Driver snobbery,or inability

[Brisel]

Two large scale contractors in the area ,have banned personal phones ,and they all have supplied work phones , too many near misses and one lost a job by a driver posting pictures at a farm slagging farmer off because of poor crop they where harvesting ,farmer seen it and was not happy .
So how would you police the phone problem

The phrase I emphasise to harvest staff is "don't take the p*ss!" I've threatened to take the phone of one particularly bad employee after repeated instances of him racing back to the field with the cart only to sit on the headland on his phone while the combine was sat with spout out, flashing lights on and a full tank . He doesn't work here any more. The lads are at work 14 hours/day for weeks on end with little contact with their families so I won't deny them some screen time. Everything in moderation.

 

[TheTallGuy]

I always have my phone with me & switched on - as primary carer for two elderly parents with health issues I have to be easily contactable via a single number. In order to get the best signal coverage I have a 4G smartphone that works in places where older 2G ones don't, plus I then have access to entertainment options for my down time. Respect works two ways and if you can’t trust me to be sensible with my phone usage then I don't want to work for you.

 

[michael N123]

A bigger worry is the old tractor braking
I won’t drive my dads valmet unless I have to and do every job I can with my N124

 

[graham99]

Things have changed in my work life and the way you get work. If you don’t reply ASAP then often it’s thought that you don’t want work and the next guy will get it.

There’s this marvellous thing called blue tooth which enables you to take calls via speakers and microphones meaning you can talk and drive at the same time.
Up the dale you can be out of reception most of the day. Often when you get back in a good area and revive texts answer phone messages etc. You then reply and often the answer is ok thanks but we sorted.

If it’s a sackable offence for taking a call in a field whilst working for you then I wouldn’t work for you. I’m fairly confident that I know when in a field it’s safe to take a call .

i find a lot of people wait .as my price for fixing some ones else's stuff up is quite high.

 

[Hfd Cattle]

....... in my view the phone issue is not as bad as the smoking one .
Had a lad working for me who smoked 'roll ups'. I found it so annoying when he stopped to roll one and then smoke it. He seemed to lack the ability to smoke and work ! I quietly timed him one day and it was approx 6 mins to roll a fag and smoke it and he had 10 in the 10hr day. At the end of the week when he handed in his hours I said I was docking him an hour a day for fag time! This started a discussion which was quite positive as he had given no thought to how much time he was wasting. Of course I didn't dock him any money but i did request that he rolled his fags at home the previous evening instead of in my time. The outcome was that when he was sat at home rolling his fags it suddenly dawned on him how much he was actually smoking and within 3 weeks he packed up. This was back in the eighties. I suppose the same time issue could be made about mobile social media. I wouldn't ban phones but it would be interesting how much time is 'lost' texting ......but probably not everyone is as slow as me typing with one finger ! .....fairly annoying when though when you ring up employee in work time and you can't get through cos they are on the phone to someone else !

 

[Rowland]

i find a lot of people wait .as my price for fixing some ones else's stuff up is quite high.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that !

I work for contractors who obviously work for others , the contractor needs to know weather I or someone else can work so then they can arrange the job with the farmer if everyone can be contacted by phone at most times of the day then its much easier to sort out.

 

[Suffolk Serf]

I don’t mind people having their own phones with them at work but do mind when they don’t answer them when I ring them!
I was having a particularly frustrating time trying to get hold of one bloke that I was yelling down the phone “answer your effing phone you deaf barsteward!!” When came back the reply “pardon?”

 

[Scribus]

The smartphone as a tool or a new form of addiction? It can be both, and although we happily accept the former it is being more widely recognised that there is a darker side to having them. It even has its own entry in Wikipedia -

Mobile phone overuse (smartphone addiction, mobile-phone addiction, problem mobile phone use, or mobile phone dependency) is a dependence syndrome seen among mobile phone users. Some mobile phone users exhibit problematic behaviors related to substance use disorders

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_overuse

We have seen on various threads that employers are reluctant to take on those with a smoking addiction and nobody would entertain a fellow with an alcohol problem, will it be long before we see a similar attitude adopted towards excessive smartphone use?

 

[Scribus]

I don’t mind people having their own phones with them at work but do mind when they don’t answer them when I ring them!
I was having a particularly frustrating time trying to get hold of one bloke that I was yelling down the phone “answer your effing phone you deaf barsteward!!” When came back the reply “pardon?”

