Not completing a contract

[Justus]

OK, we do plenty of bitching on here about contractors--and most of it has merit. But how many of you have been on good jobs when one or more workers has drug-up for no good reason?

I've been on two damn good OBO projects (and one not so damn good) where the pay was good, housing was great, and management was actually great too. But as good as those were, we still had some sorry SOBs dragging and not completing their contracts because.....fill in the blank here. Some quit for another dollar an hour on some other project; some because they didn't like the work hours although they knew it was 60/week; some because they were jealous of other workers for some reason; one guy because he was too far away from his fiancee and didn't last 3 days. You get the point.

It's not limited to craft or union/non-union or even age. If a job has bad conditions or your contract not being met--yeah, that's a good excuse to me. But to not complete a contract when everything is good, well....that just hurts us as a group. Example--If the only worker a contractor can find at a certain point has a reputation of not finishing a contract, he is more than likely going to look elsewhere. If I'm in that hiring position, I'd even give a cheaper overseas "rookie" a chance before I would hire the contract quitter.

I think you see where I'm going with this. We bitch that we think the rates are not high enough, but then some of us jump a contract when everything is good. I know of one superintendent that was not offered a job after an interview because of just that reason--not completing a contract in recent memory.

OK, let's hear other thoughts on this.

[RatBrother]

When I started working overseas in 94, I thought, Damn, these guys must really know their stuff, and got IT together.
Man , was I wrong !!!!!
It didn't take long to figure out, it is not what you know, but , who you know. and that if you cannot dazzle them with diamonds, Baffle them with bullshit.
Well, Eventually bullshit dries out, pressure builds up, blame it on the other guy, and the taste of cock every day is getting old. Time to go.

[TheJester]

I know exactly where you are coming from on this one and I think I know the projects :cheers
It never ceases to amaze me that once people get there, rookie or not, that they all of the sudden think they should be getting more. Now, I'm the type of person that negotiates my own contract, as soon as I sign it, I've already decided, hey, that's what I'm getting. And anyone else that signs should feel the same way. That was your deal, you signed it, you agreed to it, that's all you are getting.

The only part that pisses me off is getting these people that DON'T know what the hell they are doing there making the same money. Like I said, I made my deal and I do my work, but I WOULD like to see the contractors start to ENFORCE that one section that is in EVERY contract:

**If it is found that you are NOT able to complete the tasks asked of you, your pay can be reduced to an amount suitable to your skill level**

Now, I'm pretty bad at this, I'll admit. When I see and work with people that are there to be Electricians and then they obviously are NOT or they were hired off the question of "well, can you pull wire?" it pisses me off and I do take it out on them. However, THEY are not who I should be pissed at. The HR dept and the management that either keeps them around or lets them stay at the same pay rate as the professionals are the ones I/we should be pissed at.

Like I said, I don't want more money, but damn it, if I have to train them, they have to make LESS money. I have nothing but respect for a certain project manager and I would go anywhere he asked me to, but I could never get that into his head and it is still probably one thing he holds against me, the fact that as long as they were making the same money, I'm not training them. Again, beating the dead horse, that doesn't mean that I want more, it just means that they should make less. If you're a 14.75/helper, I'm sorry, that is what you should be making.

That just goes on the pay side of it, I'm not even going to get into the I can't make it into work today because:
"my hooker stayed the night last night"
"I've got the shits (everyone saw him out last night drinking)"
"I FEEL a back ache coming on"
"I was up all night crying and I just can't let anyone see me like this"
and so on, and YES, those have been ACTUAL excuses I've heard people use. Those people, I'm sorry, gotta go. When having the guy stay in his apt watching TV and getting paid is a better option than letting them work by themselves, come on, CUT THE FAT.

