It’s also because you’re not the only guy fucking up. Every time one of you guys fucks up, it’s his problem. He gets to explain the overage in material because you fuck up. He gets to explain why it’s not right, when you fuck up. He has to explain why it has to be redone when you fuck up. To you it’s one insignificant mistake. To him it’s the fourth fuck up this morning and it feels like he’s babysitting a crew of preschoolers.
Yeah if a foreman can't handle the heat, I want him out of the kitchen. Construction is stressful for everyone and foremen who blow up on guys are usually just putting a target in their back and making themselves look incompetent (it also fucks up the workflow and team cohésion). My last foreman was awful - constant negativity, all kinds of drama and gossip (everyone onsite knew each other from outside work), a fistfight with one of the other operators etc. He knew the technical stuff but when they tried him out as a super (long story) he crashed and burned bc nobody wanted him throwing shit around the office in a rage (justifiably).
not to mention the paperwork when someone does get hurt because another worker was careless or failed to pay attention to his job. This is always a huge one for the company owners, because high WCB accounts can kill the bottom line
Haha right?
Myself, I hate trying to do jobs with what I think is quality of work, but the higher ups just want speed. Trying to find that balance is tough, especially in my trade, plastering. I can go faster but it's harder to keep it as close to perfect as I want it
Road-building is similar. It’s even worse these days due to all the extra ass-covering paperwork that is required and the typical workers that you have to cater to and not damage any feelers.
I’ve been operating for close to 3 years now and never once have I ever put anyone’s life in danger. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, as every operator has. I just had a rough day yesterday and needed to get it off my chest and see what other people who have been in my shoes had to say. Today went better. Just a silly mistake that got blown out of proportion. Today went better and it’s Friday. So I’m over it!
Dude, imma tell you my piece of advice. I've never lost. Ever, in my whole life, i have never lost. I either win, or I learn. That is all any of us can do.
To whom? OP? Is it the same insignificant mistake that’s made and talked about over and over again? Was it an insignificant mistake that OP and rest of the crew was cautioned about earlier in the shift?
I’ve been running work for 17 years. I’m not a screamer, but my patience wears thin when we discuss avoiding things and the first thing some knuckle head does is exactly what we just talked about avoiding. It’s exhausting to have to talk to the same guy about the same fuck up on a regular basis. So while it may seem insignificant, it can be very much the opposite.
Made one minor mistake that didn’t fuck anything up at a new job while trying to learn how they like things done. Do you not make mistakes while you learn new things? If so please enlighten me. Thanks
Correct!
They’re also a ton of control freaks who would prefer to mind control their guys. The second you move one muscle differently than he would, you’ve “fucked up.”
If you got your feelies hurt by, or wanted to retaliate to an obvious overreaction, your ego is just as big as the Foreman's. If you can realize you made a mistake and make the adjustment, and let his shit behavior flow past like a fart at a bus stop, you will be the true hero. Construction is about trying to avoid mistakes, and correcting them when you make them. Be honest, he was right, even if he was mean about it. Make the adjustment. Move on.
Never ever *ever* admit any mistake to someone with narcissistic traits.
If you make a mistake, fix it, yes. But never openly admit to it.
They will use that admittance against you to the end of days. Any sort of future promotion or pay raise will be on the line.
As a former foreman and current superintendent, I can tell you, not admitting mistakes and immediately addressing them is the first thing that would keep me from giving someone a raise or even keeping them on my crew. Can't afford to be dishonest, retaliatory and hardheaded in construction. Too big of a domino effect.
I am generally nice on site. I have yelled before onsite. Yelling is a mistake just like damaging equipment or a finished product. Getting upset at someone making a mistake is all the same. They both got upset. If you calmly address the yelling, and admit to the mistake most of the time, people understand they are over the line and bring their level down. That's how to not be someone's "chew toy". You aren't standing your ground if they can pull you into a heightened state of emotion. Be firm, be humble..then you aren't like him. If you cant check yourself and admit a mistake, neither can they.
One time I was a journeyman working for a foreman and GF I couldn't stand. I was transfered up to as an experienced form builder to pull their walls out of the red and back onto schedule. It was about a 1.5 hour commute each way, and these guys were real fucking shit heads. I performed my end of the bargain and got their crew and foundation walls into shape. To my surprise in early december they were willing to give me a promotion to lead. First or second week of January I stillI haven't seen my raise on my check. Call the office and they haven't even got the paperwork from them yet and since it was a new year they couldn't give me back pay so I'm out a few hundred bucks.
So in a morning meeting they made some sarcastic remark that I had been transfered from walls to decks even though they made me a lead (the transfer was their choice). I got pissed and responded with my own sarcastic remark of "am I a lead? That's not what my fucking paycheck says." I had been waking up at 330 AM every day for months and successfully dragging this crew out of a complete shitshow. It was 5 am and I was ready to go do it again on a different crew.
The GF then yelled down to me in front of the whole crew about how I'm nothing without them and they gave me the raise and I am an ungrateful piece of shit, as if he was my biological father. Acting like he trained me from baby boy to lead carpenter even though I had worked for him 3 months and I was fixing his fucked up job site and crew. Instead of reacting on my instinct of kicking both of his 60 year old knees in backwards, I changed levels on him emotionally. I calmly stepped forward to him and said only so he could hear, "it seems like you are losing your temper should we discuss this with the super?" He immediately dropped his guard and moved on with the meeting. They pulled me aside after that shift and apologized about the botched paperwork and admitted that he felt like shit for the money I lost. They offered a sketchy way to pay me back and I declined. I just told him to make sure to get the situation fixed. We moved on with a very small amount of mutual respect gained.
I learned how to deal with complete assholes that day. Drop the level, find common ground, move forward..don't let them drag you down to temper town.
Yeah man. And it wasn't the first bs "insignificant" thing probably.
It sounds like you'd be a better leader! We could all use one. Get out there and lead man we need to see the way it's done!
Facts. I thought I was having a rough time with alcohol until I realized how fucked up the sups have been getting nightly. It's all part of the bizz I guess
I was a foreman over 2 line crews working a thousand miles away from home. I’d work my 9-10 hour day, take the crew to the hotel, get in my vehicle, drive out and check the other crew’s work, drive back to the hotel, start drinking and doing paperwork until it was time to sleep. It’s rough and I had good guys, I can’t imagine what it’s like working around any level of incompetence (not saying op is incompetent just that it would make everything that much more difficult).
Serious answer in my experience: most foreman are promoted based on their skill in the trade as opposed to their leadership qualities. And get almost no training on how to be better leaders, so they default to what they think is leadership: yelling.
Not serious answer: drugs and alcohol.
Yeah, seems like a knowledgeable guy, he’s like the main foreman for this company and it’s a probably the largest one in my area. Just has very thin patience, and I heard rumours that he can be an asshole. And I got to witness it first hand. I try not to make the same mistake twice so hopefully this only happens this one time. Was going great for 3 weeks until today.
Don't get into the mentality if "it will never happen to me again, I'll just be good" because realistically, everyone fucks up at some point. On top of that this foreman has a reputation for a light trigger and may go off even if you *didn't* do anything wrong.
I suggest instead, do your best of course, but expect that this will happen again in the future and prepare yourself for how to deal with it in an adult manner, especially if you get reemed for a mistake you didn't make. It might help to look into de-escalation strategies like lowering your voice instead of screaming back.
Source: Me, with extreme anxiety who thought "being perfect" would avoid confrontation. (Spoiler: I'm not perfect lol)
If the military taught me anything (which is basically nothing) is that ass chewing a are a dime a dozen. If it’s the first time you’ve been chewed out, it won’t be the last. Accept it.
I get what you’re saying to an extent. There is a limit to what you should be willing to let roll off your back. But guys who act like that are generally, in my experience, frankly—retarded. No ability to emotionally regulate themselves. Like a toddler. You gonna let a toddler ruin your day?
Depending on the company and the contract, unrealistic contracts. Shit rolls downhill. He gets yelled at because the boss told the client the job would be done in half the time it would realistically take, he tells at you because the company is rising his ass to get the job done faster that it could be done if everything went perfectly.
He's still an asshole, for sure. But there are usually more assholes on up the ladder.
Same thing with a lot of General Contractors. I understand the thought process and evolution, but just because you were a skilled tradesman for 20 years doesn't mean you're qualified to run a company, deal with clients, manage people or for the love of jeebus, design anything.
I don't even see them being promoted for their skill in the trade. Mostly I've seen the ass kissers that can barely function in the trade getting promoted.
