The impacts of layoffs_ A human perspective Maynard Hebert and Kieran Hodgson

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Transcript

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And good morning, how you doing? It's uh Maynard again. Uh, thanks a lot for following with gears for trust Uh back here today with my friend Kieran Heusen. Uh, we've got a real big issue to unpack here today Uh the impact of layoffs And the human perspective on that. So this I'll tell you right now might run into a two hour session. Uh, we're not sure it's not scripted. The conversation goes wherever the conversation goes. That's one of the great things about Gears of Trust. Uh, we have conversation guidelines, but I don't know what's going to come out of Kieran's mouth and Kieran doesn't. Does not know what's coming out of my mouth. Uh, woke up to a Facebook messenger this morning, uh, guys in the Northwest Territories. It's beers. Mine. Thanks for watching. That is really, really cool. Uh, yeah, I will do a episode with my new friend that sound on Facebook. I'm not going to introduce him yet. He can do that when he records a session with me. Once again, I just go review gears. Trust is a. Podcast that I've created, uh, right here in Fort Mac, northern Alberta, and it's for mechanics and technicians and apprentices and guys in the heavy, heavy side of the street. Also auto mechanics, electricians, welders. We'll talk to them in public if need be. Uh, upcoming guests, um, I've got a lady that actually works at CFP Edmonton. And she wants to hop on and do a little bit of chit chat. So yesterday was a busy day after recording with Kieran here where bells and whistles are going off and I absolutely love it. Uh next 14 days i'm going on shift So i'll only be able to record in evenings, but i'll be doing a lot of reading and writing in the interim. That being said, uh for those who missed the last episode with Kieran, uh, Kieran's a second time. Um recording a session with me Uh, young apprentice here in Alberta. I'm going to get him to introduce himself to you and you'll get more familiar with him. So Kieran, Take it away, buddy. Hey, thanks for having me again today Maynard. Uh, for those that don't know me, my name is Kieran. I am currently a third year heavy equipment technician apprentice. I started my apprenticeship back in 2021 here on the north end of the city in Edmonton. Um, I have worked on everything from concrete trunks, sorry, bleh. Can't speak today, obviously. Have a coffee, man. Yeah, literally. Uh, so I've worked on everything from concrete. Concrete pumps, mixing trucks, tandem steer, road gear, loaders, excavators, skid steers. Um, I've also done work on, um, hydrovac equipment, so straight vacs, combo vacs, water trucks, winch trucks, flat decks. Um, and then I got my opportunity in the mine in, Mid 2020, mid 2023, I suppose it would have been, uh, working up at Suncorp Fort Hills in, uh, Maynard's Neck of the Woods there, uh, working on everything from haul trucks, 777F water trucks, all the way up to 797 cats, um, various dozers anywhere from D8 to D11. Um, again, various excavators. I can't even remember all the mutt makes models of those. Uh, and then your, your larger graders, everything from Caterpillar 16 G to 24 H. So I've, I've got to dabble in a lot of different aspects of the trade. And, and as an apprentice, I feel I'm very, Seasoned. Um, and yeah, I'm still working on getting my pounding through this apprenticeship and hopefully get my ticket by the end or sorry, I guess it would be the beginning of 2026. So we're almost done Almost done man. Hey, you know karen when you get that red seal, buddy, I'll tell you Uh, all us old dogs are fucking gone. You're gonna be able to jack a pretty good wage. I'll tell you By the time i'm gone Um you guys will be able to say whatever you want for pricing. They're pretty much gonna have to pay for it Right. That's the thing is there's not a lot of guys getting into the business A lot of guys getting out over the next couple of years next five to ten years phenomenal You're gonna be in a good position though They will all probably be pushing up daisies. But we all have our differences Well, it is what it is then I have to you know have to prepare for all eventualities There's only two guarantees in life and that's What, how's that saying? Two guarantees in life? Death, death and taxes. That's the taxes. That's the one. Yeah. Yeah, uh, I, I liken it to we all have a start date. We know when that is And we all have an end date but the trick is we don't know when that is and What you do and how you interact with people in between the start and the end that is who you are, right? So just remember That being said, we're going to unpack a whole ton of shit today in this one, man. It's going to unpack some personal crap for me. I don't know if it's going to unpack some personal crap for you. Kieran, but we're going to talk about the impacts of layoffs and human perspective Um, i've been in the workforce for 50 years and guess what? I've been hired. I've been fired. I've been laid off. I've been screwed. I've been dude. I've been done. I've been blessed and i've been I've done every spectrum of, of the job market that you can think of. Uh, so what can, let's just jump right into it, man. So emotional effects and psychological effects of layoffs on employees. That's we're employees. So we're working for the man here is working for the man. Kieran, take it away, buddy. Depression. Depression. Depression? That's the first one that comes to my mind. Absolutely. Yeah? You know, it's You know, you get emotional and psychological effects and the first thing you're going with is depression, eh? Oh yeah. Easily. Easily. I mean, as mechanics obviously you mentioned physical, as mechanics, you know, we gotta keep our bodies in decent shape and in decent running order. Sure. So, I mean, you go from, you go from pulling heavyweight to sitting around doing nothing for two, three, four, six weeks, it's tough once you do get refined employment to, to get your body back into that, because nine times out of 10, you hit the ground running again. So, um, yeah, usually, but I mean, being a red, being a red chest away. Yeah. So, and I mean, but for me personally, it's. You know, you work your 14 on or 14 off shift and you're you're used to having 7 to 14 days off Whichever it is if you're 14 and 7, Um, but I mean so once you get kind of past that three four week mark And you've been applying for jobs and applying for jobs and applying for jobs. I mean for me I'm currently in a layoff situation and You know, you scroll through Indeed and journeyman, journeyman, journeyman, journeyman, journeyman, they, you, if you got your ticket, you can get a job wherever you want. You can do whatever you want. So you're, you're, you're laid off right now, eh? You're laid off right now? So where was your last place of employment? So my last place of employment was with CWE, heavy duty. Oh, yeah, there you go. Uh, and that was when I was up in, I was up in the mine. So, so was that a bullshit? Was that a bullshit layoff where fucking you pissed somebody off and they laid you off? Or was that a legit laid off where they lost work? It, it was, it, it was me and every other person in the company along with, uh, except for his longest standing journeyman in the company. Uh, what happened was I came home. To go to school at the end of my set in December of 2023. And I started school for my second period at Nate, January 8th, running to March 1st. So March 1st would have been a Friday and I would have written my AIT that Friday, my AIT exam. For those that don't know, your AIT exam is your Alberta industry training. So basically they are the ones that decide whether, you know, you determine level of competency and knowledge. Yep. Yep. Yeah. And that determines whether you move on to be a third year or you stay as a second year and you have to rewrite. Um, so I was set to write my AIT for the Friday and the day before the Thursday. He had called and said hey, I know we had your flights booked and everything to come up this following Tuesday here um, but It's all falling apart up here. Uh, and then from what I was told from under the great I don't know if there's any truth to it or not or um, Another company which I won't mention uh From what I again from what I understand they underbid The company that we were subcontracted