Home Forums ANYTHING GOES! THE FLOOR IS ALL YOURS! Back in The Day

Do you remember when................

elevators were fixed in coffee shops and other places?


Doesn't happen anymore,does it.................

Yep..I sure do..
Nowadays you got Super's watching the yellow dots on the computer monitors for GPS. And Consultants doing what the super's used to do for free. (Of Course the Super's back then were ex elevator guys..NOT some guy they found off the street"..

"It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world"
Above quote courtesy of The Kinks "Lola".

those were the good old days, a bunch of guys sitting around shooting the Crap, and one of them receives a trouble call that has been plaguing him for a few days. the next thing you know you have a couple of guys standing with you at the job getting it fixed. this was how we learned in the old days. buy the way after we fixed the elevator, we would have to go for an extended lunch ha ha ha. the good old days. we would send the helper to go clean the jobs of course. does anyone remember Service helpers

When I was a 50, (26 years ago), the Otis guys downtown LA used to sit in the coffee shop all morning, in full view of the customer, who was paying for the huge service contract. After an all-moring break, they would make a quick check of the elevators, then go to a long lunch. As a young man, this made me feel sick to my stomach. I wanted to be worthy of my salary, and have pride and integrity in my actions. I didn't feel comfortable f'ing the dog ALL DAY LONG. As a young man, i wanted to learn, to achieve, to grow, and have my self-respect. I was weird that way.

So I went to the BA at the time, John O'Donahoe, (sp?), who passed away fairly recently, and expressed my concerns. He told me that the best way to promote union labor, and help the cause of unionism, was to put in an honest 8 hours pay, for 8 hours work. After that, I tried to do what was right. Sometimes I caught flak for this, brothers claimed I was "breaking down conditions". As the years have gone by, I can report that I did what I felt was right, honest, fair, and in accord with the spirit of the Standard Agreement. Collosians 3:23 "And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men"

If you are not a Christian, or you do not honor contracts such as the Standard Agreement, please disregard this post.

Sorry if I ruffle any feathers, that's just how I feel. I'm no saint, not perfect by any means, but I have a conscience, and if I am not beating it back with a stick, occasionally it guides me.

I guess after reading my own post, it does seem to shed a bad light of laziness on myself and the trade in general. I guess my point was that at least a little knowledge was passed around during those bullshit sessions, and everyone worked together to get a job done. When I started 27 years ago, i was just a young kid, and had no say in how things were done. This was just the way things were, it was the old timers way of things. I assure you I was not lazy, I spent many hours before and after work honing my skills. You had to learn things after hours if you wanted to become a great mechanic, but during the work day, you did what you had to, so you could become part of the team. Yes, there were many times when an 8 hour work day was much less then 8 hours, yet the jobs were much cleaner, ran much better, and received much more attention then any I have seen since the onset of GPS and the 250 unit route. As I recall, there were a handful of bums, in every company, that did nothing but hang out in the coffee shop all day. they usually shuffled between companies, and everyone knew who they were. For the most part, the majority of the guys, even though they too would meet for coffee, were good men who earned their wage. I believe the managers knew the guys that had exceptional skills and what that brought to the company. These skills translated into an hour off here, or a couple there. and thats the way it was

I beleive in give and take, flexibility in hours, etc.
Some days I gave more, but on others, a little less.

I agree that there isn't the comraderie, and sharing of talent between us that there used to be.

Here is a funny little note from my past, when helping a very senior adjustor at Otis- He used to have me spend more time for free, so he could mentor me. (NO, it wasn't Sandusky!) I asked my supervisior in service at the time- "How much time should I allow for this?", (which was my backhanded way of letting the supervisor know that I was being asked and expected to work over for free) The very next day, that adjustor got rid of me! The nerve of me asking such a question! How dare I even mention it.

Although that adjustor had many years of wrote memorization, he was rather plodding, and to me, seemed to possess no real talent. From his perspective, he probably thought his experience would be an immeasurable asset to my career, and I was supposed to be oh-so-grateful that he would bestow such honor upon me, as to spend his evening hours showing me how to paint-by-numbers, in his pedestrian way of wading through his work. He was well-known for thinking too highly of himself, and not really for any good reason. I mean, if you hang around any organization long enough, you can rise to your highest level of incompetence, if for no other reason, than sheer attrition! Learning from such a "master" is not really worth my time, or so I thought when I was in my cocky 20s. Yes, I learned from him. But no, I didn't think his skills were so valuable that I would donate my personal time. I'm a little easier now, that I'm in my early 50s, but back then, I was pretty tense, and didn't like to put up with bullsht in the least.

So you see, I wasn't always a "company man"!

But since I started this business, almost 17 years ago, I have worked harder than I EVER did, than when I worked for other companies. Looking back, I didn't really know what hard work was. I really had things very easy, when I was at Otis. Maybe we judge our working conditions with a skewed value system sometimes, and think we got things so bad. If not true for everybody, at least I think that was true for me. Young and dumb...

It's like anything in life. You get what you put into it.

A long time ago, I caught a call at 4:20 P.M. I worked on it till 5:00 P.M. Being a new mechanic I asked my fellow workers what should I do. Just blow off the 30 minutes of OT or write it up. I wrote it up.

The same day I turned in my time, my boss called me up, and asked..
"I see you turned in an 1/2 hour overtime?"
"I guess from now on when you come in 15 minutes late, or take an hour lunch instead of 30 minutes, or leave 15 minute early, or take 1/2 hour break instead of 15 minutes, you'll be making the appropriate record of your time".

I sat there very quietly and he finally said.

"I never want to see another time ticket come from you for 30 minutes. If you turn in OT make if for a couple of hours.".

Which I did from then on.

A different world back then. Sup was an old crusty ex-otis adjuster, and had forgotten more about elevators than I will ever know, and I was a young struglling mechanic.

Course this would never happen nowadays. You got all the guys that don't know nothing about elevators but DO know how to watch GPS...LOL..

All great stories and very true.

For along time I was not like that,I kept my jobs clean and in good working order.

Then things changed.
More jobs and building visits.
Supervisors with no knowledge of the trade came into play.
Numbers,numbers,numbers.
No recognition of keeping my customers happy and keeping the calls down.
I did't play by their rules and it cost me my job.
That was a few years back.
Now I play by their rules and all I do is answer calls because of lack of maintenance.
But now ,I keep their numbers looking good and I have a job.

Remember the quality assurance program,big O guy's?
That Japanese thing they came out with to make you more efficient?

I just do what they want me to and educate the younger guys.

"It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world"
Above quote courtesy of The Kinks "Lola".

It was a great time in the old days at the diners eating breakfast and yes their was a lot of elevators fixed there ! It is now a dog eat dog world and their isn't as much comradery ,the men used to stick together now you have to be careful,and not because your not doing your job but ....you are not doing your job the way the company wants......they have become crooks , making monthly jobs quarterly and not telling the customers,their is no maintenance no more just shutdown maintenance. Their is much more competition than the old days,union and non-union and it seems to get worse day by day.i used to have parts cabinets filled with almost every part for the job......now they don't want to leave a fuse there ! It's still a great job......but boy has it changed a lot in the 27 yrs I have been doing it ! But you have to keep changing with the times or you will be left behind ! It seems like nobody is happy any more the company cries they aren't making any money .....the customers cry they are paying to much and we are stuck in the middle trying to make everyone happy ! Oh well enough ranting about how things have changed ! Enjoy everyday brothers you never know which one might be your last ! Work smart and work safe !