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General => General Discussion and ??? => Topic started by: Evo on September 24, 2014, 12:03:52 AM
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...out of a job today.
First time in the 30 years I've worked full time that I walked away without a 2-week notice.
Shop had been under-staffed for weeks, and twice as busy as any other time of the year. Just slammed to the walls. I've been busting my ass to make improvements for a year and a half. Shot down every time I complained about what was broke and needed fixing or replacing. Nothing luxury, just basic stuff. A properly working exhaust station for the spot cleaning gun. Pallets without giant burn holes in the rubber so we could finally level out the presses properly. A drill that wasn't a $20 homeowner piece of junk so we could spin more than a quart of ink at a time. God the list goes on and on. The unofficial shop motto was, "Everything is Broken".
Basics.
Any time we NEEDED anything, I would have to figure out what old gear we could sell in the shop so we could buy what we needed. I wasted hours and days going back and forth about it.
At one point I brought in a couple dozen old screens I had in my shed just so we could finish jobs on time.
Mind you this is a good size shop. 2 autos, a 10 and an 8 color and a manual. TONS of work. TONS of product moving through and much of it at a good margin. All the big accounts of the area. Schools, fire depts, you name it. Skeleton crew of employees.
I got chewed out this morning for not putting in enough over time. Seriously.
Was going to talk to the owner at lunch but he was busy in a meeting chewing out one of the press ops for not putting in enough over time. So I went home for lunch and he got an email of resignation.
It felt WEIRD.
Well now I'm home for awhile and updating the resume. One thing I've learned is after being in and out of the biz, then running my own shop and dedicating myself to advancing the craft, It's REALLY hard to deal with another shop. Especially one that doesn't invest any time, money or energy into improvement.
So... how's things with you guys?
:P
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Gotta put it out there....If you decide to venture down south, gimme a shot at ya. I need good help badly, someone who cares about more than a paycheck. Between ATL and SAV, so I imagine you have some music connections down here.
Hope it works out for ya, man!!
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Well, that sucks. I have worked for a shop like this before & its not fun. Funny thing is I bet if you were being taken care of better you would feel better about putting in more OT. His loss
Murphy37
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Thats gotta be frustrating. Ever think about moving to Fresno? ;D
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Ever think about moving to Fresno? ;D
Err... no.
;)
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Lmao believe me I understand!
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If you land in far East TN let me know. :D
Best wishes, you will find something.
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If you ever come to Fl, let me know.
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That's such a bummer to hear. When you were running your own shop, I was always so amazed and impressed with what you were able to do. A little daunted actually. You were one of the first people I looked up to when starting to get really serious about printing. But hopefully this means you'll be moving to a shop that actually cares for you to be there!
Like everyone else says, if you happen to run down our way...let me know! I also might know some people in CA that might be looking for help if you wanna pm me!
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You should do a USA tour, go work in a few shops for a few weeks at a time. Improve them, leave. Do this until you are rich or until you find something local. OR move to one of those shops that you really like.
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i'd hire you for a couple weeks.
I think we are going to have to hire again here. I've been holding off for as long as possible.
Funny thing, when all of our equipment is working well and we don't stop to fix things, we get more work done in less time...thus avoiding overtime.
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HIS LOSS! I've only really talked to you a few times on the forum, but all of those conversations have changed how I do things in my shop for the better. You clearly know what's up and they should have listened. Sucks you had to peace out, but honestly it sounds like the right decision.
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EVO WORLD TOUR
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EVO WORLD TOUR
When will the tour shirts be on sale?......lol....
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Sadly I must report that this is more common than most of us would like to admit. Fat margins are not necessarily what they may seem. Owners can get greedy. Good printers often make bad business owners and vice-versa. Best of luck we always seem to land on our feet.
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i'd hire you for a couple weeks.
I think we are going to have to hire again here. I've been holding off for as long as possible.
Funny thing, when all of our equipment is working well and we don't stop to fix things, we get more work done in less time...thus avoiding overtime.
same here, ever up in NY, blow on through and clean this mess up, I'm sure you could whip us into shape.
Funny how many of us are like "EFF YEAH, HELP US" and this dude you worked for is like" EFF NO, I'm fine"... while he's the one needing the most help....too bad, better off not letting your skills go to waste on a place so ungrateful...