to at Suncor Fort Hills by You Some millions again. I don't know if that's true. I don't know The exact characteristics or logistics of it, but that's what I was told Um, so we ended up getting the axe and even maynard's company that he is currently working for was up there along with me at the same time and I had a friend up there working with me at the same company and He had been watching it kind of just slow down and slow down and slow down so he he kind of knew it was coming and And he told me that, hey, this is, this is probably an eventuality here, right? And sure enough, it didn't happen. So it didn't come as a surprise, eh? It didn't come as a surprise? It didn't, but it did. I don't know if that makes sense because it, it was one of those things where you're being told one thing from the man and you're being told another thing from the guy that's Um, you know, you kind of, you kind of want to give the owner of the company, the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, no, and then it it happened and I kind of thought well, I hate to say I'm surprised because like you said I kind Of been being fed this this insider info for for some time. And uh, Yeah, so when it happened, it was just like well that sucks. That's shitty, you know, um, So how should I take it? How should I take it? Because it's just not you involved here like So what does you like to think of this? That's that's another point of our You Um, our, our topic today is how does it affect others? Right. And it's huge, right? It goes from, it goes from changing the family dynamic. Cause she had got really used to my schedule, me being home for two weeks and then me be gone for two weeks. Right. So me coming home, it kind of threw her off her game. Not necessarily in a bad way. I mean, maybe I don't know But No, it's it for her. It sucked because she saw me then at another low point in life and then You know, like I mentioned the depression part of it where it's fine. It's fine and dandy for the first first three or four weeks Sitting at home collecting the eye and trying to find a job But then, you know, you've gone and you've applied for 45 50 jobs and you haven't heard anything back You start to wonder am I good enough? And why, why am I not being selected, not only for a job, but for an interview? Like, what have I done wrong? You know, I, I feel that I have plenty of experience in, in different aspects of this trade. And it's, it's extremely trying, for me anyway, to be able to get, to get an opportunity for even an interview. I don't think it's, I don't think it's a trying thing, um, for just you. Like, that, that goes to fucking everybody, Kieran. That, that goes to everybody. Once you're done here, I'm going to tell you a little story about how I got myself fired. Fucking over Syncra, and that was a lot of fun that night. But, yeah, when, when stuff like that happens, That's normal. The first thing you do is you turn inward you say well fuck what did I do wrong? That's why I asked you at the start of this is this bullshit layoff Or did you legitimately laid off because i've been i've been terminated over personality conflicts and ambush and in politics Uh, I have been truly laid off at the companies. I have laid people off because I owned the restaurant for five years So I've laid people off. I have fired people. I have been fired. I have been hired. I've done the whole 10 years on it. So, uh, just, just to reinforce something with you here. It's not a bad thing to look inward and say, fuck, is there anything I did wrong? Sorry, to find something to take accountability for? Yeah, that's right. And that's how you go through a process of self improvement. But sometimes it's just bad. It's not you. Sometimes it's not you, right? Um, I seen in my, in my work history where a lot of guys had been laid off and it was simpler than firing because as soon as me as a company, I fire somebody, I have to have my ducks in a row. I have to have a just cause. They have to do this. They have to do that. And you can fire anybody for no reason in Alberta. You just have to be prepared to pay what you owe them in severance. Uh, yes, which leads me to another part of the conversation. One of my termination, but I'll, uh, let's go touch base on a self terminating process. I went through. So, uh, let me see. I came back up into the sands. Wow, man, this time went quick. Uh, it came back in, in the 19th and I went to work for KMC mining and I was on a shovel crew with KMC at base mine Suncor. North American, I'm under mid contract and get the overburden contract. So then, uh, KMC withdrew from Suncorp Base, went to, uh, Santa Cruz to do reclamation and looking after stuff up at Aurora. So, I went from shovel crew to everything crew. That make sense? I went, you know, I was doing, uh, tracks, uh, doing rock trucks, uh, doing excavators, uh, we didn't have any shovels in the dig. Oh, yes, we had a couple shovels, three shovels, I think, over at base or in the dig, uh, but the reality is, uh, A lot of guys get laid off in that scenario and I was fortunate enough to be kept on the shovel crew and What you call this? Anyway, one late dark night shifters me and another guy at ace it at the shop and um I got a call to wilton field. I had a m24. It wasn't up shifting So this is, I'm going to say about 1 1 30 in the morning. So we're going to end the service truck. And I left my partner at shop and he was into a break, uh, a break issue on a 793 and off in the pit I go, I'm fucking so, but he couldn't upshift off of 30. He was stuck in third gear. Well, it was pretty complicated and high tech. So I dug all the Hershey chocolate bars that were melted and it's a fucking day shift and it actually prevented the push button on the joystick from going down. So I took a pick and, uh, dug the chocolate out. From around the push the select buttons and get the thing working that way there. It tasted great, too So from there My buddy michelle, he asked me to stop up on the dump and look at a 793 the guys on day shift It tagged out the haul truck for a leak on an airline and he ordered up the part And when he went to order the part on sis, it came up as a grease line So I said, yeah, okay. I'll stop the dump take a look at it So I rolled up my service truck. There's nobody in the dump Two in the morning or whatever stuck my head in underneath the fucking walk valve. Didn't see no tags, ear leak here, fix this, locked out or nothing. I don't know, I'm sort of crying out loud. Here we go, it's two in the morning, let's go find the hose thing, right? I should have looked at the picture on the system and would have known which hose to look for, but stupid me. So anyway, I'm gonna grab the hose off my truck. Yeah, I grab it and you pay attention because it's an easy mistake to make. Yeah, right. So, yeah, so anyway, I threw my air hose on, fired up the DMACC. Wooo! Away we go. Get lots of air. It's a great swipe. Hit the bell. Load up the air system. And I listen. And I look. And I crawl. And I look. I've been many ages. I'm back in behind the cab. And I look. And I listen. And I'm like, well, I'll fire it up. Right. Let's see what goes on. So I fired it up. She come to life and soon she come to life. She started to roll ahead. Guess what I use for wheel truck. That's right. My service truck. So I guess apparently you're not allowed to use your service truck as wheel truck because I didn't do a safe approach in the haul truck. I didn't lock it out. She rolled ahead. Bang, bang, stop. Anyway, I backed it up, threw wheel chocks on her, reported it to myself, and I got myself fired. We're down in the middle of the night getting a drug test, and a safety officer gets up, and he's ramming me. Why'd you do that? Why'd you do that? Why'd you do that? I'm like explaining to him, man, it's just like your first, your first kiss, you know? All I wanted to do was kiss the girl. Next thing I know, her blouse is off, and I'm gonna be fucking dead. So you tell me how it happened. I ain't got a fucking clue, eh? So I got into a big fight with the safety officer at 3 in the morning while I was getting drug tested at Can Am and Fort Mac. But, like It's just one of those things that happen, you know, the highway to hell escape with good intentions Anyway, there we go. We go through the process So the trainer figures she said i'll help you out here maynard and say that you weren't checked out at 793 That's why it