would u guys care if your manager torched the locks off the tool boxes in your work van or truck, and allowed a apprentice to go on a service call using your tools, and all without even asking????
I would need a new job and he would need a dentist.
That's straight up bull$hit! I'd be packin my crap up and movin on to the next place. Absolutely no excuse or reason for that. I'd go over his head and raise the roof!
Oh hell ****ing no he didn't!
If you are required to have your own tools then it is theft. And the apprentice theft by receiving. Any tools missing?
My tools would have left with me that day
I know you north o the border folks try to be very polite and understanding. As you can see, down here in the states, thats ass whoopin time. It would be one thing , if they called and cried the blues. That gives you the option, yea or nay. What they did was blatant disregard for your property and livelihood. Too many employers have this ,"my truck, i do what i want with it" mentality. What if the kid did a job near a crack den. You know how quick crackheads can pick a truck apart with no locks. Yer employer is quite the piece of work
Even working for a dealer and you got sent out in a truck with someone else's tools you just loaded yours in the back and left the locks alone. I've never heard of someone torching a lock on someone's assigned truck box. I'm with everyone here, I'd be gone if that happened to me.
and i even left the keys at work hidden in a desk. If he would have asked.. i may have said yes, even tho I'm not a fan.. but he didnt even bother just told me after.. and i presume when i see my van tomorrow theres going to be a lot of evidence of him ******* running torches in there.. I still can't believe it.. Ya take the van. thats fine.. but dont break into the boxes to access my tools.. I've got over 30 g in tools in that van, and i take pride in my ****.. the kid he had using my tools has no sense of how valuable that **** is to me..
Yep, I would just go take my tools out. I don't work for anybody else anymore, but when I did, if I stocked their truck, it went home with me. I worked a couple of places where everything on the truck belonged to them, they could do what they wanted.
Just sayin, if the manager would compromise something like this then there is no bounds to his deviancy or dishonesty, my tools would be leaving with me tomorrow. Life is full of drama people, I choose to not participate.
They tried pulling that same crap on us at one place I worked. We worked 14/7 so my solution was to simply tool in and out of the truck every shift on the company's dime.
That's what I was gonna say 92>> there are 2 guys at work that are "road" mechanics.. Mngment came up w/ a brilliant idea to leave the trucks AT WORK at nite.. Well, start to add 2-3-4 hrs to EVERY JOB to load & unload tools & you figure out real quick it isn't a BRILLIANT ides.. it took about aweek for things to go back to "normal".. & the customers that were denied service was staggering.. they would call late afternoon & need something QUICK.. Well it was gonna take 2hrs just to pack up the tools to do the job.. so the mechanic said, nope.. I aint goin,, I gotta be home at 5:30.. Now on the other hand>> I had to sign a "rental" agreement for my tools that were in the shop.. THAT WAY my tools were covered under the companies insurance policy if something were to happen while they were in their building.. SOOO.. if you had to sign something like that.. in actuality they were their tools & could do w/ them as they pleased..?? Its still a looser move tho.. I would take a few days off under the guise of looking for another job.. just to get the point across..
I'd prolly take my tools, and find another job, on the way out, I'd find the mgr's car, and bust a toothpick in every door lock, and superglue a nickel over the keyholes, too, for good measure...
Thats some hardcore old school "get back," there , boy. Nobody uses keys anymore . Ice picks in the sidewalls, its timeless.
I would unload anything that belonged to me and would have quit that very same day. Where were you when that bulls##t happened ? Besides it appears the apprentice is going to have your truck full time and soon.
Way back in the day.. I went on vacation & when I got back I put my key in the top box & the lid came FLYING OPEN.. my BOSS had drove the hinge pin out of the lid, put big springs in there & drove the pin back in.!!!! They had emptied out ALL MY TOOLS & the boxes were empty.. I walked in the office & said when every bit of my fckn tools are put back in my box, I'll be back to work.. & left.. the boxes were never the same.. SOME THINGS just aren't funny..
I'm wondering WHY the lock was cut off?? did you have special company tools in there?? or were they just hand tools that the other guy SHOULD OF HAD?? IF they were just hand tools, somebodys azz would be on the ground.. & the police would be called for robbery or breaking & entering.. AN example NEEDS TO BE MADE.. its NOT ok..
I was in the emergency room bcuz I had rolled a truck on my way to work. My van was in the Mercedes dealer getting a turbo put on. They went out of there way to pick the van up (without repair) and use my ****. N **** no. This kid won’t be on the road for a very long time
No special tools. Just my hand tools. Most of which are Mac or snap on (not that it really matters). My tools are my baby lol
I definitely didn’t sign nothing like that. These tools definitely don’t belong to them...
