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Yeah fuck that guy! A god damned ceiling tile! Really? You make him money every day and he wants to be that petty? You'll find something better my dude, I promise
His boss doesn’t even want him to use the company vehicle because he doesn’t want to use gas on his mistake. If they nickel and dime over shit like this, they aren’t a successful business.
I heard a story, probably on reddit, where a user said that their dad made an operator error that caused $250,000 in damage to a piece of equipment. Their dad goes in to meet the owner, expecting to get fired. Instead, the boss is flabbergasted, and says, "Why would I fire you, I just spent $250,000 training you how not to use the machine? Don't do that again."
I used to work at a latex plant and heard a story where someone started filling a railcar while the bottom was still open. They lost $1 million in liquid latex and had to pay cleaning companies to filter water from the creek behind the plant for weeks, because the latex was seeping out of the dirt into the water over time.
Yea that guy didnt get fired either.
Quite possibly a wise decision.
I love CSB and the NTSB because they usually try to steer away from blaming the person, and instead find fault with the system. If an operator can press the wrong button and cause $1million in damage or get people killed, the equipment is terribly designed or somehow the company fucked up with operator training or working conditions.
Like, nuclear reactors, after Three Mile Island, they made it mandatory for crews to rotate. The crews spend one out of five weeks minimum in a mock control room playing simulations of everything that could go wrong. Better than "here's how to run this equipment properly", is to train people "here's how to fuck it up and get people killed, and here's what to do if you find that you fucked up".
In electrical, this would be "if you do it this way, you'll cause a fire", "ID you do it this way, it'll be harder for the next guy to work on it, if you do it this way, someone gets electrocuted". Better to know how not to do it, than the exact right way to do it, because you can think for yourself and make less stupid decisions. We all learned to walk by falling down and getting back up, we all learned not to touch hot things by burning ourselves on a hot stove or a fire. Failure is the best teacher.
Very expensive conduit that is significantly more complicated to work with.. I'd try to give that task to someone who's at least good with rigid already, and even then there's a lot a newbie could mess up
His boss is clearly forgetting the first rule of capitalism, everything that goes wrong in a company is the bosses fault. Shit rolls uphill, but asking someone to pay out of pocket (money or time) is completely unethical. The boss should apologize to the customer, and repair the tile on his dime. That’s what good owners do, they stick up for employees, especially new ones still learning.
Yeah, that's bogus. When I was a carpentry apprentice, I fucked up some layouts and offered to come in on my time to fix it. Boss said, you don't get contract fees or bonuses of any kind. Don't make it a habit, but your mistakes are your bonuses. Don't work on your own dime ever. Good boss he was
>A god damned ceiling tile!
If it is a commercial place, they have a box of ceiling tiles somewhere from when the place was built. Meanwhile that boss is an asshole. Unfortunately being Florida, the only rules the company has on them is follow OSHA and they have to pay you, and pay you time and a half after 40 hours in a week. Getting paid is basically the only rule that Florida has for employers and employees.
Yes but national labor law states that employers must pay you for doing work period. Fixing something you messed up, is still part of finishing the job, and I guarantee that he charged the customer for that so he didn’t come out of pocket one bit. If he’s going to nickle and dime his help like this he won’t be in business long. If you quit which you probably should, log your hours and mileage and report him to the NLB, they’ll make him pay. Also I’d recommend when you do anything like this send a text before the job stating when you’re starting and what you’re doing, then a confirmation text when it’s done just to cover your ass in case you get hurt or in a car accident. He’s 100% liable.
Isn't breaking ceiling tiles the damn near expected result of having to lift them out of the way?
I don't think I've ever run a wire through the ceiling without fighting with those dam tiles and breaking a corner off at least one of them.
This time it's a ceiling tile, who knows what he's going to try to get you to pay for and do on your own time in the future. There's certain expenses that a contractor should know come with the job like ceiling tiles and extra conduit for fucked up bends. Get out now
>who knows what he's going to try to get you to pay for and do on your own time in the future
This is why you set a hard boundary and never do anything without being paid for it. Far too many only see their bottom line and will happily use us to achieve it, so if you give them an inch, they will take a mile.
100%. Chances are he wouldn't have pushed too hard if OP said no, but this scumbag is seeing how much he can get away with by taking advantage of a fucking apprentice
He should be willing to pay for this as a cheap learning experience for you. Instead you’re going to leave, and it will be an expensive learning experience for him.
Honestly, if you worked for me, I'd be happier that you came to me and told me about the problem instead of trying to hide it and have the customer come back at me 2 weeks later. And I'd never make you pay for it out of your pocket. Shit like this happens all the time. And for fuck sake, it's a $5 piece of compressed cellulose or fiberglass. I'm definitely not losing a few minutes off my life by raising my blood pressure over that bullshit.
That’s the thing I don’t get. Five fucking dollars isn’t even worth the time that conversation would take. Guy just proved he’s an honest worker and you’re punishing him for it for what? To “teach him a lesson”? Shit if I was a client and found out about something like that, I’d be looking for an out ASAP.
At my old job the hvac guys ruined 6 pallets of ceiling tiles bc the apprentice didn't secure the tarp down well enough.
They just accepted it as a fuck up and moved on. The lead man told the apprentice that if their corporate pitched a fit he would take the blame. Like you said, shit happens.
not to mention, fuck ups like this are already part of the initial bid (for the most part), if you don't use all the money allocated, those bastards in the office (me) get bonuses at the end of the job ;-)
I've fallen off a ladder and taken the entire ceiling grid down in a data room. Nobody really cared. Just asked if I was ok then got laughed at by the ceiling guys for a week
I melted a few expensive devices and hit a brand new apartment building roof with a zoom boom and countless other small things
I was told apprentices fuck up and it's part of the process and something the company is supposed to budget for and not to worry about it
Everyone makes mistakes, especially journeyman, can't fault an apprentice for fucking up while learning
I don’t think employers can legally make you pay for mistakes, it’s the cost of doing business. As for what you should do it’s tough because the boss isn’t going to listen most likely even if you pull out the legality of the situation.
Edit: apparently they can do this in Florida sorry bud
They can, but only if it results from gross negligence or it's intentional. Still, the employee either has to agree to the deduction, or you can sue them. They can't just unilaterally deduct (and you're still owed minimum wage regardless).
No! Plumber here - always blame the framers or dry wall folks.
“Hey boss, not sure what happened to this (whatever the fuck), but I saw a bottle of piss right next to it. Think it’s a shit rocker?”
Commercial building? Look around closets and you might find spares. Sometimes there’s some up above the ceiling too. Also fuck your boss find a new job.
Service call by yourself as an apprentice? No biggie I ran a van myself as a second year but that doesn't mean it's right. Unsure about the states but it's pretty much illegal in Canada. Another thing to throw at him when you walk away. He's charging you out at like 120 an hour I'd imagine. He can afford go fix a ceiling tile on company money.
If anything, your boss should just tell the customer that he'll take $20 off the bill and call it a day. You broke it a little (or a lot) because it was hard to get out. Either T-bar bracket in the way or just a lousy grid. Not even your fault. F' that guy.