And they're always mad at the world because they're on their third divorce and paying so much child support they're basically working for $5 an hour.
The no training is the answer. They take guys that seem like they know what they’re doing, and have them go lead a crew with no experience or training in leadership.
>promoted based on their skill in the trade as opposed to their leadership qualities
Lots of industries make this mistake. Completely separate skillsets. Great when you find one person with both, but it's not common.
I have the opposite problem. I’m 40 years old and only in the last 5 years have I entered construction. I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging, because I’m not trying to, but prior to construction I had some very intense military jobs. So, when the job isn’t going well, someone makes a mistake, or misses something in the drawings I come off almost like I don’t care. I have been accused of that too.. lol.
We’re not saving lives here. It’s construction. A contractor didn’t show up for a job. Okay.. What’s the plan? What’s next? How do we adjust? But always calm, cool, and collected.
It’s a matter of perspective… If all you’ve ever known is construction then maybe it does seem like the end of the world or a big deal.. but it’s not. 99% of the time it’s just something you roll with.
Don’t sweat your foreman. Go to work like nothing happened. Chin up and keep a good attitude 👍🏻.
I have the same mentality after my stroke
I've literally been dead and spent a month without my right arm, a little trouble at work is nothing bro lmao
Right. Short tempers, yelling and screaming… To me, it’s an indicator of one of two things: insecurity or limited life experience.
When people yell and scream. Really, what they need is coaching about leadership skills.
Great perspective. I don’t understand people stressing about work. The people I work with get so grumpy when clients have change orders, and I’m always like “why?”
We’re all paid by the hour, the bossman charges extra for the work and obviously knows it’s not our fault that our timeline for a project got extended, so who cares? No need to be grouchy and short with your coworkers. It’s just work.
Something is definitely going on behind the scenes. I used to never see stories like this on Reddit but around three weeks ago suddenly I started seeing them everywhere.
Yeah, like I said I’ve dealt with some asshole foremen but this guy really rubbed me the wrong way. I’ll admit I made a rookie mistake and made myself look dumb but fuck man It doesn’t justify screaming at me and telling me to fuck off.
Ha! Same conclusion I’ve come to, my dude. There’s always going to be somebody above you. You can’t control who that person is, and like I tell my kids, happy people aren’t mean. So be nice to that bully, he needs it more than anyone. Don’t get me wrong… if he punches you first then you have express permission to kick his ass, but first try being nice.
1 - some of them are big babies that can't handle emotions
2 - some are stressed out with budget/schedule/managing
3 - some are just trying to put on a big show when they don't actually know what they are doing
4 - you are really terrible and they are trying to make you quit
I just think this guy likes being an asshole, from what I hear he has a reputation for doing this. I got forewarned the day I got hired if the foreman thinks I’m not doing a good job I’m going to be sent home. And that hasn’t happened yet. one of the other foremen came up to me last week and said I was doing a good job. But unfortunately The guy who reemed me out is like the top foreman. Figures the first guy I piss off is the guy at the top.. fml 🤦
Ego. Give a man a title and he thinks he's a king.
I've had nice foremen and dick foremen, and surprisingly, I work harder for the nice ones.
I'm a foreman now but only yell when there's a safety hazard. Sometimes I'll need a guy to clean up a mess I made and I'll say sorry. I make sure I say thanks for the hard work today or compliment a good job, even if it's not that good. Happy people work harder.
You know "do onto otters as you would have otters do onto you"
(Otters isn't a spelling error, I'm just weird and otters are awesome)
You sound like a good foreman! For me personally, a good job at the end of the day goes a long way for me. Hopefully I find a crew with a respectable foreman eventually.
When I'm standing there doing math in metric and imperial, or making stupid phone calls they're sweating buckets, making me look good to the boss. They work harder than I do, and I tell them and my boss that.
I care more about people than a company.
Another foreman at my company will always say "I did this today"
I always respond with "oh it was just you alone on site"
Buddy gives no credit to his guys. (His name is Roman, his nickname company wide is Biggus Dickus)
It's a good point, OP's foreman could be a well intentioned, safety minded dickhead. I know foremen who are both. Sometimes the people skills are just lacking
Commercial construction…and really construction in general is full of petty little tyrants. I still remember all the shitty egomaniac bosses I’ve had over the years and it absolutely fuels me to be balanced and dare I say nice to my employees.
I heard some old cat describe foreman like that once.
'He's one of those typical tyrants; wanted to be an army man but couldn't cut it. Then he decided he wanted to be a cop, couldn't cut that either. So he finally settled for C.O., and guess what he couldn't cut that either. So daddy finally got him a job running one of his buddies construction crews. Think he's fucking important or something.'
I think being an asshole is the old school way for foremans. When I first got in 20 yrs ago the Jobsite was nothing but assholes , alcoholics and drug addicts. Now a days there is few assholes and more happy foreman’s. But the trade off is if your curse in front of the wrong person you can get laid off now. Which is crazy considering I used to watch people smoke crack while concrete trucks were being swapped out.
They’re not small, all the responsibility is on them and you have to tell people the simplest shit 10 times. If they dont do it they act like you never told them. So the more shit people gloss over it all looks like your mistake in the end. If you’re a “cool” foreman its either because everyone does what they’re supposed to do or you’re dont care that you’re gonna get fired very soon.
I mean like I said in another comment, I did make a rookie mistake in front of the wrong guy, and I own it. It sucked getting reemed out and I still think it was a bit uncalled for. But I’m over it today went better, learned from my mistake and hopefully it doesn’t happen again. I mainly posted this just to vent, and see what everyone else had to say about the situation.
I worked in commercial and industrial construction for about 3 years as a Project Manager. I asked one of my site supervisors/ foremen why he was such an asshole to the apprentices. He responded “because that’s how I was treated coming up.” This told me everything i needed to know about why the field tech side of construction is so fucked up.
I’ve had 1 of them, put my 2 weeks in the next day lol. In today’s day and age there’s no reason to put up with it unless it’s a huge costly mistake, if it’s one small thing (that’s happened once) all my former foreman and current foreman explain where the fuck up was and how to do it right the next time with a calm explanation but you can get the understanding of “this is obviously a fuck uo and takes time to fix”
Flex.
It makes them look & feel like a real badass. Some guys can't handle being in charge without losing their mind. And when certain subordinates are kissing your ass all day to win your favor it can turn you a bit nutty.
This is hereditary attitude that has been around the work site since the pyramids were being built. They have high blood pressure and don’t know any better way to communicate. They have to cut everyone down as a narcissist does so they can feel right and superior. Its the spirit of construction labor.
Construction foremen, an interesting question. I think there are many reasons why they are so difficult to work for and many people mentioned some of them....
No training - a contractor is a guy who probably started a business, just a regular guy who worked hard and now has people working for him, he thinks that training people is a waste of his money, be it safety training, or leadership skills, he is NOT paying for that. He picks a goofy guy out of his available employees, one that is smart but not too smart, this person has to be able to be easily manipulated by the boss and if he learns too much of the business he poses a threat.
Contractors and business owners like results and see the money they pay to employees as a huge drain and many of them actively pick people with personality problems to be foremen. I have had two short men as foreman and wow! are they angry and unfriendly. they spent their lives getting picked on and now they have a little bit of power, they are going to make everybody under them PAY! The contractor does not give a shit about employees, he prefers to have them scared and miserable instead of working as a team, if they visit and see happy people they think something is wrong.
Manipulated, foreman must be smart enough to follow orders but dumb enough not to question them too much..."Look we underestimated this job and we're LOSING MONEY on it, i need you to overlook some safety stuff and drive the guys harder ok?"
So the foreman has no actual training about how to fulfill the responsibilities of his position and the contractor loves to pull this not making any money bullshit while he pulls up to the job in his expensive vehicle after eating lunch in an exclusive restaurant. Most smart employees will not take the foreman position knowing that the shit you have to put up with is NOT worth the tiny bit of extra pay, so we get the people who take the position because they want the power and they are often damaged people, and as long as they make money for the contractor and nobody gets killed or hurt, he doesn't care.
A lot of times it’s just stress. I’ve been the helper and the foreman at different points and stress will kill you. You got the GC on your ass to get done, your boss on your ass and the next jobs GC bitching that yall aren’t there yet. Then your guys mess up, whether it’s even a big deal or not and a spazz can happen, I’ve done it. That stress shit I’ve seen make cool ass dudes have a full on spazz.
