Pbassmanca
In the pocket n' thumpy. So woody, so greasy...
Sounds like a real idiot to me.. I would just ignore him do your job well and don't give him cause to fire you that way if he does you'll get severance when he lets you go.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Why do old people need everything right away?
- Thread starter FingerDub
- Start date
I thought I would be more patient as I aged but no.
Seems to be worse. I worked with an old guy a while back and
he was just like what you described.
Call him out, have a meeting, one on one, be diplomatic if possible and
let him know how you feel. It might help.
From an impatient old bass player.
Good luck.
Seems to be worse. I worked with an old guy a while back and
he was just like what you described.
Call him out, have a meeting, one on one, be diplomatic if possible and
let him know how you feel. It might help.
From an impatient old bass player.
Good luck.
Sorry about your situation OP. I've worked for some real jerks and some real tightwads in the past. Many business owners forget over time what it's like to work for someone else, and start to develop very unreal expectations out of people. Not all, but some certainly do.
My recent boss was a 73 year old man who was an absolute nightmare to work for. I did engineering and material ordering and planning for a company that built electric motors.
He would constantly have projects in mind where he would ask me to put together some numbers for cost and turnaround time, and he would micromanage the entire time (even though I had a very extensive list of vendors I used for specific processes/materials), often times impeding progress, and when I got him what he wanted, more often then not, he'd have already quoted costs on the projects to his potential customers, usually at a large loss at a company loss. Man...there was a specific time where we made two large anchor bolts for two forklifts as a favor for a customer. When I crunched the numbers with material, machine time, and material hardening, I estimated around a $4000 total. He didn't believe me, and sold them for $600 each, no joke, and then had the audacity to tell me I didn't shop around enough for materials. I actually estimated a bit high, and the final cost was around $3700, but that was a massive loss.
He would sometimes stop the machinists in the middle of a run (sometimes breaking a half day set up...) just so he could have them work on a pet project that was a favor for some of his other business owner friends.
He spent the winters in Florida, and the summers here, so I feel like in his mind, he needed to do a whole years' work in half the time. He would ask 4 people to work on the exact same thing without telling any of them they're working together as a team. Obviously this causes confusion and doesn't make anything go faster.
He was a real pain, but I've also worked for some older people who were absolute saints.
The point is, your experience doesn't describe the entire older generation though. The opposite is also true. Not all of us younger folk are lazy and on our phones 24/7. That trope spans every single current generation.
That said, we're all guilty of making the mistake of generalizing from time to time. It's human nature, just like the various posters in here defending the old by bashing those "damn kids" (as if that makes any sense).
My suggestion is this. Re-evaluate this boss/employee relationship you have there. It sounds like you don't have much of one at all, seeing as you're an independent contractor. I spent a lot of time working at companies I hated for various reasons. Sometimes, you just have to realize that the things that bother you about your job are not going to change. You can do your best to change them, and you possibly might succeed, but in my experience, that's a slim chance. Also, people don't really change. You might need to seek work elsewhere if that's an option. If not, there's always more education.
My recent boss was a 73 year old man who was an absolute nightmare to work for. I did engineering and material ordering and planning for a company that built electric motors.
He would constantly have projects in mind where he would ask me to put together some numbers for cost and turnaround time, and he would micromanage the entire time (even though I had a very extensive list of vendors I used for specific processes/materials), often times impeding progress, and when I got him what he wanted, more often then not, he'd have already quoted costs on the projects to his potential customers, usually at a large loss at a company loss. Man...there was a specific time where we made two large anchor bolts for two forklifts as a favor for a customer. When I crunched the numbers with material, machine time, and material hardening, I estimated around a $4000 total. He didn't believe me, and sold them for $600 each, no joke, and then had the audacity to tell me I didn't shop around enough for materials. I actually estimated a bit high, and the final cost was around $3700, but that was a massive loss.
He would sometimes stop the machinists in the middle of a run (sometimes breaking a half day set up...) just so he could have them work on a pet project that was a favor for some of his other business owner friends.
He spent the winters in Florida, and the summers here, so I feel like in his mind, he needed to do a whole years' work in half the time. He would ask 4 people to work on the exact same thing without telling any of them they're working together as a team. Obviously this causes confusion and doesn't make anything go faster.
He was a real pain, but I've also worked for some older people who were absolute saints.
The point is, your experience doesn't describe the entire older generation though. The opposite is also true. Not all of us younger folk are lazy and on our phones 24/7. That trope spans every single current generation.
That said, we're all guilty of making the mistake of generalizing from time to time. It's human nature, just like the various posters in here defending the old by bashing those "damn kids" (as if that makes any sense).
My suggestion is this. Re-evaluate this boss/employee relationship you have there. It sounds like you don't have much of one at all, seeing as you're an independent contractor. I spent a lot of time working at companies I hated for various reasons. Sometimes, you just have to realize that the things that bother you about your job are not going to change. You can do your best to change them, and you possibly might succeed, but in my experience, that's a slim chance. Also, people don't really change. You might need to seek work elsewhere if that's an option. If not, there's always more education.
Alkali Ike
Gold Supporting Member
- Jan 1, 2011
- 2,855
- 15,666
- Disclosures
- I never actually learned to play very well
It doesn't apply here in any way to the OP, and if you have some kind of logical reason in your head why it does, it's going to be cryptic at best to anyone else reading it.
The only people in this thread it applies to are the ones who are saying things like this...
Oh wait, that's you. OP generalizes about old people. You tell him young people don't understand something. It certainly applies there!
You never met my grand parants before they passed
They were a lot of things. Helpless was not among them.
