I have had TERRIBLE luck with employees for the past year, hiring and firing every other month, they hurt the business to the point that I didn't pay myself for nearly the past 8 months... it sucked, put stress on my brand new marriage, etc. For example... yesterday I walk downstairs and one of them was sleeping, SLEEPING. And yes, they have work to do, and even if they didnt, they should be polishing the walls or something before taking a fucking nap.

Then my partner and I got to talking with this guy.. he was one of the lead engineers at ZEV-Technology, then at Parker Brothers Concepts (google both if you're unfamiliar), he started yesterday and MAN I can't tell you how nice it is to look forward to coming into work again.

We have a few big projects in the works, he can weld aluminum and titanium like nothing I've seen before, he is a MASTER with composites (carbon fiber), he's an engineer, a gun nut, the type that works from 9am to midnight, it's SO refreshing I can't even put it into words.. I was literally about to shut the shop down and just go get a regular job.

Now, I have put all my faith in one employee before and it put me out of business, and cost me over a quarter of a million dollars... so I'm not doing that again, BUT things are looking WAY more promising than they have in a long time.

Here are a few of the projects he's done..

Mars rover for NASA (yes, THAT nasa), full carbon fiber bikes, carbon fiber knives, etc


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Suddenly I want a new mag well!

Congrats on finding someone good who you can hopefully rely and build upon!

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Originally posted by Georgeair:
Suddenly I want a new mag well!

Congrats on finding someone good who you can hopefully rely and build upon!

Thanks! He actually hooked me up with one yesterday haha, I really like the feel of it, and free never was a bad price


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Cap'n Obvious sez: "Don't quickly forget the SERIOUSLY talented guy who did beautiful welding work, and all he did for you..."

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Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Cap'n Obvious sez: "Don't quickly forget the SERIOUSLY talented guy who did beautiful welding work, and all he did for you..."

OH I know. He is eternally burned into my mind as one of the shittiest human beings ever

carbon fiber knives? Wow. and do they really cut and don't need sharpening? I'm sure he makes a killing selling those things.

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Originally posted by Rey HRH:
carbon fiber knives? Wow. and do they really cut and don't need sharpening? I'm sure he makes a killing selling those things.

yea, apparently they get pretty damn sharp (not like metal, but pretty sharp) . He gets good money for them for sure

I have twice found employees sleeping on the job. Not just a dozed off, couldn't keep their eyes open because of some reason (good or bad), but rather...they though I was gone or not going to be there so they spread out a bed/blanket and went to sleep on the clock (hourly employees both of them).

Fired both on the spot. Ripped up their time card for that day also. Hopefully you did this. Both were in their young 20's, and had a bad case of entitlement attitude.

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Originally posted by AKSuperDually:
I have twice found employees sleeping on the job. Not just a dozed off, couldn't keep their eyes open because of some reason (good or bad), but rather...they though I was gone or not going to be there so they spread out a bed/blanket and went to sleep on the clock (hourly employees both of them).

Fired both on the spot. Ripped up their time card for that day also. Hopefully you did this. Both were in their young 20's, and had a bad case of entitlement attitude.

this kid was fully asleep as well. I didn't fire him yet, he had two cars apart that he'll be finishing tomorrow and Thursday, he IS getting fired Friday however. If he asks why, ill show him pictures I took OF HIM ASLEEP, with me standing 3' away. It's wild how hard good hourly help is to find.

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this guy is 33, thinks he knows EVERYTHING. I pull up the security cameras last night because he has a tendency to use the shop like he owns it after hours without asking. he was grinding and mig welding 2-3' away from a ZR1 Corvette. When I confronted him this morning I said to him "dont make excuses, just apologize and don't use the shop again after hours",the response was "I wont make excuses, but I've been doing this for 19 years (which I wouldn't admit to, welding like he does) and I wouldn't be welding that close to another car if I thought there would be sparks hitting it. I couldn't make this shit up if I wanted to.

If other mechanics didnt hate putting things together other techs took apart, he would have been fired when he was caught asleep

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he IS getting fired friday however

Does he read this forum???

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Originally posted by rscalzo:

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he IS getting fired friday however

Does he read this forum???

I doubt it, but I wouldnt care either way.

Welds titanium? From what I've read that's quite a great skill set to have and not very common. When I had my C5 Z06 the mufflers were made of titanium and guys were very careful of the tips and not to break them off because finding someone to weld titanium was not easy nor cheap.

I hope he sticks around for you.

Seems like there's a lot of mismatching going on with employees and employers.

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Originally posted by Edmond:
Welds titanium? From what I've read that's quite a great skill set to have and not very common. When I had my C5 Z06 the mufflers were made of titanium and guys were very careful of the tips and not to break them off because finding someone to weld titanium was not easy nor cheap.

I hope he sticks around for you.

Seems like there's a lot of mismatching going on with employees and employers.

Hell, for what we're paying him, id pitch a tent and move into the shop haha. I just keep trying to think "bigger picture". And Titanium is very tricky to weld, it's very thin walled and need special prep and maintenance while welding it.

I had him do a couple sample welds for me. Now, this isn't titanium, but it is a very impressive bead.


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You have to be careful with "Wonder Employees". Years ago, I worked at a 24 hour gas station. A new guy was hired, and the boss just loved him. Decided about 4 weeks after he started to make him second shift manager, totally pissing off the guy who had worked there for almost a year. At first, everything seemed to be great, his till came out to the penny, etc. He restocked the cigarettes, which we sold a ton of on 3rd shift better than anyone else there, even the boss. A holiday weekend was coming, and the boss wanted to take his wife and kid to LA, so he and I agreed to split the two days 12 hours each. On the first night, everything was normal. On the second night, the other guy who was working with him got sick and left about 10PM to go to the ER. Turned out he had been dosed with something to make him sick. The new guy put something in his drink. I came in early and the station was wide open, lights were on, and a ton of cigarettes were missing. The "Wonder Employee" had shown he wasn't wonderful at all. I took a flashlight and looked into the drop safe slot and it was empty. I called the boss's house to leave him a message to call me as soon as he got home, and he answered. He had just walked in. The "wonderful" guy had stolen about $2500 in cash, and probably close to $2000 in cigs at $.45 a pack. The boss went to the police station and found him in a book of well known "Con Artists". His MO was to be the greatest employee ever, and then to rip off the business and skip town. He got caught in Texas about a month later when he went to work for a policeman's brother and he recognized him.

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this kid was fully asleep as well. I didn't fire him yet, he had two cars apart that he'll be finishing tomorrow and Thursday, he IS getting fired Friday however. If he asks why, ill show him pictures I took OF HIM ASLEEP, with me standing 3' away.

I think he should have been fired on the spot.
I know the motives for more work but either he needs to stay or needs to go.
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