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Post by puffy on Feb 22, 2021 11:45:44 GMT -5
I have a good friend who is a brick mason.,He's 67 now and he's been trying to retire for 2 years..There's a tremendous amount of construction going on in my area these days and folks keep calling him wanting work done..He told me yesterday that he doesn't know if he will ever get to retire..I guess there's a shortage of good brick masons these days..If I was a young fella I might consider that kind of work at least as a second income.
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 22, 2021 12:45:40 GMT -5
All of the bricklayers in Texas have been Mexican nationals for decades now.
I worked a half day as a hod carrier and that was more than enough for me.
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Post by Goldbrick on Feb 22, 2021 12:59:17 GMT -5
Nice to know something is booming. Before this year is out ,many restaurant workers could find themselves serving up 12 inch block instead of 12 oz steaks.
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Post by pepesdad1 on Feb 22, 2021 15:04:12 GMT -5
This is a great time for a youngster to get a trade that pays...unfortunately most are too busy looking at their phone and want $20.00 an hour to start knowing nothing.
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 22, 2021 15:30:38 GMT -5
This is a great time for a youngster to get a trade that pays...unfortunately most are too busy looking at their phone and want $20.00 an hour to start knowing nothing. Bricklaying is backbreaking work. I have a friend who is a bricklayer in Massachusetts, but his dad did it and he was already helping when his dad died. Even though there's good money in it, very few want it for their sons. I would have had to be a helper for 4 years before I could begin to learn how to lay a brick, and my heart really wasn't in it. |
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jpberg
Junior Member
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Post by jpberg on Feb 22, 2021 18:01:00 GMT -5
I could go on and on about this. Skilled tradesman who are willing to show up and work everyday are close to six figures in my area.
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Post by taiguy66 on Feb 22, 2021 18:17:44 GMT -5
I have a good friend who is a brick mason.,He's 67 now and he's been trying to retire for 2 years..There's a tremendous amount of construction going on in my area these days and folks keep calling him wanting work done..He told me yesterday that he doesn't know if he will ever get to retire..I guess there's a shortage of good brick masons these days..If I was a young fella I might consider that kind of work at least as a second income. I’m assuming he’s in demand because he is a master brick mason and people are looking for quality. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 22, 2021 19:23:06 GMT -5
I could go on and on about this. Skilled tradesman who are willing to show up and work everyday are close to six figures in my area. Same here. Open jobs no takers. |
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Post by toshtego on Feb 22, 2021 19:28:16 GMT -5
I was a Union Hod Carrier in my youth. Up and down ladders all day with a shoulder Hod. I have done my share of brick masonry from unbaked adobe to the kiln fired stuff. Clearly young man's work.
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 22, 2021 19:29:08 GMT -5
I was a Union Hod Carrier in my youth. Up and down ladders all day with a shoulder Hod. I have done my share of brick masonry from unbaked adobe to the kiln fired stuff. Clearly young man's work. Nope. I was a young man and it definitely wasn't for me! |
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Post by toshtego on Feb 22, 2021 19:29:28 GMT -5
I could go on and on about this. Skilled tradesman who are willing to show up and work everyday are close to six figures in my area. Same here. Open jobs no takers. Apparently, American do not want to do that kind of work. The people who do are prevented from coming here. That will create labor shortages until someone wakes up. |
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Post by instymp on Feb 22, 2021 19:31:52 GMT -5
In the late 60s my friend was making $18 an hour & more hanging sheet rock. My plumber makes 6 X that today. Money can be made if you want to work for it.
Skills pay well.
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 22, 2021 19:35:20 GMT -5
You know a trade, go over there. What trade? Here's a list of employers certified to need someone with your skills. If they send a request we will transport you to their location. If you don't show up you go back where you came from and you don't get to come back. If you stick to it for 2 years and pay taxes, you get on the citizenship track.
Sound reasonable?
