Climber Interviews, OMG!

[pdqdl]

"Do you have a drivers license" is my #1 screening question. No DL, no job application. End of job interview.

I have found that if a prospective employee can't keep a drivers license, they can't keep a job, either. So many of the traits necessary to keep a DL are the same ones you need to keep a job, so I let the Mo (or Ks) State Dept. of Revenue do my initial job screening.

Even if the prospective employee would never need to drive a company truck.

Heck, even if they live next door to my shop, and they are only going to be office help: NO drivers license, no can hire!!

 

[fishercat]

I have worked for an owner ................

of a tree company once that didn't have a drivers licence.

Bastard had the nerve to ask me if I had one!

:biggrinbounce2:

 

[ropensaddle]

of a tree company once that didn't have a drivers licence.

Bastard had the nerve to ask me if I had one!

:biggrinbounce2:

He wanted a chauffeur lol.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I guess if you want people to work hard for 10 bucks an hour, you have to scrape the barrel, even in today's economy.

 

[sgreanbeans]

:agree2:

 

[banshee67]

of a tree company once that didn't have a drivers licence.

Bastard had the nerve to ask me if I had one!

:biggrinbounce2:

we have one like that around here, he is notorious around town for being a derelict , every guy on his crew is 40+,long hair, black jeans, big black boots, tatoos, chains, bandannas, all that. except for the driver usually, who will be a younger kid, and have the only licensee on the crew, they drive an old red f350 dump body and have a big skull with horns of some type strapped to the roof of the truck in front of the chip box, its pretty funny, my old boss worked for them for a while climbing and driving. said none of them had licenses for years, they hire a new guy every couple months to drive the truck and be their chauffeur untill he cant take it and quits. he told me hed get suckered into driving him around after work all the time, say theyd finish a job around 5, he wouldnt make it home till 8-9pm after running errands , then taking them to the bar to "eat" after then dropping them off.. the guys wife would give my buddy #### for not bringing him home after work and driving them all to the bar. the guy rented a 8-10" chipper for years upon years before he bought one, i imagine he could have bought several by then.. you see where this is going..we worked in the same neighborhoods as them a few times, and my boss was still friendly with them after climbing for him for a couple years, they sure were a motley crew these guys

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

We got a guy who is in jail because he was coming up to women, telling them they had a tick on their back, then pull their pants down a smidge and touch them "got it!"

The last time he did it he had a company shirt or jacket, and drove off in a company truck

To bad Young Nick is not here to tell about one of his bosses up in Green Lake, Dave R. told me a while back he got busted driving his bucket truck DUI. One time he bailed from a car and ran off, the cops (small town) just went to his house to wait for him. One of the regular workers asked Nick if he "indulged" as he lit a spleef

 

[jefflovstrom]

We got a guy who is in jail because he was coming up to women, telling them they had a tick on their back, then pull their pants down a smidge and touch them "got it!"

The last time he did it he had a company shirt or jacket, and drove off in a company truck

To bad Young Nick is not here to tell about one of his bosses up in Green Lake, Dave R. told me a while back he got busted driving his bucket truck DUI. One time he bailed from a car and ran off, the cops (small town) just went to his house to wait for him. One of the regular workers asked Nick if he "indulged" as he lit a spleef

Dang dude, do you have alot of time on your hands , or what? LOL.
Jeff - Love your posts!

 

[BC WetCoast]

Most working stiff tree men don't really want that but then you do have to think about the aging body too! I have two proctors to draw info from but really any info I need is in my personal library. I have a strong grasp of the biology end and am going to take the test to put the icing on the cake soon. I really need work on species out of the norm and fertilization and disease which is a fairly broad spectrum that I have to look up when needed but I want it to roll off the tongue or in other word not have to look it up. I do admit; knowing where to find the info and admitting you don't know an answer, may well be acceptable in our field but at a personal level is unacceptable. I want to know it without looking the info up! I know I make it harder than it has to be but I want to be what the title represents"arborist".

You're gonna have to have an AWESOME memory and recall if you want to know everything and not have to look anything up. Just try reading the research articles in the Journal of Arboriculture (or whatever they call it now) and then see how much you can recall. If you're like most of us older folk (just turned 53), you won't be able to retain much. I find when I'm consulting, it's easier to tell the client you aren't sure, that it could be a couple of things, and that you will get back to them. Most people understand that you can't know everything. I worked with a salesman who acted like he knew everything, talked to the customers like he knew everything (and they believed him due to the confidence in which he talked), but when you went out with him, you quickly figured out he was blowing smoke up your ass.

I came into this industry from the industrial forestry consulting field. The only way you could know everything was to have a VERY narrow focus, so the broader your knowledge the less you know about every topic.

 

[tree md]

We got a guy who is in jail because he was coming up to women, telling them they had a tick on their back, then pull their pants down a smidge and touch them "got it!"

The last time he did it he had a company shirt or jacket, and drove off in a company truck

To bad Young Nick is not here to tell about one of his bosses up in Green Lake, Dave R. told me a while back he got busted driving his bucket truck DUI. One time he bailed from a car and ran off, the cops (small town) just went to his house to wait for him. One of the regular workers asked Nick if he "indulged" as he lit a spleef

In tears... Nothing more I can say....

Sounds about right... Greenhorn driving, climber riding shotgun and owner is in the bar...

