Clubhouse Grille (*** NO LIV DISCUSSIONS ***) (*** NO POLITICS/RELIGION ***)

[tolmij]

1 minute ago, Sean2 said:

Which is short-sighted, because frankly good help is hard to find. 

 

Totally agree with you, but I have seen it happen many times.

 

When my son first started work I told him be the best you can, because they rely on you to perform at your best, and the greater majority do not care. I don't think he believed me until he had been in his first job for around six months and he could see what was happening. Good people are hard to find but unfortunately most jobs I have worked the supervisors were only supervisors because they failed at the job and it was too much trouble to get rid of them. They looked after the not so good workers because like attracts like.

 

I have always believed it is theft if you obtain money for doing a job you do not perform to the best of your ability. 

[scomac2002]

I too remember when @SixtySomePingfirst mentioned the accident.  The car photos really do bring it home just how lucky he was to get out of the wreck unscathed.

 

I'm enjoying reading everyone's contributions.  It's nice that there has been an uptick in activity here since the beginning of the year.  I haven't had much to contribute because quite frankly nothing much is happening other than the unmentionable subject material.

 

It's just the two of us plus the cat here.  I think she(the cat) is having the time of her life.  All this attention with humans about day and night; all of her humans!  I've already finished the book I got for Christmas and two of the puzzles.  We've taken to playing Scrabble now in the afternoons.  It's not pretty as DW wins 5 out of every 6 games.  She seems to know how to score.  It's the double and triple word scores that have been doing me in, but you can only work with what you can work with...

 

We know a couple that plays Scrabble every day.  I'm not sure that I'm up to that, but is it really any different than someone who golfs everyday?  We'll see where this all leads to because I suspect that we're going to be locked down here for a good long time.  Probably at least as long as in the spring.  You can read the signs in their utterances. 

 

I've pretty much given up hope that curling will return this winter.  The road is very long before I can envision the case counts down to where that would be allowed again.  As a result we have decided not to bother extending our trial memberships.  We have a good club here in town, so we will be back again next season.

 

Finally, we have decided to start with the redecorating that DW wanted to do in one of the spare bedrooms.  WE talked about it last spring and then it fell by the wayside as more of a winter project.  I think that we're going to order the hardwood flooring and get the ball rolling.  Won't take long to do, it's just that material is in short supply so it may take a month or two to get it.  In the meantime we can strip the wallpaper and paint.

[SixtySomePing]

19 minutes ago, scomac2002 said:

I too remember when @SixtySomePingfirst mentioned the accident.  The car photos really do bring it home just how lucky he was to get out of the wreck unscathed.

 

I'm enjoying reading everyone's contributions.  It's nice that there has been an uptick in activity here since the beginning of the year.  I haven't had much to contribute because quite frankly nothing much is happening other than the unmentionable subject material.

 

It's just the two of us plus the cat here.  I think she(the cat) is having the time of her life.  All this attention with humans about day and night; all of her humans!  I've already finished the book I got for Christmas and two of the puzzles.  We've taken to playing Scrabble now in the afternoons.  It's not pretty as DW wins 5 out of every 6 games.  She seems to know how to score.  It's the double and triple word scores that have been doing me in, but you can only work with what you can work with...

 

We know a couple that plays Scrabble every day.  I'm not sure that I'm up to that, but is it really any different than someone who golfs everyday?  We'll see where this all leads to because I suspect that we're going to be locked down here for a good long time.  Probably at least as long as in the spring.  You can read the signs in their utterances. 

 

I've pretty much given up hope that curling will return this winter.  The road is very long before I can envision the case counts down to where that would be allowed again.  As a result we have decided not to bother extending our trial memberships.  We have a good club here in town, so we will be back again next season.

 

Finally, we have decided to start with the redecorating that DW wanted to do in one of the spare bedrooms.  WE talked about it last spring and then it fell by the wayside as more of a winter project.  I think that we're going to order the hardwood flooring and get the ball rolling.  Won't take long to do, it's just that material is in short supply so it may take a month or two to get it.  In the meantime we can strip the wallpaper and paint.