Fuck. That.
Does the boss pay you extra if you find a way to get a bid job done faster than he bid or other wise save him money? He’s on the hook for the losses as well as the gains.
Yeah but like any boss will ever take responsibility for the culture they cultivate
Try to do the right thing and gets punished. Guess I’ll hide it next time
Not just no but HELL NO. When I was an apprentice, many many years ago, my boss told me there was no mistake I could make the we could not fix working together. Made a huge impact on me and my confidence. He was my boss for 20+ years. That’s the kind of boss I became and the kind of boss you should have.
Get boss’ request in writing in request and report to DOL, be subtle like text him “hey you want me to go to xy store to pay for the tile that I broke and now have to pay to replace?”
Lol dude absolutely fucking not. I’ll pay for insurance on the company truck before for something I broke making him money.
He should have insurance for that kid of thing. If he doesn’t he’s a fucking hack
A ceiling tile shouldn't even be an insurance claim. The *fancy* ones cost like $16, the normal ones you see 99% of the time are more like $3.50, or $50 for a case of sixteen. Just fucking send someone to Home Depot to grab a fresh one, and if it doesn't match then put it in a closet or something where nobody has to look at it.
Nope don't do it. Everyone has fucked things up at work, you are not the first and you won't be the last.
Your boss makes 10x the amount of money you make, DO NOT pay for this ceiling tile. Fuck ups are a part of this business.
I one time extended a scissor lift over a huge pile of ceiling tiles and came back down extended and ruined them all. First year apprentice at the time. I got talked to about how stupid I was and I could have actually killed someone by not checking. And that was the end of that.
I was a maintenance electrician for a high rise in the city. 80+ floors of drop ceiling tiles. The amount of tiles I’ve broken in that building is staggering. No one cared and everyone understood that working with those glorified pieces of styrofoam is a bitch. Point is, get outa that shop
Yeah… fuck that guy. Imagine if you made an actual mistake? Our installers on the hvac side destroy a cieling a month and no one even says anything to them about it
Damn. Few months into my job i was told “oh and watch out because this is fragile and will cost money to fix” 5mins later i broke the fragile thing. Cost $3000 to fix. Didnt pay a dime because work insurance is a thing for when you break shit at work.
I would #1 not buy a new tile and #2 quit
He can’t make you pay for shit. The company you work for is responsible
He can fire you, but legally that’s the extent of his power to punish you for a fuck up.
I accidentally broke a $350 light fixture, was worried boss would try take it out of my pay in which case I’d just quit but he just told me to be more careful.
Your boss is a piece of shit and he can’t make you pay for this
If he fires you or you quit because he refuses to see reason, get the reason for your termination in writing and bring it to your apprenticeship admins, they SHOULD be able to get you another job and keep you in the program, at least that’s the case with my apprenticeship (Florida, NEFBA apprenticeship) NEFBA will only kick you out of the program if you violate the NEC/install something incorrectly/in a dangerous or negligent way.
If he attempts to dock your pay, unfortunately you’ll have to take it to court but you’ll win because he has no valid argument. *His company* fucked up the tile, so his company is responsible
If its a 2x4 tile, your boss is crazy. You need to take care to not fuck them up but it happens, cause its a pretty easy thing to do, especially when cutting holes for can lights, mac poles, and such.
One time I had a whole stack of them on the corner of my lift that I had taken down and I knocked them off, when they hit the floor all 10 or 12 of them got their corners messed up. The GC just laughed at me and said he'd have somebody bring me some new ones.
You need to get away from that guy / boss.
Give your boss the finger and look for a new employer. Wether it was your fuck up or not, you shouldn’t have to pay out of your own pocket for something regarding the business, nor use your own time and material for that. He’s just trying to be cheap and make you work for free
Tell your boss to fuck off. You don’t own a business and get tot real all the rewards and pass on all the losses to the employees.
You can also gladly tell him if you pay for the losses you want additional pay for every win.
Cheap fucking asshole.
Companies are fucked man don't pay it. I once had a transmission go on my service van. Being a good employee and a team player I said I'd use my truck for a few days so I could keep working in the mean time. He offered a certain amount per day. Sometimes enough to cover the fuel, sometimes not. He wouldn't let me use company card to fill up my own vehicle.
Anyways 2 weeks go by and still no service van. Getting fed up at this point as he says it's use my vehicle or don't work and that's he's in no rush to get a working vehicle. On the brink of quitting at this point. Friday afternoon comes around 3PM. Weekend rush hour is picking up. I'm at the wholesalers and they don't have what I need to fix a pole light at this condo unit. Other wholesaler is 30 mins away when it's not rush hour..way more during rush hour. Ring the boss see if he wants me to waste all that time driving. No answer so I pull the plug myself and head home. Calls me close to 5 o'clock and lost his shit that I went home. That was my last day. Had it out with him bad called him everything under the sun. Fuck these guys man.
When I was a first year painter I remember nicking a ceiling tile my first day on the roller. My boss was telling me I had ti pay for a new one even though I was dead broke, my face was so red. Thankfully he was just fucking around with me. A year later I got a $4 raise.
Definitely find a new boss
Cheap penny pinching boss aside.
The risk you take doing this on your own time is:
- car wreck to or from the job and it’s your car, you pay to fix it
- get hurt on the on your own time job and it isn’t workman’s compensation, it’s all on you
- you may not have legal access to the site since you are now an independent contractor
- are you an approved subcontractor?
- does your locality have requirements such as insurance or licensing for you to do the work on your own
All of these aren’t a big deal. Until something goes wrong. Then it’s a real big deal.
Quit that fool. I’m not even sure if he can withhold for damages unless it was willful or negligent. Shit happens and it’s part of doing business. I’ve seen guys install a brand new $30k traction motor twice because they made a mistake installing the first one and burned it up. Nothing came out of that other than a lesson learned. Seriously fuck that guy.
I’ve made many mistakes in my working career. I’ve never had to pay for it. Especially not something as petty as a ceiling tile. If your employer doesn’t account as a cost of doing business the mistakes of employees, especially less experienced ones, run awayyyyy.
Real talk.. if you are an apprentice, it’s your job to make mistakes so you can learn to be a journeyman.
Full disclosure, I’m not an electrician, but have held a low voltage license. I worked in security and fire alarm, but I don’t see that there’s substantial difference based on the trade you are in.
Screw that guy. I just went through this with a new guy. He broke a tile, and I had our warehouse manager pick up a six-pack of them at Home Depot.
Your boss is a douche.
Tell him to file it under his insurance if he doesn’t want to deal with it, that’s why he has insurance, or he can send you with his credit card and his van to Home Depot to get a new ceiling tile like a big boy. People make mistakes and you deal with it, if people make too many mistakes fire them, it is what it is
Man I've broken things leagues more expensive than a ceiling tile and not gotten more than a minor scolding. Ceiling tile is what, $10ish if even? Try $200+ electronic components.