happened. So now when fucking sim crew gets a hold of this I didn't lock out properly. I didn't do a safe approach in the truck. I wasn't checked out on that piece of equipment. So there's three golden rule violations there and they punted me. They had no choice. They appeased the customer, the client, they had to. But I was given, I was given a, given a whatchacallit, given a termination notice and with a stipulation to reapply in six months. So I go back to KMC. So I got myself fired, which was kind of cool. That could which is neat and and you know what I did go I did go back. Uh did go back up in Previous time which leads me to mater here right now. So Do you have any? Any ideas or stories you'd like to tell us about? A layoff you weren't too keen on for a fire. Have you ever been fired? I guess let's go there I've been fired. I I've been fired. Um, my second year company that I Um, you know, it was, it was one of those things that they expected more out of a second year than I feel that a second year should be able to produce. Yeah. You know, and, um, yeah, it ended up turning into kind of a. Just left a bad taste in my mouth for the apprenticeship itself because it was like well did Okay, so was that a confrontational issue you have with management when they shit can just so you're doing two years You're a second year apprentice and you're doing fucking above and beyond So you confront management on this and say did you confront management on this and say hey, man, this is like a bullshit Well, I kind of did when I was, I kind of did when we sat down and we had the, we had the, the meeting and it was just, you know, they basically told me, well, you know, this pre really isn't for everyone. And I said, well, what the fuck is that supposed to mean? Yeah, because, because I'm a fresh second year, I don't know how to do the transmission or. You know, rolling mains. Like I, I, I'm just garbage, you know. Well, let's, I'm gonna keep picking that. I'm gonna, Kieran, I'm gonna, I'm gonna keep picking this scab off this, this injury here, just to fucking see what's there for infection. But yeah. So what did you do to piss them off? I think you did something to piss them off. Did you crank shaft? The only, the only thing that I can think of is, is maybe a slight, I wouldn't even call it laziness, but just kind of maybe. Having a millennial attitude towards it, maybe? Yeah, so your attitude wasn't right. It might have been. Be honest. It may have been. Uh, you know, a truck came in, and it was Were you dog fucking? No! It was, it was as simple as, as, I, I pulled a truck in, it was the middle of winter, and I pulled a truck in, and it was obviously, It was all caked in ice and snow and shit. Yeah, and it was in for a 1200 hour service and uh, And I was like, okay Well, i'm gonna let that drip dry a little bit so that I can see what i'm doing is this thing sits in the shop And melts and while that's doing that i'm gonna go back to doing what I was finishing on that other inspection Well, they didn't take too kindly to the fact that I was not Prepared to roll under a wet truck, which I was I was just trying to avoid it for as long as I could possible until most of the Shit had melted off. They didn't really like that So but other than that, I didn't really I was I was in good standing with I was in good standing with my shop foreman field service foreman um, you know, it was it was actually the maintenance manager who I had never even worked a day in my life with that came in Yeah, maxie employment so it was I had had conversation with both foreman in the time that I was there and, you know, uh, there was never an issue, you know, I was, I was a fresh second year. I'm still learning. Obviously, I'm still, still well early in my apprenticeship and learning, but, um, yeah, the decision came from above him and he was the foreman was actually from what I was told after the fact is he was actually quite surprised that, that the situation turned out the way it did because he had no intentions of me leaving. So yeah, amazing, eh? Yeah, so it, it, it happens. So you, you, you're, were you given two weeks notice or were you just saying you're laid off today? See you later. No, no, no, no. A firing called layoff, eh? A firing called layoff? Yeah, pretty much, yeah. And how, how, how'd Shai react to that? Oh, she thought it was bullshit. She thought it was fucking stupid, you know, because you can't expect a second year apprentice to be as good as a journeyman. And, and that's why did she call, was basically told, did, did she call the employer and say, Hey, these guys are a bunch of fucking idiots or anything, or No? You, you leave it, you leave it, you let it, you let it go. That's all. I've, I'm not, I'm not a, I'm not a confrontational individual, you know, me personally, I understand. I'm not, yeah. I don't, I don't, I don't fight people. Yeah. If, if that's, if that's what you wanna do, then okay. You know, I, I might not necessarily agree with it, but. You know, maybe I'd be more confrontational if I had my ticket, but I'm also, like I told you, with, with being laid off currently and trying to find, find employment when it's so saturated looking for journeymen because there aren't enough and, um, you know, I'm just happy to get what I can take. So I don't want to, I don't want to piss on anyone's shoes. So yeah, I just, I just kind of, and that's, and that's the way I was raised too, was like, just. Keep your mouth shut and do your fucking job. Yeah I uh, so I tried to do that. I I actually fired a guy um What's called when I was managing a bus company, right? So I was managing a although they're going out of the old chance now first can and let's manage them at at horizon and they were a vehicle contract to manage the And that was an ordained position, uh, same time the subprime mortgage thing was going down in the globe and head office for that bus company was in Aberdeen, Scotland. So for me as northern manager here, I would have to get a whole Calgary. Calgary would get a talk with Cincinnati. Cincinnati would talk with Aberdeen, blah, blah, blah. It was a sequence of events there. So basically Aberdeen, Scotland pulled out money for setting up a light vehicle section at, at Horizon because of subprime. So I went into to facilitate that contract and my role changed because, okay, we're not doing light vehicle now, so now you're going to be a bus manager. So anyway, we had just gotten, uh, awarded a contract to provide busing from my site, WAPITREZ. And I had one guy, had a busload of people, bring them from site, and he was on the old Canterra road, which was kind of a rounded piece of chip steel with short corners, had like 70, 80k. He dropped her in the ditch, kept driving in the ditch, put it back up on the road at the next like little pullout and stuff, kept driving. Never even reported. So next morning, I'm on, I'm at my desk and phone rings and hey Maynard, guess what? Blah, blah, blah, blah. So I brought the guy in. What happened? Well, yeah, I tell you, I got there on the shoulder and pulled me in. If I had to push, I went in the ditch and I drove and I got back up. He's just, uh, no one hurt, no harm, no foul. Bank, did not pass, go collect 200, right? And I terminated him. Yeah. Within three hours, his wife was on the phone to me. I couldn't believe it. Like, Terminator guy and his wife on the phone to me. I know it had a dramatic impact. It's just liability when you take a highway coach through the ditch for a fucking quarter of an hour and bring her back up. You really expose yourself for a lot of liability and stuff, right? Yeah, so I just wondered if she, I was like that, if she snapped and triggered. God, no. God, no. She's, she doesn't. The only time she'll pick up the phone is to call me. Have you, have you ever, have you ever had like a two week notice of termination? Like never. Okay. Never, never, never. I've never had one. That's something I've always thought was bullshit, you know, from, from a corporate perspective, you know, as an employee and you sign your contract and you sign your life away. You know, you say right there that, okay, if I'm ever to leave, I am, I am obligated to give you as a company two weeks notice if I are to quit and move on to potential greener pastures. But you're allowed to lay off and fire me at a moment's notice. Where's the, where's the equality in that? Because I, as an employee, am