Are you assuming all young people make statements like this? You can defend your honor all you like by telling him he's wrong. The only thing just plain stupid is generalizing a group because someone in that group generalized you...
Thinking before you speak/type/whatever should apply to all age groups, including your post here.
Alkali Ike
Gold Supporting Member
- Jan 1, 2011
- 2,855
- 15,666
- Disclosures
- I never actually learned to play very well
A contractor doesn’t get “fired” and they don’t get any severance.
As someone who is between 'young' and 'old' I try to avoid generalizing either group. I mean, why would I reduce my fellow humans to stereotypes? And even if I am a jerk and WANT to do that, isn't it too easy?
Millennials are:
Always on their phones
Killing retail
Killing restaurants
Still living with mommy and daddy
Not engaged in civic affairs
Lazy
Snowflakes
etc etc etc
Old people are:
Out of touch with whatever the situation is
Always complaining
Ssssllllooooowwwwwww
Still fighting WWII, even if it's just on their lawn
Say everything was better 'in my day'
Bad drivers
etc etc etc
I've heard all this within the last couple of months. Any of it true? Sure, for some people some of the time. But instead of repeating (!) or reinforcing these things, is it worth it in at least some of our relationships to interrogate WHY so-and-so is behaving a certain way? Maybe millennials are killing retail because they're not so much into consumption of crap goods that prior generations are. Maybe they're living with their parents because of wage stagnation and insane housing prices. Maybe old people are slow because technology can be baffling - or maybe being slow in the checkout line is the only face-to-face time they get with another human all week.
I'm not saying we have to coddle anyone, but sometimes going with the flow and saying 'Hey, here's a different type of human for me to be patient and tolerant of today' goes a long way. OP, it sounds like your guy is just a jerk and was probably a jerk when he was 30 and will probably still be a jerk if he lives to be 100. Beware of the broad brush.
Millennials are:
Always on their phones
Killing retail
Killing restaurants
Still living with mommy and daddy
Not engaged in civic affairs
Lazy
Snowflakes
etc etc etc
Old people are:
Out of touch with whatever the situation is
Always complaining
Ssssllllooooowwwwwww
Still fighting WWII, even if it's just on their lawn
Say everything was better 'in my day'
Bad drivers
etc etc etc
I've heard all this within the last couple of months. Any of it true? Sure, for some people some of the time. But instead of repeating (!) or reinforcing these things, is it worth it in at least some of our relationships to interrogate WHY so-and-so is behaving a certain way? Maybe millennials are killing retail because they're not so much into consumption of crap goods that prior generations are. Maybe they're living with their parents because of wage stagnation and insane housing prices. Maybe old people are slow because technology can be baffling - or maybe being slow in the checkout line is the only face-to-face time they get with another human all week.
I'm not saying we have to coddle anyone, but sometimes going with the flow and saying 'Hey, here's a different type of human for me to be patient and tolerant of today' goes a long way. OP, it sounds like your guy is just a jerk and was probably a jerk when he was 30 and will probably still be a jerk if he lives to be 100. Beware of the broad brush.
Why should he? I'l bet his passion for doing business is equal to your passion for playing bass. Do you want to give up?
So getting things done, showing up on time, and putting in a full day's work are out of fashion?
That explains a lot.
If anything starting this thread has given me a reminder to stop generalizing.
Of course he shouldn't give up his passion, although sometimes I wonder if he works just to avoid his wife. Anyway it's not just getting things done it's that pretends to have very little work, and tells me we only have a few cases right now and he expects water from a rock when in fact it's the opposite way and he becomes impatient because it's not getting done at his speed even though he doesn't seem to realize that the workload is increased. And he doesn't realize how much time it takes to do certain things that he is unfamiliar with, new technology and making multiple edits to a document that require some Elementary Photoshop skills or similar.
He's taking every new case that comes in, but still telling me that he's trying to wind down his practice. And as more work comes in the grumpier and meteor he is regardless of age I suppose, but he's very impatient anyway. To unsolicited people at the last premises we were in told me that he was abusive. But the pay is good so I deal with it the best I can even though I'm looking for new options. I'd like a little appreciation and maybe a raise, but he keeps saying that he's winding down.
We don't have much time left!!! I'm sitting here waiting by the phone right now for a call that my Gibson LP jr has the Seymour Duncan Antiquity Humbucker pup installed (I'm having it replace the p90... I don't like the p90... We're also grouchy!!!). Jezuz, when is that guy going to call!!!! I took it down there yesterday he should be done already. We have money to burn and not much time to burn it. Guess I'll go practice s'more...
Until I put the squeeze on him to provide a place for me to park in the structure, he wanted me to get up take my car and leave the structure every 85 minutes and drive around the block and re park again because the first hour and a half is free. He got angry at me because of it but to him it makes complete sense. If you have people coming to work for you you need to provide them a place to park.
This 100% plus they don't have to receive any company or employee benefits unless said company wants to. That's the way it was when I had contractors working for me on my crew. Perhaps things are different now...idk.
This is such a crock. Passion aside, you can't get 12 hours of work done in 8 hours. If you do, you're sacrificing quality somewhere.
Also, where's this part come from?
OP makes no mention of whether he shows up on time or not. He only mentioned that he worked for 5 hours and then took a short break before the owner berated him. He didn't say he worked for 5 hours and went home. A break means he was going to return to doing work afterwards.
Sounds like a veiled "lazy young punks" statement to me. You owe it to yourself to do better then that.
Bro...you realize this man is so used to taking advantage of people at this point, that crap like this seems logical to him, right? He's not going to change, mate. You need to seek other opportunities.