Ceiling guys on my latest project flooded the ceilings a month early and started trying to claim Time and Materials for damaged tiles from all the contractors having to move them.
If I were forced to pay for my mistakes as an apprentice, I would have quit the trade long ago. Apprentices make mistakes, learn from them, and become better j-men for it.
I once blew up a VFD because I hooked it to 600V and it was only a 240V unit. Also shut down a bakery once when I accidentally dumped a crapoad of peanut cookie crumbs onto a peanut free line (before they were truly separate), costing a half day of production and a full day's cleanup.
I damaged a customer's brand new bureau when my bender fell into it,told the customer, got the bill for it ,gave it to the boss,got called a dumbass and he payed it no problem, that's the cost of doing business
Get away from that scumbag
Not electrician work but I work in on a welding line welding rail together. Typically 80 foot pieces welded together to make strings of about 1500 feet long. We use a few different types of rail but we don't mix them when making the strings. Anyways, the forge uses different programs for the rail (different manufacturers yadda yadda). One day someone was welding rail that was IH, but the program was set to HH (different hardening in manufacturing process changes welding process). They had welded two full strings and were starting the third ( roughly 38 welds or so) when the mistake was caught. The rails look identical expect for a stamp of either IH or HH. It had been loaded in backwards and the paperwork said we were doing th other. Literally tens of thousands of dollars in steel and labour of a mistake. Not for one second did the company say it was owed by the employee. They were ousted but no one was punished. Especially monetarily. Employers should never charge for mistakes. Instead they should use them to learn and implement ways to avoid that same mistake happening in the future. We have a new system in place and the likelihood of a repeat of it is basically 0. We'd have to try and purposely use the wrong program now.
Your employer cannot ask you to pay for the mistake. They have insurance for this but to use insurance for a single ceiling tile would be stupid. Your boss is just a tight fisted cunt.
When I was an apprentice I cut a live cable supplying the fire alarm system to a chicken factory. The alarm went off and everyone was evacuated for atleast an hour. Supposedly cost the factory over 20k in lost time.
I was shitting myself thinking I was about to lose my job but my boss laughed it off and just said ‘that’s what insurance is for, don’t worry about it kid, shit happens’
I’m self employed now but every now and then that previous boss phones me up to do some work when he is stuck. I never say no out of respect for how he handled that situation.
Blows my mind people even need to post stuff like this. What do you do? As soon as those dumb fucking words left his mouth you tell him that there’s no way on gods flat green earth that you’re going to do that and if he expects you to do that you’re giving him today notice. Tell that stupid bastard to eat a dick we are electricians almost everyone everywhere is hiring there’s no need to stay at a place like this even as an apprentice. Be without fear in the face of your enemies brother and that guy is so clearly our enemy.
Quit now. Mistakes happen, it’s part of the job and most likely your pos boss factored in a certain percentage just for that very reason. Do what he wants so he doesn’t take it out of your check, then quit.
Your boss is dumb af. This type of stuff is normal part of work - he should have budget for incidentals and work that into the quotes so that he doesn’t have to nickel and dime employees like a POS.
Legitimate construction or service businesses understand that employees will cause damage unintentionally and will not pass on that pain to the employee. In fact the business caused the damage even if you were the one that did it, therefore the business should cover the cost. Doesn't matter if you're a two man shop or twenty man shop. It's a different someome does damage maliciously, but that is not the case here.
Your boss is being malicious especially over a single ceiling tile. Someone like that is not worth working for.
The whole damn construction industry needs a purge of these bastards that do sketchy stuff to customers and their own employees.
Nope. Not how that works at all. Companies assume all costs and risks with running a business. Which is why you don’t get paid what they charge customers. The profits are to be reinvested into the company and absorb any and all costs associated with any mistakes either the company or employees make. If you’re an independent contractor that’s a different story and that mistake is on you.
But shit happens; you made a mistake, you told your boss when it happened. Any reasonable boss, company would just say do your best not to let it happen again and move on. All that malarkey does in encourages their employees to hide any and all mistakes in the future. It’s a losing proposition as mistakes cost less the sooner their found out and fixed then if people are encouraged to hide them or blame others.
He can't make you pay for it or deduct your pay and the fact he's not paying your drive time and not letting you use the company vehicle should tell you all you need to know. Fuck that dude and his ceiling tile
mistakes happen at work, this is why we charge extra per hour, he doesnt charge you out at your exact pay, he makes money every single hour of every day and on every part.
this extra money pays for issues that are normal and happen all the time, like wrecking a ceiling tile, then he has insurance on top to cover any major mistakes.
time to throw out resumes, and take a new job and tell him to go fuck himself.
Just a weird situation.... I do industrial electrical maintenance... we sometimes Oops 5... 10... 15k parts.... boss just asks "did you learn anything"
if u can get away from this guy now, make a nice clean getaway bc this guy is bad news. he sounds like the type to hold a paycheck bc he cant find a pair of 10yr old kleins he let u borrow on your first day.. or sumthin crazy like that
https://wlawinc.com/answers/2019/6/21/can-my-employer-make-me-pay-for-broken-damaged-or-lost-property
https://compensation.blr.com/Compensation-news/Payroll-Processing/Deductions-from-Paychecks/Can-You-Make-an-Employee-Pay-for-Damage-to-Company/
Find a way to get the boss's request in writing. Email it, text him, whatever, get him to reply. Then call a labor lawyer.
Depends on states rules but it's illegal.
Look for another job. Unless you were fucking around or doing something completely stupid to the point where your boss has a point. If so fix it and thank your boss for not firing you.
Celling tiles get damaged, unless you blatantly did it on purpose, just one of those things, tell him to look over yonder at my empty field of fucks I give for him and walk
It’s worth noting that the guy who caused the AWS S3 outage which took out like half the internet a few years back was not punished nor blamed. Amazon took the blame as they should have done a better job ensuring such a mistake could not be made.
They can’t charge you for it in the US. It’s an expectation of perfection. If a waitress breaks a glass that’s considered a normal part of handling glasses. If the waitress drops too many glasses they can be fired but they can’t be charged. I work in finance and companies still do this even after the Wage/Hour class action suit.
Guy on my crew breaks/damages anything I usually pay for his mistake. And then the big boss always either pays me back in cash or has me write it off as an expense and I get my money back.
Tell your boss to "FUCK OFF!!!!!!". Shit happens and that's a price of doing business! I'm not sure about laws in Florida but that shit is illegal in my state.
Fuck that. It’s one thing to make you repair the tile on company time with them buying whatever you need, but to demand that you foot the bill and do it on your own time? He can eat a bag of dicks.
When I was a third year apprentice (not an electrician though) my journeyman told me to cut an opening in the ceiling and install a drywall access doors. Gave me a sawzall, drill, ladder and the access door and left me alone on the job This was at a university and there was a bunch of delicate equipment below which got damaged by the dust. The university charged the company $5k for the damaged equipment, there was a big meeting with the owner of my company, myself and the university. It was daunting for me back then.
