Now that I have a minute..............
Talked with new guy (LMM I will call him) for a bit. When Alan introduced me to him, he referred to him as a new hire. I took that as being on company payroll. No........he's on through a temp service. Worked for the Deere dealer here for a few years and then the city government here in Tulsa. LMM gave me some info about his experience in equipment and made the statement that he has never been deep into any components (engine, trans, diff, ect.....). Single with no kids and living with his brother that has been a year out of a 25-year prison sentence. No job when sent here.
I decided to call his Deere boss and ask his opinion. He told me he was a good guy, a good B class mechanic. He didn't specialize in anything, but was kind of a general all around, little of everything type. He did decent work and seemed to be thorough. His opinion was he would be good help at this company. His drawback is that he is slow and won't win any races in repairing anything.
Alan has him going into the company field truck right now. Not something I would do but it's not my call. His tooling looks to be basic for what his experience is and seems to fit. Alan sent him out Tuesday on a hydraulic leak on a Sakai roller........he was gone all day but apparently replaced a leaking hose. I had no involvement.
Alan sent him out on a 524K that wouldn't start. Starting was never an issue..........it has a front axle coming out and has the outer bearing exposed. He texted me that the machine was going to need a new axle and that Deere was having trouble finding the parts. Sent me some pics and I told him I would have it picked up and brought to the shop for the repair. He texted me back and said it was no big deal to do a field repair, that they (Deere dealer) had done them in the field all the time. I dropped any involvement with this immediately.
This is not something I would do in the field. This is a city street job and there is no guaranty parts will show up on time and will be right. I don't like having machines tore down in the field unless there is no other option or it's a very short-term repair. It's difficult to keep children away from broken machinery in a neighborhood, and the machine can end up vandalized. My last text to him was "YOU make the call. It's your job to do".
My thoughts are, if he is slow, he is going to be overwhelmed in no time. I have 2 jobs I have already started that I will finish once the parts arrive. I will then be going back to a ON CALL mode and won't be spending my time there like I have been. I am going to leave him on his own and see what he is made of. It's time to sink or swim.
By the way, I found out yesterday that Alan's previous job before coming to this company as fleet manager, was 20 years as a mall manager...........yeah, a SHOPPING MALL manager. It shows badly.........and he is LMM's boss.
Good grief.....stay tuned!
Am I being fair?......or am I being a prick?