Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhettzky
I read it and stand by my post. You can't win in the eyes of all people as a public entity. If you don't provide enough training and someone gets hurt then you're not being a leader in terms of OH&S. If someone jacks around on the job then you're mis-managing public resources. If you provide too much training then you're wasting tax payers dollars. It's a fine line to walk so obviously most departments err on the side of caution.
I will agree that the training and orientations provided by the city are excessive but will argue that they are necessary. Maybe they could streamline the orientation but remember, this girl agreed that out of 19hrs of orientation (2 x 9.5hr days) all of it was very relevant except for most of the motivational speaker portion beyond an hour or two. So she believed that 12-13hrs of the orientation was beneficial, maybe she just doesn't like speakers? Who knows.
Anyway, most of these seasonal employees are back year after year and only need to sit through a new employee orientation one time. I could see how it would be considered excessive if your plan was to never return.
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No. She didn't.
The last hour of the second day was spent with a short talk from a union rep, and then there was a 20-minute video on weed whacking circa 1989, tapered jeans and white suspenders included, that showed how to use the machines safely. We were then told where and when to report and were set free. That valuable bit of information took only two minutes and as soon as I heard where I was to report, Price's lecture seemed a distant memory.
Further, most of the worthwhile training was done on the job:
The absurdity of this two-day orientation really hit me when I reported to my depot on the first day of work. I needed practical information, like where to find a weed eater to use and where the gas is stored, not the seven stages of customer satisfaction. The job was pretty simple, but Price's messages were anything but. All I needed to learn was how to trim around trees without hitting them, and how to trim grass evenly without scalping it, and the habits of highly effective people seemed completely irrelevant.
I worked for the City for 3 straight summers previously. I considered all of the orientations useless (and yes, I had to go to all of them. Not just the first one). None of them told me anything useful (besides where I was going to be stationed). Luckily for me, I never had to sit through two days long featuring a "motivational speaker" spouting pop psychology.