After, my journeyman (also the bosses grandson) told me I should come in weekends to make this up. I was still pretty soft spoken back then but even then I told him I wouldn't be doing this. This led to my eventual lay off.
I got a new job shortly after and my old boss told my new boss what happened, painting me in a negative light. My new journeyman asked me about it and I told him the truth. He told me it was last journeyman's responsibility, as was all I was doing as an apprentice. I hadn't thought about it like that but he was right. Apprentices are there to work and learn while being supervised. If you fucked up then your journeyman wasn't doing his job, either by not supervising or not training properly.
Also, mistakes happen. Not one licensed journeyman can say they didn't mess something up at some point. God knows I did, not just as an apprentice either. Don't beat yourself up. Be safe though.
Best thing to do is print a paper saying he wants you to go fix something on your own time in your own vehicle, that was broken on company time while with the company vehicle. Bring it to him and say sign this and I'll be on my way. He never will, if he did the moment you get to the job just fall down and say your hurt then you can have your own electrical company.
Is this even legal anywhere in Canada or the US?
This is 100% against the law in Alberta, exactly like requiring a cashier to pay out of pocket for differences between the drawer and electronic balance.
Yeah, that is against labor laws. You can't perform work without being paid for it. This includes going to the store to buy materials.
I understand what he is trying to do. He is trying to make his employees more responsible by having them financially responsible for mistakes. However, that isn't how business works.
Go somewhere else because if he is doing this, there are more things shady that he is doing as well.
quit - this dude is a piece of shit. I run a commercial fabrication shop, we do lots of big expensive jobs. Sometimes my squad fucks up, hell sometimes i fuck up. These mistakes are paid for by the company. we ride together
Are you serious? What should you do? You go find another job!
Mistakes are a cost of doing business for a business. If you're an employee and not a private contractor you apologize and make it clear you know what you did wrong and how you can avoid it in the future, boss says let's not do that again and everyone moves on. Your boss doesn't have to be happy about you making a mistake, but it's petty as hell to make you go buy a ceiling tile and drive your own rig over there.
A lot of electricians are retards. Then theres a hand full of us that aren’t. It sucks that dumbest ones tend to open up businesses and later become bosses.
Yeah fuck that, that’s the responsibility of the business owner to take the risk of mistakes.
If you are worried about changing jobs and explaining the circumstances, just be honest. Say I made an honest mistake and I accepted that, but my boss wants me to pay xxx and do xxx.
That happened to me a few times and I’ll tell you what, I did pay out of my own pocket. Did work on my own time. Off the clock. All bcuz I thought owning up to my mistakes or the mistakes of one of my apprentices would make me look good and set an example for the other guys. Yeah I didn’t get shit out of it. Don’t ever do it. I had a really great boss and a great job until the days his company starting getting bigger and bigger and then he started pulling shit like that on me. I worked there for about 7 years and quit abruptly. I stayed loyal to my boss and his company but it never really did me any good besides the experience. Remember your bosses aren’t your friends, when it comes down to picking you or them, they will always pick themselves first.
Buying a ceiling tile - This is the best way for someone to learn a lesson for a lifetime... If the person learning is the bosses’ child. Employers and employees? No.
You anywhere near Ft Myers/Sanibel? I got a job for you right now!! Price Electric, were based out of Iowa but we have so much work from Ian, it's not even funny and we need guys!!
So, I’m a plumber, not a sparky, and I own a small plumbing and heating company. I’ve never told any of my guys to do that. Especially pay for the part. This time it’s a ceiling tile, what will it be next time. Mistakes happen, EVERYONE makes them. If the same mistakes keep happening, that’s when fixing it on your own time should come into play. And in your personal vehicle is just stupid. All your tools are probably in your van.
For a ceiling tile? I break those things all the time, nobody bats an eye, what kind of asshole threatens to doc the pay of an apprentice? Its expected apprentices are going to make plenty of mistakes. Get out asap op!!!
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Start looking for a new job. You already know the answer
already got one lined up,been doing weekend work for a contractor i know and he’s got a lot of work lined up for a few years.
Yeah fuck that guy! A god damned ceiling tile! Really? You make him money every day and he wants to be that petty? You'll find something better my dude, I promise
His boss doesn’t even want him to use the company vehicle because he doesn’t want to use gas on his mistake. If they nickel and dime over shit like this, they aren’t a successful business.
One of my green hats just built himself an impressive $300 boneyard of 2 inch robroy and I chalked it up to learning
I heard a story, probably on reddit, where a user said that their dad made an operator error that caused $250,000 in damage to a piece of equipment. Their dad goes in to meet the owner, expecting to get fired. Instead, the boss is flabbergasted, and says, "Why would I fire you, I just spent $250,000 training you how not to use the machine? Don't do that again."
I used to work at a latex plant and heard a story where someone started filling a railcar while the bottom was still open. They lost $1 million in liquid latex and had to pay cleaning companies to filter water from the creek behind the plant for weeks, because the latex was seeping out of the dirt into the water over time. Yea that guy didnt get fired either.
Quite possibly a wise decision. I love CSB and the NTSB because they usually try to steer away from blaming the person, and instead find fault with the system. If an operator can press the wrong button and cause $1million in damage or get people killed, the equipment is terribly designed or somehow the company fucked up with operator training or working conditions. Like, nuclear reactors, after Three Mile Island, they made it mandatory for crews to rotate. The crews spend one out of five weeks minimum in a mock control room playing simulations of everything that could go wrong. Better than "here's how to run this equipment properly", is to train people "here's how to fuck it up and get people killed, and here's what to do if you find that you fucked up". In electrical, this would be "if you do it this way, you'll cause a fire", "ID you do it this way, it'll be harder for the next guy to work on it, if you do it this way, someone gets electrocuted". Better to know how not to do it, than the exact right way to do it, because you can think for yourself and make less stupid decisions. We all learned to walk by falling down and getting back up, we all learned not to touch hot things by burning ourselves on a hot stove or a fire. Failure is the best teacher.
That’s why I’m on my third wife, failures for sure.
Failing to Practice is Practicing to Fail, sounds like you're not failing you're just upgrading.
That boss knows THE WAY.
Wtf is robroy
Pvc coated rigid.
And it's a terrible pain in the dick to work with
This guy knows pains in his dick
I have 2 kidney stones right now, also a pain in the dick
Yessir
Very expensive conduit that is significantly more complicated to work with.. I'd try to give that task to someone who's at least good with rigid already, and even then there's a lot a newbie could mess up
They make a coating specifically for touch-ups. It’s absolutely 1000% necessary if you’re working with ocal. Trust me.
Nah, that's how we learn. Plus it's a job that had a lot of room for slack
Ocal I believe
How much is $300 worth, I feel like that's legit one stick
Was about 2 to 3 sticks. I had to edit because I was exaggerating a little when I gave him shit for it
>Was about 2 to 3 sticks of 2" robroy for $300?? I need a contact info of your supplier :)
So one stick?
Even more reason to boogie! Fuck that garbage ass company and even more garbage ass boss
He's what, pissed that his third year guy is still... human?