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Post by trailboss on Feb 22, 2021 21:18:00 GMT -5
You know a trade, go over there. What trade? Here's a list of employers certified to need someone with your skills. If they send a request we will transport you to their location. If you don't show up you go back where you came from and you don't get to come back. If you stick to it for 2 years and pay taxes, you get on the citizenship track. Sound reasonable? Why do that when you don’t have to? 11 million new citizens coming out way, no skills needed. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 22, 2021 21:31:10 GMT -5
You know a trade, go over there. What trade? Here's a list of employers certified to need someone with your skills. If they send a request we will transport you to their location. If you don't show up you go back where you came from and you don't get to come back. If you stick to it for 2 years and pay taxes, you get on the citizenship track. Sound reasonable? Why do that when you don’t have to? 11 million new citizens coming out way, no skills needed. I don't think that will work. |
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Post by briarpipenyc on Feb 25, 2021 9:47:59 GMT -5
This is a great time for a youngster to get a trade that pays...unfortunately most are too busy looking at their phone and want $20.00 an hour to start knowing nothing. U-R right. Too many young, entitled, "adults" continue to be supported and enabled by their parents. These perennial, Peter-Pans just never grow up. They never launch. However, some do manage to "get a life". ***************************************************************************** Hilarious..... When I was 16 years old, and my anticipated summer-vacation from school was only a few months away....mommy dearest told me...."Guess what? Summer's coming. If you think you're going to spent all summer sitting on your behind in front of a TV, you better think again! Go out and find yourself a job for the summer, and go to work. You're not gonna hang around the house and do nothing, or, I'll knock all your teeth out"!. I looked at her, and laughed in her face, but she meant every word. She wielded a heavy, 15" wooden-spoon when she needed to back up her warnings. She had absolutely no problems using it! If I objected to some of her "wooden discipling", she's hit me harder. If the spoon was out of reach, she'd pull my hair out by the roots. Things were different back then. I did a lot of running. So heeding her warnings, in 1966 I found a job, and busted my arse working in some hell-hole, bone-china warehouse, located on West 26th Street, down in lower Manhattan, NYC. I took home $56.00 for 35 hours of hard work. I was rich! I was 16 years old, and had money in my pocket!! Magical, shining times, for a young dope. |
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Post by Plainsman on Feb 25, 2021 10:25:03 GMT -5
My kid didn’t know what he wanted to do after HS. Apprenticed himself to a master farrier and then had his own business, supplemented by ornamental iron work and iron furniture. Got tired of getting beat up by horses and decided to go back to school. Now a physician with his own clinic but doesn’t regret a minute of his “time-out.” (And can still weld like a pro.)
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Post by taiguy66 on Feb 25, 2021 10:29:59 GMT -5
Briarpipenyc, seems to me you learned the value of honest hard work. I agree with you, those were the days. I look at the next generation and IMO I have little-no faith in their abilities.
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 25, 2021 10:30:58 GMT -5
My kid didn’t know what he wanted to do after HS. Apprenticed himself to a master farrier and then had his own business, supplemented by ornamental iron work and iron furniture. Got tired of getting beat up by horses and decided to go back to school. Now a physician with his own clinic but doesn’t regret a minute of his “time-out.” (And can still weld like a pro.) I might need his contact info if some of my metal parts start to fail! 😁 |
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Post by Plainsman on Feb 25, 2021 10:33:36 GMT -5
Briarpipenyc, seems to me you learned the value of honest hard work. I agree with you, those were the days. I look at the next generation and IMO I have little-no faith in their abilities. Uh... what abilities would those be? |
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Post by urbino on Feb 25, 2021 19:44:33 GMT -5
This is a great time for a youngster to get a trade that pays...unfortunately most are too busy looking at their phone and want $20.00 an hour to start knowing nothing. U-R right. Too many young, entitled, "adults" continue to be supported and enabled by their parents. These perennial, Peter-Pans just never grow up. They never launch. However, some do manage to "get a life". ***************************************************************************** Hilarious..... When I was 16 years old, and my anticipated summer-vacation from school was only a few months away....mommy dearest told me...."Guess what? Summer's coming. If you think you're going to spent all summer sitting on your behind in front of a TV, you better think again! Go out and find yourself a job for the summer, and go to work. You're not gonna hang around the house and do nothing, or, I'll knock all your teeth out"!. I looked at her, and laughed in her face, but she meant every word. She wielded a heavy, 15" wooden-spoon when she needed to back up her warnings. She had absolutely no problems using it! If I objected to some of her "wooden discipling", she's hit me harder. If the spoon was out of reach, she'd pull my hair out by the roots. Things were different back then. I did a lot of running. So heeding her warnings, in 1966 I found a job, and busted my arse working in some hell-hole, bone-china warehouse, located on West 26th Street, down in lower Manhattan, NYC. I took home $56.00 for 35 hours of hard work. I was rich! I was 16 years old, and had money in my pocket!! Magical, shining times, for a young dope. I had to start working at 14. They don't even have to pay you mimimum wage at that age. I believe I was making $2.65/hr when I started. If that's off, it's not off by much. It was less than $3.00. But that's exactly the kind of thing American parents have always worked hard so their kids won't have to do. Most