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View Full Version : Saboteurs!....Trikefest Blues



ironchop
06-12-2015, 12:00 PM
So since Ive been on 70+hour weeks for three weeks now, I have had no time to do anything to my trikes.

TRistans needs jetted....no big deal, its very close anyway

My trike has no rearend at all on it, forks half off, parts that still haven't arrived, tools got borrowed and not returned, son is busy getting laid and not helping at all, have NOTHING packed or even herded into the loading dock, all gas cans empty, son spent his trip money (probably on chicks), half my wiring harness is missing and the rest isn`t connected anywhere, battery box not installed or wired. I could go on and on and on.

So now I have to run by the bank by 5 so need to leave work at four. SO in walks owner and tells us there`s and emergency job that takes a lathe op and then a mill op and that he wants it tomorrow morning so we would have to work late to get it done. He doesn`t tell anyone else. Just myself and my buddy. Why? because we are always the two that come thru I guess. He says either stay late tonight or work tomorrow. I can`t work tomorrow. I have to spend ALL WEEKEND in the shop in order to get all this back together and running good by NEXT SUNDAY when we leave. Now in the machining and fabricating world "emergency job" really means "I fancy myself and my job more important than even Jesus" "I, like many ebay users and most Millenials, EXPECT immediate and instant service such as I receive at the drive thru window of Wendy`s, my pharmacy, and the liquor store where my laziness is rewarded by having someone bring my booze to me so that I`m not inconvenienced by having to exit my car and actually LOOK for the product myself".....I`m not surprised how we are a nation of fat asses considering how very little a lot of people are willing to do to help themselves.

Its always the same crybaby story about how if he can`t get a four hour turn around time, his business will absolutely fold up after five hours and that they are "losing a half million dollars every hour" which is another common lie told by customers. When I started machining in 1989, you had a 4-6 week lead time. Same as ordering something through the mail..."allow 4-6 weeks for delivery"you were lucky if you got the parts machined by six weeks. Nowadays, people cry, snivel, manipulate, and lie until they are catered to. Today, I have to find a way to cut these "emergency" throttle plates for Quick Fuel because drag race mechanics with terrible time-management skills deserve 24 hr turnaround, got an emergency water treatment facility part, a metric crap ton of chicken hooks for Perdue needed "right now" and lord knows what else. Fridays are usually very bad days here because there is ALWAYS one or two "special little snowflakes" whom think that since they got participation trophies in elementary school, they deserve the same considerations one would give an ambulance on a two-lane highway where everyone gets over and lets them to the front of the line. The REALY messed up part is meeting the deadline only to visit the plant a few MONTHS later and see your "hot job" laying and gathering dust on a desk somewhere because they LIED about needing it so soon just so we would drop everyone else`s work and finish them so they would have an INVENTORY OF SPARES!!!!

Most big plants couldn`t effectively manage a taco Bell. Operating and Investment capital insures a steady stream of revenue so that these plants don`t have to be efficient or hire proficient employess or even train the ones who are not. They don`t care if cheap unskilled and incompetent labor is the reason all their equipment is torn up. Who needs to hire more qualified people when you can just spend EVEN MORE money having the local shop drop its entire customer list to fix what your "everybody is special and talented" Human Resource managers are responsible for by hiring every snowflake that can fill out an application both illegibly and incompletely. Don't know Engrish? That's OK, we will read it to you because your are special and deserve everyone`s support and consideration despite your open refusal to LEARN ANYTHING yourself to accommodate the needs of your employer....because Utopian Ideology.

this is common practice among customers these days.....claim it`s an emergency so you can get your stuff moved to the front nd get it back faster even though you don`t actually need it, you`re just a liar.....like the cat who had me machine and weld a set of crazy wheels for his zero turn mower. He claimed he was "going to lose a bunch of contracts if I can`t get them today" (it was Friday @ noon) so we talked him into getting them Saturday morning as we were piled up with "hot" jobs. I came in on a Saturday while my wife was decorating for my son`s bday party to get this jackwad his stupid lawn mower wheels so he could "continue to feed my family" (at the expense of mine apparently)....got done with them at 11am from 5am.....all four sets.

