Rescheduling a Job When Your Head Isn’t in it

[climbingmonkey24]

You ever feel like you’re having an off day, and your head is just not in the game at all even if you try to get it to be? Or tired from excessive heat? Is it wrong to reschedule a job because of that or is it better to reschedule than work?

 

[ghostice]

Your family has only one "You". We've had alpine climbs where we oh, so wanted the route/ peak, we had all the gear, we had what looked like a weather window (keeping in mind Environment Canada only bought the Mark I satellite . . . ) and . . . . . yet . . . .
So - we were on a "photography" outing.
My rule is Always listen to your tiny voice and live to ___________ (fill in blank) another day.
There are Old pilots and there are Bold pilots but there are no Old Bold pilots . . . .
Cheers all - have a great weekend.

 

[Jonny]

Go with your gut. Much of the time it is probably correct.
People are always different. Most folks are understanding about a safety issue, but sure sometimes a client might be unhappy if you reschedule. So it goes. Of course you want happy clients, but they might not really grasp that mistakes can be life changing or life ending in this work.

I cut the thigh of my pants and barely scratched my thigh with a chainsaw in 04, a few days after my mom died. My head wasn’t in the game, but there was a boss and three ground workers that needed me to be there so they could earn their check too. I took a couple days off after that.

Climbing or rigging or felling demands all of your focus and attention man. Hope you can acclimate and go get that money

 

[BoomBitch222]

I havent yet had a day when I just wasnt feeling it, aside from normal being extra tired. But our boss likes to load us with entirely too much crap in a day and if fatigue and frustration are kicking my ass, I have no problem telling him Im done for the day. NO job is worth dying or injuring/killing someone else. Big picture, anyone who is more concerned with money or having services done is an asshole and their issues are not your problem

 

[oldoakman]

I had my own business from 1988 to 2000. 6 weeks after I started my business my 6 year old son was diagnosed with leukemia. I had a number of days and times where my head wasn't in the game and I would reschedule. One time in particular his blood counts had been too low for him to take his chemo meds for 3 weeks and some bad cells were found in his blood tests. That was the hardest time I had and walked off several jobs. 9 months later he relapsed and I believe it started with the time I am speaking about. He came through ok, he is 38 and cancer free today. Treezy knows this story.

 

[oldoakman]

Welcome BB222. You jumped in while I was typing. Love the hair. You and tree cutter doug need to meet.

 

[BoomBitch222]

Thanks Im a newb and not a climber but Im hoping to learn some stuff from you pros since the company I work for couldnt teach a dog to lick its own ass.

Glad to hear your son pulled through, cant imagine having a child with cancer or how you could function at all with that on your mind. And its sad how much ppl have to put themselves through to get by in this world. I firmly stick to the understanding that a job is just a job and not worth what many will do. I could be dead next week and my list of regrets would NOT include missing out on work lol

 

[evo]

Never be afraid to listen to your self. I didn’t yesterday, and made 3 nearly fatal mistakes.

#1 in a cedar tree and my saddle kept twisting around while I was making cuts. It didn’t slow me down, and just kept fighting it. I went to disconnect my lanyard and there wasn’t anything attached to my left hip dee ring. It was clipped to my transporter, which is well behind.

Hot and tired I then wend to dump the last two alder trees down a steep slope. The first one had a knarly kink about 4’ off the ground , so there was no good place to stand but ontop of the kink. So based on Daniels videos I made a sloppy face best I could. It ended well. Second tree I had to crawl on all 4s under the thick brush to get to it (conserving fuel as I thought what was in the saw was enough). I made it to the last tree, brush was so thick I decided to fall it cross slope from the down hill side (very dumb) just a little 50’ 8-10” diameter tree. I cut a deep face trying to cheat the lean, made my back cut and the tree started to set back. (No axe or wedges as I was too lazy and tired). The tree then barber chaired backwards, with me on the down hill side. It was a “slow” event and I was able to grab the butt and fling myself around it onto the uphill side as it would have knocked me over pinning me to the ground...

 

[rope-a-dope]

Be careful out there, folks.

I havent yet had a day when I just wasnt feeling it, aside from normal being extra tired. But our boss likes to load us with entirely too much crap in a day and if fatigue and frustration are kicking my ass, I have no problem telling him Im done for the day. NO job is worth dying or injuring/killing someone else. Big picture, anyone who is more concerned with money or having services done is an asshole and their issues are not your problem

You are reminding me of something.
Here!

