What's the biggest or most costly mistake you've made?
- Thread starter rnt80
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Deansocial
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I didnt get my head down at school and ended up in an idustry full of backstabbers and bullshit excuses and so many people that dont care what work they tun out
I had just spent about 8 weeks milling and installing custom trim mouldings in a remodel of a very early Frank L. Wright house. All went well until the very last day; as I was cutting the last couple of pieces of base shoe, I had one of those flying off- cuts that occasionally launch from a chop saw. Unfortunately it shot through a small piece of the vintage stained glass window.
I would have never guessed that a small ( 1" x 2" ) piece of old glass could cost $1500.00.
Now when in doubt, I set up the Fastcap chop saw hood.
Dan
I would have never guessed that a small ( 1" x 2" ) piece of old glass could cost $1500.00.
Now when in doubt, I set up the Fastcap chop saw hood.
Dan
Bucko said:
we had to repair a small (2"x2") pice in a stained glass window in our local church(damb kids with throwing stones). it cost 800 euro for that small piece. it was so far up you wouldnt ever see it. afterwards we were saying we should have got a piece of coloured plastic and put it in ourselfs and saved the church all that money. it is crazy what they charge for such work
The cabinet shop that I work at had an employee who wasn't able to keep her hand out out of the company checkbook, I don't know how much they got away with but I'm pretty sure it was a lot. We are still dealing with the repercussions of what she did.
I had a young man working for me for just over 7 years. He was a fair mechanic (masonry) and an even better truck mechanic. He had dropped out of school after 6th grade and could barely read and/or write when he came to work for me. I taught him how to read and worked on his spelling so he could get by reasonably well. A couple of years or so before he left my employ, he had married and had two children. We had a mutual "friend???" who talked him into joining a (then the rage) pyramid club. (they call it now a Ponzi Scheme, i think) I treid telling him it could be very dangerous for him and the "friend" was trying to take him over the coals. The kid did not listen to me. He thought he was going to make a killing and bought a new car, a large COLOR TV (new technology at the time) and some expensive kitchen appliances; all of which I warned him not to buy until he had the money to spare.
I was doing all i could by giving him raises and giving him all the overtime work i could give him, including working on all of my vehicles. To make a long story short, he just could not keep up with the payments when his pyramid broke down and he was left with steep debts he could not cover. He figured a way.
He was working on friends cars on evenings and weekends and using my credit accounts to purchase parts. He was also charging me the overtime for working on my vehicles while actually working on friends vehicles. I eventually found out what was going on. The rest of my crew, all related as familly or best friends of the lad, was also in on the scam. I met the entire crew of 7 at end of my driveway, handing each one a paycheck and told them to get out. the perpetrator was not only handed a paycheck, but told to get out of the state within two days or the sheriff would be visiting.
He left. It took me two years to get out from under his load, but eventually, after several more years, he paid me back. Maybe not all, but as much as he was able to afford. He started his own truck repair business and we are back to being friends. we see each other every two or three years. We both learned some expensive lessons from the adventure. I don't think of the experience as a big loss, altho it seemed like it at the time. For me, the best part was that i had been able to teach him to read and write well enough he was able to start, and continue to retirement, his own repair business.
Incidentally, for those who get bored with my stories, I was invited to his 60th birthday party. i could not make it, but I did write a whole series of stories about the more fun side of our working relationship. I sent them to his daughter to give him at his party. He tells me his whole family has had many laughs from reading the stories.
Tinker
I was doing all i could by giving him raises and giving him all the overtime work i could give him, including working on all of my vehicles. To make a long story short, he just could not keep up with the payments when his pyramid broke down and he was left with steep debts he could not cover. He figured a way.
He was working on friends cars on evenings and weekends and using my credit accounts to purchase parts. He was also charging me the overtime for working on my vehicles while actually working on friends vehicles. I eventually found out what was going on. The rest of my crew, all related as familly or best friends of the lad, was also in on the scam. I met the entire crew of 7 at end of my driveway, handing each one a paycheck and told them to get out. the perpetrator was not only handed a paycheck, but told to get out of the state within two days or the sheriff would be visiting.