Curling, that reminds me, I knew I wanted to share something with you...

 

[Conrad1953]

6 hours ago, BIG STU said:

I can remember when you posted it before--- Like I said then the Good Lord was riding with you. 

Yep I have had times in the past when I was sick or fatigued and flat refused to drive a truck--- Recently a couple of years ago. Had been getting it on for a month hard. Broke down one night got back real late and the company wanted me to do a turn around and to do it I had only about 2 hrs sleep. I flat refused to do it. Ops manager was insisting and I quit on the spot. Told him when I got up my next phone call would be to the State Transport Police. The owner of the company called me 3 times while I was asleep. I knew he would because I was in the right. No way I was going to risk killing someone else or myself for their crap. It blew over and I was never challenged again

 

In the old days at Schneider they would pull that  cr** on me now and then and every time I would 

just say put it in writing and send it to me on the Qualcomm; that you are ordering me to violate the

hours of service laws and that you personally assume all responsibility for what happens.....and

every time they backed down, lol.

[scomac2002]

1 hour ago, SixtySomePing said:

Curling, that reminds me, I knew I wanted to share something with you...

 

 

That particular commercial has been on TV up here quite a bit lately on SportsNet and TSN.

 

I'm not an NFL fan and haven't been watching any basketball.  Hockey will start next week.  I haven't watched that in years really since the kids were playing competitively.  With little else to do in the evenings, I may resort to watching hockey again.  It will be interesting with a Canadian division.  I'm sure that will peak my wife's interest!

[Sean2]

3 hours ago, tolmij said:

 

Totally agree with you, but I have seen it happen many times.

 

When my son first started work I told him be the best you can, because they rely on you to perform at your best, and the greater majority do not care. I don't think he believed me until he had been in his first job for around six months and he could see what was happening. Good people are hard to find but unfortunately most jobs I have worked the supervisors were only supervisors because they failed at the job and it was too much trouble to get rid of them. They looked after the not so good workers because like attracts like.

 

I have always believed it is theft if you obtain money for doing a job you do not perform to the best of your ability. 

What never made sense to me is how many organizations treat their people. If you treat your employees with kindness and respect, and pay them a decent wage, you will have a loyal following. If not, you will witness a lot of turnover, which results in increased training costs and a staff that doesn't know the job as well since they haven't been doing it for all that long, thus running into quality control issues...all of which will negatively impact a company's bottom line. It's not rocket science. 

[nitram]

8 hours ago, BIG STU said:

I guess you know Bill H on here is a retired State Trooper also.  I think he was in Ohio

 

I didn't know that Stu, but then again, I haven't been in "the grill" for a long long time. Thanks

[nitram]

9 hours ago, BIG STU said:

No Joke if you can walk breathe and get that $20 out of your pocket for renewal fee then you have your SC drivers license---- 

 

To go along with that frame of thought, I remember SC as the only state that (up until 2000 or so) did not have their DL records in the national system. In other words, for the other 49, I could check your DL status by number or name & DOB and have an answer in a minute or two.. For SC, my dispatcher had to send a teletype or fax to Columbia. After it was received, a live person would research and retrieve the information from a database and return (by teletype of fax) to the requester. This service was only available M-F from 0600-1800 EST. Quite extraordinary to say the least.

[tolmij]

6 hours ago, Sean2 said:

What never made sense to me is how many organizations treat their people. If you treat your employees with kindness and respect, and pay them a decent wage, you will have a loyal following. If not, you will witness a lot of turnover, which results in increased training costs and a staff that doesn't know the job as well since they haven't been doing it for all that long, thus running into quality control issues...all of which will negatively impact a company's bottom line. It's not rocket science. 