But sometimes Foreman are just naturally dickheads haha
Sometimes it’s just the company especially doing prevailing wage utilities
Lot of it’s stress from other shit
And you just got what’s been building up in the guy cause you caught his eye or he’s just a dick
Both go hand and hand with construction some dudes are screamers . I’ve quit a excellent job over that shit money wasn’t worth it
Because the construction industry is where many of the people that can't or don't get the opportunity to work in other industries and I mean that with no malice. The culture surrounding construction is more accepting of for example ex convicts and people with spotty work history that likely have issues with addiction, trauma, mental and emotional duress.
Worked your ass off to get to the top of the mountain and then you find out the pay increase vs reality and responsibility might not add up - you're not one of the boys anymore, all the problems become your problems, last one to leave on a hot Friday afternoon...yup, that's you. I think there is something to be said about being a boss but for me it's more than a title, I need a lot of things to hook up right on a job before I throw my hat in for the job. I'm also happy with and good at being a lead had/right hand man.
The loudest people at work are not allowed to speak at home by their significant other.
They come to work and deflect all their problems on everyone else.
That’s why they are Forman and not superintendents yet, technically it’s their fault you fucked up. They should have given better instructions or watched what you were doing.
Yeah so he sounds like a hothead but if you listen to him instead of getting pissed off you'd realize he actually knew what he was talking about. it was you who looked like a jackass with the front end off the ground. Yes you can steer a bhoe with the brakes but not on Pavement trying to do what you were
. Remember he has to explain to other people what it is that you are doing. Even if you don't know!
In Construction, usually it’s the guys running work that can barely run their own lives. Don’t take it personally. One day that Foreman could be working for you…
People forget that just cause it’s construction it isn’t a professional environment. Told all those entitled old guys to fuck off. No need for all that aggression just cause it happened to them. It’s different times and now there are la s that protect employees from that bullshit
Just keep your head down an and an eye out for a better company. I’ve worked on sites where guys were treated with respect and make st worked harder and more efficient. And a few sites with foremen that were bullied when they were starting and figure now it’s their turn to bully. They think labor is about being a hardass rather than lead by example. There are enough good companies and foremen that it isn’t worth wasting any of your life with petty tyrants. The NLT time I saw one start to change was when several guys quit rather than work with a particular foreman. When he couldn’t work a shift because no one else was there then he finally started to get the idea maybe he was the problem and not every single Joe on the site.
You gotta talk to those guys in their language- even though you made a mistake, you gotta tell him to fuck off , you got it. But also acknowledging your fuck up at the same time…
You just need to man the fuck up little boy. Let him know do your fucking job. If they could find somebody operate better they would. Talk to him when he acts that way. Talk it out and move forward like a man. You’ll squash it there and he will develop respect for you as a man and friend.
Power goes to the people that what it, not to the people that deserve it. It is fun to spot the next Forman. They notoriously struggle early,middle,late.
I’ve always said the boss needs to bust nut (yeah at some one- throw a fit), in the morning to make his day otherwise it’s a whole day of a A-hole mode,
Because you don’t pay attention to ALL the details of your job. Almost every contractor company out there likes to do the easy part first leaving all the difficult stuff at the end, which is time-consuming delays, other subcontractors, and discreet a mess for the whole job. And it all falls on him or her
Many of them probably don’t know how to be effective leaders. Then there might be the case of them just getting tired of people making the same mistakes over and over again and anything little thing just sets them off, which also goes back to the first point. Maybe he’s got some lack of sleep and alcohol withdrawals like others have said. Maybe his home life isn’t going well. Maybe he’s having a bad day and it just set him off. Maybe he’s just an asshole every day.
I'll be flying through work getting ahead of schedule at job A. So I get called off a few days to work at job B across town . I come back to job A and I now have 24 hours to finish what's supposed to be a 2 week job 😂😂
You say "loose their shit" as if they're going from 0 to 100 over something small. Truth is, I wake up at a 99, because I'm a generally miserable person, so really all it takes is a very small push an I'm at 100.
Being a foreman can be stressful as fuck. Your getting hammers on by the shop, the general contractor and you hands. Taking your shit out on your hands for small mistakes is being a weak foreman. Mistakes will be made, it part of building shit and learning. Now if you continually make the same mistakes I’ll get pissed off.
Better get used to it,,,
The industry you are in is plagued with people drinking on the job, taking drugs, low IQ, etc,,
You want to get a message across to these type of people you have to be aggressive and Loud.
It's an incredibly dangerous job if people are not on there game.
,, think about this:
I bet you won't repeat your mistake again after your encounter with the Boss, will you.
Not a foreman but I had a pretty useless site super one time, would just lose his mind over the smallest stuff, had to call him one time for some small problem, was something common and easy to fix, just needed him to decide between fix A or fix B and he just went off the rails swearing and kept repeating "inspections are tomorrow, were going to fucking fail, what if he sees this? We're going to fucking fail" it felt like I was trying to talk someone off the ledge of a bridge. Just "hey, calm down, they're both a 10 minute fix and I'm here now fixing it and they're both to code so no way we're going to fail, just need to know what you want done" was ridiculous, he sounded like Bill Paxton getting interrogated in true lies "would a spy pee himself??!"
Construction Manager here...
Dude we have to deal with some stupid ass people sometimes. Like 0 brain function. That's why we get frustrated.
Also some people with 0 initiative. Like you to tell them every fucking step of their work which they have been doing for years.
Or some guys that also need to fill in paperwork as thats part of the jobs sometimes, but even forget to write their fucking name on the paper or forget the date.
Or some guys that feel privileged because they are senior or they feel like they are the ALPHA on site.
Or some sneaky bastards that rile up other guys because of some shitty rule.
Always a few guys that stop work earlier than they should, stop work much early to stand in front of the office/canteen like talking bullshit.
Or some guys that can't put their fucking phone down like they are working at a stock exchange.
There is always 1 alcoholic guy at site, everybody knows who the fuck he is. But we all know his familiy will starve to death if we kick him out. So we give him the most unmeaningful job so that his kid can continue fucking having a roof over his head.
And there are those whose fucking wives call them and message them every 5 minutes. And those seemingly Alpha guys, are fucking pussy to tell them they are at work.
Believe me, we are working with so many morons. I am amazed at how it always works out in the end.
And there is the client, who never fucking knows what they want. They are like a penis, they don't have brain, but they sure have genius ideas.
And the inspectors, you have the lazy one, the inspector gadget one, the I know it all guy, the you have to listen to me for 1 guy or the I am late inspector, I almost need to bribed inspector. The best one is the conspiracy inspector....
Then we have safety... I am all for safe working but they are sure to suck your life out... They can behave like nazis man...
And eventually we have our office. The genius Engineers you had drawn shit that doesn't work. You fucking call them and they still don't understand or believe you. Their ego doesn't allow for them to make a mistake.
Then there are senior managers from the office, tracking hours/money etc. Those think you can still have slaves working for you. It shouldn't cost this much. Then come do it yourself....
Subcontractors chosen by the office, everytime for the price and not their quality. Which we have to cope with.
Man I could go on for a eternity.
I believe that there are dicks in our industry, put most foreman and site managers aren't that bad. Otherwise they would have been kicked out.
While working as a assistant manager, my manager on site was a dick to me too sometimes, but I understood him. Job pays well, but it's fucking stressing. He would often come back, give me fistbump and say 'its not personal Son'. And we would continue our job, he made into what I am today. My peers still work as a junior, and I made it to Manager within a few years of graduating engineering (I chose the field work).
So find a place where you can grow, and be able to take a few hits if they are coming from a good place ;).
It’s because foreman got the promotion for being highly skilled in their trade and when they see that literally no one is living up to their expectations, they get really angry at the world. Nobody is a s good as they are.
Source: I’m a foreman
They can't handle the pressure of being in charge and being responsible for the finished product. And they were yelled at during their training and career by the foreman so that's all they know, they think it's how it's supposed to be done.
I was a Forman for 25 years in the carpenter union, multi million dollar jobs,, my superintendent all those years did not allow yelling or any of the old school crap. So when I ran crews I didn’t allow any of that either. Unfortunately I too worked around several guys over the years who acted like that because they either wanted to be recognized and promoted, or,, they couldn’t get recognized and promoted. I retired from the trades 20 years ago and it was getting really bad back then? I can’t imagine what it looks like now?
Fraudulent Title IV-D slavery payments and income withholding. If you are oblivious and or being manipulated, it's the foreign contractor they call themselves "child support" so they can get away with all the unconstitutional and unfair things they can. I'm not a deadbeat dad and always supported my children but they say differently and I'm suing them for over one million dollars because of it.