to give the employer two weeks notice so that the employer has two weeks to fill that position. But you, as an employer, do not have to give me two weeks to find a new source of income to maintain the roof over my head and food in the fridge. But if you're going to say, if you're going to part ways with an employer, right? In case you said, I've had it with this place, I'm going to the next place. Um, and you've had it with that guy. Alberta's got that law where you as the employer are supposed to give two weeks notice, but you know what, if you don't give two weeks notice, what do you think's going to happen? They're going to fire you? So, yeah, I'll like, Bob Coffey, I love you. I can remember when a gentleman named Bob Coffey back in Nebraska, when I first got into the car rack at Rick's, a place called Jim Thompson Pontiac Buick. GMC and we work flat rate Bob coffee was taking the fucking screwing up the ass on flat rate They point one of them in this and point to him on that He got pissed off and the Chrysler dealership up the shop up the road was like a block away at Elm City Chrysler Bob coffee got pissed off Okay, Jim Garner that the service does the finger this I'm going back in 86 I think 85 or 86 give which is the son's owner, the owner's son of the dealership, the car dealership, left the GM dealership and push the tool box right down the center of the fucking road to the Chrysler dealership. And Bob stayed with the Chrysler dealership for quite a while. Then became a teacher with a province to Brunswick too in his part time. But yeah, pretty cool dude. But you know, if, if you're leaving the company, you've made that decision, you've, I could give or do her like a two weeks notice is no big deal. It's an inconvenience to the company But the end of the day that company they don't love you or you don't love them So at the end of the day, you've made the decision to move. There's there's no sense putting yourself through the anguish, right? Uh, and 90 percent of companies you're just a number. So yeah, well, we bought the restaurant the man in crossing uh The existing owner of that had to give everybody layoff notices and when we sold it We had to give everybody layoff notices So those people had two weeks to prepare to go to another restaurant or to reapply at The next owners of that restaurant, right? So it's a franchise zone thing Um, yeah, and I know some of the folks, uh, which got we're fucking we're mega stressed But I made the announcement that we're selling the restaurant Uh, so I can only imagine what scott was like when he sold the restaurant to me Uh, and then The staff I had was interviewed by the new owner. So they immediately had an application coming into it and then they could decide who they want to keep and stuff like that. So yeah, but it's not from the employer perspective in that case, there are mass layoffs when you have a massive change in operation or business. Um, It's not a good feeling to look at people that you work with and that's helped you along your way You know for five years in life, which all you gotta say. Hey, well guys, I'm changing gears from this to that and It's a parting of the ways and you know We've got servers and cooks that were friends that we made friends with over five years that still contact me all the time Uh, and um, those friendships carry through with life, but yeah, it was hard for some of them. And you know what? Some of them deserve to be laid off, but that's, that's life, but it's not a good feeling doing it from a management perspective and I know layoffs not looking good from a receiving perspective, but I'm like you, uh, um, I have been laid off, but it's, I've never got two weeks notice. Never get two weeks notice. And no, I think, and that's where I feel like I figured it out. Yeah. That's where I feel like the depression falls in, right? Is, is your, you know, like I said, your first two weeks off is cool. You get to hang out at home with the dog and watch catch up on some of your TV shows. But I mean, after that, it's, I'm running out of money, you know, and especially in today's economy where, you know, you're, my EI is only paying 2, 300 bucks a month, right? So it's just a tick over, it's just a tick over minimum wage. So, I mean, by the time I pay the rent and I put food back on the table and. You know, I pay all the other bills It's like I don't have a lot of money to put into savings towards buying my own house and doing my own investments so All of those thoughts just start to snowball and snowball and it's like when is something gonna strike and actually Hit and stick, you know Yeah I mean eventually right that's that's the that's the goal and that's the hope um It can it can be very frustrating and very mentally taxing for sure You Emotionally devastating, eh? Like, it really is, it fucking, it beats up your self Yeah, it beats up your self esteem pretty hard, so fucking Usually, yeah. So, what do you do to get that self esteem back? What, what do you do? Like, what do you do, man? Lately for myself, I've just been kind of, Super, super recent for myself. I've just been trying to keep myself pretty occupied by doing other things like going to the gym once we're done here for today. I'll, I'll probably just go into the gym and get a good workout in and try and clear the mind, right? Um, you know, you, you gotta try and keep yourself busy and you gotta, you gotta keep your chin up and, And hope that someone's going to call and that phone's going to ring because as, as, as an employee and as a, as an applicant, all you can do is apply, you know, you can't hire yourself. You can't give yourself an interview, right? So, um, all you can do is make sure that your resume is up to the best par that it can be and you submit it and you type up a nice little cover letter and you submit that along. Uh, detailing and outlining your current experience. Um, and, and then you literally, all you can do is wait and, and hope, right? So, um, yeah, you just gotta, you just gotta keep your chin up and reassure yourself that you are enough and that, um, you know, someone will eventually appreciate and, and recognize the, the hard work they did not break it. Yeah. The hard, the hard work and the blood, the sweat, the tears. And in our trade, the thousands and thousands of dollars that you've. Invested into tools and schooling for it, right? So. Yeah. That's one thing about the mechanical trade, man, that I don't think it's right. Like, we f drop major bucks on, on wrenches and tools and tools to no f end, right? And there's no tax breaks on that. Even as an apprentice, you get a little bit of a tax break. A little bit of I mean, I probably got I've probably got easily 10 grand of tools in my garage. Yeah. You're just an apprentice. I'm not even done. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're not even done. You started, you started the journey, right? And you probably, you're probably not running a little snap on Mac, Mac coach yet, right? You're probably, I've got some snap on stuff. Uh, my three eights, I've got a three eights. Impact and a three eights, um, electric ratchet that I snap on. I've got a half inch, I've got a half inch, um, snap on, uh, I've got Mac sockets. I've got snap on pry bars. I've got, um, snap. I've got to snap on 36 inch breaker bar and a 24 inch three stride ratchet. Uh, so I do have some snap on and some Mac, but God, I'm not, I'm in no means in crippling debt. Yeah. If you will. Yeah. For, for tools. But that's a wise way to go. Hey man, there's, there's, there's guys are looking like hooked on crack on, on Oh yeah, yeah. The truck comes on. Tool truck, man. Like it's not good. Yeah, it's not good. Oh yeah. No deck. The deck walk in there and everything. Everything's shiny and Oh my god, it Yeah. It's, it's, yeah, it's almost an addiction or a fetish tool. A tool game, but. Now, being in the field and stuff now when I buy shit, uh, I just buy, buy disposable shit because I'm at the end of my career now anyway. Number two, I don't know how many nice tools I've left behind in the woods or on, in my sites. I bought a really nice set of Richardson hydraulic wrenches, thin, high tempered wrenches, and we're on a 400 shovel. Uh, at Horizon at Breakers. And, uh, what's it called? Buddy of mine, Randy McCray. We were doing a line, and he dropped my wrench. And we're fucking standing in a foot and a half swamp in the middle of a