No idea what America is like, but in Australia there is a saying “she’ll be right” What it means is don't worry about it, things will sort themselves out eventually without any worries and this typifies the whole laid back Australian culture, which unfortunately spills over into the workplace. Don't get me wrong as we love living here, it was our best ever move, but it can be frustrating when you are trying to get the work moving. 
 

this attitude as you suggested caused major problems in one company I worked, as all the managers, middle and senior, had been shop floor personnel, promoted because they could not do the job, and the majority of the other shop floor employees were mates given a job for services rendered. They had contacts with outside sub contractors and instead of giving overtime to their employees, they worked for the sub contractor over the weekend taking the money and giving them a good backhander. 
 

There was a new general manager started and he did a meet and greet party in the boardroom one evening the week he started, the managers were talking and boasting about the weekend work and he overheard them. The next day he did some digging, found out the situation, called them in for a meeting and all of them had their employment terminated on the spot. Unfortunately, the culture did not change all that much because it was still Australia.

Edited January 9, 2021 by tolmij

[tolmij]

14 hours ago, SixtySomePing said:

Curling, that reminds me, I knew I wanted to share something with you...

 

Scos new team mates, dressed for cold weather.

[Reasonability]

Workplace job satisfaction had (IMHO) a couple of well established classical angles -- decades ago.

 

Folks like Herzberg researched and found money is far from being the only key motivator.  The other motivating factors "could be" listed but have frankly already pretty well summed up by Sean2.  As he said it's not rocket science.   

 

But in those days there was an almost universal and moral "contract" between companies and employees.  Folks expected to retire from the job they had.  Human Resources was the advocate for the workforce should anything get in the way of that. 

 

The labor cost line is almost always the biggest expense to a business.  Enter "down-sizing".  Enter Jack Welch who single handedly showed every board member of every major company how to gut a workforce to the delight of Wall Street.  Human Resources is suddenly the grim reaper rather than the advocate.  

 

 Hello to the all-powerful CFO.  Here comes the worker who expects to and even hopes to quit or get fired as often as he changes his socks.  

 

I have zero clue what it would take to blend the best of Herzberg with the realities of today.  The backbone of our world is obviously the frontline health care workers, the teachers of our children, those who put themselves in harm's way.  You know, the jobs we can't exist without and pay the least.  (Further proof it isn't all about money.)

 

And through it all, as the song says, something's lost but something's gained in living every day.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Reasonability

[tolmij]

3 minutes ago, Reasonability said:

Workplace job satisfaction had (IMHO) a couple of well established classical angles -- decades ago.

 

Folks like Herzberg researched and found money is far from being the only key motivator.  The other motivating factors "could be" listed but have frankly already pretty well summed up by Sean2.  As he said it's not rocket science.   

 

But in those days there was an almost universal and moral "contract" between companies and employees.  Folks expected to retire from the job they had.  Human Resources was the advocate for the workforce should anything got in the way of that. 

 

The labor cost line is almost always the biggest expense to a business.  Enter "down-sizing".  Enter Jack Welch who single handedly showed every board member of every major company how to gut a workforce to the delight of Wall Street.  Human Resources is suddenly the grim reaper rather than the advocate.  

 

 Hello to the all-powerful CFO.  Here comes the worker who expects to and even hopes to quit or get fired as often as he changes his socks.  

 

I have zero clue what it would take to blend the best of Herzberg with the realities of today.  The backbone of our world is obviously the frontline health care workers, the teachers of our children, those who put themselves in harm's way.  You know, the jobs we can't exist without and pay the least.  (Further proof it isn't all about money.)

 

And through it all, as the song says, something's lost but something's gained in living every day.

 

 

 

 

 

True, job satisfaction is a pre curser to long term employment. A good example was my son. His first job was in a large company that did training and university courses. The woman that owned it was the most selfish person you could ever meet, loved herself like no other ever could. When he decided to move on she offered him a very large pay rise, which he accepted then stayed a while to establish the amount to give himself a bargaining chip for his next job. He had no conscience about doing this as she was the most self centred person who took great delight in chastising everyone in public, and dismissing staff for no reason. 
 

When he had his interview with her after giving notice the second time, she was throwing ridiculous amounts of money at him and trying to find out how much he was moving for, she offered him $1,000,000 to set up and run an AP business, but he knew this would not be there as soon as he said yes because she had done similar before. When it was obvious he was not staying, she walked out and every time they passed at work she deliberately looked away, she was and still is very petty.