I don't even like borrowing other people's tools. They don't feel right. Could be the exact same wrench but its like mine is molded to fit my hand lol. Non-mechanics just don't understand that lol.
When I worked Independent shop we all had our own specialty tools. I had the old style Cummins Dial indicator tune up kit as well a cam timing set, came back to work a week vacation later and the shop owner was mad as they could NOT finish a overhaul due to my tools being locked. They had NOT cut locks or damaged the box but was wanting to dock me for the lost time. I looked at him straight faced told him in no uncertain terms they could from that point on Rent MY tools if they so chose to, they were not for lending further. He recanted then tried to argue a apology, finally bought the timing gauge set up from me to set things right(I made out good there). One of the rookies left the assembly on a tire and backed the truck out crushed it, Not my problem!!
SAME EXACT THING went on at my shop Miller.. Mechanics BOUGHT special tools to make THEY'RE time/job go smoother & then everybody wanted to use them.. F that.. ESPECIALLY when you had to go LOOK FOR THEM when YOU wanted to use them!!! That's what happened to MY special tools.. ended up being only 1 guy I would loan stuff to.. ONLY BECAUSE he would bring it back when finished w/ it.. & if he needed it more than ONCE, he'd buy 1 himself.. I'd tell somebody NO & they would go "whine" to the boss.. the boss would come up & say, let so n so use that tool.. I'd tell him, F YOU buy your own tool.. lol.. what could he say??
Theres 4 things OF MINE you don't mess with.. Car, wife, money & tools.. & not necessarily in that order.. lol How many time have you caught someone in your box & yelled> HEY, can I help you?? Mechanics are VERY protective of their tools.. & to have someone BURN a lock off?? that's grounds for the cops to be called.. I don't care WHO IT WAS !!!
Thanks for the replies everyone. I’m so bothered by this **** that I couldn’t even sleep last night. I just feel disrespected. He’s also a licenced truck mechanic with his own tool collection. He should have known better. Leaving isn’t an option for me cuz of the pay.
Come down here and join us there's a **** ton of money to be had Union wages health care vacation told security tool insurance being paid what you're worth you might wanna consider becoming an American
I'm a little bit sorry for the last post but you get the idea. And I'm only sorry in so much that I might have knocked your country just a little bit
I've been in THAT BOAT too.. being disrespected & the pay.. I put my head down, told everybody to F-OFF & lived my life.. banked all I could without working ANY O/T {which would mean helping them out & I was asked many times}.. & worked side jobs & built up my account to where I could walk out. & it doesn't happen overnite.. You just have to reach THAT boiling point.. I THINK that may have just been a drop in the bucket of whats to come..?? Only you know that.
Hey! Being sorry is our thing lol!
I hope you didn't think I was implying that you created a situation that forced that to happen. It was just normal (I think) curiosity that I asked that. Good grief you had enough tough luck without those rats messing with you. Oops ! I apologize to all the real rats in the world that I said your mismanager was one.
I have zero tolerance for stuff like this i will put up with alot of stuff on the job but if i am disrespected i will leave i have seen to many guys that got in deep and had to stay or have problems with the bank i dont want to ever be in their shoes. One time i saw a guy start to remove a tool from a buddys toolbox and i stoped him he told me it was ok i called him a liar and some other things he finaly walked off. He was part time his other job was on the police force. I afraid that every time i went through that town a cop would be on me but nothing ever happen.
I've got the bowl of popcorn waiting for the post confrontation report...do you need bail money?
make some room on the couch JD.. this should be good..
Working for a larger utility I saw some pretty awful situations, managers walking over people, union failing to stand up for the employee(knowing they were right), managers sent to training to be direct and imposing shitheads so they could get more while looking innocent. I packed away what I could, built my retirement and made a few needed nasty repairs to the old frame work, got to that single worst last day where the balance scale tipped a little too far and in anger said ENOUGH. The company took it as less than appropriate for me to just be out on sick leave then file retirement but as was asked delivered the dissertation on the WHY was given the empty deer in head lights look, a thanks for my service and sent home. They really don't give two ***** worth no matter what they put out as to employees being their most important component and commitment.
Sending an apprentice on a field job without permission to use someone else's tools is not the way to promote morale in any shop, let alone cutting the locks off. I would say that the manager needs an attitude adjustment. One thing that ticks me off is when some apprentices start in the trade, the first thing they do is buy a huge snap-on toolbox worth thousands of dollars on a payment plan and then can't afford to buy tools to fill it. So then they come to us old guys with the 40yr old cheap toolboxes crammed full and beg to borrow our stuff. They don't appreciate the true value of the tools, only the shiny toolbox.