people want their kids to have a better/easier life than they did. I haven't seen the kind of millenials you guys are talking about. The youngsters we've hired in the last 15 years have been good workers. Or, at least, they weren't lazy in any greater proportion than previous generations. Most of the goldbricks I have to carry are mid-career. I suspect the biggest reason we see so many graduates living with their parents is the decades long trend of American wage stagnation. That plus most of the ones who went to college are living under a mountain of debt, and we've had two major economic nosedives in the past 15 years, making it hard to get work. We were in a recession when I graduated from college 30 years ago, so I know what that's like. You're all dressed up with no place to go. I was applying for jobs at Kinko's and getting turned down because they had stacks of resumes from people my parents' age who were out of work, too. It's actually harder for most of these kids to scrape together enough for a security deposit on an apartment than it was for their parents. And maybe even their parents. A down payment on a house is a far, far distant hope. I'm not saying there aren't any lazy kids out there. There are. But there always have been. I, personally, haven't seen any more of them in the current generation than I did in generations before. |
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Post by zambini on Feb 25, 2021 20:29:17 GMT -5
U-R right. Too many young, entitled, "adults" continue to be supported and enabled by their parents. These perennial, Peter-Pans just never grow up. They never launch. However, some do manage to "get a life". ***************************************************************************** Hilarious..... When I was 16 years old, and my anticipated summer-vacation from school was only a few months away....mommy dearest told me...."Guess what? Summer's coming. If you think you're going to spent all summer sitting on your behind in front of a TV, you better think again! Go out and find yourself a job for the summer, and go to work. You're not gonna hang around the house and do nothing, or, I'll knock all your teeth out"!. I looked at her, and laughed in her face, but she meant every word. She wielded a heavy, 15" wooden-spoon when she needed to back up her warnings. She had absolutely no problems using it! If I objected to some of her "wooden discipling", she's hit me harder. If the spoon was out of reach, she'd pull my hair out by the roots. Things were different back then. I did a lot of running. So heeding her warnings, in 1966 I found a job, and busted my arse working in some hell-hole, bone-china warehouse, located on West 26th Street, down in lower Manhattan, NYC. I took home $56.00 for 35 hours of hard work. I was rich! I was 16 years old, and had money in my pocket!! Magical, shining times, for a young dope. I had to start working at 14. They don't even have to pay you mimimum wage at that age. I believe I was making $2.65/hr when I started. If that's off, it's not off by much. It was less than $3.00. But that's exactly the kind of thing American parents have always worked hard so their kids won't have to do. Most people want their kids to have a better/easier life than they did. I haven't seen the kind of millenials you guys are talking about. The youngsters we've hired in the last 15 years have been good workers. Or, at least, they weren't lazy in any greater proportion than previous generations. Most of the goldbricks I have to carry are mid-career. I suspect the biggest reason we see so many graduates living with their parents is the decades long trend of American wage stagnation. That plus most of the ones who went to college are living under a mountain of debt, and we've had two major economic nosedives in the past 15 years, making it hard to get work. We were in a recession when I graduated from college 30 years ago, so I know what that's like. You're all dressed up with no place to go. I was applying for jobs at Kinko's and getting turned down because they had stacks of resumes from people my parents' age who were out of work, too. It's actually harder for most of these kids to scrape together enough for a security deposit on an apartment than it was for their parents. And maybe even their parents. A down payment on a house is a far, far distant hope. I'm not saying there aren't any lazy kids out there. There are. But there always have been. I, personally, haven't seen any more of them in the current generation than I did in generations before. Great point. I will also say that looking down on the young is no way to entice them. Building trades are very hierarchical and new workers are rarely taught or trained by people who actually know how to teach. On the job training can be a chore both for the guy who has to both do the job and train the new guy and for the guy paying both of them who's also on a time table. This is why, to my mind, a good company is one which can retain workers. Best builder I ever met was an Italian guy in Equatorial Guinea who over the course of two years managed to piss-off everyone he was meant to train. The day he retired the company realized no one was able to replace him which is only really due to his failure as a teacher and their failure to retain his apprentices. I do appreciate the modular certification model I've seen Germans use as it provides a good balance of on the job training, experimental testing and theoretical teaching. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 26, 2021 0:06:40 GMT -5
I started working when I was 8 putting out circulars for a penny a piece. When I was 12 I worked at the Boys Club, cleaning the swimming pool locker room and eventually managing the pool room, replacing tips on the cues and recovering the tables. When I was 14 I started working for my brother's inventory service. By the time I was 16 I was working 85 hours a week and by 18 over a hundred hours a week. I got into printing as an apprentice and made journeyman in 2 years instead of the regular four. I trained a bunch of apprentices over the next 20 years. Then computers killed the printing business and I got into selling computers. Went back to school and became a Certified Network Engineer on several operating systems. I do believe that the current generation isn't exactly lazy, but they rarely have the incentive to do whatever they have to do to make it.