fucking haul road. I never did find that wrench. Man, and I know, like, Out of that set so that's set for 12 wrenches like 500 bucks And for the next three years every time I went by there was looking for something shiny Never did get it back. Yeah, the best is a wrench down into the belly of a dozer That's the best yeah, yeah, that's either gone or you're dropping pans boy. That's the only way you're getting that You'll be you'll be careful dropping pants You'll be careful dropping pants because there's many a guy been killed and injured fucking dropping pants. Well at suncore Yeah, it was uh, it was uh at port hills. Anyway, I don't know about baseline I'm sure it is a baseline still something but at some core it's a two man job and you have to get a permit for it Yeah, yeah, we use Ted, uh, like, uh, Ted is such a, oh man, whoever. Whoever invented Ted, man, I could kiss him on the lips. I really could. Yeah, it's, there's procedures. There's procedures for doing that stuff. And if you know, if you're going to drop a pan and you're not sure how to do it and any apprentices watching the show, man, don't, don't go ahead and do that. Get a hold of your journeyman and say, Hey, what's the safest way? The safest way? Like we talked in the last episode. I mentioned the curing. You have to make that body last a lifetime, right? You have to make the body last a lifetime. So don't put yourself in a hiring for you over something stupid. You'll always have electric tools working for you. Yeah, use that, use that service truck, use that, use that crane, man. Every procedure is written in blood, right? That's right. That's right. Every procedure is written in blood. There's a reason that you didn't just dream of these things. Have you ever been, have you ever been fired? Oh yeah. Yeah, I've been Oh yeah? How'd that go? This is the good stuff. Honestly, honestly, some of the firing, some of the firing has been It's a me or you thing, man. I'll tell you, firing, like, I am such The type of guy I'm the type of guy that people either love me or you will hate me like I don't have In between does that make sense? So when I've been fired either it's a me don't like you issue It's a you don't like me issue. I've never been fired for workmanship I've been fired for attitude and i've caught big attitude to some people and other people I'm really really good with so if you love me, you will fucking love me 100 percent and if you hate me Yeah, i'm not gonna have any questions No, i've been i've been let go and I don't think it was honestly personality conflict No, it was it was the employer or the man in charge doesn't believe that I am at a level that I should be At for the amount of money that i'm being paid I've never i've never worked a mind job that i've gotten fired from And I was making considerably more money at the mine than I ever was at any job in town. Working twice as much and twice as hard. Two total different businesses, because if you get in a small business in town, they use their mechanics. Like we use here impact guns spin the little fuck out of them Don't lubricate them and when they're burned out throw away a great another yeah, that's it in So i'm an auto guy when I got fired at mine site for using my haul truck My service trucks as a wheel truck. I instead of going back to mine site I said look I just need a break covid19 game man, right? Yeah One of my buddies, one of my buddies, uh, that was a automotive at KMC then he was on a diversified bus And we just started the COVID 19 driving this lazy fucking game, which is a total crap of shit So Ryan gets on The diversified bus and he sits in proximity. So you when you went on the bus, you were allocated the seats The driver would say 552 you 42 you and 544 whatever So you sat on the bus and you had a one seat perimeter around you. So ryan got on the bus ryan got on the bus and What's called the uh, he sat down Went to site then he got contacted by health and health said well you're in the proximity of somebody that tested positive for COVID So you got to go home for two weeks in quarantine. Okay, so he just come on his 14 days off He got on the bus now. He's got to go home quarantine for 14 days off Right? Before he comes back from rotation, he's got 14 days off. Are you doing the math here? So we get 12, uh, 14, 28, right? 42 days off. And then he goes back to site for his next rotation. After 42 days off, gets on the bus, goes in, gets called by health and guess what? Sat by somebody with fucking COVID again. Are you following me here? 14 days again. Now we're at 56. There's another 46. And he's on his, and then he's on, so he's got 56 days and then he's got another 14 before he can go back to his regular shift because he's scheduled days off. So that's 66 and 4 makes 70 days. That went down on fucking, on Ryan and I said I ain't doing that. So I went into town and I did lift kits and I did performance mods and DPF deletes as an auto guy because I can go heavier auto. And I went to a small mom and pop shop that I didn't have to wear a mask. I didn't fucking play any of that game. I never got vaccinated. And ironically, uh, that's when I got COVID. I don't know if you remember that and I got hospitalized in Northern lakes. I got COVID and I got put in a hospital for, uh, for, uh, A week, uh, in order to lights under auction in the full game during Omicron, the virus Omicron that way went through and that was the busiest it got. I had that entire COVID ward to myself. I had six nurses waiting on me hands foot. I had three students that were poking me on a fucking hourly basis just to get their books signed off and poking people with needles and testing. And I sat there. Oh yeah. Oh, I'm just, you know what I'm really glad about? I'm glad they weren't training proctologists. I'll fucking tell you that six, seven days of that would have been fucking painful. I sat there and laid on my back and watched Jamie Davis pull Rex out of the fucking ditch for fucking seven days. When I was done, I had a strange desire to offer. Operator 50 ton rotator. I don't know where that bugger come from. Right? Yeah, but yeah. Yeah, no kidding. Hey And I know debbie was scared Suddenly I am a tv trained wrecker operator here now. Yeah, so that's what I did instead of going back Yeah So after after two years Brutally, oh man, you see lots of cool rigging now that you know about how to rate for lifts and stuff Thank you much Yeah. Highway to hell. Yeah. That's rigging. I could rig up a snap block like right now. I really could. Yeah. Would you watch rigging a lot? Say no, say no to drugs, people say no to drugs, right? Like where do you go up with rigging? I don't know. Anyway, from there, I went back to, uh, I went back to the oil sands. So I had it with the, uh, I had it with a mom and pop organization. I wanted some freedom. So I was doing like. Uh five days on two days off the old conventional work week and work on Saturday mornings And that was just like after two years of that. I said, oh, yeah, I remember where I like shift work and uh I rocked I went back to a kmc at Basemine and I was the only guy looking after two shovels and excavators and stuff there and uh, Then when uh to come down the pipes that they're going to reduce the number of contractors. I was a junior guy Um at kmc in the shovel department because with 955 operating engineers a union You So I got laid off. And then, ironically, um, one of the guys that was with Mater working for KMC at the time, he told them, told me they were manning up shovels, uh, right across the way there. So I applied with Mater and jumped on board and been with them, come up a year and a half here now. So it's been great as far as that goes. But, yeah, the, like, wow, it's brutal. It's like, You get laid off in the middle of the night. So I got home, I remember when I fuckin finished a drug test and he dropped me off at the house and I snuck in, tried to sneak in to the house at 4. 