 

Now he works for a group of doctors that run an IVF clinic, he is paid well, has been approached to move on but he is really satisfied where he is. He is well looked after and works with a great boss and group of programmers.

 

Job satisfaction as you say is extremely important as we spend so much of our lives there.

[tolmij]

18 hours ago, scomac2002 said:

I too remember when @SixtySomePingfirst mentioned the accident.  The car photos really do bring it home just how lucky he was to get out of the wreck unscathed.

 

I'm enjoying reading everyone's contributions.  It's nice that there has been an uptick in activity here since the beginning of the year.  I haven't had much to contribute because quite frankly nothing much is happening other than the unmentionable subject material.

 

It's just the two of us plus the cat here.  I think she(the cat) is having the time of her life.  All this attention with humans about day and night; all of her humans!  I've already finished the book I got for Christmas and two of the puzzles.  We've taken to playing Scrabble now in the afternoons.  It's not pretty as DW wins 5 out of every 6 games.  She seems to know how to score.  It's the double and triple word scores that have been doing me in, but you can only work with what you can work with...

 

We know a couple that plays Scrabble every day.  I'm not sure that I'm up to that, but is it really any different than someone who golfs everyday?  We'll see where this all leads to because I suspect that we're going to be locked down here for a good long time.  Probably at least as long as in the spring.  You can read the signs in their utterances. 

 

I've pretty much given up hope that curling will return this winter.  The road is very long before I can envision the case counts down to where that would be allowed again.  As a result we have decided not to bother extending our trial memberships.  We have a good club here in town, so we will be back again next season.

 

Finally, we have decided to start with the redecorating that DW wanted to do in one of the spare bedrooms.  WE talked about it last spring and then it fell by the wayside as more of a winter project.  I think that we're going to order the hardwood flooring and get the ball rolling.  Won't take long to do, it's just that material is in short supply so it may take a month or two to get it.  In the meantime we can strip the wallpaper and paint.

Your conversations must be very similar to our house,WE is always in capitals.😂

[Conrad1953]

Wow Bill, that's the most amazing play I've ever seen to start a game. I'm rooting for the

Browns anyway but wow what a gift! 

 

Edit for video

 

 

And then they get a pick and a few plays later get another TD. Great start.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Conrad1953

[Conrad1953]

When it's your time it's your time. A record falls and the Steelers are stunned. 

[tolmij]

1 hour ago, Conrad1953 said:

When it's your time it's your time. A record falls and the Steelers are stunned. 

 

Never been able to get interested in American football, to me its the same as cricket. Now there is an insult if ever there was one.😂

[tolmij]

3 hours ago, Conrad1953 said:

Wow Bill, that's the most amazing play I've ever seen to start a game. I'm rooting for the

Browns anyway but wow what a gift! 

 

Edit for video

 

 

And then they get a pick and a few plays later get another TD. Great start.

They will not let me play this unless I go to youtube, good job I was not going to.🤨

[Divot License]

Well that was a weekend from Hell. 

 

Our next door neighbors (semi-detached house) have been away since pre Christmas. I think they went back to Portugal and have been stuck there due to covid travel restrictions. 

 

Friday afternoon however their smoke alarm started going off, obviously we checked for any signs of a fire but there was none. It then continued going off almost constantly for sporadic periods (eg 3 mins on, 1 min off) all the way through till some time early time morning. 

Needless to say our house has had very little decent sleep the past few days. With the covid lockdowns we couldn't even get out and away from it. 

[tolmij]

1 hour ago, Jedaigeki said:

Well that was a weekend from Hell. 

 

Our next door neighbors (semi-detached house) have been away since pre Christmas. I think they went back to Portugal and have been stuck there due to covid travel restrictions. 

 

Friday afternoon however their smoke alarm started going off, obviously we checked for any signs of a fire but there was none. It then continued going off almost constantly for sporadic periods (eg 3 mins on, 1 min off) all the way through till some time early time morning. 