Soap Box or Truth, you make the call. :wtf

[alky]

Most of us that have worked overseas know that the only thing that keeps us working is our reputations. Lose that and you are on the computer trying to convince some HR idiot that you can string enough wire to light up downtown New Delhi, or some other place and save the contractor a barrel of money.
It all comes down to reading and understanding the work agreement before you ink the bottom line. With the attrition rate so high on some jobs the reputation of the overseas hand--be it a working hand or a supervisor-- begins to affect all of us.
When you sign on to go to bumfuck where ever--be prepared to spend the full contract and do a neat and workmanlike job, or if your skills are a little weak, partner up with a more experienced hand that will guide you and help you to learn the craft that you have represented yourself as being proficient at.
In the twenty plus years that I've been doing this out of country shit I have seen very few projects completed with the hands that first signed on. This type of attitude is affecting aLL OF US AND IS HELPING THE CONTRACTOR KEEP THE WAGES LOW AND THE PERKS DOWN..
When you first sign the aggrement, you know where the project is going to be, not all jobs are going to be in downtown Bangcock or Buchrest . Make up your minds to the fact that some places you go to are not going to give you all the social life and after work pleasure you want.
Damn, I found Mex-Fish's soap box-------------good luck and be professional.

[Gabriele]

A good and interesting post.

I worked on my first OBO project last year after working on a military installation for over a year.

With both, there was a contract, I knew what was offered and I recieved what was offered, although the contract holder for the miltary site did redo the pay structure and whether or not your position was now either salary or hourly. Due to the changes I decided that I would leave at the end of my contract.

On the OBO, my company had my pay in my bank on time, if not before, given plenty of time off for local holidays (with pay) and treated me fairly.

The only issue I had was my co-worker did not have the experience to do the work as his "resume" stated, he kept saying he was going to drag up, to where I said then go.

I was paid a decent wage, provided with my own hotel room and a per diem to live on (meals, etc).

For me, I knew my job, have done it for many years, what was new to me was the operation of working with OBO, trying to understand why they (company, designer) did what they did.

Then there were the two guys who came to help finish, who knew the way the job was needed to be done, but took too much time off and both drug up for the USA, one after only a month on the job.

From this experience I can see why the company is reluctant to self perform this fuction, hopefully they will again, I would love to do another project.

As to dragging up, this is what I got from many of those who did:

1: Never had been away from home before.
2: Better to jump to another project if offered then try to find a new project at the end.
3: Don't want to get caught up in the "finger-pointing" at the end.
4: and more............

I did see many stay beyound their contracts to help out where needed to get the job done.

[RatBrother]

Hey Mex Fish,
Were you at ????
You usually got a few words to say.
We aint heard from ya !

[mtdevil]

I know exactly where you are coming from on this one and I think I know the projects :cheers
It never ceases to amaze me that once people get there, rookie or not, that they all of the sudden think they should be getting more. Now, I'm the type of person that negotiates my own contract, as soon as I sign it, I've already decided, hey, that's what I'm getting. And anyone else that signs should feel the same way. That was your deal, you signed it, you agreed to it, that's all you are getting.

The only part that pisses me off is getting these people that DON'T know what the hell they are doing there making the same money. Like I said, I made my deal and I do my work, but I WOULD like to see the contractors start to ENFORCE that one section that is in EVERY contract:

**If it is found that you are NOT able to complete the tasks asked of you, your pay can be reduced to an amount suitable to your skill level**

Now, I'm pretty bad at this, I'll admit. When I see and work with people that are there to be Electricians and then they obviously are NOT or they were hired off the question of "well, can you pull wire?" it pisses me off and I do take it out on them. However, THEY are not who I should be pissed at. The HR dept and the management that either keeps them around or lets them stay at the same pay rate as the professionals are the ones I/we should be pissed at.

Like I said, I don't want more money, but damn it, if I have to train them, they have to make LESS money. I have nothing but respect for a certain project manager and I would go anywhere he asked me to, but I could never get that into his head and it is still probably one thing he holds against me, the fact that as long as they were making the same money, I'm not training them. Again, beating the dead horse, that doesn't mean that I want more, it just means that they should make less. If you're a 14.75/helper, I'm sorry, that is what you should be making.

That just goes on the pay side of it, I'm not even going to get into the I can't make it into work today because:
"my hooker stayed the night last night"
"I've got the shits (everyone saw him out last night drinking)"
"I FEEL a back ache coming on"
"I was up all night crying and I just can't let anyone see me like this"
and so on, and YES, those have been ACTUAL excuses I've heard people use. Those people, I'm sorry, gotta go. When having the guy stay in his apt watching TV and getting paid is a better option than letting them work by themselves, come on, CUT THE FAT.

Soap Box or Truth, you make the call. :wtf

Up all night crying? WTF? I thought that was just a bad dream until you brought it back up.

[RatBrother]

Personally,
I would rather come with the truth and tell you I was passed out in an elevater !
Everyone is different.