30, Debbie's really sharp. What are you doing home? I said, Well, I'll explain to you in the morning. I said, I'm not hurt, everything's good. So, uh, and it brought her up to speed. She, Debbie is, God bless her, man. She just, like, If she gets stressed by it she hides it really well. Oh well Maynard, you're gonna stop this, stop this, stop this. That's what it is, right? Yes, dear. Yes, dear. That's what I do. That's what I do. So getting fired, I'm trying to think, I don't think I've ever been fired. I've been underhanded pretty hard. Oh, you know, yeah, I have been fired. I've been technically fired, but there's a big story in behind it. I think, you know, Oh. For me, the most traumatic firing, um, was at Horizon as a Troubles Team Lead. That was, I could, I, when I come out of that deal, I felt like a rape victim. Honest. Uh, I felt like a rape victim. I, I guess a precursor to everything. I, I, Violent. Jumped from that bus. Yeah, I was violated. I was done dry on that deal. Um, and that wasn't about a performance issue That was about a personality conflict Uh, what's called in in middle middle management, uh, what's called and and they snuck me on the deal So be it is what it is. Uh, what's called? But yeah, that was a definitely definitely a violation if I can just answer about it ironically One door seems to lead to another door. So when I was terminated there, uh, my original team lead on Shovel from Horizon, uh, found out, uh, which called us, uh, had found out I was up for grabs and then he got me to go to Raptor Mining. And then that's how, because I had house in Fort Mac house in, in Edmonton and stuff, uh, he found out I was, uh, laid off or terminated or whatever you want. And, uh, which call my, my day, my visit to the office didn't go that good, uh, which call it. So, uh, yeah, I went into Raptor mining, uh, Raptor mining. I did components and worked with a bunch of apprentices and stuff like that. Down there. Yeah, and that was not that was a good experience. I've met some really good friends and friends that i've carried through to These days here too. Almost everybody on my crew are still talk with It's really really neat. Really really neat like wow, so That being said so looking at layoffs, right? Do you think when we leave it affects the company culture or like have you had one of your buddies get laid off and It's like affected company culture or like your mindset and workplace or what? Of course. Yeah, absolutely. I mean as you know, um apart from being well, even when you're in the mine, I mean you spend Just for for sake of the viewers you're spending 14 days on 14 days off there. So you spend You spend your 14 days off at home, but people's spouses either are a stay at home mom because the guys that are up there making such good money that, or used to be making such good money that they didn't need to be. Working or your spouse does work. So you're 14 days off. You're only actually seeing your spouse What a third of the time maybe, you know for from 5 p. m 5 p. m to 8 p. m And then you get yeah, because your spouse is working, right? Yeah, so and but then when you're in the mind like just for my own experience I was with the same guy 12 hours a day Actually longer than that because we were on the bus ride together You It was an hour there, a 12 hour shift, and then we had dinner together for an hour. So we were together for 15 hours a day for 14 days. So the only time we worked together is when we were showering and we were sleeping, that's the only time we, so, and you know, and so when, when layoffs happen or you lose people that are also on your crew, you know, um, not only the guy that you're sitting next to in the truck, but also the guys that, that you You know if if you ran into a stumped question and you needed somebody to call those people are also no longer there So you start feeling a little bit like you're on an island, baby, you know, yeah And and that loneliness kind of sets in because you don't know all these people and a lot of people i've met I've met so many different people from so many different walks of life, you know, I I am a social butterfly I'm, not scared to come on a podcast and And to have open conversations. Um, but there's a lot of people that are introverts and it took a lot for them. To get to know those people on their crew and then once those people are then laid off and gone They have to restart the whole process as an anxiety ridden introvert It's nothing. Yeah, it's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's it's to them or for them it's a sad thing because they they don't want to have to go through this again man and like they don't want to have to get to know new people because They like the people that they already knew Yeah, they just, they built and established those relationships, right? So that all gets torn apart. They have established relationships that are then, I couldn't have said that better myself just then. I mean, it is, you know, they, they have established relationships that are then torn apart to no choice or to no fault of their own. And, you know, Admittedly, probably no fault to, um, the company's fault either, right? It's just, it's the way the cookie crumbles, unfortunately, sometimes. So, um, in, in any, in any case, it is, it is unfortunate to see though, yeah. And it, and it does have, it does definitely have an effect on, on company or shop morale and, um, you know, the, the wellbeing of everyone, right? It's a shitty, it's a shitty scenario. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Uh, the guy I was telling you, before the podcast here, um, a guy last night, he, he picked me up on Facebook Messenger. It's been a friend of mine since 2008, 2009. Uh, he's a shovel mechanic at De Beers in Northwest Territories. And guess what? They're watching a podcast. They're watching an episode with Sean Stefanotti, uh, Stefanuti and I, um, and they were having a great time watching it. And he sent me a message and his buddy wants to do an episode with me too. So I'm scheduling that. Uh, his episode is going to be. Air just before christmas, uh, you're going to air On your first episode with me he's going to air on the 22nd, but scott and I uh, go back Friday then hey Yep, you're going up. Uh, you're going to be dropped next friday, buddy I'm trying to uh, i'll get a hold of sean and finish the second half of his that he's flying in the camp today So i'm going to try to finish his episode up and drop it right tomorrow. So that two parts complete Um, but uh, yeah, so sean scott's buddy up in at the beers wants to do the episode with me and i'm really flattered by it Um It's really cool. I'm up to 10, 10 downloads, 10 downloads already, but is, uh, I'll go, I'll go to stop you here before we get going. So, oh, do you? Yeah, I did. I did apply. Yeah. I applied at the beers. I applied it. Uh, oh my God. I had a whole list written out from, from one of the guys that I had worked with and he had worked in all those mines up in the Northwest territories. Um, yeah, B2 gold was another one that I applied at. Uh, yeah. Burgundy. The beers, uh, yeah As we're talking as we're talking i'm thinking of a guy. I know here Uh vernon i'm gonna be reaching out to you anyway, uh that owns a a shop kind of like The one you worked at the oil sanctuary before cold nose mechanical here in fort mcmurray. I'm gonna reach out to burn there Chief he's looking for a good apprentice. Um, i'd love to have you on board mater, but we gotta get that red shield Yeah, i'm working. I'm gonna go back into I have all the third year books right now. Like I mentioned in our in our last episode I have a buddy who just completed the program And he was kind enough to donate me. Um all the books so that saved me a little bit of money there. Yeah, um, I'm currently in the four year program, but I've been heavily considering dropping it just so that I can get that red seal faster because you would be a great informator, and I feel like I could build a really, really strong and lengthy career with them. Are you ready? Are you ready to challenge you? Are you ready to challenge Offroad? Not yet. No, I have to go through the books. I was actually going to start going through the books here this week. Now we're already into Tuesday, so I might crack into them later today or tomorrow. We'll see the Oilers play at 5, so that takes some precedence for me. I gotta, I gotta watch them lose here to the Sens. Ha ha ha. F k, that was pathetic last night. Oh, f k. Montreal hockey is not our game. Oh, jeez. We lost 3 0 to the Devils last time, and now 3 0 to Montreal. It's No more, no more hockey on Mondays. If there's hockey on Mondays, leave it to me. That's what happens when you get your That's what happens when you get your goaltenders from Teemu, buddy. Fuckin like I don't want to talk. I got a sign of Skittles. I don't want to talk. Oh, man. Let's get off that