Only a scrapper would understand

My local yard is really just a transfer station. They just transfer customers scrap to a real scrapyard. As such their prices aren't top, but I put up with it because they are close and will take small amounts. There is one employee at the transfer station that shall be called Fred, short for F-head. The guy certainly is smarter than anyone else if you ask him, and is a loyal worker, but he is a prick to talk to and will always try to short the customer. There have been times in the past that I have seen him working and chose to not do business there that day.

A couple weeks back I got a bunch of scrap and headed to the big scrapyard. There I attempted to turn in a large bin of stainless steel with other materials. The attendant told me that my stainless had aluminum mixed in it and I needed to put the grinder to the items to sort it. I thought I had it sorted pretty good, but brought the items home and took his advice. If there were 100 items in the bin, then 85 of them ended up being stainless, 12 of them were aluminum, 2 yellow brass (plated to look silverish,) and 1 piece of copper(plated to look silverish.) Al, brass, and copper all pay more than stainless, so I think the guy should have just taken the bin, but whatever.

After grinding and sorting the items in the bin I bring it in to the local transfer station along with other materials. My cart is laid out nicely with Al on one end of the cart, stainless on the other end of the cart in a bin, and a few electric motors and ballasts in the middle of the cart. Upon wheeling onto the scale Fred approaches to begin working my cart. I tell him exactly what is on there. He takes my cart away to their stainless gaylord and unloads the stainless. And also unloads some of the aluminum in their stainless gaylord. Upon him returning my cart to the scale I inform him that the stainless all showed sparks when I hit it with the grinder, and that the aluminum he just put in his stainless gaylord did not spark from the grinder. The manager was nearby working another scale and asked that I repeat what I had just said. Then Fred and the manager went over to the stainless gaylord and they both spent 5 minutes bending over trying to pull my aluminum from it. Fred didn't say much after that.



I owe a big thanks to the attendant at the scrapyard. He made me money, and maybe helped humble Fred a bit.

It's a hard thing C.

I work not at a feeder scrapyard .... but at a transfer station where we take in the town's trash and everything else. Gettin' to be an old codger and only have another five years or so before it's time to retire. Just trying to do a good job for the community and maybe leave the place in a little better shape by the time i'm done.

You know ... one of the hardest aspects of the job is working with people all day. I get all different kinds. Some are easy to deal with and some are difficult to deal with. You get people pulling and tugging at you all day long. Everybody wants something. It's not like i enjoy it ... but i kinda have to be the boss of the place. It's mostly on my shoulders to keep the place running right.

Whew ... there's wicked time pressure too ! There are days when it's really busy and i can only give 30 seconds of my attention to someone in need before i have to get on to the next person or the next thing that has to be done. I have to be very direct with people. Gawd ... some of them ask the stupidist questions. Especially the tourists cause they got no idea of how the place works.

I try to be kind to people but there are times i have to be an a$$hole. It comes with the job. There are some people who are difficult and you have to make them respect you.

Much as i can ... i try to treat everyone coming through with dignity and respect.

I was a scrapper long before i took this job so i understand. There's the other side of it though .... ya know ?

To be totally honest .... the scrappers are some of the more difficult people i've had to deal with in the course of my job. We're kind of a motley bunch of misfits with our fair share alcohol, drug, criminal, and mental health problems.

I think a job working at the small scale of a feeder yard could be a difficult one. You would need to have really good people skills and a deep knowledge of our trade to deal with scrappers all day long to avoid developing a bad attitude. That's asking an awful lot from a guy that probably doesn't get paid much more than minimum wage. He might be going life with a head full of broken glass too.

I'm not saying that you are wrong. Fred probably is a jerk and not somebody that you would want to hang out with.

Just saying that there are different sides to all this. You would have to walk a mile in his shoes to really understand. Maybe he wouldn't offend your pride so much if you could see that he's just a guy with his own problems.

You sound very much like the manager of my local transfer station, not always the nicest to me, but he has my respect and he respects me.

"There are some people who are difficult and you have to make them respect you." So true. This goes both ways.

I do wish Fred well. He can be who he wants to be. He is not my employee. If I do not like him, that is my problem.

As far as walking in others shoes...you speak that many of your customers are of a difficult bunch to deal with....and it is probably the same with Fred. yep, I get it. Fred has grown accustomed to dealing with difficult customers. His manager and co-workers are decent to work with and work with the same customers. We all are not meant for every job (and he may be stuck in this one.) We all can get better at our work.