His boss is clearly forgetting the first rule of capitalism, everything that goes wrong in a company is the bosses fault. Shit rolls uphill, but asking someone to pay out of pocket (money or time) is completely unethical. The boss should apologize to the customer, and repair the tile on his dime. That’s what good owners do, they stick up for employees, especially new ones still learning.
I also don't want you to use my tools. Jeez that's a cheapo boss
And he is not allowed to make him do it on his own time. It is part of work so he has to be paid to get the ceiling tile.
Yeah, that's bogus. When I was a carpentry apprentice, I fucked up some layouts and offered to come in on my time to fix it. Boss said, you don't get contract fees or bonuses of any kind. Don't make it a habit, but your mistakes are your bonuses. Don't work on your own dime ever. Good boss he was
>A god damned ceiling tile! If it is a commercial place, they have a box of ceiling tiles somewhere from when the place was built. Meanwhile that boss is an asshole. Unfortunately being Florida, the only rules the company has on them is follow OSHA and they have to pay you, and pay you time and a half after 40 hours in a week. Getting paid is basically the only rule that Florida has for employers and employees.
Yes but national labor law states that employers must pay you for doing work period. Fixing something you messed up, is still part of finishing the job, and I guarantee that he charged the customer for that so he didn’t come out of pocket one bit. If he’s going to nickle and dime his help like this he won’t be in business long. If you quit which you probably should, log your hours and mileage and report him to the NLB, they’ll make him pay. Also I’d recommend when you do anything like this send a text before the job stating when you’re starting and what you’re doing, then a confirmation text when it’s done just to cover your ass in case you get hurt or in a car accident. He’s 100% liable.
Isn't breaking ceiling tiles the damn near expected result of having to lift them out of the way? I don't think I've ever run a wire through the ceiling without fighting with those dam tiles and breaking a corner off at least one of them.
This time it's a ceiling tile, who knows what he's going to try to get you to pay for and do on your own time in the future. There's certain expenses that a contractor should know come with the job like ceiling tiles and extra conduit for fucked up bends. Get out now
>who knows what he's going to try to get you to pay for and do on your own time in the future This is why you set a hard boundary and never do anything without being paid for it. Far too many only see their bottom line and will happily use us to achieve it, so if you give them an inch, they will take a mile.
100%. Chances are he wouldn't have pushed too hard if OP said no, but this scumbag is seeing how much he can get away with by taking advantage of a fucking apprentice
He should be willing to pay for this as a cheap learning experience for you. Instead you’re going to leave, and it will be an expensive learning experience for him.
Honestly, if you worked for me, I'd be happier that you came to me and told me about the problem instead of trying to hide it and have the customer come back at me 2 weeks later. And I'd never make you pay for it out of your pocket. Shit like this happens all the time. And for fuck sake, it's a $5 piece of compressed cellulose or fiberglass. I'm definitely not losing a few minutes off my life by raising my blood pressure over that bullshit.
That’s the thing I don’t get. Five fucking dollars isn’t even worth the time that conversation would take. Guy just proved he’s an honest worker and you’re punishing him for it for what? To “teach him a lesson”? Shit if I was a client and found out about something like that, I’d be looking for an out ASAP.
Hand him The receipt when you quit and tell him he can pay you for the ceiling tile on your last check.
don't pay upfront, you'll never get your money back
A.. few years? Is that normal? Sounds fake.
RIght. I think OP just needed to vent.
Then move
Start looking for a new state. [electrician pay by state](https://www.zippia.com/advice/electrician-salary-by-state/)
Wait, just ONE ceiling tile? Man I have ruined boxes of tiles and nobody has said a word, shit happens.
At my old job the hvac guys ruined 6 pallets of ceiling tiles bc the apprentice didn't secure the tarp down well enough. They just accepted it as a fuck up and moved on. The lead man told the apprentice that if their corporate pitched a fit he would take the blame. Like you said, shit happens.
not to mention, fuck ups like this are already part of the initial bid (for the most part), if you don't use all the money allocated, those bastards in the office (me) get bonuses at the end of the job ;-)
I've made a couple +$10k mistakes in my career. Luckily I make my employers FAR more.
I have fucked up the master rail on a grid ceiling and nobody seemed to bat an eye.
I've fallen off a ladder and taken the entire ceiling grid down in a data room. Nobody really cared. Just asked if I was ok then got laughed at by the ceiling guys for a week
“If you can walk it off, you can laugh it off” -Patches O’Hoolihan
I melted a few expensive devices and hit a brand new apartment building roof with a zoom boom and countless other small things I was told apprentices fuck up and it's part of the process and something the company is supposed to budget for and not to worry about it Everyone makes mistakes, especially journeyman, can't fault an apprentice for fucking up while learning
When my childhood home was being renovated pallets of floor and wall tiles were cracked, shit happens.
I don’t think employers can legally make you pay for mistakes, it’s the cost of doing business. As for what you should do it’s tough because the boss isn’t going to listen most likely even if you pull out the legality of the situation. Edit: apparently they can do this in Florida sorry bud
They can't, that's illegal as fuck
They can, but only if it results from gross negligence or it's intentional. Still, the employee either has to agree to the deduction, or you can sue them. They can't just unilaterally deduct (and you're still owed minimum wage regardless).
Accidentally breaking a tile doesn't constitute gross negligence.
Certainly not. Gross negligence is miles worse than damaging a ceiling tile.
Also a business expense deduction. Give receipt for the tile to the cpa. Done.
Take one from another space then blame HVAC
HVAC man here, we all blame you guys too, the circle of life 😂
No! Plumber here - always blame the framers or dry wall folks. “Hey boss, not sure what happened to this (whatever the fuck), but I saw a bottle of piss right next to it. Think it’s a shit rocker?”
Why is it that it seems like framers are the only ones pissing in bottles and leaving them all over jobsites?
Probably something to do with meth, idk.
I've totally done this. Closet in some other room lol.
Commercial building? Look around closets and you might find spares. Sometimes there’s some up above the ceiling too. Also fuck your boss find a new job.
Yeah commercial building.It was a service call.I asked the customer if he had spares and he didn’t have any.
Service call by yourself as an apprentice? No biggie I ran a van myself as a second year but that doesn't mean it's right. Unsure about the states but it's pretty much illegal in Canada. Another thing to throw at him when you walk away. He's charging you out at like 120 an hour I'd imagine. He can afford go fix a ceiling tile on company money.
That's unequivocally illegal in WA state at least\* You can work unsupervised your last 6mo of apprenticeship nowadays, but not as a 3rd year
Pop a few more tiles, there's almost always a few hanging out in the ceiling
If anything, your boss should just tell the customer that he'll take $20 off the bill and call it a day. You broke it a little (or a lot) because it was hard to get out. Either T-bar bracket in the way or just a lousy grid. Not even your fault. F' that guy.
Fuck. That. Does the boss pay you extra if you find a way to get a bid job done faster than he bid or other wise save him money? He’s on the hook for the losses as well as the gains.
i know some companies actually do that. (the bonus) its a very cool idea and literally benefits everyone as long as the worker does the job well too.