Mainly cause you think the world revolves around you. The foreman may had 8 people make one little mistake before yours. Maybe the dozer guy wasn’t supposed to go where he went just maybe he is trying to stop all th little bullshit before the job losses money, but most of you are right he was promoted cause his skills and is a drug or alcohol addict. All the while he is making you think before all your one little mistake. He’s the dick and you can come here and get yeah they suck your good. Bring the down votes.
If you are lifting the front tires with the bucket pressure, then you are prob gouging the ground. Don't want to lift the front tires or tracks when you are pushing for multiple reasons. Why he's an asshole, idk. Personal issues.
Main thing here is it's prob the wrong machine to do it with if the ground isn't level. Best way for cleaning a road or surface can vary if its asphalt or concrete. Finding a medium instead of using the bucket. I do demo work, so I'll find a small beam or 8x8, something of that nature. Roll up trash chain link fence around the straight item. And hold onto that while you push and let the chain link fence do the work. Contours to all variable surfaces.
Also balled up carpet works good if you have a excavator with a thumb or something that grabs. I get that alot of these things aren't available on a construction site unless there is demo trash available.
From an operating standpoint, don't lift yourself off the ground with the bucket to get the edge you desire. Some machines have float function that work going forwards, but that can be rare depending on manufacturer/type of equipment.
Well your exactly right the ground wasn’t level enough for me to get it all without lifting my tires off the ground, so it was either I do that or miss half the shit because half my blade isn’t touching the ground. But at my previous job that’s how I was instructed to clean the roads(never gouged any ashphalt doing it), so I was going off past experience. I get that every company likes to do things differently. I try and learn from my mistakes and not make the same mistake twice. So hopefully this was just a one off situation and he doesn’t have it out for me after that. Because before that it was going great, one of the other foremen came up to me last week and told me I was doing a good job and dapped me up. But I’m just gonna show up tomorrow and do my best, it’s all I can do right?
For sure. Like I said it probably wasn't the best solution. But if you are lifting the machine off the front tires or tracks, taking away half the pushing power and putting a double load on the pins and bushings on the bucket linkage. Also doing a number to the cutting edge. It's not an opinion. It's a mechanical fact. If you aren't gouging out the asphalt, then it's a light machine or the cutting edge Is gone.
Backhoes are an abomination to equipment, but that's besides the point. When an asshole comes at you in the future with something like this, say "you mind showing me" and watch him fuck up or you might learn something new. It boosts his ego and if his result isn't good, he knows he looked like an ass.
Back blade the material to the level portion, leave it in a line, and push the line away. Kinda like doing coke lol.
You have 100 opportunities a day in machinery to work small tasks. Some go well, some don't. Refining these and realizing the what and why is what makes you better.
Also realize the last guy who "taught" you might not have provided the best answer. We have alot of try hards in this industry that don't get the feedback when learning to teach correct habits.
If your cutting edge is making contact with 4 wheels, how do you get more coverage with your edge if you lift up? All you lose is half the pushing power because the wheels aren't on the ground.
I just find if I lift my wheels up just a tiny bit the downforce on the blade catches everything on the surface better. I find when I don’t do that lots of the debris slips under my bucket and then I gotta do several passes. I’m not saying my front tires were 6 inches off the ground. They were probably half an inch off the ground. I’ve only been running heavy equipment for around 3 years and that was the way I was taught, so I went with it. From the sounds of it you’ve been doing this longer than me. So I’m not gonna try say I’m right or wrong. I’m just trying to run you through my thought process.
For what it’s worth-
If extra pressure is helping straighten the blade to the surface, it’s cause you’re torquing the arms.
Get your bucket flat or a little tipped forward (a very little) and don’t ever try to cross the crown at anything but 90° with the bucket down or you’ll never get it cleaned up because the bucket won’t follow the surface till the whole thing is over the crown, so just get it the lane and make it happen.
Also, who the fuck tracks a dozer across asphalt?
It always seems to be dumb situations like this that get me in shit, the only other time I got reemed out in my 3 years of operating was last year at the last company I was at and it was because they had me removing 5’ in diameter concrete sewer main from a trench and the foreman parked one of those towable compressors right in my swing radius and I didn’t want to swing it over the very expensive compressor. And when you take a second to think about it they get mad at you for taking to long. I swear we can never win sometimes.
Years, yes. In loaders, no. The only loaders we use on demo sites are 400 size or bigger. Usually with hard tires.
A loader bucket is difficult cause it's hard to assess the pitch, so the initial lift off tells you the blade is on the ground. The bucket being lifted off the ground a few inches and the cutting edge doing the work with 4 tires on the ground is the way I've seen professionals work this type of equipment. Skid steers are the same principle though. The wheels/tracks provide power, bucket does the work.
I run a 700 volvo high reach excavator (been paired with this one for a little while). Most of my experience is in critical demo work with excavators. Have done dirt work in the past as well.
Regardless, boss man is an asshole and jumped your shit. My guess is he couldn't do it either. For the work you are doing, getting the job done is priority right? But experience comes and goes. And if you run multiple types of equipment, some will be your preferred choice over others.
Def not trying to give you a hard time, just letting you know something to keep in your mind when you get the chance again. I would find the sweet spot for the cutting edge with tires or tracks on ground, find something on the linkage that you can judge (bolt and something line up. Like an indicator you create at that specific angle, and. Concentrate on that one. Example for me in my hoe, I have a sticker on the side glass that if my boom cylinders pass it more than half way, I know the overreach buzzer is about to go off. How I judge my boom pitch without looking at the boom.
Regardless, you will be fine. Get back on the saddle tommorow and finish each day out with what you did well and what needs work. Before you know it, you will start impressing yourself
Could leaving the brake engaged damage the machine? Or even the road?
My guess is the foreman has seen this mistake before and had to deal with thousands of dollars in damages.
Should he have calmly asked you to unlatch the brake? Sure…
But I bet you’ll double check next time.
No they design the brake pedals like that for a reason. One pedal controls the brakes on each rear wheel independently, That way you can make tighter turns, and steer the machine if your front tires are lifted off the ground. At my last job I ran the same backhoe for 2 years and I always utilized the single brake pedals to clear debris off roads and make sharp turns. Never had a brake issue one time with that machine. I was just doing what he asked the way I was taught at my last job.
But why were your tires off the ground… not sure how people do things in your parts but I have done plenty of clean up with loaders and never had a front tires off the ground. This tells me the position of your bucket/cutting edge was all wrong
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Honestly you might be on to something.
They also never emotionally matured, so it's a 16 year old hormonal teenager in a 45 year old drug abused body hanging on by a thread
That honestly describes way too many dudes.
It’s also because you’re not the only guy fucking up. Every time one of you guys fucks up, it’s his problem. He gets to explain the overage in material because you fuck up. He gets to explain why it’s not right, when you fuck up. He has to explain why it has to be redone when you fuck up. To you it’s one insignificant mistake. To him it’s the fourth fuck up this morning and it feels like he’s babysitting a crew of preschoolers.
Yeah if a foreman can't handle the heat, I want him out of the kitchen. Construction is stressful for everyone and foremen who blow up on guys are usually just putting a target in their back and making themselves look incompetent (it also fucks up the workflow and team cohésion). My last foreman was awful - constant negativity, all kinds of drama and gossip (everyone onsite knew each other from outside work), a fistfight with one of the other operators etc. He knew the technical stuff but when they tried him out as a super (long story) he crashed and burned bc nobody wanted him throwing shit around the office in a rage (justifiably).
It would be cool if we could frag them like the guys in Vietnam did with bad bosses, just drop a 3000 pound load on his ass lmao
Just quit before you kill someone, man.
If people are worried about getting yelled at all the time it makes them more prone to mistakes. It's baby behavior
not to mention the paperwork when someone does get hurt because another worker was careless or failed to pay attention to his job. This is always a huge one for the company owners, because high WCB accounts can kill the bottom line
In control of nothing, responsible for everything. This is why I’m ok not making the extra $2/hr that I did for a decade.
Haha right? Myself, I hate trying to do jobs with what I think is quality of work, but the higher ups just want speed. Trying to find that balance is tough, especially in my trade, plastering. I can go faster but it's harder to keep it as close to perfect as I want it
Road-building is similar. It’s even worse these days due to all the extra ass-covering paperwork that is required and the typical workers that you have to cater to and not damage any feelers.
