So a fish rots at the head first huh Steve?

[Desk Jockey]

It seems even the best made plans can fail you…well me.
I received a call from one of my tech’s saying the water loss they went to was bigger than they thought and needed another unit. A carpet crew was headed over but they needed equipment and another the extraction unit


We’re a little busy so it was left up to me to take them a unit over. I was the only one who could break away from their busy schedule.


I go out back jump in one of our water trucks and back out of the garage. Look down and the gas gauge reads LESS than empty. It was loaded, dryers, dehumidifiers and ready to go but…..no gas. I was pissed I left it out in the middle of the parking lot.
Jumped in a second water truck and it wasn’t completely loaded, jump in third and head over there.


The fish is rotting at the head? Why is it my fault Steve?

Worse look, one old logo, one new logo and one NO logo. That's it I'm going home for the day!

 

[Contemporary Carpet Clean]

You could go work for ServiceDisaster!! That wouldn't be as interesting though. Gotta love employees lol.

 

[FB7777]

get off Mikeysboard and rework you systems manual

 

[Mikey P]

Jeeze Fred are you out to run off all my most prolific posters?

 

[Ron K]

Jeeze Fred are you out to run off all my most prolific posters?

They're already gone!

 

[Desk Jockey]

LOL Phuck you Fred.

You right though but before I do something that drastic I need to find out what went wrong and why they didnt see fuel as a higher priority than a stocked and loaded truck that could go no where.

 

[FB7777]

Go invest in a 5 gallon gas container like the landscapers have and leave it in the shop

Not likely that it will happen again ... But you never know

 

[Hoody]

I feel your pain Richard.

First truck - is an old busted diesel that has a bane clean that may or may not work.

Second truck - No dings, scratches, and nicely logo'd has a Spitfire in it, and not worth a crap over 100 feet, and if it idles too long over heats, because I refused to use the wand that comes with it as I go through water way too fast.

Third truck - Has a butler in it, machine is in tip top shape, the van is starting to go. No logo, we beat the hell out of it cleaning apartments this summer, and it got us through. Deciding if next spring to pull it out, put it in a new van, or pull the machine out and sell it, or dump the money into the van.

Forth Truck - Prochem Legend still has old logo from the company we bought it from, cleanest van thankfully new logo is going on, on Monday. Works great at 200' decent heat, it cleans carpet, and dries it fast with an extra dry stroke and an air path.

I get in them, and half the time they don't have gas, tools missing.....grrrrrrr!

 

["The" Al Bradham]

A truck belongs to ONE tech. If it is not ready for service when needed HE is given time off. I pay my people by the hour and have no limit on overtime. So if their truck is not 100% then they lose time, end of story. I have one person to check each truck every morning to see that our manual is being followed. I also have a man to come in at 5:00 pm to check fluids, wash trucks, check/fix equipment. If the 5:00 man find a issue he fixes it and leaves me a note. It is a double check system but NEVER and empty truck, equipment or fuel.

Build a system, write it down, follow it, and enforce it. This not an employee issue it is a owner's issue.

If you are not ready when the phone rings then you are not ready to work.

Al Bradham
DisasterCare

 

[Desk Jockey]

A truck belongs to ONE tech. If it is not ready for service when needed HE is given time off. I pay my people by the hour and have no limit on overtime. So if their truck is not 100% then they lose time, end of story. I have one person to check each truck every morning to see that our manual is being followed. I also have a man to come in at 5:00 pm to check fluids, wash trucks, check/fix equipment. If the 5:00 man find a issue he fixes it and leaves me a note. It is a double check system but NEVER and empty truck, equipment or fuel.

Build a system, write it down, follow it, and enforce it. This not an employee issue it is a owner's issue.

If you are not ready when the phone rings then you are not ready to work.

Al Bradham
DisasterCare

We have (4) Water trucks that there sole purpose is to be in ready to go standby for WDR work. Two men are on call each week and the lead tech is responsible to make sure his assistant has them ALL ready to go. This isn't something new, we've been doing this for decades, this is acase of someone delegating but not checking to see that what was supposed to be done was done. Sure two of four we in ready to go stage but hard more been needed time would have been wasted getting the fueled and ready. This wasn't even a new lead tech, it was one of my top personnel.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Go invest in a 5 gallon gas container like the landscapers have and leave it in the shop

Not likely that it will happen again ... But you never know

Fred we have two of those boat type containers to fuel the air compressor in the duct truck. They later poured enough fuel in go go fill the truck.

It will happen again, just not for a long while. It was more than a year since it last happened, same thing breakdown in inspecting the vehicles. Just taking for granted what was told was done.

 

[Steve Toburen]

A truck belongs to ONE tech. If it is not ready for service when needed HE is given time off. I pay my people by the hour and have no limit on overtime. So if their truck is not 100% then they lose time, end of story. I have one person to check each truck every morning to see that our manual is being followed. I also have a man to come in at 5:00 pm to check fluids, wash trucks, check/fix equipment. If the 5:00 man find a issue he fixes it and leaves me a note. It is a double check system but NEVER and empty truck, equipment or fuel.

Build a system, write it down, follow it, and enforce it. This not an employee issue it is a owner's issue.

If you are not ready when the phone rings then you are not ready to work.

Al Bradham
DisasterCare

We did the same thing, Al. I found the techs just wanted to hit the bar by 5:00 at the end of the day. So instead of me standing by the exit with a whip and chair forcing them back to their truck maintenance sheets they could leave as soon as they turned in their Production Day Sheet with any repair issues noted. Then my daily Repair Tech would come in, check all the Day Sheets and then start cleaning, restocking and doing minor repairs.

The side benefit was inevitably doing their own stocking/cleaning would force my techs into overtime. Not so often with a separate Repair Tech. And yes, they had to refill their trucks using a company Fleet Card on their way back to the shop. Always full was our motto.

Steve Toburen
www.SFS>JonDon.com

PS to Richard "Fish" Chavez: One thing that helped us enormously on the old "missing tools" problem was assigning each tech their own tool box and they would sign off on the inventory list. The tech got to put their own padlock on the box and took it with them every time they went out. Then once per month we took inventory. "No hammer- here is a new one and that will be 21.54 off your pay check!" This "added accountability" did wonders for us. (Check this one with an attorney before implementing it- in some states this idea of "taking responsibility for your own actions" is not legal. Why I have no idea.)

 

[Hoody]

I would urge anyone to check with your attorney regarding state laws before you go and decide to deduct money from someone's check. I don't believe(again check with attorney) its legal in ANY state to actually deduct from their payroll earnings, but you can certainly take away any bonuses they're given. Even if they sign a paper stating you can, its a very touchy subject. I had an employer try that with me, they didn't get very far with it, and it got them audited by the labor commission with fines and penalties, and I got a nice check afterward months down the road.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I'm already having a better day than yesterday. All the trucks are loaded and FULL of fuel plus another water loss called in, a detention center we did last month had roofing problems again.

Here are some of the pictures from yesterday.
Richard- Rotting Fish Head