He left. It took me two years to get out from under his load, but eventually, after several more years, he paid me back. Maybe not all, but as much as he was able to afford. He started his own truck repair business and we are back to being friends. we see each other every two or three years. We both learned some expensive lessons from the adventure. I don't think of the experience as a big loss, altho it seemed like it at the time. For me, the best part was that i had been able to teach him to read and write well enough he was able to start, and continue to retirement, his own repair business.
Incidentally, for those who get bored with my stories, I was invited to his 60th birthday party. i could not make it, but I did write a whole series of stories about the more fun side of our working relationship. I sent them to his daughter to give him at his party. He tells me his whole family has had many laughs from reading the stories.
Tinker
Tim Raleigh said:
I used to send him for materials. I would print out a list of what we needed and tell him what to get. Once he had been told, i would hand him the list that I had printed out in totally different order than what I had told him, and sometimes would mix up the materials that were to be picked up from different suppliers and just let him figure it out. As he improved, i told a couple of my suppliers not to help him out with reading the list as I wanted him to learn. They were guys I could trust not to embarrass him.
The lad liked to work on equipment so i bought him a Chilton's Manual and when we needed a part, i let him figure it out and write it down for me. i think he learned that book by heart. As I mentioned above, He started his own business after leaving me. I guess he was successful as he ran it for a good many years.
When i was in the service (years before i met up with the person of this note), i met a lot of young men who could neither read nor write. Mostly from appalachian areas. Seems they lived from way back in the hills and some never even went to school. They were a great bunch of guys. they just never got much schooling. I would read their mail and write their letters back to their families. It really took quite a lot of guesswork to figure out some of those letters. I found a lot of satisfaction in doing that. The funny thing about that was that i hated studying English when I was in school some of those guys made me appreciated what i had had the advantage to learn.
Those days are never to be forgotten
Tinker
I was doing a big table top out of oak veneered ply wich I had cncrouted to shape eartlier. Edgebanding, staining and so forth was done, and I had just put a layer of finish on it.
I thought that opening one of the garage doors to let some light and air in would be a good idea tho I had stacked around 6 3/4" plywood sheets on the side and one of the garage door "lever arms" pushed them from behind as I opened the door.
Not good.. I just stood there watching them domino away on to the edge of my newly finished table top wich was up on a couple of saw horses sending the other end of it into the cieling before crashing down onto the floor. There was a saw dust blizzard in there for a while and ofc the table top cought its share. The saw horses legs were bent and I still have a dark blob on my otherwise white cieling.
Not a great day.
I thought that opening one of the garage doors to let some light and air in would be a good idea tho I had stacked around 6 3/4" plywood sheets on the side and one of the garage door "lever arms" pushed them from behind as I opened the door.
Not good.. I just stood there watching them domino away on to the edge of my newly finished table top wich was up on a couple of saw horses sending the other end of it into the cieling before crashing down onto the floor. There was a saw dust blizzard in there for a while and ofc the table top cought its share. The saw horses legs were bent and I still have a dark blob on my otherwise white cieling.
Not a great day.
nehardwoodfloors
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[embarassed]AgreedDeansocial said:
tiralie
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Deansocial said:
I have found in my limited experience that no industry is immune from the issues you mention.
With an ability to read, write and network, it's so much easier now more than ever to learn and improve skills.
The Academy Khan is a great example of free sites that help you learn.
It's also more difficult to stay current but learning should never stop.
Keep your head up and let the haters hate.
Tim
galwaydude18@gmail.com
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Why couldn't you have just cut the thickness of the drywall off the back of the cabinet? I can't understand why you had to resize the doors. Did you not leave enough room at the end of the run to allow for a filler? Surely if you did there was no reason the change the size of the doors??