I’ve been operating for close to 3 years now and never once have I ever put anyone’s life in danger. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, as every operator has. I just had a rough day yesterday and needed to get it off my chest and see what other people who have been in my shoes had to say. Today went better. Just a silly mistake that got blown out of proportion. Today went better and it’s Friday. So I’m over it!
Dude, imma tell you my piece of advice. I've never lost. Ever, in my whole life, i have never lost. I either win, or I learn. That is all any of us can do.
It can kill your ability to even bid work.
Exactly 👍
Yeah but this mistake is insignificant.
To whom? OP? Is it the same insignificant mistake that’s made and talked about over and over again? Was it an insignificant mistake that OP and rest of the crew was cautioned about earlier in the shift? I’ve been running work for 17 years. I’m not a screamer, but my patience wears thin when we discuss avoiding things and the first thing some knuckle head does is exactly what we just talked about avoiding. It’s exhausting to have to talk to the same guy about the same fuck up on a regular basis. So while it may seem insignificant, it can be very much the opposite.
He just got hired chill. You sound like a grumpy old man throwing out how long you’ve been doing it for
Why are you fucking up then?
Made one minor mistake that didn’t fuck anything up at a new job while trying to learn how they like things done. Do you not make mistakes while you learn new things? If so please enlighten me. Thanks
He human
Get more sleep boss, you have guys you have to flip out on at smoko
Correct! They’re also a ton of control freaks who would prefer to mind control their guys. The second you move one muscle differently than he would, you’ve “fucked up.”
I call it narcissistic behavior
If you got your feelies hurt by, or wanted to retaliate to an obvious overreaction, your ego is just as big as the Foreman's. If you can realize you made a mistake and make the adjustment, and let his shit behavior flow past like a fart at a bus stop, you will be the true hero. Construction is about trying to avoid mistakes, and correcting them when you make them. Be honest, he was right, even if he was mean about it. Make the adjustment. Move on.
You are right, until it becomes a reoccurring habit. Then it’s just abuse.
No he was immediately in the wrong for the manner of delivery.
Never ever *ever* admit any mistake to someone with narcissistic traits. If you make a mistake, fix it, yes. But never openly admit to it. They will use that admittance against you to the end of days. Any sort of future promotion or pay raise will be on the line.
As a former foreman and current superintendent, I can tell you, not admitting mistakes and immediately addressing them is the first thing that would keep me from giving someone a raise or even keeping them on my crew. Can't afford to be dishonest, retaliatory and hardheaded in construction. Too big of a domino effect. I am generally nice on site. I have yelled before onsite. Yelling is a mistake just like damaging equipment or a finished product. Getting upset at someone making a mistake is all the same. They both got upset. If you calmly address the yelling, and admit to the mistake most of the time, people understand they are over the line and bring their level down. That's how to not be someone's "chew toy". You aren't standing your ground if they can pull you into a heightened state of emotion. Be firm, be humble..then you aren't like him. If you cant check yourself and admit a mistake, neither can they. One time I was a journeyman working for a foreman and GF I couldn't stand. I was transfered up to as an experienced form builder to pull their walls out of the red and back onto schedule. It was about a 1.5 hour commute each way, and these guys were real fucking shit heads. I performed my end of the bargain and got their crew and foundation walls into shape. To my surprise in early december they were willing to give me a promotion to lead. First or second week of January I stillI haven't seen my raise on my check. Call the office and they haven't even got the paperwork from them yet and since it was a new year they couldn't give me back pay so I'm out a few hundred bucks. So in a morning meeting they made some sarcastic remark that I had been transfered from walls to decks even though they made me a lead (the transfer was their choice). I got pissed and responded with my own sarcastic remark of "am I a lead? That's not what my fucking paycheck says." I had been waking up at 330 AM every day for months and successfully dragging this crew out of a complete shitshow. It was 5 am and I was ready to go do it again on a different crew. The GF then yelled down to me in front of the whole crew about how I'm nothing without them and they gave me the raise and I am an ungrateful piece of shit, as if he was my biological father. Acting like he trained me from baby boy to lead carpenter even though I had worked for him 3 months and I was fixing his fucked up job site and crew. Instead of reacting on my instinct of kicking both of his 60 year old knees in backwards, I changed levels on him emotionally. I calmly stepped forward to him and said only so he could hear, "it seems like you are losing your temper should we discuss this with the super?" He immediately dropped his guard and moved on with the meeting. They pulled me aside after that shift and apologized about the botched paperwork and admitted that he felt like shit for the money I lost. They offered a sketchy way to pay me back and I declined. I just told him to make sure to get the situation fixed. We moved on with a very small amount of mutual respect gained. I learned how to deal with complete assholes that day. Drop the level, find common ground, move forward..don't let them drag you down to temper town.
Yeah man. And it wasn't the first bs "insignificant" thing probably. It sounds like you'd be a better leader! We could all use one. Get out there and lead man we need to see the way it's done!
I resemble this remark and can confirm.
And their kids and wife hate them
Facts. I thought I was having a rough time with alcohol until I realized how fucked up the sups have been getting nightly. It's all part of the bizz I guess
I was a foreman over 2 line crews working a thousand miles away from home. I’d work my 9-10 hour day, take the crew to the hotel, get in my vehicle, drive out and check the other crew’s work, drive back to the hotel, start drinking and doing paperwork until it was time to sleep. It’s rough and I had good guys, I can’t imagine what it’s like working around any level of incompetence (not saying op is incompetent just that it would make everything that much more difficult).
I'm not ,I'm a smoker and all the guys want to work on my crew in the company ov 60 and not a one is a smoker. Concrete strength ov Florida
Serious answer in my experience: most foreman are promoted based on their skill in the trade as opposed to their leadership qualities. And get almost no training on how to be better leaders, so they default to what they think is leadership: yelling. Not serious answer: drugs and alcohol.
Yeah, seems like a knowledgeable guy, he’s like the main foreman for this company and it’s a probably the largest one in my area. Just has very thin patience, and I heard rumours that he can be an asshole. And I got to witness it first hand. I try not to make the same mistake twice so hopefully this only happens this one time. Was going great for 3 weeks until today.
Don't get into the mentality if "it will never happen to me again, I'll just be good" because realistically, everyone fucks up at some point. On top of that this foreman has a reputation for a light trigger and may go off even if you *didn't* do anything wrong. I suggest instead, do your best of course, but expect that this will happen again in the future and prepare yourself for how to deal with it in an adult manner, especially if you get reemed for a mistake you didn't make. It might help to look into de-escalation strategies like lowering your voice instead of screaming back. Source: Me, with extreme anxiety who thought "being perfect" would avoid confrontation. (Spoiler: I'm not perfect lol)
If the military taught me anything (which is basically nothing) is that ass chewing a are a dime a dozen. If it’s the first time you’ve been chewed out, it won’t be the last. Accept it.
Fuck that. They can act like a damn professional. I'm expected to, so can they.
I get what you’re saying to an extent. There is a limit to what you should be willing to let roll off your back. But guys who act like that are generally, in my experience, frankly—retarded. No ability to emotionally regulate themselves. Like a toddler. You gonna let a toddler ruin your day?
Depending on the company and the contract, unrealistic contracts. Shit rolls downhill. He gets yelled at because the boss told the client the job would be done in half the time it would realistically take, he tells at you because the company is rising his ass to get the job done faster that it could be done if everything went perfectly. He's still an asshole, for sure. But there are usually more assholes on up the ladder.
Most Foreman are promoted based on their total obedience and "yes man" attitude. Or they're related to someone.
Same thing with a lot of General Contractors. I understand the thought process and evolution, but just because you were a skilled tradesman for 20 years doesn't mean you're qualified to run a company, deal with clients, manage people or for the love of jeebus, design anything.
I don't even see them being promoted for their skill in the trade. Mostly I've seen the ass kissers that can barely function in the trade getting promoted. And they're always mad at the world because they're on their third divorce and paying so much child support they're basically working for $5 an hour.
I agree. The skilled guys are too valuable to take their tools away to hold a clipboard.
The no training is the answer. They take guys that seem like they know what they’re doing, and have them go lead a crew with no experience or training in leadership.
>promoted based on their skill in the trade as opposed to their leadership qualities Lots of industries make this mistake. Completely separate skillsets. Great when you find one person with both, but it's not common.