because now you're making me upset. Yeah, moving on moving on. But yes, no as far as So as far as the exam goes, no, I want to go through these books I would really like to just challenge that exam from what he told me that the third year course is actually harder than the exam Itself. So I would really like to just go through these books and then just pay and challenge the exam and and hopefully Hopefully be successful with it and then and then uh, I'm still short on hours open some doors for you buddy. You let me know. I let me know. I will open doors for you No, it's okay. I appreciate that good sir Um, if there's any mechanics, uh off road dudes there, they're not happy doing what's doing and you want to Jump ship and open up a whole new world to yourself get a hold of me too on facebook, right? So i've got connections good company to work for if you don't mind working if you're a dog fucker You better stay where you're too. But so going back to the emotional connections within that team Um What's it called? So my buddy up in De Beers, and that's what I was going with, like, we were one of the original shuttle crews at, at Horizon, and I got terminated. Uh, we both went from twisting wrenches to lead hands, team leads. Um, and, and that, that department actually self destructed within itself, um, through hierarchy and, and guys. Backstabbing each other and all kinds of good stuff and and scott got terminated daryl to terminated They just fucking terminated all their team leads They took the trouble department collapsed it and put them in the truck shop and it's a totally different world out there right now but those Those nights at 40 below when your fucking fingers hurt And the other guy's in the truck with you and you're trying to get shit fucking done. That's where relationships get established because you know the guy's got your back. That make sense? Brothers in arms, man. So you starting your career. Yeah, and when those guys get laid off, or you get laid off, you get fired, there's an emotional fucking tarnage for that, every time, and you know what, companies don't care. I'll tell you, companies don't care about your, they have HR departments, and, and, the perception is the HR department's concerned about your mental health, that's a load of fucking crap. HR department is their, To ensure that the company doesn't get sued and they can terminate you just because you as quickly as possible for control Nothing more than that than control and you take uh the one mind type that does the jab and drop thing Jab or drop it's that's control. That's that's nothing else to do So if you think that hr apartment your friend is mechanic, no as soon as you go to hr you flag yourself Oh, this guy's a troublemaker. He's gonna make trouble for us. He doesn't like this. He's not this he's not that he's not this Uh You get some companies that are really, really woke and if you offend somebody, poof, you're, I knew one guy that was at a lunchroom in the mine site here. Hammond and his buddy were acting like they were gay and so on and so forth. Um, which cause, you know how guys play out all the time? Someone else was in the lunchroom, was offended by it, got ahold of HR and had the two of them punted. If you can believe that. That's like brutal, eh? So, as you start your career, pal, uh, know your audience, right? Be aware. Be aware, yeah, know your audience. Ironically, I'm talking like this on my own podcast, but you know, if I get pundit tomorrow, that's, that's the way it is. If I get pundit tomorrow, I'll go work for a mom and pop or I've got books coming out and I've got apps coming out and courses coming out and stuff. So reality is I'm 65, I'm not going to be doing this much longer. Um, I truly enjoy what I'm doing right now. I'm enjoying it. I'm fucking loving these guys I can work with. These guys are such a breath of fresh air and I like the company mindset. And like I said, at one of our events here this summer to one guy is that, man, I wish I had found this company 30 years ago. If I was you, What a perfect company to get with, um, right? Uh, because they're just they're very impressive fresh air. Yeah, they're very They're inclusive, but they're honest Yeah, they're honest like when you go to here's here's an hr visit with an australian company I'm fucking telling the guys fucking the march in. Hey mater, you stupid fucking cunt. What have you been doing this time? Well, fuck sake made it you're such a fucking asshole You need to get your shit together. We're going to fucking kick you, wind up and pop in and get anybody. So you get the fuck back out there and fucking get your shit together. It's all pissing people off. Have a beer before you fuck there too. Right. I imagine that's what my HR business is going to be like with, with my Aussie buddies here, but you know what? There's not a lot of political niceties with these guys. There's not a lot of political niceties. These guys feel. Exactly the dream way if i'm being an idiot someone tells me i'm being an idiot I like that and you know, that's why i'm married because when i'm being an idiot guess what debbie does Let's you know, hey, you're not doing that. You're stupid yet, right? I can work under that Mistake being an asshole for being abrasive. That's an easy pill for me to swallow. But when we get into the situation where you don't like what I said, I inadvertently offended you or whatever and then Come around with a knife and stab me in the back. Uh, I don't appreciate that crap So and if I'm if i'm working for a company like that, I should not work here anyway Yeah, because it's it's only a matter of time before If you talk and you communicate, everyone can get offended with something along the lines of that. I don't do that very well. I've worked for some really, really well managed companies, and I've worked for some really, really, really poorly managed companies, and I've worked with really great guys, and I've worked with really shitty guys. I mean, it's, it's going to happen. Yeah. Hey, some, sometimes you're fricking, it's not like that meme you see in TikTok all the time, sometimes you're ready to drive down the road, looking at the scenery, and sometimes you're in the scenery, you look at the road, right? And sometimes you're the good guy. Sometimes you're the asshole. But you know, if you're, if you're doing things, you're going to be involved in things. Those are the guys I, Over my career, I've seen that the guys that usually wind up going for drug tests are the guys that are doing things. They're fixing something, something goofs up, bang, this blows up, then they break this, then the forklift telehandler, they break some rigging, but they were doing things. The guys that sit in the trucks, they never go for drug tests, buddy. They never go for a drug test. Can't, not much can go wrong when you're sleeping. No, that's right. No. So we have one guy. I've seen a man. He's uh, he had that what I call the the crane operator's data package from tell us, right? Like this guy probably had seven terabyte because all he did was watch videos, right? Imagine, imagine tell us just sending them letters. Listen, we can't afford to have you as a customer anymore because you're screaming too much, right? I had, I had, this is a true story. I, I had a guy As an apprentice, so my journeyman called in sick that night. He, he was just, he had it coming out of him on both ends. He was. Fucking properly sick. It's okay. Whatever he's called in. I'm a third year apprentice I've been in the mine six months at this point. So not gonna lie to you. I was pretty intimidated I was I was a little nervous. I'm like, okay. Well, you know because you develop that routine right of okay Well, you man the ship And I kind of just follow in your shadow, and I, and I help you where you need to be, and I, and that's how I learn. Well, that's not the case today. You know, you don't have, you don't have me today. You're, you are captain of the boat. You are, you are sailing this ship on your own, so. If you need me, give me a call. If you run into troubles, give me a call, whatever. So I ended up getting put on a PM on, uh, on, uh, on a 793 actually, it was a, it was a 2400 hour PM on a 793 and I was put on with a gentleman working for, uh, Actually, I probably shouldn't name the company. I was put on, I was put on, uh, I was, I was put on with, with, uh, with a journeyman working independently