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Post by trailboss on Feb 26, 2021 0:35:48 GMT -5
“ I got into printing as an apprentice and made journeyman in 2 years instead of the regular four. I trained a bunch of apprentices over the next 20 years. Then computers killed the printing business”
My brother in law got into printing right out of high school, was a stellar employee at Web Graphics in Wichita Ks. Rode that mule as far as he could and it all went bust. He is one of them guys that if I was rich, I would set him up.
The printing business really took a beating.
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Post by Goldbrick on Feb 26, 2021 3:07:03 GMT -5
I spent fifty years in the retail food industry. I started at a buck and a quarter in 1970 at age 16, got a bump to 1.50 in two weeks and a giant boost to 2.00 when I went full time. In 73 I hired on with Safeway ,and man ,I felt rich!
In 76 my Dad passed at age 56 and left me to care for my Ma. I don't remember ever thinking of a loan for collage, just work like hell and get ahead.
I know kids have a right to go to collage, but if you're going to finish up and start life with a mountain of debt ,perhaps a better look down the road might be in order.
My Niece, a healthy ,bright gal of thirty, lives in the shadow of long term debt for an art major, while she works as a front-end leader for Home Depot.
Nothing wrong with Home Depot, I worked retail for fifty years. The thing is I couldn't be cool and go to collage like my friends; if someone had told her that ,years ago, she'd be miles ahead now .
I have no problem with her schooling...the difference is I spent every vacation for at least twenty-five years working on a few rental houses I slowly collected, and she spends her vacations in England or France and comes home to wine to her Mom about collage debt and the fact that she can't get ahead.
and they call me Goldbrick!
Different times, different outlooks I guess...please excuse the ranting of the uneducated!
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Post by taiguy66 on Feb 26, 2021 8:06:31 GMT -5
I started working when I was 8 putting out circulars for a penny a piece. When I was 12 I worked at the Boys Club, cleaning the swimming pool locker room and eventually managing the pool room, replacing tips on the cues and recovering the tables. When I was 14 I started working for my brother's inventory service. By the time I was 16 I was working 85 hours a week and by 18 over a hundred hours a week. I got into printing as an apprentice and made journeyman in 2 years instead of the regular four. I trained a bunch of apprentices over the next 20 years. Then computers killed the printing business and I got into selling computers. Went back to school and became a Certified Network Engineer on several operating systems. I do believe that the current generation isn't exactly lazy, but they rarely have the incentive to do whatever they have to do to make it. Ron, I’m exhausted from just reading your bio! Very impressive! And I thought I had a busy life. |
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Post by taiguy66 on Feb 26, 2021 8:11:23 GMT -5
I spent fifty years in the retail food industry. I started at a buck and a quarter in 1970 at age 16, got a bump to 1.50 in two weeks and a giant boost to 2.00 when I went full time. In 73 I hired on with Safeway ,and man ,I felt rich! In 76 my Dad passed at age 56 and left me to care for my Ma. I don't remember ever thinking of a loan for collage, just work like hell and get ahead. I know kids have a right to go to collage, but if you're going to finish up and start life with a mountain of debt ,perhaps a better look down the road might be in order. My Niece, a healthy ,bright gal of thirty, lives in the shadow of long term debt for an art major, while she works as a front-end leader for Home Depot. Nothing wrong with Home Depot, I worked retail for fifty years. The thing is I couldn't be cool and go to collage like my friends; if someone had told her that ,years ago, she'd be miles ahead now . I have no problem with her schooling...the difference is I spent every vacation for at least twenty-five years working on a few rental houses I slowly collected, and she spends her vacations in England or France and comes home to wine to her Mom about collage debt and the fact that she can't get ahead. and they call me Goldbrick! Different times, different outlooks I guess...please excuse the ranting of the uneducated! Yes sir! My hats off to you Herbert. I don’t think you’re ranting at all. |
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Post by oldcajun123 on Feb 26, 2021 9:34:52 GMT -5