He never came back to pick them up.....for 8 months.....despite the fact that he was obviously "losing contracts" and "can`t feed my family"

We called numerous times with no answer until we threatened to throw his parts out for scrap if he didn't come back and pay us and pick them up. He finally showed up and was miffed we bothered him like that. In his Reality, as in the case of so many others, nothing and nobody takes precedent over yet another Johnny-come-lately "landscaping" ("yard mowing and weedeating") company and it`s meth addicted or undocumented employees.

Now, my wife insisists I need to mow the yard this weekend and next so it doesn't get all grown up while we are away.....it takes two and a half hours to mow my big ass yard.....there goes five hours of trike working time I can`t get back. That's ok whatever I can do so that my sweet baby can sit inside in the AC and read the latest passive-aggressive ramblings of preteen and post teen females in ALL social media, reading creative and outright stupid memes on Facebook, or lookup ten ways to recycle a tampon applicator on Pinterest.

between these two separate entitities, I`m gonna end up blowing up and actin a fool and someone`s getting hurt feelings and it wont be me.

Perhaps I should lock myself in the garage, not show up for work, burn one, and STFU until I get it all done....MARATHON STYLE!

rant over.

Im gonna be there sometime that week even if the only ride I finished was an inner tube to got floating with.

ironchop
06-12-2015, 12:06 PM
I guess I could call in to work sick with Mono or something all next week before my vacation and be a stay-at-home-triker/fixer

MIK6
06-12-2015, 12:15 PM
Just call in 2 a eye issue... tell them you just cant see your ass coming in!! Lol

Just think about how nice and relaxing TF will be once you get there!

atctim
06-12-2015, 01:41 PM
I sure hope I get some "hang time" with you this year Iron-Chop. I don;t think I got to meet you last year, but from your posts, you seem like a most interesting fellow with very like minded ideas and ideologies as myself. Take a deep breathe this weekend and tell yourself you'll get thru it. Been there done that for the previous last 9 years going to TF. This year I said F it. I'm going to have a relaxing TF and month leading up to it.

fieldy
06-12-2015, 01:41 PM
Priceless slice of your life this week Ironchop! Sorry but that rigamarole story cheered me up, thanks. Remember there's positive and negative to everything (except social media). You're about ready to go off and I am LMAO about it.
You guys should charge a "rush price" ($$$.$$) for them "special ones".

My grandpa told me one yesterday after I was saying the fiancee and I were working more than we were working at work. He said "My dad used to give us all a talk about the things that us kids needed to get done. Then he would say to us "just do those things while you're resting" I told him that one made my day! Peace!

jb2wheels
06-12-2015, 02:26 PM
They don't pay in advance for rush jobs or hot jobs? Even partial or setup costs? Damn. That sucks.

I remember Friday rush jobs... when I was a gold bar 2LT USAF engineer working in a flight line maintenance unit. My team got the escalations - the POS jobs that couldn't be sorted out through regular means.
Seems those jobs always came in on Friday afternoon after sitting on a shelf all week and we'd get stuck working the weekend on something we could have knocked out earlier in the week. My captain finally told me not to answer the phones after lunch on Fridays.

ironchop
06-12-2015, 03:21 PM
no, we triple the shop fee for rush jobs. Especially if we get called in on a holiday or a Sunday.

unfortunately, as with all things American, there`s always one fella who just wants HIS problem fixed and doesn`t care what it costs everyone else. It`s not his money being spent anyway even though he is authorizing the PO number which will be used to get them to cut us a check for the work.

Like Obamacurr, the people saying "yes" and signing checks are not the ones who hold the actual account or have anything to lose technically or economically.

