hold a candle to these. We were lucky to stumble across them when we did. The quality of workmanship he puts in these if how it should be.
 
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