with a separate company. And, uh, I as a, well, I was at that time, I was a second year apprentice. Um, and I'm climbing up and down all over this machine. And I finally noticed that the guy that I'm allegedly supposed to be paired up with is, uh, There in a service truck. I thought he had just got there. So I climbed down off the haul truck and I go and talk to him and I said hey So I guess you're working with me. I said, okay, he goes. Yeah. Yeah, you got he goes. Do you need anything? I said, well, how long have you been here? He goes. I've been here for like two hours. I said, oh geez I said well, no, not really. I said the PM is almost done I said, I just got a couple more things to check. Maybe what I'll do is I'll ask you to hop out and And check off the lights because I obviously can't control the lights while I can it's going to take me twice as long to Climb up and down to go and verify lights are working So I said maybe if I can run the lights you can just verify that they're working for me He said yep, you bet no problem. I can do that. I said perfect. I said do you mind while i'm here? Can I sign your can I sign your flha and he goes? Oh, yeah, you can sign that when I filled it out We're at, like, we're past lunch and he hasn't even written his ffl RA, like he, he just couldn't have been fucking to even do so much as that. And I'm like, no kidding. I'm like, wow. Like holy fuck, man. Like thanks, thanks for being the team player. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Well thanks. Thanks for getting out of the truck to come and check on me. Thanks for coming to you knew that I'm an apprentice. You knew that I'm out here alone. You were told that at the beginning of the day and you were told you're to be there to help me out and I haven't seen you. The entire time I've been out here because I didn't even I don't even know what you look like I've never worked with you before. I didn't even know what company you were working for I just saw a service truck 50 yards behind me and I figured well, maybe this must be my help And sure enough, it was. And some help he was. So, just a joke. That being said, Kieran, when, when, when you, those guys there, those guys never, will never change, right? No, and this gentleman was in his, this gentleman was in his early days. They're, they're, they're there for the money. But just remember, just remember, that, that is the guy, yeah, but when you outshine that guy technically, technically, And from a work ethic perspective He's going to be the first guy to find flaw in you to bring to the authorities to have you terminated 100 percent in case you don't want 100 percent I'm threatened by your presence. That's right because you're doing better than me and you're you're Yeah, you're you're getting well The problem is because so when you bring the pm walk back to the team lead And he sees all the items on the pms all signed off by you You And and technician B hasn't done jack squat. Guess what conversation part takes in the office when you leave. Yeah, holy fuck All that fucking money's not signed it. Where's his signatures? Where's his numbers? Does that make sense? So the next thing that's going to happen is the team the team lead The team lead is going to talk to you, uh, talk to him and say, Hey, I'll come back and Kieran was out there and he cross threaded all these bolts by himself and he hid all the evidence. He's a great employee. Why can't you be more like Kieran? You got a red seal. Walk out there and do a better job tomorrow. So guess what happens? Next day he comes out and says, Okay, I wonder if Kieran's locked out on this piece of equipment. I wonder if Kieran's this, I wonder if Kieran's that, and guys will actually document you to, to fuck you up the ass because they're threatened in their, in their own ability, in their own ability, you know, ability as a mechanic, and I, I'm a firm believer of this, is like sex, it all starts in the head, if you want to have good sex. You're going to fucking have good sex. If you want to have bad sex, you're going to have bad sex. If you want to be a good mechanic, you're going to be a good mechanic. to be a bad mechanic, that's your choice to sit in the truck. That's your choice to get out of the truck. But once again, it's a choice that you consciously make. So those guys who sit behind in the other truck watching you work, they tell you who they are by doing what they do. Does that make sense? Yeah. 100%. Yeah. So don't you pardon those guys. Yeah, it tells you everything you need to know about that guy. You he needs to be the same guy you lend 20 bucks to and you gotta chase him for it. He's that guy, right? So don't waste your time with that guy. Yeah, don't become an assassin and think you're going to take them out of the play, right? Be the humble servant, get shit done, and fucking move it along from there. So if I have a guy my first, my first exposure to Mindsight, uh, I was driven to fix equipment. And fucking 10 years later, I guess what? I, after going through every phase of my career, from branching to lead hand to team lead, I can. The whole whole drill and then be terminated. Guess what? I finally realized that I was fucking truly the only guy Well one of few guys actually cared about the equipment Actually cared that hey these shovels these trucks need to be running man These need had a sense of urgency about it. Even the management They weren't really concerned about that. They were given a list of tasks to accomplish for the day, and they were more concerned about how many things get ticked off their list so they could look good. They really didn't care about availability or stuff like that. So don't fall in love with machines, and leave people show you who they are, and some people show you who they are very quickly. That make sense? Yep. But when you, you get thrown in that corner office, don't expect reinforcement either. Yeah, for sure. Everybody takes cover. If you're taking shit, everybody's gonna look for cover. That's right. Over 50 years, that's, that's what I found out. So if you're gonna take shit, I think it's like a man to move on. Absolutely. And to own, own what you do. Own it, own it and have pride in it. At the end of the day, at the end of the day, all you got is you, right? So, and you gotta make yourself look good and you gotta, you gotta be proud of what you did today. 100%. So Kieran, that being said, buddy, we're at, uh, one hour and 11 minutes, 24 seconds. I think we covered everything. Yeah. Yeah. I think we covered it. Maybe not. Anything else you want to talk about? I'm, okay. I'm, okay. Are we did we make it through the checklist or the guide sheet anyway? Yeah, we made it made it to the guide list. Yep No, we did get it done in an hour Yeah, just a little over an hour. Not too bad So we put in the one episode and we're going to say bye bye to all our followers on on uh gears of trust I greatly appreciate you listening to the podcast. I hope it's Hope it's entertaining. That's what it's about. Anyway, I'm not entertaining. Yeah, I love your ki I love your, you're gonna have some phenomenal stories. End of your career, buddy. Not be around. They're gonna be Dan. Well, anytime that they pop up, I'll tell you. I'll tell you. I'm on Facebook, I'm on TikTok, right? I'm on Instagram, I'm on True Social. I am on Instagram. I'm on. LinkedIn. I'm on YouTube, and look me up. Gears of Trust, Maynard Tiberius. If you'd like to be on any of these episodes, you've got shit to bring to the, the gathering, by all means do so. I do have AI technology to clone your voice. If you're in a sensitive position where you have to protect yourself, you don't want to speak freely, we can do that. And once again, all you need is a paper bag to put over your face, over your head, and I can replace your voice very quickly. So that being said, thanks for tuning in once again, um coming into the new year I will be on a create a youtube podcast a rumble podcast and an apple podcast, right? So that takes a little bit more work in behind the scenes and i'm still doing 14 14 rotations right now Once again, kieran, thanks a million for fucking joining me my friend. Oh, we're gonna thank you Not a problem and if I don't see you before christmas merry christmas You as well, sir. I actually I actually say merry christmas. So All right. Have a good one. We'll see you next podcast. Bye. Bye guys. Cheers. Here we go