Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Getting Paid For Getting Stuck

Rev. Paul


writes about a group of sailors getting multiple vehicles stuck on Adak Island. Brought to mind a friend’s experience with the US Forest Service.

The family operated heavy equipment and were hired by the USFS to make some firebreaks. It was early spring and the ground soft. The chief honcho wanted my friend to take a bulldozer across a creek. My friend said no, the ground was far too soft, and he would get stuck.

The honcho was pissed. My friend said ok, I’ll do it, when you give me a written work order paying our hourly rate. You will be responsible for retrieving the equipment, and will pay our hourly rate for as long as the dozer is stuck.

The honcho, by now in full fury mode, hand wrote the work order. My friend went on the specified route, the dozer sunk to the hood line, and sat there for six weeks earning an hourly rate 24/7. My friend said they paid off the dozer that summer while putting zero hours on it.


As a taxpayer I was appalled. As a fan of the karma bus, delighted.

10 comments:

Old NFO said...

Heh, yep Karma won that round! There is one, who knows how deep now, down on the side of Hwy 90 in south Louisiana... LOL

Ami said...

Considering how much taxpayer money is wasted on things like flying the entourages of shitbag politicians and 'art' in the streets, the bulldozer money was just a drop in the bucket. I'll join you as a fan of the karma bus on this one. :-D

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Bet there is a story behind that!

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Problem is those drops in a bucket come from the sweat of brows.

Karma is my favorite bitch.

LL said...

The worst thing that any employer can do is to demand that the employee do EXACTLY what they are told with no feedback from the employee. You made my point.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

A truism I've tried to remember all my business life.

Momma Fargo said...

Karma is a bitch. Getting stuck might be better than getting a bag of dicks. But getting stuck really sucks.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Sucks when your high school date needs to take the wheel while you push. Sucks worse when she drives better than you.

Fredd said...

Adak Island is a hell hole's hell hole. Knew a guy who spent 13 months there while in the service: nothing to do but monitor a radar screen, get off duty to go drink, pass out, get woken up by your buddies to play poker, go back to watching the radar screen.....

Basically hell. Repeat all of the above for 13 straight months.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Rude to "out story" someone bit I'm rude. A cousin joined the Navy to see the world. After he finished his schools, he was sent to Adak. Spent all of his enlistment there.