Derailments

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Charles T. McCullough
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Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:25 pm

Re: Derailments

Post by Charles T. McCullough »

I wish more jobs required passing a drug test on a daily basis. From bagging my groceries to cooking my fast-food burger, I don't need some drug addled... ummmm... person... in those positions either.
Pontiacguy1
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Location: Tennessee, USA

Re: Derailments

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

We have the same problem in my plant. A LOT of the applicants can't pass both the background check and the drug test. We have a lot that will sit right there in the interview and listen as we tell them they will have to pass a background check and a drug test to get hired. They will say that it won't be a problem, and then most won't even show up to get the test done because they know they won't pass it. Of the ones that DO pass the checks and end up getting hired, over half aren't worth the dirt it would take to cover them up. about 50% of all new hires in the past 3 years or so won't last more than a week or two. Most of them just won't show up when they are scheduled to work. Simple as that. I can definitely understand why the railroads are having a lot of trouble getting and keeping good employees. There is now a significant portion of the population that is determined not to work.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Derailments

Post by Bill Shields »

Singapore has the correct idea....
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
pat1027
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Location: Michigan

Re: Derailments

Post by pat1027 »

Government control and censorship of the media, being jailed without trial or chewing gum being illegal?

Biter comes with the sweet.
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makinsmoke
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Re: Derailments

Post by makinsmoke »

Dare ya to toss a candy wrapper on the sidewalk on Orchard Street!!
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makinsmoke
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Re: Derailments

Post by makinsmoke »

And there is no need here for censorship of the media.

They are doing a fine job of providing little factual information as it is.

I mean, Trump, budget cuts, corporation greed, blah-blah 24/7 when it was a hot box that caused the derailment.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Derailments

Post by Greg_Lewis »

For what the Ohio derailment is going to cost NS, I think they could have bought lots and lots of hot box detectors and even hired a few more car inspectors.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
ccvstmr
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Re: Derailments

Post by ccvstmr »

...just goes to show how INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE being cheap can be! Carl B.
Life is like a sewer...what you get out of it depends on what you put into it!
I don't walk on water...I just learned where some of the stepping stones are!
I love mankind...it's some of the people I can't stand!
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Derailments

Post by Greg_Lewis »

ccvstmr wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 8:05 pm ...just goes to show how INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE being cheap can be! Carl B.

I can sort of imagine the conversation in the board room before this happened: Derailments are inevitable but the costs of dealing with them are less than the costs of prevention. The odds of a catastrophic accident are so small that it pays to take the chance.

But perhaps this one will force a change in that view. As a work colleague used to say any time there was an issue about almost anything that happened at work, "It all comes down to money."
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Derailments

Post by Bill Shields »

pat1027 wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 12:25 pm Government control and censorship of the media, being jailed without trial or chewing gum being illegal?
It's nice to be able to walk around a city and not step on or in the little round sidewalk blobs that are the remnants of idiots spitting their gum out anywhere they choose.

I would gladly trade a bit of 'lost freedom' for not having to spend weeks of time collecting dozens of pickup trucks full of trash, litter, old furniture, construction rubbish, BEER CANS, etc from our fields to keep it out of our farming equipment.

Who do these idiots think is going to clean up their trash?

Then they complain about the price of farm produce -> like we are all Harry Potter and can just wave a magic wand and make all their crap just disappear at zero $
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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NP317
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Re: Derailments

Post by NP317 »

Greg L and Carl B nailed the issue.
I agree with them both.
RussN
Last edited by NP317 on Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
OddDuck
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Re: Derailments

Post by OddDuck »

A bit of a recent perspective on the whole hiring thing, I've seen it in two completely different companies. I am currently in the process of changing careers, after 18 years at my former job. I was the lowest form of management, so I really didn't have a say in the hiring process. However, I know for a fact that the drug screen/background check was a big problem, and the overall quality of the new hires was less than stellar, but they were warm bodies that threw cases, so we dealt with it.
Flashback to last November when I went to a hiring event (I'll be announcing details soon) and much to my surprise they picked me. I went more out of curiosity than anything. And, one of the things I observed was that a good half of the people selected were my age (mid fifties). This is a job where you have to show up, and I think having employees with a proven track record is more important than youth.
So, yeah, you're not imagining things, it's a big problem for lots of industries. One of the problems is that there's jobs chasing people right now, not the other way around, and our " safety net" government mentality is too darn cushy and encourages a lackadaisical attitude to jobs. There are exceptions to that rule, so there is some hope.
"If you took the bones out they wouldn't be crunchy!" -Monty Python's Flying Circus
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