 Worked all my life, on Grandfathers farm, during high school unloaded fertilizer sacks in railroad cars weekends I worked at a service station washing cars, one weekend we washed 21 cars, that’s when a wash was really a wash, summer I got on a Doodle bug crew in Morgan City, that’s stringing out jugs for a sizematic crew and blasting recording vibrations looking for oil. Graduated early, skipped a grade, got in Navy as a kiddie cruiser, you got out a day before 21. Got into special 💩 because I could handle boats and speak french. Served in S Asia, then Norfolk Naval hospital as a patient. Got out a day before 21. Came home got a job at a local machine shop, it was for Steens syrup mill. Jumped to a job at Cabot Carbon working as relief opoerator, had to know 12 different jobs. Heard Exxon was looking for hands in Baton Rouge for refinery and chemical plant work. Took a test there in big auditorium with over 500 people, while taking the test had to 💩 so bad I flew thru the test, only 25 people passed the test, I always say the reason I got the job at Exxon was cause I was full of 💩. Worked 31 yrs 30 of them as a Supervisor, trained Kings of Saudi Ariba. Prime Minister of Japan’s Brother on how to run a plant. Got heart bypass, then Cancer, Retired a millionaire 2 times over. Then Sharks in a suit put me in a highly viotile investment and I lost 75% of my money, got together with 32 other Exxon hands and sued, but that’s another story. Had a rough time I Garronte!
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Post by taiguy66 on Feb 26, 2021 11:25:01 GMT -5
Worked all my life, on Grandfathers farm, during high school unloaded fertilizer sacks in railroad cars weekends I worked at a service station washing cars, one weekend we washed 21 cars, that’s when a wash was really a wash, summer I got on a Doodle bug crew in Morgan City, that’s stringing out jugs for a sizematic crew and blasting recording vibrations looking for oil. Graduated early, skipped a grade, got in Navy as a kiddie cruiser, you got out a day before 21. Got into special 💩 because I could handle boats and speak french. Served in S Asia, then Norfolk Naval hospital as a patient. Got out a day before 21. Came home got a job at a local machine shop, it was for Steens syrup mill. Jumped to a job at Cabot Carbon working as relief opoerator, had to know 12 different jobs. Heard Exxon was looking for hands in Baton Rouge for refinery and chemical plant work. Took a test there in big auditorium with over 500 people, while taking the test had to 💩 so bad I flew thru the test, only 25 people passed the test, I always say the reason I got the job at Exxon was cause I was full of 💩. Worked 31 yrs 30 of them as a Supervisor, trained Kings of Saudi Ariba. Prime Minister of Japan’s Brother on how to run a plant. Got heart bypass, then Cancer, Retired a millionaire 2 times over. Then Sharks in a suit put me in a highly viotile investment and I lost 75% of my money, got together with 32 other Exxon hands and sued, but that’s another story. Had a rough time I Garronte! Wow... heck of a life adventure! I can see a movie here. Yes, I’m being sincere. |
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Post by Plainsman on Feb 26, 2021 12:09:05 GMT -5
Since I stopped robbing trains my life would make a very boring movie.
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Worked all my life, on Grandfathers farm, during high school unloaded fertilizer sacks in railroad cars weekends I worked at a service station washing cars, one weekend we washed 21 cars, that’s when a wash was really a wash, summer I got on a Doodle bug crew in Morgan City, that’s stringing out jugs for a sizematic crew and blasting recording vibrations looking for oil. Graduated early, skipped a grade, got in Navy as a kiddie cruiser, you got out a day before 21. Got into special 💩 because I could handle boats and speak french. Served in S Asia, then Norfolk Naval hospital as a patient. Got out a day before 21. Came home got a job at a local machine shop, it was for Steens syrup mill. Jumped to a job at Cabot Carbon working as relief opoerator, had to know 12 different jobs. Heard Exxon was looking for hands in Baton Rouge for refinery and chemical plant work. Took a test there in big auditorium with over 500 people, while taking the test had to 💩 so bad I flew thru the test, only 25 people passed the test, I always say the reason I got the job at Exxon was cause I was full of 💩. Worked 31 yrs 30 of them as a Supervisor, trained Kings of Saudi Ariba. Prime Minister of Japan’s Brother on how to run a plant. Got heart bypass, then Cancer, Retired a millionaire 2 times over. Then Sharks in a suit put me in a highly viotile investment and I lost 75% of my money, got together with 32 other Exxon hands and sued, but that’s another story. Had a rough time I Garronte!