 

[newsawtooth]

Yup specimen specific codit is one thought I have but more importantly to my goal is; where will the growth go after I cut this limb,twig,branch or even bud! Does pruning the apical bud cause growth to be invigorated elsewhere in the tree? I say yes momentarily until the new apical bud dominates growth again. How can I use this to my advantage? If I thin the top will I create more lower growth through photo tropism and should I. How much inner growth is there, is it a healthy balance. ?These are some of the questions I ask myself before cutting or pruning begins!

You're just joshing us aren't ya, Rope? You already took the test and passed with ruminations like this.

 

[ropensaddle]

You're just joshing us aren't ya, Rope? You already took the test and passed with ruminations like this.

No sir, I have not and while quite comfy with biology of trees, I have deficiencies in other areas of the test matter. I could likely cram and pass in a few days but the cost involved have kept me at bay for now.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

No sir, I have not and while quite comfy with biology of trees, I have deficiencies in other areas of the test matter. I could likely cram and pass in a few days but the cost involved have kept me at bay for now.

Same here, I have always been disappointed in the level of knowledge needed for the cert; so I have never seriously pursued it. I can remeber 10-15 years ago saying if they came out with a valid Masters program I would go for it, but i do not have time to go for the CA which is needed to go for the BCMA. Maybe later on in my school experiance, I'll be 50 before i get my degree the way I'm going.

 

[ropensaddle]

Same here, I have always been disappointed in the level of knowledge needed for the cert; so I have never seriously pursued it. I can remeber 10-15 years ago saying if they came out with a valid Masters program I would go for it, but i do not have time to go for the CA which is needed to go for the BCMA. Maybe later on in my school experiance, I'll be 50 before i get my degree the way I'm going.

JPS you will get there, I have read and learned from many of your posts. I have witnessed your determination and understand the difficulty of obtaining a degree after 40. I may attempt the feat myself, if I can get bills within easy maintenance. I may just remain self taught and service my clients too though. I will make the decision when the time comes it will be age 50 before I am semi out of debt!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

JPS you will get there, I have read and learned from many of your posts. I have witnessed your determination and understand the difficulty of obtaining a degree after 40. I may attempt the feat myself, if I can get bills within easy maintenance. I may just remain self taught and service my clients too though. I will make the decision when the time comes it will be age 50 before I am semi out of debt!

It is one off those things that you have to make time for, because there is always something to cause an excuse not to. I started feeling my age in my joints and my disabilities are making things worse as the years go by, so I finally looked into VA and WDVA grant programs.

When i first went back I took one class a semester, just to start reforming the study habits; then built up to 3 per week.

It is fun and stimulating, though the math was a brass plated bee-itch. If you want to do it, start now, a little at a time.

 

[ropensaddle]

It is one off those things that you have to make time for, because there is always something to cause an excuse not to. I started feeling my age in my joints and my disabilities are making things worse as the years go by, so I finally looked into VA and WDVA grant programs.

When i first went back I took one class a semester, just to start reforming the study habits; then built up to 3 per week.

It is fun and stimulating, though the math was a brass plated bee-itch. If you want to do it, start now, a little at a time.

Sounds like great advice and higher level math is very hard for me but then so is the job we chose lol. Lucky for me I have friends and family who are great with math to learn from. I may check into the grant as; I want no part of student loans.

 

[pdqdl]

"Do you have a drivers license" is my #1 screening question. No DL, no job application. End of job interview.

I recently broke my rule on this topic, since one of my biggest customers referred a young man to me for hire. He was a cemetary manager of 11 cemetaries, so I had good reason to not wish to irritate him. It turns out the kid was son of the guy doing all the mowing at the cemetary, and had supposedly been banned from one site for saying something he shouldn't. 18 year old kid with no drivers license.

We put him on our lawn crew, with the understanding that he didn't need any training with a string trimmer, and that getting a DL would add to his payscale. Big mistake: I fired him after two weeks for going too slow on the job.

His father, the manager of the mowing crew, picked up his last paycheck. We discussed why he got fired, and he admitted that he had already told the boy that if he couldn't move faster, that no one would keep him.

Just another reminder: if they can't get/keep a drivers license, they probably can't keep a job, either.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I recently broke my rule on this topic, since one of my biggest customers referred a young man to me for hire. ... Big mistake: I fired him after two weeks for going to slow on the job.

That was not a mistake, it was customer maintenance. You might have looked even better with them if you had given the kid a few more strikes.

 

[pdqdl]

I don't think so. The kid had apparently been told that you can get away with anything at my company.

The last day that he worked, I checked up on the lawn crew that he was on. They had TWO guys on string trimmers for just one guy on a riding mower. The commercial walk behind mowers were parked on the trailer.

I told them that it was unacceptable that it would take two guys to string trim for only one mower. The other guys reported that he went even slower after my conversation, and they asked me to get rid of him.

I think my customer may have a slightly higher opinion of me now, since he may now believe that I have performance standards that I expect employees to meet. He is a pretty shrewd manager, and certainly understands firing folks for poor performance.

 

[jefflovstrom]

"Do you have a drivers license" is my #1 screening question. No DL, no job application. End of job interview.

I have found that if a prospective employee can't keep a drivers license, they can't keep a job, either. So many of the traits necessary to keep a DL are the same ones you need to keep a job, so I let the Mo (or Ks) State Dept. of Revenue do my initial job screening.

Even if the prospective employee would never need to drive a company truck.

Heck, even if they live next door to my shop, and they are only going to be office help: NO drivers license, no can hire!!

Pretty much say's it.
Jeff