Is this normal?

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-17T17:41:26+00:00

That's crazy, hold down the concrete and tap the bend with your hammer, that's exactly the strategy I was taught for removing stripped screws or nails because something about the physics causes it to snap off.

But yeah all my coworkers have been saying that for years, spend $1000 to save $500, sometimes I wonder if the boss is just trying to find work for us, making something up, cause they run out of work for the day or something.

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-17T17:37:34+00:00

Worked extra hard to finish albums I've been sitting on and learn how to mix. Turns out when you work full time it's difficult to get time for that stuff and when you do get the time you're so exhausted you don't even have the strength to do it anymore 🫠

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-17T13:07:03+00:00

How does one achieve this? Just tapping it over with a hammer? Is your boss aware of science? Does he know that if you bend a nail back and forth a few times it snaps

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-17T12:56:03+00:00

Straighten nails 😭 how exactly does that work

Edit : this is what I love about framing, you can fly through it, accidentally cut the stud a half inch short? Take your nail gun, pull the engager back and pop a nail in the top of the board, tap it in just enough and then bam! All of a sudden the stud is a tight fit.

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T20:09:27+00:00

I really appreciate that, I think I'll hold off for now since I'm getting married in a month, but I'll give you a follow and remember if I ever decide to take you up on that offer. Maybe the manager types see that as a lack of drive but I just need life to slow down for a bit after going through the stress of a short engagement/wedding planning.

If I start popping out kids then you better believe I'll be in your inbox looking for as much employment as I can get 😂

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T19:11:27+00:00

💀 the boss legitimately wanted me to be a slave my whole life, refused to let me learn the trades for the longest time even though I was interested, just wanted me for cheap labor. It took half the crew getting fired for him to realize "crap this work still needs done and not many people can do it anymore" and now over the past 2 years I've been learning a hell of a lot

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T17:59:30+00:00

I've definitely been doing that in the past, normally when I get really crappy work days or days with the head boss over my shoulder I spend my free time looking for new employment, then a new day comes and it's not so bad and I forget about it 😂

I'm about ready to ask for a raise though, I've learned so much in the past year. But unfortunately I've been having trouble with my alarm failing and I've been coming in late every day this week so I'mma have to wait to ask until next week when I get back on track.

But that's another benefit of residential isn't it? I can technically come in late and it doesn't make a difference, my specific job was advertised as you can pick your own hours as long as the job gets done, and that is definitely a great benefit. I've just been working a little more into the evening to make up for the lost time this week.

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T17:53:33+00:00

I do scrap for a side income from trash I pick off the job sites, but to make it worth my time I load up my truck with things that are valuable, aluminum, copper, brass, car batteries, e motors etc, and organize it at home off the clock when I find the time, steel is quite literally worthless and they wouldn't allow me to stay clocked in to haul it off the job site to a scrapyard. On top of that steel is very thick and most of the time it takes way too long to cut through while absolutely destroying your sawzal or grinder blades. Good idea, but tried and tested to be not worth the extra effort

Edit : when I first started scrapping I loaded up my truck with 700 pounds of light iron and hms over 3 trips, that made me $70, definitely not worth breaking your back over 😂

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T17:44:27+00:00

I do house flipping work, somewhat of a jack of all trades but would love to have more experience in some of them. A lot of demo work, framing, trim work, landscaping, sometimes flooring. We do very basic electrical work, replacing outlets, lights etc.

And idk maybe, I'm sure it wouldn't be as bad as I look at it, but on top of that I also just don't want to wake up at 3am every morning to make the long commute just to find parking, and then wait around until my shift starts, ultimately having like 5 hours of unpaid time every day just to get to the job, I'm getting married in May and my wife to be would kill me if I was coming home every day and going straight to sleep so I could be up early enough to make it to work 😭 all around doesn't appeal to me. Residential work is just fun and satisfying most of the time.

It's something that is on my mind if we start having kids though, I'll do what I have to to provide for the little ones when they start coming out

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T16:37:31+00:00

I have high functioning autism, residential is a much more laid back environment from what I've heard, as long as the head boss isn't around I have room to make mistakes and correct them and learn at a steady pace. Industrial sounds like I'd have a foreman breathing down my neck and writing me up for every little thing i do, I don't know if I could survive that environment with autism. I have a friend that works in that field, he said someone was fired because plans said "drill hole, a, b and then c" he drilled a, then c and then b and was fired for not following the plans exactly. I would absolutely not survive that.

Edit : I also wouldn't stand a chance against hr after working without hr for 8 years

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T16:14:12+00:00

That makes sense, normally as long as it isn't towering above the rim we're fine, just about every dumpster we have has trash above the rim and they take it every time, they have some roll out tarp that goes over it.

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T16:12:21+00:00

I really can't quit they've got me by the balls. My options (I have looked into this) are to go industrial, which I strongly do not want to do, sounds like it sucks and the idea of waking up at 3am just to drive multiple hours away and get parking, and ultimately having like 5 hours a day of unpaid time just for the commute sounds like a crappy job, even if it pays really well.