This is why this has not become the deterrent we thought it would be.

and by "filling out apps both illegibly and incompletely" I mean this example from Monday:

Applicant Name:

Last First MI

"tony" "tony" "N/A"

so I guess his real name is Tony N/A Tony

that's what he put down.....even funnier? He had put me down as a reference because he had worked for me at another company four yrs ago.....because he had no idea I worked here before he showed up. The phone number he put down for me was nowhere even close.... I had written him up twice in three months for his stupid antics there. I HATE writing ppl up....it`s "highschool principle`s office" type nonsense and adults should be above that.....or so I thought

86T3
06-12-2015, 11:26 PM
Ironchop, I'll buy you a beer as soon as I roll in tuesday afternoon. But, till then, keep working to pay the bills, show no mercy to the squirrel who isn't gathering nuts for winter(he'll be a better person for ite), and try your best to relax. I've had a terrible week, been out of town since last friday, have 2 trikes in various stages of disassembly, spent too much money getting my rv ready, but you know what? I don't care one bit. I've elevated myself to a new level, trikefest isn't about trikes anymore, it's about seeing my old friends and making new ones. Even if I have to traverse haspin on my (gasp!) feet, I'm gonna relax and enjoy the company. I wish you nothing but the best of luck for this week, and if you don't get your stuff ready we can walk around together

clmeue37
06-13-2015, 12:17 PM
Just call in 2 a eye issue... tell them you just cant see your ass coming in!! Lol

Just think about how nice and relaxing TF will be once you get there!

Where I work that illness is commonly referred to as "anal glaucoma". Keep your chin up chop!

fabiodriven
06-13-2015, 02:51 PM
Joe and Doug, you both know there will be more than enough machines there for you.

ironchop
06-13-2015, 08:26 PM
I'll have a running trike. It just might not have headlights again this year.

Had a real productive day.

New tires...on
New hubs ...on
New sprocket...on
New chain...on
New stainless rear brake line....on
New skid plate...on
Revalved and rebuilt shock...on
Modified chain adjusters... on
Muffler mount...fixed
All swingarm beatings cleaned and greased
And its only 730pm

I got all day tomorrow and some of tonight to get my wiring harness back together with the new segments, drop a jetting change in the carb and test run, put a new galfer brake line on the front. Might tear my forks down for a service too

MIK6
06-13-2015, 09:58 PM
Ive still got a ton to do! Each T3 still missing 1 part.. i cant button up 1 bike. Lol
87mod need a rear sprocket, shipped waiting to get here. 86 needs rear pads, shipped. 87 stock need shock put in and fenders mounted, shock being rebuilt mon or tues..
350x, Bigred and 87SX need baths..
Them got to decide what to fill trailer w.. lmao

86T3
06-13-2015, 11:59 PM
If your brake pads don't come in mike I have a couple used sets with plenty of life left. Just let me know and i'll bring them

MIK6
06-14-2015, 07:51 AM
If your brake pads don't come in mike I have a couple used sets with plenty of life left. Just let me know and i'll bring them

Thanks joe.. throw them in w ya..
Ill pull that bike off the bench and call it TF ready.. lol
It has the +2 swinger on it w the new 20in fasttreckers on beadlocks now. And has a mounted set of zippers for drag day!
Thanks man!

CRAZY70MAN
06-20-2015, 06:52 AM
I am still around. See you and porkchop next Thursday!! What a crazy arss year??? Tighten your skirt up.....lol......

ironchop
06-20-2015, 11:50 AM
Oh I got this.

I got ALL that work done at the job shop PLUS slammed out a couple jobs EXTRA just so everyone knows who the Alpha Machinist is up at the shop AND I'm getting both trikes all wrapped up in time for leaving tomorrow.... Monday at the latest.

Then a short four hour drive.....jerk stuff out of the van and then shift, gas, shift, gas, shift, gas FOR A WHOLE WEEK.

BOOYAH!