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Yeah you are a survivor!
Any shop or industry would benefit from your skills, not to
mention our outlook on life.
Get that resume and move on up!
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so I see everybody here is offering a printer position, if you are interested we could talk about a production manger spot.
pierre
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You should do a USA tour, go work in a few shops for a few weeks at a time. Improve them, leave. Do this until you are rich or until you find something local. OR move to one of those shops that you really like.
You could become like Tony P... I left the shop I started at after 18 years to start my own, but I left on very good terms. My biggest problem was the rest of the staff except the art director, didn't believe in using tight screens, proper inks, etc. Everything was by the seats of their pants, and that just didn't work for me. No matter what I tried to do, the end result was out of my hands, and suffered for it. I would find their closest competitor and think about working for them... sorry for your frustrations, but I'm sure the dust will settle and you'll land on your feet.
Steve
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It's REALLY hard to deal with another shop. Especially one that doesn't invest any time, money or energy into improvement.
i lost count of how many shops I worked in that were like that.
good for you
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so I see everybody here is offering a printer position, if you are interested we could talk about a production manger spot.
pierre
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It wasn't the place with all the hippies was it? Human something or another?
We just hired a production manager, but if the right candidate was willing to commute....
That said, I think you know that you're the captain and not the skipper.
So make it hap'n cap'n. Let me know if you need anything at all.
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It just blows me away how some shops rush jobs and don't maintain there equipment seen to be doing very good and because you'd like to see things a little better that could save them money in the long run you got to go hmmm. I'm not saying I got the best equipment in the world but I try my best to put out a good product and having someone that wants the same thing would be a blessing good luck to you Evo.
darryl
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That said, I think you know that you're the captain and not the skipper.
So make it hap'n cap'n. Let me know if you need anything at all.
+1
If you decide to go on your own again and I can help in any way, let me know!
pierre
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Run on the old equipment, the smallest staff physically possible, never update a process or a way of doing things, and no money for fixing or replacing broken things. Then on top of that they let someone as talented as Evo leave?
Writing is on the wall there.
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you'd be surprised, we have the same type shop less than a mile from us. Nasty building, beat to hell press, oven that is barely hanging on, and not a nickle to rub together. The owners pull out all the money they can and spend no money fixing things until it stops production...and I mean STOPS. We had the same press and they were constantly borrowing parts that should be standard to keep as backups.
It's the old school print shop mentality. I love to send people over there just to see the trainwreck...and it is.
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All I can say is..........their loss.
Sounds like you'll come out of it better than they will.
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it is not about what an ass hat that shop was it is about you , your talent and better yet your balls to Johnny Paycheck their ass.
The value you have is multi sided not the least of which is problem / fix mentality which is exactly what you have done for yourself by bailing out on these clowns.
Attitude is EVERYTHING and personality counts best of all talent always finds work unfortunately in the screen printing business there seems to be a lot of bottom line bosses who do not realize the best art, best autos, best ink are not worth jack shirt without the best employees.
I think you did your self a huge favor today...................
best of luck
mooseman
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Wow I really appreciate the sentiments here. Honestly.
I will say the one good thing about working at that shop was they were flexible with my touring schedule with my music career, which is actually my main thing. I've been doing that going on 30 years now and it won't stop. (I often make better money with it anyway)
I was always up front about that, from the first interview. Luckily my touring schedule is planned months (even a year or more) in advance.
Also, the people on the shop floor were very hard working and very sweet. The main press op (he's been there 10+ years) is a fantastic printer. However he just works with what is provided and has learned not to ask for anything. (learned...more like defeated). He's a stone cold pro at work-arounds. Which is awesome and sad at the same time.
But yeah, I just don't understand letting the gear go south. It's a print shop. That stuff ain't cheap.
There was no maintenance program to speak of when I started there. They had a six year old 10 color press running and brought over another 8 color from a shop they'd bought out, and it had NEVER been oiled or drained, and was run on wet air. 4 years of production before I started there and when I started checking everything out I saw the moisture trap was actually packed full of rust and sediment.
No seriously, it looked like Hawaiian clay soil, packed into the trap.