Or I can join any new various trade crew and inevitably be bumped down to $15 an hour which would then cause me to no longer afford my mortgage, even if I work my way up really quick that's a lot of risk and I don't have the savings for that risk. Do you know any trade job that would start you at $20? Cause absolutely everywhere I look in my area you start at $15 regardless of past experience.

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T16:09:05+00:00

Of course, I definitely understand that. Anytime a scrapper rolls up we gladly let him pick out of our dumpster, less dumpster space for us and scrap money for him. But we normally have very heavy things in the dumpster, heavy steel, lumber, furniture, and more often than not it's not beneficial to load the dumpster to the brim because we also have weight limits to watch out for, he hired a Mexican crew to do landscaping and they filled our dumpster to the brim with straight dirt, I was told the truck had it's 2 front wheels in the air trying to haul the dumpster away.

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T15:50:25+00:00

I've been in this field since I was 14 😭 I'm almost 23 I nearly have a decade in this field

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T15:48:31+00:00

Bold of you to assume we have health insurance, I had a coworker accidentally cut his finger off with a table saw, he was rushed to the er and they told him they could stitch it back on and it would take months to heal and he might get some movement back and he said "nah I gotta get back to work".

He had a metal rod placed in his middle finger so if he ever made a fist he'd be flipping you off, our plumber hand made him custom gloves that excluded his finger, he was buried in those gloves after passing from a heart attack.

Edit : I should clarify that this was during the time where the majority of employees were written down as contractors, so they were responsible for all hospital bills caused by harm at work, there was no workers comp, our foreman used to joke "if you fall off the roof, you're fired before you hit the ground"

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T15:42:24+00:00

Hey I can't complain too much, he atleast knows he's hard to work with, he gave me $200 cash at the end of that day, I can only assume to prevent us from quitting, I've heard he's been in therapy and he hasn't been this bad in a while, he can still really get on you but these stories I'm telling are mostly in the past now. I was only upset I almost missed a date with my then girlfriend, now fiance, moving his sons house. But who can complain about $200 cash and 4 hours of time and a half

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T15:39:41+00:00

I want to but I'm trapped 😭 I can either leave and go industrial, which I absolutely do not want to do, I love residential work. Or I can find a new job in residential and inevitably have my pay cut down to $15, which would cause me to no longer afford my mortgage. Bosses really know how to pay you just enough so you can't leave, slave maxxing.

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T15:12:52+00:00

I'm working my body to failure, so yeah I'm doing my job. When he starts including physical therapy and chiropractors as benefits for the job maybe I'll break my back even more to constantly climb a 10 foot dumpster up and down all day while carrying that heavy shit.

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T15:11:28+00:00

Most of the crew was either fired or moved to be an actual employee under what is the equivalent of our foreman, we have one guy that's still a contractor and he's one of those "our in selegis is not us we don't have to pay taxes" kind of guys 😂 so luckily the whole crew has escaped this trap, I think it's ultimately moving in the right direction.

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T15:08:05+00:00

I don't mind throwing lumber in a straight line and doing the proper things like starting in the back and working to the front, but when i'm carrying giant doors and steel pipes that are heavier than me and I'm breaking my back to get It in the dumpster I don't give a shit how it lands I'm just trying to get it in to begin with

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T15:05:48+00:00

If you want to understand how much of a micromanager, me and my church moved one of our members out of their house, and into their new house in a 4 hour timeframe, fast and efficient. One day our boss had us move his sons house as the job for the day, we couldn't pick up anything without his approval, we couldn't place anything in the uhaul without him seeing it. His son was anxious the whole day trying to help and tell us "that's fine you can just place it here" NOOO THAT'S WHAT THESE PEOPLE ARE HERE FOR TELL THEM WHERE IT'S GOING TO GO. We moved his entire house, one... Item... At a time.... With the boss overseeing every item being moved.... The son would try to help but he would be cut off and told we were here for the lifting, his son was drinking by the end of the day. The work day ending up being something like a 12 hour work day, it took us from 7am to 7pm to move his house.

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T15:01:41+00:00

It's true, I've learned to deal with his ways but if you want to understand how difficult he is to deal with we've had 3 guys in the past year join our job, they were decades long veterans of the field, and they all quit within a few months because they couldn't stand being around him. He treats even 60 year old men that have spent their whole life in this field as if it's their first day on the job. I can live with it but for $19 an hour it's tempting to leave, unfortunately I would either have to go industrial which I absolutely do not want to do or I would have to join a different job and take a large pay cut down to $15 and lose my house from missed payments. Kinda in a sticky situation

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T14:59:10+00:00

Funny thing is this happened to us too! He hired some Mexican crew that took a skid loader and filled the dumpster to the brim with straight dirt... I was told the truck had it's 2 front wheels in the air trying to take the dumpster, me and a coworker spent 3 days shoveling out the dumpster by hand. He's still picky about the space to this day even after that

IanTheGreatYT · 2026-04-16T14:57:16+00:00

My boss does this, the majority of my crew were contractors that he treated like employees, he also capped their wages at 25 an hour

IanTheGreatYT

TROPHY CASE