And therein lies one of my main objections to mobile phones. Ones life is no longer ones own, we are expected to be at the beck and call of anyone who has our number.

 

[Hfd Cattle]

And therein lies one of my main objections to mobile phones. Ones life is no longer ones own, we are expected to be at the beck and call of anyone who has our number.

I try not to be at the beck and call of the mobile phone. If I'm talking to someone and the phone rings it gets ignored until my conversation is finished. Occasionally I may be expecting a return call off someone and the conversation or whatever is going to be for some time I may say will you excuse me while I take the call but normally all can wait. I don't believe that any phone call is more important than the 'moment' I am in at the time . I equally find it frustrating when we are out with friends or have friends around and they are continually looking at their phone....yes I'm a boring old fart !

 

[Ducati899]

I was on a factory trip last week and was quite surprised at the amount of people on the shop floor looking at their phones whilst working

 

[Scribus]

I try not to be at the beck and call of the mobile phone. If I'm talking to someone and the phone rings it gets ignored until my conversation is finished. Occasionally I may be expecting a return call off someone and the conversation or whatever is going to be for some time I may say will you excuse me while I take the call but normally all can wait. I don't believe that any phone call is more important than the 'moment' I am in at the time . I equally find it frustrating when we are out with friends or have friends around and they are continually looking at their phone....yes I'm a boring old fart !

Not at all, you have retained a sense of civility and good manners. Both were features of society that big tech has insisted we abandon in favour of enslavement to the digital matrix.

 

[JMTHORNLEY]

Had a good read through all this and it's amused me. My experience as a younger chap is this...

I was very fortunate to be offered a job at a farm when I was 13, I spent 95% of my tractor time on a beautiful Ford 5610 with a crash box. That tractor thought me more about life than anything did I had a ball of a time on that tractor, got to do everything on it, I once argued with the boss mans son because he'd been doing some harrowing on the 6420 they had and I refused to do the job with that (partly because I think I was scared of damaging the tractor) and changed them over onto the 56. Me and her were inseparable, I took her when I could have taken the 64's or even their 7740 SLE, but over the course of 4 years I got trusted with more and more on the newer kit. This led to me being allowed on the Matbro and feeding and tanking, I'll never forget my time on their farm

Would I work for the OP, most probably. I'd take a 6610 over a 6125R any day of the week. Would I like a modern cab, yes but at the end of the day I'd rather sit on something pre 2000 or older if the people I work with are a good crack!

As for mobiles, I enjoy the odd social media type apps when I can I just think people take the pee nowerdays. I mean really, who cares about what song you've got on while your doing 50K with a 20T trailer on the back... Just silly

 

[Suffolk Serf]

And therein lies one of my main objections to mobile phones. Ones life is no longer ones own, we are expected to be at the beck and call of anyone who has our number.

Sorry but any employee of mine is at my beck and call in working hours!

 

[Scribus]

Sorry but any employee of mine is at my beck and call in working hours!

Then I trust you are paying for the means of communication.

 

[Suffolk Serf]

Then I trust you are paying for the means of communication.

I'm good enough to allow them to carry their own phones at work (many similar businesses to mine don't any more for very good reasons) and expect that they waste a bit of my time on them so it's a fair trade off that I might need to phone them rather than go and find them personally occasionally. Equally they can always get me on mine with any issues that crop up.

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

for all of them complaining about the use of social media in work time,
TFF is social media, and look how many post there is in working hours on here,

I will leave you to think about that one

 

[Suffolk Serf]

for all of them complaining about the use of social media in work time,
TFF is social media, and look how many post there is in working hours on here,

I will leave you to think about that one

I'm in the office doing important stuff.

 

[Scribus]

I'm good enough to allow them to carry their own phones at work (many similar businesses to mine don't any more for very good reasons) and expect that they waste a bit of my time on them so it's a fair trade off that I might need to phone them rather than go and find them personally occasionally. Equally they can always get me on mine with any issues that crop up.

My comment re being at the beck and call was more a general observation of mobile phone use rather than applying to any work specific situation. Having said that I had this discussion several years ago with a company that insisted we all carry mobiles phones, at our expense, so they could get hold of us. Indeed it was, to all intents and purposes mandatory to hand over your mobile number if you wanted to work there.

 

[Scribus]

for all of them complaining about the use of social media in work time,
TFF is social media, and look how many post there is in working hours on here,

I will leave you to think about that one

I spend a great deal of time on the web for my work and bouncing ideas around here is actually quite helpful at times.