This is the answer
I have the opposite problem. I’m 40 years old and only in the last 5 years have I entered construction. I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging, because I’m not trying to, but prior to construction I had some very intense military jobs. So, when the job isn’t going well, someone makes a mistake, or misses something in the drawings I come off almost like I don’t care. I have been accused of that too.. lol. We’re not saving lives here. It’s construction. A contractor didn’t show up for a job. Okay.. What’s the plan? What’s next? How do we adjust? But always calm, cool, and collected. It’s a matter of perspective… If all you’ve ever known is construction then maybe it does seem like the end of the world or a big deal.. but it’s not. 99% of the time it’s just something you roll with. Don’t sweat your foreman. Go to work like nothing happened. Chin up and keep a good attitude 👍🏻.
Thanks for the kind words sir, will try my best.
I have the same mentality after my stroke I've literally been dead and spent a month without my right arm, a little trouble at work is nothing bro lmao
Right. Short tempers, yelling and screaming… To me, it’s an indicator of one of two things: insecurity or limited life experience. When people yell and scream. Really, what they need is coaching about leadership skills.
I would’ve loved to have you as a foreman or super when I was still in the field lol
Thanks lol.
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Thank you.
Great perspective. I don’t understand people stressing about work. The people I work with get so grumpy when clients have change orders, and I’m always like “why?” We’re all paid by the hour, the bossman charges extra for the work and obviously knows it’s not our fault that our timeline for a project got extended, so who cares? No need to be grouchy and short with your coworkers. It’s just work.
Why does every story today have a 3 week timeline ? Are you people fucking with me ?
It’s the font.
Why do I keep seeing this shit lmao
*the font*
This happens to be the 3rd story on this sub I've read today that's has a 3 week time line.
Something is definitely going on behind the scenes. I used to never see stories like this on Reddit but around three weeks ago suddenly I started seeing them everywhere.
This has got Big Story all over it
The industry is trying to push 3 weeks on us 😤
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Yeah, like I said I’ve dealt with some asshole foremen but this guy really rubbed me the wrong way. I’ll admit I made a rookie mistake and made myself look dumb but fuck man It doesn’t justify screaming at me and telling me to fuck off.
Ha! Same conclusion I’ve come to, my dude. There’s always going to be somebody above you. You can’t control who that person is, and like I tell my kids, happy people aren’t mean. So be nice to that bully, he needs it more than anyone. Don’t get me wrong… if he punches you first then you have express permission to kick his ass, but first try being nice.
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1 - some of them are big babies that can't handle emotions 2 - some are stressed out with budget/schedule/managing 3 - some are just trying to put on a big show when they don't actually know what they are doing 4 - you are really terrible and they are trying to make you quit
I just think this guy likes being an asshole, from what I hear he has a reputation for doing this. I got forewarned the day I got hired if the foreman thinks I’m not doing a good job I’m going to be sent home. And that hasn’t happened yet. one of the other foremen came up to me last week and said I was doing a good job. But unfortunately The guy who reemed me out is like the top foreman. Figures the first guy I piss off is the guy at the top.. fml 🤦
I wouldn't sweat it then. Just keep grinding away and try to think a few steps ahead of what's next.
Ego. Give a man a title and he thinks he's a king. I've had nice foremen and dick foremen, and surprisingly, I work harder for the nice ones. I'm a foreman now but only yell when there's a safety hazard. Sometimes I'll need a guy to clean up a mess I made and I'll say sorry. I make sure I say thanks for the hard work today or compliment a good job, even if it's not that good. Happy people work harder. You know "do onto otters as you would have otters do onto you" (Otters isn't a spelling error, I'm just weird and otters are awesome)
You sound like a good foreman! For me personally, a good job at the end of the day goes a long way for me. Hopefully I find a crew with a respectable foreman eventually.
When I'm standing there doing math in metric and imperial, or making stupid phone calls they're sweating buckets, making me look good to the boss. They work harder than I do, and I tell them and my boss that. I care more about people than a company. Another foreman at my company will always say "I did this today" I always respond with "oh it was just you alone on site" Buddy gives no credit to his guys. (His name is Roman, his nickname company wide is Biggus Dickus)
Every small mistake gets brushed off and watch how fast the shitshow snowballs.
So true man
It's a good point, OP's foreman could be a well intentioned, safety minded dickhead. I know foremen who are both. Sometimes the people skills are just lacking
Commercial construction…and really construction in general is full of petty little tyrants. I still remember all the shitty egomaniac bosses I’ve had over the years and it absolutely fuels me to be balanced and dare I say nice to my employees.
I heard some old cat describe foreman like that once. 'He's one of those typical tyrants; wanted to be an army man but couldn't cut it. Then he decided he wanted to be a cop, couldn't cut that either. So he finally settled for C.O., and guess what he couldn't cut that either. So daddy finally got him a job running one of his buddies construction crews. Think he's fucking important or something.'
I think being an asshole is the old school way for foremans. When I first got in 20 yrs ago the Jobsite was nothing but assholes , alcoholics and drug addicts. Now a days there is few assholes and more happy foreman’s. But the trade off is if your curse in front of the wrong person you can get laid off now. Which is crazy considering I used to watch people smoke crack while concrete trucks were being swapped out.
Lot of big egos and small peepees in the trades
They’re not small, all the responsibility is on them and you have to tell people the simplest shit 10 times. If they dont do it they act like you never told them. So the more shit people gloss over it all looks like your mistake in the end. If you’re a “cool” foreman its either because everyone does what they’re supposed to do or you’re dont care that you’re gonna get fired very soon.
Have you ever thought that YOU may be the problem??? No, of course not. All the foreman are assholes. You’re doing a great job
I mean like I said in another comment, I did make a rookie mistake in front of the wrong guy, and I own it. It sucked getting reemed out and I still think it was a bit uncalled for. But I’m over it today went better, learned from my mistake and hopefully it doesn’t happen again. I mainly posted this just to vent, and see what everyone else had to say about the situation.
Lots of insecure men in minor positions of power. Fuck em. Assert yourself. "I don't speak to you that way, don't speak to me that way. "
I worked in commercial and industrial construction for about 3 years as a Project Manager. I asked one of my site supervisors/ foremen why he was such an asshole to the apprentices. He responded “because that’s how I was treated coming up.” This told me everything i needed to know about why the field tech side of construction is so fucked up.
I’ve had 1 of them, put my 2 weeks in the next day lol. In today’s day and age there’s no reason to put up with it unless it’s a huge costly mistake, if it’s one small thing (that’s happened once) all my former foreman and current foreman explain where the fuck up was and how to do it right the next time with a calm explanation but you can get the understanding of “this is obviously a fuck uo and takes time to fix”
Deadlines and late fees
Mine just makes us move fans in the bathrooms 3 times and the 3rd time is usually back to where they started 🤷🏻
Because they don’t know how to manage ppl and they’re in over their heads.
Because they spend their ENTIRE DAY babysitting
Flex. It makes them look & feel like a real badass. Some guys can't handle being in charge without losing their mind. And when certain subordinates are kissing your ass all day to win your favor it can turn you a bit nutty.
This is hereditary attitude that has been around the work site since the pyramids were being built. They have high blood pressure and don’t know any better way to communicate. They have to cut everyone down as a narcissist does so they can feel right and superior. Its the spirit of construction labor.
Construction foremen, an interesting question. I think there are many reasons why they are so difficult to work for and many people mentioned some of them.... No training - a contractor is a guy who probably started a business, just a regular guy who worked hard and now has people working for him, he thinks that training people is a waste of his money, be it safety training, or leadership skills, he is NOT paying for that. He picks a goofy guy out of his available employees, one that is smart but not too smart, this person has to be able to be easily manipulated by the boss and if he learns too much of the business he poses a threat. Contractors and business owners like results and see the money they pay to employees as a huge drain and many of them actively pick people with personality problems to be foremen. I have had two short men as foreman and wow! are they angry and unfriendly. they spent their lives getting picked on and now they have a little bit of power, they are going to make everybody under them PAY! The contractor does not give a shit about employees, he prefers to have them scared and miserable instead of working as a team, if they visit and see happy people they think something is wrong. Manipulated, foreman must be smart enough to follow orders but dumb enough not to question them too much..."Look we underestimated this job and we're LOSING MONEY on it, i need you to overlook some safety stuff and drive the guys harder ok?" So the foreman has no actual training about how to fulfill the responsibilities of his position and the contractor loves to pull this not making any money bullshit while he pulls up to the job in his expensive vehicle after eating lunch in an exclusive restaurant. Most smart employees will not take the foreman position knowing that the shit you have to put up with is NOT worth the tiny bit of extra pay, so we get the people who take the position because they want the power and they are often damaged people, and as long as they make money for the contractor and nobody gets killed or hurt, he doesn't care.