 

[Treezybreez]

I had my own business from 1988 to 2000. 6 weeks after I started my business my 6 year old son was diagnosed with leukemia. I had a number of days and times where my head wasn't in the game and I would reschedule. One time in particular his blood counts had been too low for him to take his chemo meds for 3 weeks and some bad cells were found in his blood tests. That was the hardest time I had and walked off several jobs. 9 months later he relapsed and I believe it started with the time I am speaking about. He came through ok, he is 38 and cancer free today. Treezy knows this story.

Zeb just started walking on his own a week ago! He just had his two year from treatment MRI and still no sign of cancer.

There have definitely been times when my head wasn't in the game. One job I got half way up a tree and my body felt like a sack of concrete. Went home very sick. For the most part though, tree work is like therapy for me.

 

[evo]

Zeb just started walking on his own a week ago! He just had his two year from treatment MRI and still no sign of cancer.

There have definitely been times when my head wasn't in the game. One job I got half way up a tree and my body felt like a sack of concrete. Went home very sick. For the most part though, tree work is like therapy for me.

YES!

 

[climbingmonkey24]

I called a job off yesterday after arriving at the site, looking at trees with ground guy. Since I had originally looked at job neighbor where branches are going over planted a bunch of stuff in their garden, so now the job is even more technical and I think we may need to cover that garden up with something to protect it because I would be cutting directly over it, and I was already getting a late start because I had to take care of something first thing in morning, and I just wasn’t feeling it or focused.

 

[oldoakman]

Zeb just started walking on his own a week ago! He just had his two year from treatment MRI and still no sign of cancer.

There have definitely been times when my head wasn't in the game. One job I got half way up a tree and my body felt like a sack of concrete. Went home very sick. For the most part though, tree work is like therapy for me.

Awesome!

 

[Merle Nelson]

You ever feel like you’re having an off day, and your head is just not in the game at all even if you try to get it to be? Or tired from excessive heat? Is it wrong to reschedule a job because of that or is it better to reschedule than work?

I have reschedule as a routine option as a part of my safety procedures. Getting hurt because my head isn't in the game (not focused/not in the right state) is not one of my options.

I don't believe I've ever had a client that didn't agree with my decision. Even if it did inconvenience them in some way.

I once worked for a woman that was a passenger in a car driving on the freeway in the fog. They suddenly came upon a homeless man crossing the lane and struck him at 50 mph - killed him. That effected her for life. It's always had me think what it would be like for an owner to have someone hurt badly or killed on their property.

 

[southsoundtree]

If the customer complains about a safety concern, offer that you will gladly, mutually agree to terminate the contract.


Aka F them... Fire them.

 

[Flying~Squirrel]

Last week I was working on a large maple removal with lots of rigging that was taking me longer than anticipated. Around hour 8 of being aloft, I had about 3 branches and a top left to rope out. A few minutes prior I had another piece go wrong in a scary way, which was a testament to the fact that fatigue was setting in fast. I got up to the last of the brush which was all leaning pretty hard and braided together, so I didn't know exactly what order things would go in at that point.

I ended up sitting there for about 5 minutes, thinking that I was sorting it out or something. Finally I snapped to and realized I was totally overthinking everything, dwelling on the previous mistake, scared, death gripping my rope, and worrying more about how long things were taking than I should be. I was at the most challenging part of the job, and at my lowest mental and physical performance of the day.

I ended up calling it for the day right then; I decided I was at my threshold and the chances were too high that I would mess something up. It would have been a lot more satisfying to at least finish off the brush and come back sans chipper the next day, but I'm glad I looked past that and saw that working with a clear head is just more important than hitting arbitrary benchmarks. I'm REALLY happy that despite being in a mental fog where decision making was clearly compromised I was able to REALIZE that, and that I didn't just start making fuckit cuts. That was a big win in my opinion.

Sorry for the wall of text that's barely on topic, it's just something I've been processing for the last few days. Anyways, point is: listen to your heart, when he's calling for you....

 

[Flying~Squirrel]

Oh and P.S.

I went back the next day to finish it off, and everything went really smoothly and I was totally comfortable. Amazing what a good night sleep and slightly higher TIP will do for your confidence.