Strength of your groundie

[ropensaddle]

I want a rope running, brush draggin,wood splittin and humpin at times robot lol. It's ok if I have to do the thinking for him However if looking to train a climber that 125 lb brainiac with good tude has promise"just saying"

 

[ropensaddle]

no, you want both in one guy.
I have a half dozen+ young men who all just graduated high school with my son, (who's an excellent rope/saw man in training) and these guys are all jocks who are going to college next year, and it plain amazing what they can do when motivated. a couple of them move wood out I dont even want to roll over...

don't accept attitude, morons or scrawny specimens on your job, the potential for getting hurt is too high, AND YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!!!!

Hmm move wood you don't wanna roll over huh? Ok scrawny beat it :monkey:

 

[KenJax Tree]

I would keep him,its not his fault he's little maybe his parents are midgets. Just because he's weak doesn't mean he should lose his job,attitude and work ethnic outweight his size. Its easy get stronger but its hard to change a bad attitude,laziness,or fix stupid.

 

[Typhke]

Some extra info could be useful:
How long has he been working with you guys?
How is his overall progress and in strength?
Why did he get the job in the first place if he is too scrawny? Hard to fire him now for something you knew from the start...

 

[Toddppm]

One day when moving rounds to the fire wood pile he was loading into a wheel barrow. He soon came over to me and asked if he could rake instead because he could only push one round with in the wheelbarrow, of course I said sure and took over. I was able to fill the wheelbarrow with five rounds to his one.

Has he done this more than once? I don't know if I'd keep him if he gave up that easily, should have kept humping and shut up.

 

[StrataTree]

just worked out what 125lbs is in English, bloody hell, is that all of him? I've got 40lbs on him and I thought I was skinny, no wonder he can't move a half full barrow. Feed him well and work him hard. Can he hold up a saw?

Probably not...maybe a 200t

 

[ropensaddle]

Way back in the day I myself was 125 Lbs like in my 20s. I however could lift more than my weight but I also was best suited in the trees. We had plenty meat heads 250 lb fatty's lol. Since them days I have filled in too much so I went on a diet and lost 30 lbs as 200 lbs was too much for me. Anyway if he will always be a groundy your gonna have to tell him he will need to beef up.

 

[HuskStihl]

I'm pretty weak, none too smart, and scared of heights. I can start work tomorrow if needed!

 

[RDAA]

I have a guy that helps me he is a BEAST! Sophomore college offensive lineman, that's probably about 6'4" and 315-320lbs. He is an awesome worker. I have a 6" chipper and he will literally crush some of the Y's in the brush to feed it through the chipper instead of cutting them. He is damn near a chipper feeding machine. He is also great at one handing limbs while running the port a wrap. He can damn nears do what two guys can do. But I wouldn't trust him with a chainsaw,skid or any other equipment are his downfalls, but he still could be taught.

 

[no tree to big]

Tell him to come here and hell have a job cause i hate raking! Ill drag brush all day then hump out wood all night Then ill ##### and moan and find something else to do so i dont have to rake... Ive given some nice discounts to cheap ass homeowners so i didnt have to rake...

 

[stumper120]

We have this guy working with out crew as a new groundy. So far he has had a great attitude, runs to fill saws and other similar task, he gets along well with the crew, seems like he has good common sense, and is eager overall to learn. But. . . . . he is really lacking muscle mass. While the rest of us are dragging large piles to the chipper he is struggling with a few branches. One day when moving rounds to the fire wood pile he was loading into a wheel barrow. He soon came over to me and asked if he could rake instead because he could only push one round with in the wheelbarrow, of course I said sure and took over. I was able to fill the wheelbarrow with five rounds to his one.

Overall we really like him but a full summer of picking up his slack will surely add up and may cause some frustration down the road. We are hoping that if he is given a few weeks he will build some muscle but that is not certain. I would guess his current weight to be around 125 lbs so how much stronger could he get?

So my question is would you rather have a big dumb ox brush dragger or a pretty smart hard worker who lacks some strength?

eager to learn, good common sense, if he can drive a truck and shows up reliably every day get him a mini with a bm and turn him loose. I bet after a month of practice he will be doing the work of 3 big dudes. he also may have the potential to learn saw and equipment maintenance and turn out to be the most valuable employee you ever had. its been a while since I have been able to apply eager to learn and good common sense to anyone around here. I get chronic texters and [I hit the chipper with the saw again] people.

 

[isaaccarlson]

I used to out work anybody, but all the heavy lifting got to my back and really knocked my performance down. I have had lots of labor jobs and they took their toll as well. My back is ok, but I can't do anything heavy for any real length of time and have had a hard time finding work.

I now work for myself. My wife and son help me on jobs, but if I need more help I find it. I might do the heavy work slower, but it gets done. If I find somebody with brains who wants to work, they have a job! Work smart, not hard. If I can find someone who knows how to get it done faster and easier, I will give them some work. It's hard to find good help.

Sit down and have a serious talk with your groundie and find out what he wants to do. He could make a real good climber. We all know a good climber is worth their weight in gold. Don't talk to him in front of everyone else. Buy him a burger and go sit in a park somewhere and talk. I know how easy it is to let a really good employee go without knowing what they can do.

This is just my opinion and you can do what you want. I'm just trying to help. It is worth a few dollars to find out. Muscle isn't everything.

 

[RVALUE]

I've got one moron who works with me from time to time. The spanish guys who see this kid working all appreciate him... he works harder than they do. If you give him a sledgehammer and a boulder he will sit there all day and beat that sucker into submission without any complaints. However if you asked him to pull weeds from a flowerbed for a few hours... he would probably wind up pulling up half the flowers (in bloom), and half the weeds. Kid can't be taught, no matter how much you might try, he just won't learn. Give him some nasty pricker bushes, and a pitchfork... he'll just bear hug the bushes and carry them wherever you want, no complaints.

Big tall blond boy? Used to work for me. He'll last till the child support people get a hold of him.

:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange:

 

[RVALUE]

Tell him to come here and hell have a job cause i hate raking! Ill drag brush all day then hump out wood all night Then ill ##### and moan and find something else to do so i dont have to rake... Ive given some nice discounts to cheap ass homeowners so i didnt have to rake...

Me too, but it usually backfires on me.

Tarry on.

 

[ATH]

Hey...I'd be happy he is asking for more work rather than asking for a break. Big wood needs moved, little stiff needs raked. Neither are the "fun" parts of this job but both are necessary. As long as things are getting done well and efficiently I'm not going to complain. Not sure one of those is worth more than pay the other at that point.

He knows his limitations and how he can best contribute to the crew. Nothing wrong with that.

I'd have a one-on-one candid conversation with him: "The other guys might give you heck about not hauling big wood around, but as long as you are working as hard as everybody else, I've got your back".

Next question: where does he want to go? If he wants to stay with the company, should inability to carry big logs stop you from developing a climber, salesman, plant health applicator, etc...?