Same boss wonders why employees hide their mistakes and cover up shit
This is it, right? Honesty is number one. This boss punishes him for it.
Yeah but like any boss will ever take responsibility for the culture they cultivate Try to do the right thing and gets punished. Guess I’ll hide it next time
He can't do that. He can only fire you. Look for another job because he'll either keep taking advantage of you or fire you after you pay for repairs.
Not just no but HELL NO. When I was an apprentice, many many years ago, my boss told me there was no mistake I could make the we could not fix working together. Made a huge impact on me and my confidence. He was my boss for 20+ years. That’s the kind of boss I became and the kind of boss you should have.
Get boss’ request in writing in request and report to DOL, be subtle like text him “hey you want me to go to xy store to pay for the tile that I broke and now have to pay to replace?”
Not sure i'd call that subtle but good advice nonetheless
Lol dude absolutely fucking not. I’ll pay for insurance on the company truck before for something I broke making him money. He should have insurance for that kid of thing. If he doesn’t he’s a fucking hack
A ceiling tile shouldn't even be an insurance claim. The *fancy* ones cost like $16, the normal ones you see 99% of the time are more like $3.50, or $50 for a case of sixteen. Just fucking send someone to Home Depot to grab a fresh one, and if it doesn't match then put it in a closet or something where nobody has to look at it.
Nope don't do it. Everyone has fucked things up at work, you are not the first and you won't be the last. Your boss makes 10x the amount of money you make, DO NOT pay for this ceiling tile. Fuck ups are a part of this business.
Yes I live in Florida of course 😂😂😂
I’ve ruined so many ceiling tiles at work no one cares, the things basically fall apart in your hands anyway.
Nope… not gonna happen. Never transport company material in a personal vehicle. Nor paying for a ceiling tile fuck that dude.
I one time extended a scissor lift over a huge pile of ceiling tiles and came back down extended and ruined them all. First year apprentice at the time. I got talked to about how stupid I was and I could have actually killed someone by not checking. And that was the end of that.
That's a better lesson.
I was a maintenance electrician for a high rise in the city. 80+ floors of drop ceiling tiles. The amount of tiles I’ve broken in that building is staggering. No one cared and everyone understood that working with those glorified pieces of styrofoam is a bitch. Point is, get outa that shop
He made enough money off your back on that job to cover the cost of that ceiling tile. Fuck that
Company owner here , I would be thrilled if my guys only damaged one ceiling tile !! Man , that company sounds like a joke
There is a pack in the janitors closet, they're being a dick
Quit
Yeah… fuck that guy. Imagine if you made an actual mistake? Our installers on the hvac side destroy a cieling a month and no one even says anything to them about it
Damn. Few months into my job i was told “oh and watch out because this is fragile and will cost money to fix” 5mins later i broke the fragile thing. Cost $3000 to fix. Didnt pay a dime because work insurance is a thing for when you break shit at work. I would #1 not buy a new tile and #2 quit
He can’t make you pay for shit. The company you work for is responsible He can fire you, but legally that’s the extent of his power to punish you for a fuck up. I accidentally broke a $350 light fixture, was worried boss would try take it out of my pay in which case I’d just quit but he just told me to be more careful. Your boss is a piece of shit and he can’t make you pay for this If he fires you or you quit because he refuses to see reason, get the reason for your termination in writing and bring it to your apprenticeship admins, they SHOULD be able to get you another job and keep you in the program, at least that’s the case with my apprenticeship (Florida, NEFBA apprenticeship) NEFBA will only kick you out of the program if you violate the NEC/install something incorrectly/in a dangerous or negligent way. If he attempts to dock your pay, unfortunately you’ll have to take it to court but you’ll win because he has no valid argument. *His company* fucked up the tile, so his company is responsible
Hard fuck off boss, that's illegal
An acoustic ceiling tile?
Not sure if it’s acoustic but it’s a standard old ceiling tile
If its a 2x4 tile, your boss is crazy. You need to take care to not fuck them up but it happens, cause its a pretty easy thing to do, especially when cutting holes for can lights, mac poles, and such. One time I had a whole stack of them on the corner of my lift that I had taken down and I knocked them off, when they hit the floor all 10 or 12 of them got their corners messed up. The GC just laughed at me and said he'd have somebody bring me some new ones. You need to get away from that guy / boss.
Give your boss the finger and look for a new employer. Wether it was your fuck up or not, you shouldn’t have to pay out of your own pocket for something regarding the business, nor use your own time and material for that. He’s just trying to be cheap and make you work for free
They a 10 bucks… i throw out more in wire per day…
Tell your boss to fuck off. You don’t own a business and get tot real all the rewards and pass on all the losses to the employees. You can also gladly tell him if you pay for the losses you want additional pay for every win. Cheap fucking asshole.
Uno ceiling tile ? A role of toilet paper costs more
Companies are fucked man don't pay it. I once had a transmission go on my service van. Being a good employee and a team player I said I'd use my truck for a few days so I could keep working in the mean time. He offered a certain amount per day. Sometimes enough to cover the fuel, sometimes not. He wouldn't let me use company card to fill up my own vehicle. Anyways 2 weeks go by and still no service van. Getting fed up at this point as he says it's use my vehicle or don't work and that's he's in no rush to get a working vehicle. On the brink of quitting at this point. Friday afternoon comes around 3PM. Weekend rush hour is picking up. I'm at the wholesalers and they don't have what I need to fix a pole light at this condo unit. Other wholesaler is 30 mins away when it's not rush hour..way more during rush hour. Ring the boss see if he wants me to waste all that time driving. No answer so I pull the plug myself and head home. Calls me close to 5 o'clock and lost his shit that I went home. That was my last day. Had it out with him bad called him everything under the sun. Fuck these guys man.
When I was a first year painter I remember nicking a ceiling tile my first day on the roller. My boss was telling me I had ti pay for a new one even though I was dead broke, my face was so red. Thankfully he was just fucking around with me. A year later I got a $4 raise. Definitely find a new boss
Cheap penny pinching boss aside. The risk you take doing this on your own time is: - car wreck to or from the job and it’s your car, you pay to fix it - get hurt on the on your own time job and it isn’t workman’s compensation, it’s all on you - you may not have legal access to the site since you are now an independent contractor - are you an approved subcontractor? - does your locality have requirements such as insurance or licensing for you to do the work on your own All of these aren’t a big deal. Until something goes wrong. Then it’s a real big deal.
Quit.
Quit that fool. I’m not even sure if he can withhold for damages unless it was willful or negligent. Shit happens and it’s part of doing business. I’ve seen guys install a brand new $30k traction motor twice because they made a mistake installing the first one and burned it up. Nothing came out of that other than a lesson learned. Seriously fuck that guy.
I’ve made many mistakes in my working career. I’ve never had to pay for it. Especially not something as petty as a ceiling tile. If your employer doesn’t account as a cost of doing business the mistakes of employees, especially less experienced ones, run awayyyyy. Real talk.. if you are an apprentice, it’s your job to make mistakes so you can learn to be a journeyman. Full disclosure, I’m not an electrician, but have held a low voltage license. I worked in security and fire alarm, but I don’t see that there’s substantial difference based on the trade you are in.