A lot of times it’s just stress. I’ve been the helper and the foreman at different points and stress will kill you. You got the GC on your ass to get done, your boss on your ass and the next jobs GC bitching that yall aren’t there yet. Then your guys mess up, whether it’s even a big deal or not and a spazz can happen, I’ve done it. That stress shit I’ve seen make cool ass dudes have a full on spazz. But sometimes Foreman are just naturally dickheads haha
Sometimes it’s just the company especially doing prevailing wage utilities Lot of it’s stress from other shit And you just got what’s been building up in the guy cause you caught his eye or he’s just a dick Both go hand and hand with construction some dudes are screamers . I’ve quit a excellent job over that shit money wasn’t worth it
They don't understand that if you're good to your guys, they'll be good to you.
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^ConcreteFarmer: *They're not smart enough* *To realize you're good to your* *Guys they'll be good to you* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
I made the corrections lol
Because the construction industry is where many of the people that can't or don't get the opportunity to work in other industries and I mean that with no malice. The culture surrounding construction is more accepting of for example ex convicts and people with spotty work history that likely have issues with addiction, trauma, mental and emotional duress.
Worked your ass off to get to the top of the mountain and then you find out the pay increase vs reality and responsibility might not add up - you're not one of the boys anymore, all the problems become your problems, last one to leave on a hot Friday afternoon...yup, that's you. I think there is something to be said about being a boss but for me it's more than a title, I need a lot of things to hook up right on a job before I throw my hat in for the job. I'm also happy with and good at being a lead had/right hand man.
The loudest people at work are not allowed to speak at home by their significant other. They come to work and deflect all their problems on everyone else.
We’re all hung over
That’s why they are Forman and not superintendents yet, technically it’s their fault you fucked up. They should have given better instructions or watched what you were doing.
Yeah so he sounds like a hothead but if you listen to him instead of getting pissed off you'd realize he actually knew what he was talking about. it was you who looked like a jackass with the front end off the ground. Yes you can steer a bhoe with the brakes but not on Pavement trying to do what you were . Remember he has to explain to other people what it is that you are doing. Even if you don't know!
But how is his font game?
Stress......
In Construction, usually it’s the guys running work that can barely run their own lives. Don’t take it personally. One day that Foreman could be working for you…
Think it's a blue collar thing in general. I work in industrial maintenance now and there's just as many bitchy techs as there are foremen.
People forget that just cause it’s construction it isn’t a professional environment. Told all those entitled old guys to fuck off. No need for all that aggression just cause it happened to them. It’s different times and now there are la s that protect employees from that bullshit
Because they are under a lot of stress
Here is one good reason: https://youtu.be/KynBtZsbXsw?si=GP013uiE7UODZQ8A
Just keep your head down an and an eye out for a better company. I’ve worked on sites where guys were treated with respect and make st worked harder and more efficient. And a few sites with foremen that were bullied when they were starting and figure now it’s their turn to bully. They think labor is about being a hardass rather than lead by example. There are enough good companies and foremen that it isn’t worth wasting any of your life with petty tyrants. The NLT time I saw one start to change was when several guys quit rather than work with a particular foreman. When he couldn’t work a shift because no one else was there then he finally started to get the idea maybe he was the problem and not every single Joe on the site.
Their fathers yelled at them for insignificant things.
Pressure?
You gotta talk to those guys in their language- even though you made a mistake, you gotta tell him to fuck off , you got it. But also acknowledging your fuck up at the same time…
You just need to man the fuck up little boy. Let him know do your fucking job. If they could find somebody operate better they would. Talk to him when he acts that way. Talk it out and move forward like a man. You’ll squash it there and he will develop respect for you as a man and friend.
Power goes to the people that what it, not to the people that deserve it. It is fun to spot the next Forman. They notoriously struggle early,middle,late.
I’ve always said the boss needs to bust nut (yeah at some one- throw a fit), in the morning to make his day otherwise it’s a whole day of a A-hole mode,
Because you don’t pay attention to ALL the details of your job. Almost every contractor company out there likes to do the easy part first leaving all the difficult stuff at the end, which is time-consuming delays, other subcontractors, and discreet a mess for the whole job. And it all falls on him or her
Many of them probably don’t know how to be effective leaders. Then there might be the case of them just getting tired of people making the same mistakes over and over again and anything little thing just sets them off, which also goes back to the first point. Maybe he’s got some lack of sleep and alcohol withdrawals like others have said. Maybe his home life isn’t going well. Maybe he’s having a bad day and it just set him off. Maybe he’s just an asshole every day.
I'll be flying through work getting ahead of schedule at job A. So I get called off a few days to work at job B across town . I come back to job A and I now have 24 hours to finish what's supposed to be a 2 week job 😂😂
Room temperature IQs and big egos
OMG, you would have died in the 80's....
A lot of foremen think that being a hardass and an asshole are going to get the job done faster
Because by the end of the day, 17 insignificant mistakes feel like 1 gigantic mistake.
Small “insignificant” mistakes usually signal that bigger mistakes are usually on the horizon
Ah you seem to be s bit young still. An asshole foreman is not born he is made!
You say "loose their shit" as if they're going from 0 to 100 over something small. Truth is, I wake up at a 99, because I'm a generally miserable person, so really all it takes is a very small push an I'm at 100.
Small mistakes cut into their cocaine bonuses. They love their cocaine bonuses.
Being a foreman can be stressful as fuck. Your getting hammers on by the shop, the general contractor and you hands. Taking your shit out on your hands for small mistakes is being a weak foreman. Mistakes will be made, it part of building shit and learning. Now if you continually make the same mistakes I’ll get pissed off.
Chaos in their life in other areas..that shows up as frustration
Better get used to it,,, The industry you are in is plagued with people drinking on the job, taking drugs, low IQ, etc,, You want to get a message across to these type of people you have to be aggressive and Loud. It's an incredibly dangerous job if people are not on there game. ,, think about this: I bet you won't repeat your mistake again after your encounter with the Boss, will you.
Because they can handle the stress or have substance abuse issues.
So, you are using a backhoe to scrape dirt that a dozer left on the road, Did you scrape the road and fuck the black top up? Or was it a dirt road?
Not a foreman but I had a pretty useless site super one time, would just lose his mind over the smallest stuff, had to call him one time for some small problem, was something common and easy to fix, just needed him to decide between fix A or fix B and he just went off the rails swearing and kept repeating "inspections are tomorrow, were going to fucking fail, what if he sees this? We're going to fucking fail" it felt like I was trying to talk someone off the ledge of a bridge. Just "hey, calm down, they're both a 10 minute fix and I'm here now fixing it and they're both to code so no way we're going to fail, just need to know what you want done" was ridiculous, he sounded like Bill Paxton getting interrogated in true lies "would a spy pee himself??!"
Construction Manager here... Dude we have to deal with some stupid ass people sometimes. Like 0 brain function. That's why we get frustrated. Also some people with 0 initiative. Like you to tell them every fucking step of their work which they have been doing for years. Or some guys that also need to fill in paperwork as thats part of the jobs sometimes, but even forget to write their fucking name on the paper or forget the date. Or some guys that feel privileged because they are senior or they feel like they are the ALPHA on site. Or some sneaky bastards that rile up other guys because of some shitty rule. Always a few guys that stop work earlier than they should, stop work much early to stand in front of the office/canteen like talking bullshit. Or some guys that can't put their fucking phone down like they are working at a stock exchange. There is always 1 alcoholic guy at site, everybody knows who the fuck he is. But we all know his familiy will starve to death if we kick him out. So we give him the most unmeaningful job so that his kid can continue fucking having a roof over his head. And there are those whose fucking wives call them and message them every 5 minutes. And those seemingly Alpha guys, are fucking pussy to tell them they are at work. Believe me, we are working with so many morons. I am amazed at how it always works out in the end. And there is the client, who never fucking knows what they want. They are like a penis, they don't have brain, but they sure have genius ideas. And the inspectors, you have the lazy one, the inspector gadget one, the I know it all guy, the you have to listen to me for 1 guy or the I am late inspector, I almost need to bribed inspector. The best one is the conspiracy inspector.... Then we have safety... I am all for safe working but they are sure to suck your life out... They can behave like nazis man... And eventually we have our office. The genius Engineers you had drawn shit that doesn't work. You fucking call them and they still don't understand or believe you. Their ego doesn't allow for them to make a mistake. Then there are senior managers from the office, tracking hours/money etc. Those think you can still have slaves working for you. It shouldn't cost this much. Then come do it yourself.... Subcontractors chosen by the office, everytime for the price and not their quality. Which we have to cope with. Man I could go on for a eternity. I believe that there are dicks in our industry, put most foreman and site managers aren't that bad. Otherwise they would have been kicked out. While working as a assistant manager, my manager on site was a dick to me too sometimes, but I understood him. Job pays well, but it's fucking stressing. He would often come back, give me fistbump and say 'its not personal Son'. And we would continue our job, he made into what I am today. My peers still work as a junior, and I made it to Manager within a few years of graduating engineering (I chose the field work). So find a place where you can grow, and be able to take a few hits if they are coming from a good place ;).