Needless to say our house has had very little decent sleep the past few days. With the covid lockdowns we couldn't even get out and away from it. 

Well we thought it was a burglar alarm, so we broke in to save your house, we turned your alarm off, its on the table. Problem solved.👍🤪🥳

[miamistomp]

 One good thing about the covid shutdown is I now follow no pro sports except for some golf

[Divot License]

1 hour ago, tolmij said:

Well we thought it was a burglar alarm, so we broke in to save your house, we turned your alarm off, its on the table. Problem solved.👍🤪🥳

Thought about it, but all smoke alarms within this development have the smoke detectors hard lined into the mains so we couldn't turn them off, ripping them out the ceiling had crossed my mind. 

[scomac2002]

1 hour ago, miamistomp said:

 One good thing about the covid shutdown is I now follow no pro sports except for some golf

 

You and me both, at least at this moment in time.  I did watch some baseball and will again once it gets going in the spring.

 

I had been a CFL season seat holder for over 30 years.  That was brought to an end by COVID as the league didn't play last year.  The intention is for games to be played this year and in that end, players are being signed, but it's anyone's guess as to when play might commence.  It's also difficult for me to see fans being allowed into games in any sort of numbers this season.  Not really conducive to a league and sport that relies on gate receipts to survive. 

[scomac2002]

2 hours ago, tolmij said:

Well we thought it was a burglar alarm, so we broke in to save your house, we turned your alarm off, its on the table. Problem solved.👍🤪🥳

 Our previous house had a security system installed following a series of burglaries we experienced.  It was fine for the first number of years, but at one point the system began to act up.  It was a hardwired system with a battery backup.  Eventually I had to disconnect it.  Never bothered to have it repaired figuring that the stickers on the windows would be effective enough to thwart the sorts of nuisance burglars we were dealing with; kids mostly.

[scomac2002]

8 hours ago, tolmij said:

They will not let me play this unless I go to youtube, good job I was not going to.🤨

 

I had the same problem.  We don't live in the States so there are restrictions on certain licensed content.

[scomac2002]

Since I had mentioned the other day that DW and I are playing Scrabble to pass the time of day and she had beaten me 5 times out of every 6 games, I have gotten on a winning streak of 4 in the past 5.  She is not a happy camper...  I don't recall her being a poor loser before, but perhaps its just losing to me that she doesn't like.  I won't bother to explain to her about the randomness of occurrence and the old coin flip analogy.  Don't think it would go over too well... 

 

I guess we're learning what it's like to spend every waking minute together...🤷‍♂️

[Divot License]

Both the wife and I are terrible losers to each other. 

 

I tell her the reasons are because I'm just incredibly competitive but she just has a superiority complex

[Conrad1953]

I normally follow only college football but sometimes I watch the NFL to see some of the

players I liked when they were playing in college; mostly Alabama players but a few others

as well. 

 

And................viewership of pro sports is way down.....and it's NOT because of c  o  v  i  d.

People are fed up with politics in pro sports. Just shut up and play.

[tolmij]

8 hours ago, scomac2002 said:

 Our previous house had a security system installed following a series of burglaries we experienced.  It was fine for the first number of years, but at one point the system began to act up.  It was a hardwired system with a battery backup.  Eventually I had to disconnect it.  Never bothered to have it repaired figuring that the stickers on the windows would be effective enough to thwart the sorts of nuisance burglars we were dealing with; kids mostly.

We have security cameras around the house 8 of them, they cover every angle. Using them we also helped a neighbour identify thieves.

[Conrad1953]

And Alabama v Ohio State 8 pm tonight on ESPN for the National College Football Championship. 

I may be the only one here but I will definitely be watching, lol.

 

That's 8 pm eastern time at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, FL.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Conrad1953

[miamistomp]

2 minutes ago, Conrad1953 said:

And Alabama v Ohio State 8 pm tonight on ESPN for the National College Football Championship.

I may be the only one here but I will definitely be watching, lol.

 Enjoy the game !

   I  have not watched a college game since I graduated in 1973 and actually knew people on the team