I would need bail money. I used to never lock my toolbox at the smaller shops I worked at because we all had some camaraderie, we traded off, I would use his noid light, he would use my power probe type stuff, but the last shop I worked at about came to blow, and would have if not for the owner grabbing me about to swing at the other guy. Working in the dealer atmosphere there was some fellowship, but mostly competition, had a couple guy use my tools enough that they would get mad when I needed them and had to steal MY tools out of THEIR box. Came in to grab tools for something at home and saw a guy trying to pick my lock and about lost my $**t
I have no qualms about lending out tools. My only conditions are that I'm asked first, return it clean and if you break it and its not warrantied, replace it. Break the rules once and I won't ever lend anything to you again.
I'm not a mechanic but we're a site work contractor. We make it very clear to the GC and other subs that our equipment is not from a large rental house, here to be used and abused and they better stay off of it. I can't imagine anyone torching locks off and using another ones tools or equipment - no matter the reason, other than impending bodily harm or alien invasion. Had a project super use our 321 hoe on a Saturday without even a phone call to ask. When we arrived at work Monday, the tractor was moved and the step was bent. Brought it to his attention, in which he admitted - I rode that incident for the entire job. If we'd come in the next day to find our equipment lockdown devices were dismantled and the equipment was used without permission there would be tire smoke on the street from the lowboy moving in.
cm if that aint the truth i have walked off two jobs for that reason alone now everything has multiple kill switches if it stays on sight overnight i am much more polite than my dad is tho i remember back when he took on an entire crew of landscapers over a grade tractor they were "borrowing" to do some little crap on a Saturday 4 of them were laying on the ground when it was over and he was chasing the rest with a 2 by 4 down the street of the neighborhood its funny to think of now but at the time dad was livid. the thing that always gets me is no one cares that your tools or equipment cost money that you invested but because they need it for 5 minutes you should let them borrow a wrench or move said pile of dirt for free. i say it like this i can go broke sitting at home i dont need to go broke lending or working for free.
Since this is HEF, what I what it know is: "What manager? Haven't seen him in a few days." everyone here knows at least someone with an excavator, a gravel pit and will ask no questions of you if you borrow the excavator one night for 12' test hole. As an electrician, I only had a bag of hand tools, but the results are the same. Use my tools without asking and fall off a building.
This is the thing that gets me to. My locks didn't get cut but I had my keys hid I thought at shop and come back from vacation and somehow I found out coworkers had been in my box and they knew that was a big no no. The biggest thing that peeves me off is the one operator that always wants or thinks he should use my tools is the one that abuses company tools and is the most untidy around the shop and it burns me up all the time. As I'm the only mechanic and shop guy tho the heavy haul guy helps me some my toolbox is the only personally owned toolbox and it also has a lot more and wider variety of tools in it.
Like PJ said where i worked at one point there were two of us who did 98% of the engine and transmission work. Worked as a team most of the time. More than once when we were looking to buy say a new socket one of use would buy the chrome 12 point one and the other would buy the impact socket. Figured no reason for each of us to buy the same tools. I mean we each had a good selection of tools, everything from 1/4 inch to 3/4 inch drive. Just once in a while needed to fill in a opening some place in the set. Plus most of the time if there was something that was of little use to us personally, like a larger metric Allen Head socket the boss had no problem footing the bill as he knew it was only for the companies benefit. Even those for the most part were stored in our tool boxes to be sure they were around when needed. Too many people don't have the first idea of which end of a screw driver to hit with a adjustable wrench! I've know some that would try to use a dial caliper to tighten the lug nuts on their car if you were not watching!
Anyone know what that fresh pile of dirt out behind Jumbo's shop is about? Guess Jumbo just needed to test the hydraulics on that back-hoe!
LOL!!
Hell, I wont even START A MACHINE after I get done installing an inj. pump.. I call the customer.. if he's not standing over my shoulder..lol A> it leaves all the responsibility on the customer.. dead battery, weak starter, rod knocking, still in gear..ect. B> I get to see how the customer starts his motor.. throttle position, glow plug time, cranking length.. ect.. I couldn't imagine cutting a lock off his tool box to get a wrench I needed.. Lol
Personally I would be nice to that mgr after he did something like that to me. Heck I would invite him out for a beer and buy him a couple. And when he gets up to hit the head put three drops of Visine in his beer. In twenty minutes he will be able to crap through a hoola hoop 200 feet away. Truck Shop
Why didnt the manager just give the apprentice his tools and truck?
Hydraulic fluid will achieve similar results, only, the way I heard it was, he could go through a screen door, and nary hit a wire...
Well I left out that it was dead center on that poop I mean hoop. back at you. Truck Shop