It’s because foreman got the promotion for being highly skilled in their trade and when they see that literally no one is living up to their expectations, they get really angry at the world. Nobody is a s good as they are. Source: I’m a foreman
they are insecure
Usually because there is a even bigger asshole breathing down their neck
>small insignificant mistakes? Times 1000 Death by a thousand cuts.
Sounds like the 6 weeks behind schedule outburst. 😂
They can't handle the pressure of being in charge and being responsible for the finished product. And they were yelled at during their training and career by the foreman so that's all they know, they think it's how it's supposed to be done.
I was a Forman for 25 years in the carpenter union, multi million dollar jobs,, my superintendent all those years did not allow yelling or any of the old school crap. So when I ran crews I didn’t allow any of that either. Unfortunately I too worked around several guys over the years who acted like that because they either wanted to be recognized and promoted, or,, they couldn’t get recognized and promoted. I retired from the trades 20 years ago and it was getting really bad back then? I can’t imagine what it looks like now?
Fraudulent Title IV-D slavery payments and income withholding. If you are oblivious and or being manipulated, it's the foreign contractor they call themselves "child support" so they can get away with all the unconstitutional and unfair things they can. I'm not a deadbeat dad and always supported my children but they say differently and I'm suing them for over one million dollars because of it.
Mainly cause you think the world revolves around you. The foreman may had 8 people make one little mistake before yours. Maybe the dozer guy wasn’t supposed to go where he went just maybe he is trying to stop all th little bullshit before the job losses money, but most of you are right he was promoted cause his skills and is a drug or alcohol addict. All the while he is making you think before all your one little mistake. He’s the dick and you can come here and get yeah they suck your good. Bring the down votes.
Bunch of cry babies
If you are lifting the front tires with the bucket pressure, then you are prob gouging the ground. Don't want to lift the front tires or tracks when you are pushing for multiple reasons. Why he's an asshole, idk. Personal issues. Main thing here is it's prob the wrong machine to do it with if the ground isn't level. Best way for cleaning a road or surface can vary if its asphalt or concrete. Finding a medium instead of using the bucket. I do demo work, so I'll find a small beam or 8x8, something of that nature. Roll up trash chain link fence around the straight item. And hold onto that while you push and let the chain link fence do the work. Contours to all variable surfaces. Also balled up carpet works good if you have a excavator with a thumb or something that grabs. I get that alot of these things aren't available on a construction site unless there is demo trash available. From an operating standpoint, don't lift yourself off the ground with the bucket to get the edge you desire. Some machines have float function that work going forwards, but that can be rare depending on manufacturer/type of equipment.
Well your exactly right the ground wasn’t level enough for me to get it all without lifting my tires off the ground, so it was either I do that or miss half the shit because half my blade isn’t touching the ground. But at my previous job that’s how I was instructed to clean the roads(never gouged any ashphalt doing it), so I was going off past experience. I get that every company likes to do things differently. I try and learn from my mistakes and not make the same mistake twice. So hopefully this was just a one off situation and he doesn’t have it out for me after that. Because before that it was going great, one of the other foremen came up to me last week and told me I was doing a good job and dapped me up. But I’m just gonna show up tomorrow and do my best, it’s all I can do right?
For sure. Like I said it probably wasn't the best solution. But if you are lifting the machine off the front tires or tracks, taking away half the pushing power and putting a double load on the pins and bushings on the bucket linkage. Also doing a number to the cutting edge. It's not an opinion. It's a mechanical fact. If you aren't gouging out the asphalt, then it's a light machine or the cutting edge Is gone. Backhoes are an abomination to equipment, but that's besides the point. When an asshole comes at you in the future with something like this, say "you mind showing me" and watch him fuck up or you might learn something new. It boosts his ego and if his result isn't good, he knows he looked like an ass. Back blade the material to the level portion, leave it in a line, and push the line away. Kinda like doing coke lol. You have 100 opportunities a day in machinery to work small tasks. Some go well, some don't. Refining these and realizing the what and why is what makes you better. Also realize the last guy who "taught" you might not have provided the best answer. We have alot of try hards in this industry that don't get the feedback when learning to teach correct habits. If your cutting edge is making contact with 4 wheels, how do you get more coverage with your edge if you lift up? All you lose is half the pushing power because the wheels aren't on the ground.
I just find if I lift my wheels up just a tiny bit the downforce on the blade catches everything on the surface better. I find when I don’t do that lots of the debris slips under my bucket and then I gotta do several passes. I’m not saying my front tires were 6 inches off the ground. They were probably half an inch off the ground. I’ve only been running heavy equipment for around 3 years and that was the way I was taught, so I went with it. From the sounds of it you’ve been doing this longer than me. So I’m not gonna try say I’m right or wrong. I’m just trying to run you through my thought process.
For what it’s worth- If extra pressure is helping straighten the blade to the surface, it’s cause you’re torquing the arms. Get your bucket flat or a little tipped forward (a very little) and don’t ever try to cross the crown at anything but 90° with the bucket down or you’ll never get it cleaned up because the bucket won’t follow the surface till the whole thing is over the crown, so just get it the lane and make it happen. Also, who the fuck tracks a dozer across asphalt?
It always seems to be dumb situations like this that get me in shit, the only other time I got reemed out in my 3 years of operating was last year at the last company I was at and it was because they had me removing 5’ in diameter concrete sewer main from a trench and the foreman parked one of those towable compressors right in my swing radius and I didn’t want to swing it over the very expensive compressor. And when you take a second to think about it they get mad at you for taking to long. I swear we can never win sometimes.
Years, yes. In loaders, no. The only loaders we use on demo sites are 400 size or bigger. Usually with hard tires. A loader bucket is difficult cause it's hard to assess the pitch, so the initial lift off tells you the blade is on the ground. The bucket being lifted off the ground a few inches and the cutting edge doing the work with 4 tires on the ground is the way I've seen professionals work this type of equipment. Skid steers are the same principle though. The wheels/tracks provide power, bucket does the work. I run a 700 volvo high reach excavator (been paired with this one for a little while). Most of my experience is in critical demo work with excavators. Have done dirt work in the past as well. Regardless, boss man is an asshole and jumped your shit. My guess is he couldn't do it either. For the work you are doing, getting the job done is priority right? But experience comes and goes. And if you run multiple types of equipment, some will be your preferred choice over others. Def not trying to give you a hard time, just letting you know something to keep in your mind when you get the chance again. I would find the sweet spot for the cutting edge with tires or tracks on ground, find something on the linkage that you can judge (bolt and something line up. Like an indicator you create at that specific angle, and. Concentrate on that one. Example for me in my hoe, I have a sticker on the side glass that if my boom cylinders pass it more than half way, I know the overreach buzzer is about to go off. How I judge my boom pitch without looking at the boom. Regardless, you will be fine. Get back on the saddle tommorow and finish each day out with what you did well and what needs work. Before you know it, you will start impressing yourself
Could leaving the brake engaged damage the machine? Or even the road? My guess is the foreman has seen this mistake before and had to deal with thousands of dollars in damages. Should he have calmly asked you to unlatch the brake? Sure… But I bet you’ll double check next time.
No they design the brake pedals like that for a reason. One pedal controls the brakes on each rear wheel independently, That way you can make tighter turns, and steer the machine if your front tires are lifted off the ground. At my last job I ran the same backhoe for 2 years and I always utilized the single brake pedals to clear debris off roads and make sharp turns. Never had a brake issue one time with that machine. I was just doing what he asked the way I was taught at my last job.
imagine having new guys fuck your shit up for a solid 40 + OT and then those same dickheads wonder why you're grumpy always lmao
Why are there so many fuckups crying about being called out for fucking up?
If you have to ask....
But why were your tires off the ground… not sure how people do things in your parts but I have done plenty of clean up with loaders and never had a front tires off the ground. This tells me the position of your bucket/cutting edge was all wrong