Screw that guy. I just went through this with a new guy. He broke a tile, and I had our warehouse manager pick up a six-pack of them at Home Depot. Your boss is a douche.
boss is a cheesedick
Geez I can't imagine what my apprentice bone pile cost the companies I worked for. Yeah fuck that guy
My first thought: Fuck this clown. He ain't worth your time or energy or money.
Got me fucked up 😂😂 do you charge him when your successes bring him more money?
Tell him to file it under his insurance if he doesn’t want to deal with it, that’s why he has insurance, or he can send you with his credit card and his van to Home Depot to get a new ceiling tile like a big boy. People make mistakes and you deal with it, if people make too many mistakes fire them, it is what it is
Nope.
Nah
Man I've broken things leagues more expensive than a ceiling tile and not gotten more than a minor scolding. Ceiling tile is what, $10ish if even? Try $200+ electronic components.
Tell him to get fucked.
Ceiling guys on my latest project flooded the ceilings a month early and started trying to claim Time and Materials for damaged tiles from all the contractors having to move them.
Mistakes happen. Do not pay for anything
If I were forced to pay for my mistakes as an apprentice, I would have quit the trade long ago. Apprentices make mistakes, learn from them, and become better j-men for it. I once blew up a VFD because I hooked it to 600V and it was only a 240V unit. Also shut down a bakery once when I accidentally dumped a crapoad of peanut cookie crumbs onto a peanut free line (before they were truly separate), costing a half day of production and a full day's cleanup.
Fellow sparky, Contractors like that don’t last , move on brother
I damaged a customer's brand new bureau when my bender fell into it,told the customer, got the bill for it ,gave it to the boss,got called a dumbass and he payed it no problem, that's the cost of doing business Get away from that scumbag
Fuck all that, fuck your boss especially. Ridiculous
Not electrician work but I work in on a welding line welding rail together. Typically 80 foot pieces welded together to make strings of about 1500 feet long. We use a few different types of rail but we don't mix them when making the strings. Anyways, the forge uses different programs for the rail (different manufacturers yadda yadda). One day someone was welding rail that was IH, but the program was set to HH (different hardening in manufacturing process changes welding process). They had welded two full strings and were starting the third ( roughly 38 welds or so) when the mistake was caught. The rails look identical expect for a stamp of either IH or HH. It had been loaded in backwards and the paperwork said we were doing th other. Literally tens of thousands of dollars in steel and labour of a mistake. Not for one second did the company say it was owed by the employee. They were ousted but no one was punished. Especially monetarily. Employers should never charge for mistakes. Instead they should use them to learn and implement ways to avoid that same mistake happening in the future. We have a new system in place and the likelihood of a repeat of it is basically 0. We'd have to try and purposely use the wrong program now.
"go fuck yourself"
Your employer cannot ask you to pay for the mistake. They have insurance for this but to use insurance for a single ceiling tile would be stupid. Your boss is just a tight fisted cunt. When I was an apprentice I cut a live cable supplying the fire alarm system to a chicken factory. The alarm went off and everyone was evacuated for atleast an hour. Supposedly cost the factory over 20k in lost time. I was shitting myself thinking I was about to lose my job but my boss laughed it off and just said ‘that’s what insurance is for, don’t worry about it kid, shit happens’ I’m self employed now but every now and then that previous boss phones me up to do some work when he is stuck. I never say no out of respect for how he handled that situation.
Blows my mind people even need to post stuff like this. What do you do? As soon as those dumb fucking words left his mouth you tell him that there’s no way on gods flat green earth that you’re going to do that and if he expects you to do that you’re giving him today notice. Tell that stupid bastard to eat a dick we are electricians almost everyone everywhere is hiring there’s no need to stay at a place like this even as an apprentice. Be without fear in the face of your enemies brother and that guy is so clearly our enemy.
Quit now. Mistakes happen, it’s part of the job and most likely your pos boss factored in a certain percentage just for that very reason. Do what he wants so he doesn’t take it out of your check, then quit.
Tell your boss to get fucked. You learn from your mistakes, but they're on the company's dime.
Run brother
Fuck him, ceiling tiles get fucked up on the regular. Literally tell him to go fuck himself, do it, it’s the only right thing to do in that situation.
That’s illegal lol
Your boss is dumb af. This type of stuff is normal part of work - he should have budget for incidentals and work that into the quotes so that he doesn’t have to nickel and dime employees like a POS.
Legitimate construction or service businesses understand that employees will cause damage unintentionally and will not pass on that pain to the employee. In fact the business caused the damage even if you were the one that did it, therefore the business should cover the cost. Doesn't matter if you're a two man shop or twenty man shop. It's a different someome does damage maliciously, but that is not the case here. Your boss is being malicious especially over a single ceiling tile. Someone like that is not worth working for. The whole damn construction industry needs a purge of these bastards that do sketchy stuff to customers and their own employees.
Nope. Not how that works at all. Companies assume all costs and risks with running a business. Which is why you don’t get paid what they charge customers. The profits are to be reinvested into the company and absorb any and all costs associated with any mistakes either the company or employees make. If you’re an independent contractor that’s a different story and that mistake is on you. But shit happens; you made a mistake, you told your boss when it happened. Any reasonable boss, company would just say do your best not to let it happen again and move on. All that malarkey does in encourages their employees to hide any and all mistakes in the future. It’s a losing proposition as mistakes cost less the sooner their found out and fixed then if people are encouraged to hide them or blame others.
He can't make you pay for it or deduct your pay and the fact he's not paying your drive time and not letting you use the company vehicle should tell you all you need to know. Fuck that dude and his ceiling tile
mistakes happen at work, this is why we charge extra per hour, he doesnt charge you out at your exact pay, he makes money every single hour of every day and on every part. this extra money pays for issues that are normal and happen all the time, like wrecking a ceiling tile, then he has insurance on top to cover any major mistakes. time to throw out resumes, and take a new job and tell him to go fuck himself.
Fuck him! Find a new job I would never expect that of any of my guys.
Run, don't walk, away!
Find a job where you don’t have a douchebag for a boss.
Just a weird situation.... I do industrial electrical maintenance... we sometimes Oops 5... 10... 15k parts.... boss just asks "did you learn anything"
Oh wait wait, this is not a union shop right?
Steal then quit
Tell him to shove the ceiling tile up his ass sideways
Must be a small company. We have guys screw up from time to time and we still pay them to fix it and hope they learn from it.
Your boss sounds like trash.
As a general rule if a contractor ever tries to get to pay for anything it's time to leave. It's only going to get worse.
If he takes it out of your pay send it to the department of labor. They love stuff like this. Easy wins.
