Drove up to our Lancaster, PA office on Friday to pick up a spare field rig for the office I'm opening in Virginia.?ÿ
Now I may be showing my age, but I seem to remember starting out as a rodman in an unairconditioned suburban with no fabric on the underside of the metal roof so it baked your brain unless the crew chief was considerate enough to put some rigid insulation in there on his own accord.?ÿ
Now I've got a survey rig sitting in my driveway with heated seats and a sunroof.?ÿ Getoffmylawn.jpg?ÿ?ÿ
I was at the 2010 Rolex 24 hours of Daytona in the infield area reserved for r/v's. Three of us old farts had rented a nice motor home with seating on the top which you accessed from inside the thing. We thoght this was the life! About that time, 2 spaces down from us, a brand new R/V pulls in pulling a Ferrari 458 Italia (2010). Nice rig and car. A kid about 16 at best jumps out and unhooks the Ferrari and parks it close to the R/V. I was waiting for the "adults" to emerge out of curiousity. Never happened, the whole mob, 3 girls 3 guys, all of whom were practically prepubescent were the sole occupants. I'll never forget it, 6 kids and $1.5M worth of vehicles. The were atypical kids in as much as they didn't raise holy hell and were very friendly. Ah, the life of the privileged! ?????ÿ
@flga-2-2?ÿ
Do kids really have it easier? In a 20 mile drive, They have to respond to 20 texts, answer the phone 4x, and listen to music, blasting from the Gheto Blaster, in the car at the stoplight, that may remove the fender and bumper fasteners, in that truck, or peel the paint. The cops are on meth, and as always, they also need a bit of pot to bring them down. Also, The gps they are using may get the base station stolen before nightfall. Yes, they have it better. And worser.
N
Oh, and facebook, twitter, and chirp.
?ÿ
@flga-2-2?ÿ
Living in a college town I'm constantly reminded of the general status of today's young adults.?ÿ What I see isn't encouraging.?ÿ ?ÿ
Years ago most menial jobs were being held down by students.?ÿ It wasn't uncommon to catch a late-night store clerk cramming for an exam during his or her shift.?ÿ Those days are gone.?ÿ They've all been replaced by aging boomers trying to make ends meet so they can afford their meds.?ÿ Meanwhile the year's new crop of freshman hang out at the coffee house while their BMW is being detailed at the car wash next door.?ÿ Things have really changed over the years.
I guess I should feel comfortable living in a nation that is doing so well people can afford to treat their offspring so well...but I don't feel comfortable.?ÿ On the contrary it's a little unsettling.?ÿ My greatest irritant is the entitlement these kids exhibit.?ÿ The other day I witnessed a perfect example of this behavior.
I needed some cash from the ATM at 7-11.?ÿ I was loitering while waiting for some kid to get his money and split.?ÿ I noticed he was taking a little longer than usual and appeared to be getting frustrated.?ÿ I heard him tell his side-kick the ATM must be screwed up because it was telling him there wasn't any money on his card.?ÿ He started getting loud and making a scene by hollering at the manager (who I could tell couldn't care less) and making sure everybody in the store knew the ATM was f'ked up.
While he was ranting I stepped and got some cash quickly from the machine.?ÿ The manager was close by.?ÿ I told him the machine worked perfect for me as I left.?ÿ The foolish mind-set of "I'm right and everything else is wrong" gets old quick, but it sure is prevalent.?ÿ I bet his mother's name is Karen.
But I'm not worried.?ÿ That dumbass couldn't even find my lawn..let alone walk across it.?ÿ
@paden-cash Unsettling indeed.?ÿ On the rare occasions I don't use the U-scan at the grocery store, I often find it is a woman in her 70s scanning (and sometimes sacking) my groceries.?ÿ It's all I can do to stay on my side of the conveyor and let her do her job.?ÿ It feels like I'm telling my grandma to do my chores--some kind of upside down world.?ÿ On one hand I am thankful she has access to a job in a warm, dry place.?ÿ On the other, I think of all the people and social systems that failed her.
In college I always felt lucky that I didn't have to work during the semester.?ÿ Instead, I worked long hours construction and then surveying during the summer months and took odd jobs (like cleaning chicken houses) during school breaks.?ÿ The idea that I would have had someone pay for my schooling, or my room and board, or my car was so foreign as to be unintelligible.
My dad grew up in the Depression.?ÿ He set a goal to help all three of his kids graduate from college and get a new car to start them out in the world. He essentially succeeded, with the help of some scholarships and loans covering part of it.
So I guess I had it easy.?ÿ That was my only new car ever, a basic model, and he got a good deal because he worked part time for the dealer.?ÿ My brother dropped out, but later did finish his degree, so Dad paid their wedding expenses because my brother already had a car by then.
We grew up with all the essentials and few frills. We didn't get electricity until the farm was paid off, or a telephone until he decided he needed it for business. We had a newspaper, but only second-hand magazines. He drove a pickup until it wouldn't go, got a used one, and made it last another 25 years. We did eventually get a sedan as well, by the time I was in junior high. When he started getting ahead financially, he didn't change his lifestyle much, and kept trying to work at his scrap metal business even after he was too sick to handle it.