And the compressor tank had never been drained in the 3 years since it was installed. I emptied out 40+ gallons of oily water from it.
:o
I should have ran screaming the first month but I was determined to turn the shop around.
HAH! Nice try.
Note: not trying to vent so much as give warning here. MAINTAIN THE GEAR AND MOST IMPORTANTLY IMPROVE YOUR PROCESS KIDS!! Always look ahead and plan for max production, especially at the slowest times. When it kicks into high gear, you don't have time to fix what's wrong.
So my next move may or may not be in screen printing at all. If it is it may be part time or split between a couple places.
I actually like the thought of a screen printing tour. I am road crew, through and through. Maybe I could work trade shows... I use to do event and stage production. I did massive installs at venues in SF and Oakland.
Hmm....
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Dude, winter is on it's way and everyone knows MN is where you want to be in the winter! Hit me up man. Think about it, white plastisol so thick you swear it had cured already in the bucket, ice covered roads that make you question if you are really going to make it to work, I can go on but I imagine you are already buying your ticket! ;D
If your tour does actually bring you through the Midwest let me know. Good luck man!
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If you ever do a screen printing tour and make it to FL, I'd pay you to come yell at me for everything I'm doing wrong. =)
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I actually like the thought of a screen printing tour. I am road crew, through and through. Maybe I could work trade shows... I use to do event and stage production. I did massive installs at venues in SF and Oakland.
Hmm....
We're a short hop from Orange County if you ever want to stop by for a week.
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Sounds like you need to come up with a price for a week of your time.
;D
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hopefully by you walking they will see the light, fix all the problems and hire you back (ask for more money if they do)
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hopefully by you walking they will see the light, fix all the problems and
better chance of pigs flying and hell freezing over before that happens.
shops like that never change
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Ripping all money out of a business and running it into the ground is nothing new or old unfortunately.
Happens to a lot of my favorite restaurants around here when they change ownership.
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Ok so after the last couple of days, I may not be coming back to screen printing. Got hired as a commercial photographer's assistant part time. Drove all over wine country to client locations for portraits and exterior shots. Neck deep in technical photography details.
Gotta admit.... it kinda beats huffing screen chemicals in a 95 degree shop.
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Sounds like an interesting change of scenery. Congrats.
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Sounds like an interesting change of scenery.
LITERALLY.
Congrats.
Thank you sir.
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Ok so after the last couple of days, I may not be coming back to screen printing. Got hired as a commercial photographer's assistant part time. Drove all over wine country to client locations for portraits and exterior shots. Neck deep in technical photography details.
Gotta admit.... it kinda beats huffing screen chemicals in a 95 degree shop.
........talent always finds work.................. ;)
mooseman
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPw-3e_pzqU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPw-3e_pzqU)
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NOOOOOOoooooooooo! What are you doing? LOL There are hundreds of people wanting to hire a person like you...and you go back? Doesn't that sound a little like the beaten wife syndrome? They get beaten up but they keep going back "cuz they love them".
Oh well, Lets hope they have opened up their eyes and you are able to have shown them how things can and should be better (and they are on board).
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maybe by "they" he means "the entire screen printing industry" and is working for another shop
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maybe by "they" he means "the entire screen printing industry" and is working for another shop
ding!
I won't set foot in that last shop. I even abandoned some tools there.
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Update:
I'm salaried at half time at another shop and happy as a clam.
With the invaluable help of a great tech, me and the screen room guy installed this tiny used dryer the past couple days.
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Good to hear! awesome setup. I could have used that setup last week. Glad your back in action. Merry Christmas.
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Update:
I'm salaried at half time at another shop and happy as a clam.
I'd be willing to bet that plastisol fumes creates some kind of physical addiction.. because no matter how many times we try to leave, take other jobs, explore our hobbies. Eventually our roots always seek out the ink, and here we are.
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Update:
I'm salaried at half time at another shop and happy as a clam.
I'd be willing to bet that plastisol fumes creates some kind of physical addiction.. because no matter how many times we try to leave, take other jobs, explore our hobbies. Eventually our roots always seek out the ink, and here we are.
So, I guess then that waterbased inks are like the methadone used to wean heroin addicts, but with its own addictive properties.