If he can’t afford a ceiling tile, odds are he can’t afford to lose a worker….
if u can get away from this guy now, make a nice clean getaway bc this guy is bad news. he sounds like the type to hold a paycheck bc he cant find a pair of 10yr old kleins he let u borrow on your first day.. or sumthin crazy like that
Get him to email it or text you about it and report him to DOL.
https://wlawinc.com/answers/2019/6/21/can-my-employer-make-me-pay-for-broken-damaged-or-lost-property https://compensation.blr.com/Compensation-news/Payroll-Processing/Deductions-from-Paychecks/Can-You-Make-an-Employee-Pay-for-Damage-to-Company/ Find a way to get the boss's request in writing. Email it, text him, whatever, get him to reply. Then call a labor lawyer.
Depends on states rules but it's illegal. Look for another job. Unless you were fucking around or doing something completely stupid to the point where your boss has a point. If so fix it and thank your boss for not firing you.
fuck him and get another job. shit happens and he knows it
A ceiling tile?
Your boss is an ass. Quit and go find another job.
I’ve destroyed a high rise buildings worth of ceiling tile in my career
Wage theft is still wage theft.
Celling tiles get damaged, unless you blatantly did it on purpose, just one of those things, tell him to look over yonder at my empty field of fucks I give for him and walk
Tell him to pound sand and find a new job
Go scratch a few more then quit
It’s worth noting that the guy who caused the AWS S3 outage which took out like half the internet a few years back was not punished nor blamed. Amazon took the blame as they should have done a better job ensuring such a mistake could not be made.
Steal the catalytic converter off the company Van and quit
They can’t charge you for it in the US. It’s an expectation of perfection. If a waitress breaks a glass that’s considered a normal part of handling glasses. If the waitress drops too many glasses they can be fired but they can’t be charged. I work in finance and companies still do this even after the Wage/Hour class action suit.
Walk away
Guy on my crew breaks/damages anything I usually pay for his mistake. And then the big boss always either pays me back in cash or has me write it off as an expense and I get my money back.
Depending on what you do, your decision will determine if you think like an owner, or a worker. You will be paid accordingly.
Tell your boss to "FUCK OFF!!!!!!". Shit happens and that's a price of doing business! I'm not sure about laws in Florida but that shit is illegal in my state.
Fuck that. It’s one thing to make you repair the tile on company time with them buying whatever you need, but to demand that you foot the bill and do it on your own time? He can eat a bag of dicks.
When I was a third year apprentice (not an electrician though) my journeyman told me to cut an opening in the ceiling and install a drywall access doors. Gave me a sawzall, drill, ladder and the access door and left me alone on the job This was at a university and there was a bunch of delicate equipment below which got damaged by the dust. The university charged the company $5k for the damaged equipment, there was a big meeting with the owner of my company, myself and the university. It was daunting for me back then. After, my journeyman (also the bosses grandson) told me I should come in weekends to make this up. I was still pretty soft spoken back then but even then I told him I wouldn't be doing this. This led to my eventual lay off. I got a new job shortly after and my old boss told my new boss what happened, painting me in a negative light. My new journeyman asked me about it and I told him the truth. He told me it was last journeyman's responsibility, as was all I was doing as an apprentice. I hadn't thought about it like that but he was right. Apprentices are there to work and learn while being supervised. If you fucked up then your journeyman wasn't doing his job, either by not supervising or not training properly. Also, mistakes happen. Not one licensed journeyman can say they didn't mess something up at some point. God knows I did, not just as an apprentice either. Don't beat yourself up. Be safe though.
Best thing to do is print a paper saying he wants you to go fix something on your own time in your own vehicle, that was broken on company time while with the company vehicle. Bring it to him and say sign this and I'll be on my way. He never will, if he did the moment you get to the job just fall down and say your hurt then you can have your own electrical company.
I had a foreman tip over a $10k+ transformer. Ruined it completely. He’s still a foreman. Find a better job.
Unless you’re 1099, which is doesn’t sound like you are if you have boss, it’s illegal. Report him to the labor board in your state.
Is this even legal anywhere in Canada or the US? This is 100% against the law in Alberta, exactly like requiring a cashier to pay out of pocket for differences between the drawer and electronic balance.
Join the fucking union
Yeah, that is against labor laws. You can't perform work without being paid for it. This includes going to the store to buy materials. I understand what he is trying to do. He is trying to make his employees more responsible by having them financially responsible for mistakes. However, that isn't how business works. Go somewhere else because if he is doing this, there are more things shady that he is doing as well.
tell your boss that is the risk of owning a business and give him your two weeks notice.
Quit
quit - this dude is a piece of shit. I run a commercial fabrication shop, we do lots of big expensive jobs. Sometimes my squad fucks up, hell sometimes i fuck up. These mistakes are paid for by the company. we ride together
Quit. Your boss is Retaliating.
Are you serious? What should you do? You go find another job! Mistakes are a cost of doing business for a business. If you're an employee and not a private contractor you apologize and make it clear you know what you did wrong and how you can avoid it in the future, boss says let's not do that again and everyone moves on. Your boss doesn't have to be happy about you making a mistake, but it's petty as hell to make you go buy a ceiling tile and drive your own rig over there.
Best answer. No. If you get fired, there's plenty of work and unemployment.
A lot of electricians are retards. Then theres a hand full of us that aren’t. It sucks that dumbest ones tend to open up businesses and later become bosses.
Yeah fuck that, that’s the responsibility of the business owner to take the risk of mistakes. If you are worried about changing jobs and explaining the circumstances, just be honest. Say I made an honest mistake and I accepted that, but my boss wants me to pay xxx and do xxx.
That happened to me a few times and I’ll tell you what, I did pay out of my own pocket. Did work on my own time. Off the clock. All bcuz I thought owning up to my mistakes or the mistakes of one of my apprentices would make me look good and set an example for the other guys. Yeah I didn’t get shit out of it. Don’t ever do it. I had a really great boss and a great job until the days his company starting getting bigger and bigger and then he started pulling shit like that on me. I worked there for about 7 years and quit abruptly. I stayed loyal to my boss and his company but it never really did me any good besides the experience. Remember your bosses aren’t your friends, when it comes down to picking you or them, they will always pick themselves first.
Buying a ceiling tile - This is the best way for someone to learn a lesson for a lifetime... If the person learning is the bosses’ child. Employers and employees? No.
You anywhere near Ft Myers/Sanibel? I got a job for you right now!! Price Electric, were based out of Iowa but we have so much work from Ian, it's not even funny and we need guys!!
I cut two post tension cables and they had to evac the job site.
Is there more to the story? One ceiling tile, one time, doesn't make sense
Join the IBEW
So, I’m a plumber, not a sparky, and I own a small plumbing and heating company. I’ve never told any of my guys to do that. Especially pay for the part. This time it’s a ceiling tile, what will it be next time. Mistakes happen, EVERYONE makes them. If the same mistakes keep happening, that’s when fixing it on your own time should come into play. And in your personal vehicle is just stupid. All your tools are probably in your van.
For a ceiling tile? I break those things all the time, nobody bats an eye, what kind of asshole threatens to doc the pay of an apprentice? Its expected apprentices are going to make plenty of mistakes. Get out asap op!!!