Some of those geezers you see working are doing it to get away from the insanity at home.?ÿ They do not need the money.?ÿ They have spent their entire life working and do not know how to stop.
The same is very true of many volunteers.?ÿ Once they stop a 40-hour job, they begin an 80-hour week of volunteering in various forms.?ÿ A hospital in this area has a crew of male volunteers who greet everyone at the front doors.?ÿ First, they hit the automatic door opener button, they they greet you cordially and ask if you know where it is you should be going.?ÿ If you hesitate very long, they will escort you to where you need to go, then return to the front door area to help the next arrivals.?ÿ One of these fellows is a retired doctor.?ÿ Another is a retired farmer who will soon be 85.?ÿ They live for their days "at work".
The bus drivers in our school district have an average age over 65.?ÿ One of them is 81.?ÿ He taught school until he could retire.?ÿ Ever since then (2001) he has been driving a bus or other school vehicle, especially for activity and sports trips.
The contacts I have built up over a lifetime come in very handy for the organizations I support with my volunteer time.?ÿ Within the past two weeks those connections have helped tremendously in acquiring a $1000 grant for one entity, a $1800 grant for another, another $6500 grant for that second entity and a $117,000 grant for a third entity.
You can go to any high school student parking lot in Central Fl. and see at least 2 corvettes, a dozen jacked up trucks with $5k worth of wheels and in the Windermere area, the above batch with a few Ferraris, Porsches and maybe a Bently or 2. ?????ÿ
Eh, entitlement isn't exclusive to any particular generation. I see just as much entitlement from folks twenty years my senior as I do from folks twenty years my junior, and from the same age bracket as me. I'm 39.
I don't envy the younger generation. Creature comforts and technology advancements don't make up for the fact that we have kicked the can down the road on the biggest problems facing our society. I'm glad that I got out of high school before texting and social media really took off, its negatives far outweigh the positives.
My wife is an elementary school teacher. She often comes home depressed, because she is talking with her students about the exact same "current issues" that we were discussing with our second grade teachers more than thirty years ago.
Drove up to our Lancaster, PA office on Friday to pick up a spare field rig for the office I'm opening in Virginia.?ÿ
Now I may be showing my age, but I seem to remember starting out as a rodman in an unairconditioned suburban with no fabric on the underside of the metal roof so it baked your brain unless the crew chief was considerate enough to put some rigid insulation in there on his own accord.?ÿ
Now I've got a survey rig sitting in my driveway with heated seats and a sunroof.?ÿ Getoffmylawn.jpg?ÿ?ÿ
I dont think you can even find trucks that are basic anymore. They supposedly make them, but they are not easy to find.
@flga-2-2?ÿ
You mean more like this???
?ÿ
@dmyhill : I ordered my last truck with all the "old guy goodies" and the dealer knew exactly what I meant.
@dmyhill : I ordered my last truck with all the "old guy goodies" and the dealer knew exactly what I meant.
Navajo blanket seat covers, AM radio, pipe tobacco air freshener...
@rover83?ÿ
Over 35 years ago a friend of mine was teaching in a high school about 30 miles from here.?ÿ One day after school three Freshmen boys were idling around and shooting the breeze with my friend.?ÿ Suddenly, one of them asks him if he's ever seen a dead person.?ÿ He explained he had been at quite a number of funerals.?ÿ That wasn't what they meant.?ÿ They meant "right now" dead.?ÿ He had to say that he had not.?ÿ All three had witnessed at least one murder.?ÿ Two had witnessed the same murder and the third had witnessed two murders.?ÿ One of those was "dear ol' Dad" eliminating Uncle Hank.?ÿ That was why that student had no father at home.?ÿ He was in prison.
The frequency of "meth head" or worse parents (?????) keeps going up every year.?ÿ Crack babies aren't just found in the deepest ghettos.?ÿ They live out in the boondocks, as well.?ÿ The percent of K-12 students in need of Special Education Services increases every year.?ÿ School secretaries have to maintain records for every student such that, in a flash, they know whether or not little Bobbie or Janie can be picked up by whomever has arrived to do so.?ÿ Too many young people are in the custody of grandparents who didn't do a really good job of raising their own kids, back when they were more capable of trying to keep up with them and all of their lifestyle.?ÿ There are some great grandparents out there doing a great job due to extenuating circumstances.?ÿ But, it's not because the parents of the grandkids are locked up in a penal institution or rehab center.?ÿ The school nurse can provide great information on personal hygiene to pubescent youngsters but that has no real impact when the student lives in a camper shell out in the woods with no utilities.
@dmyhill To be fair, the OP was 95% in jest.
I've interviewed plenty of potential crew chief who wanted to know what type of field vehicle we ran. In this labor market, if a Toyota pick-up with the TRD off-road package tips the scales in my favor over a firm with a stripped down cargo van, and I can get a crew out in the field generating $10K a week, then I'm all in.?ÿ ?ÿ
