How do you solve problems?

So I'm at a new job and I realize something about myself. I'm a pretty inventive kinda person and I can make shit to solve problems or I can figure out a tool that will solve that problem.

The thing is that my mind just goes there by default, as soon as I need a solution or something is slightly wrong my mind is on the job thinking up some contraption, doing measurements, thinking of possible troubleshooting etc. I'll get right into it when I doing the job I am meant to be doing. I can solve shit but half the time that isn't even worth doing.

It's got me thinking man I could just use that brain power to just get better at doing whatever I am doing, that'd solve the problem faster. I have to force myself to do that. It's like I fucking maladaptive daydream about some tool I can make to do the job better lol.

My dad is the same, he's got all these inventions he's made to solve problems that weren't even problems lmao.

So what are you? Are you someone who just gets better skillfully at the job? Are you someone who rethinks the method and adapts it to them, are you a 'fuck it, its good enough' type?, Do you go and buy another tool? Do you just whinge about the problem but do nothing?

Posted by hoeflation
First thought that comes to mind is murdering the cause of that problem

Thankfully they iron themselves out over time 😅

Just because you can get away with it in your country doesn’t mean you should 😒

I solve problems by being very logical. I stay focused on solving the problem because of the emotional satisfaction.

In other words, if you weren't serious getting a problem solved, don't bother me.

My dad and I are pretty much super charged installers simply because we don't work by the hour, but get paid on installation and tile square footage. Not sure what you would even call square footage in other countries tbh. Some kind of metric bs likely. Anyway for us the faster we get the job done, the more we make. Expect with working by square footage you not only need to work fast, but it needs to look good. Absolute quality. Trust me there are thousands of times I've had a issue that cost me hours, and in reality I got paid nothing for that time. I can work at a decent pace, and lay a 60 square foot shower in about 5 to 6 hours. I'm charging 6.50 a square foot since we use a clip leveling system, which averages to about $ 66 an hour. That's low end basic installation though. When it comes to improvising, that is an absolute must on jobs. I could write a novel about tile and that would hardly scratch the surface because every single job is different. Different materials, different homes, different people putting it all together. The fundamentals of tile is the same, but the ability to be physically and mentally ready to improvise at any given moment is a must. Also keeping a level head when shit gets crazy, because constantly does.

I had a situation where we installed a heat mat, and natural marble tile on someone's bathroom floor. The paperwork said straight lay, but the homeowner came in and wanted brick pattern. She realized she fucked up, and wanted to pay the labor, and material cost for us to rip it all out, and put in again. Which was like 6K for materials, and 3K for our total labor to install, rip out, and install again. So sure we got paid an extra 3K, but having to spend the time and labor to literally rip your beautifully professional hard work off the floor, and throw it in a dumpster is appalling. Not to mention the waste. Some people will never understand that. We deal with so much shit, and have to have the pride to still do a good job. Which we do. The best thing about tile is doing the finishing touches, standing back, and knowing you put every inch of your ability into it tbh. Trying to teach that to other people is near impossible too, which is sad.

my gut instinct is to ghost

which is exactly what i wanna do with this current project

this aries colleague brags all day and competitive for no reason it's exhausting, maybe i'll give myself a few weeks and run

Posted by Soul
My dad and I are pretty much super charged installers simply because we don't work by the hour, but get paid on installation and tile square footage. Not sure what you would even call square footage in other countries tbh. Some kind of metric bs likely. Anyway for us the faster we get the job done, the more we make. Expect with working by square footage you not only need to work fast, but it needs to look good. Absolute quality. Trust me there are thousands of times I've had a issue that cost me hours, and in reality I got paid nothing for that time. I can work at a decent pace, and lay a 60 square foot shower in about 5 to 6 hours. I'm charging 6.50 a square foot since we use a clip leveling system, which averages to about $ 66 an hour. That's low end basic installation though. When it comes to improvising, that is an absolute must on jobs. I could write a novel about tile and that would hardly scratch the surface because every single job is different. Different materials, different homes, different people putting it all together. The fundamentals of tile is the same, but the ability to be physically and mentally ready to improvise at any given moment is a must. Also keeping a level head when shit gets crazy, because constantly does.

I had a situation where we installed a heat mat, and natural marble tile on someone's bathroom floor. The paperwork said straight lay, but the homeowner came in and wanted brick pattern. She realized she fucked up, and wanted to pay the labor, and material cost for us to rip it all out, and put in again. Which was like 6K for materials, and 3K for our total labor to install, rip out, and install again. So sure we got paid an extra 3K, but having to spend the time and labor to literally rip your beautifully professional hard work off the floor, and throw it in a dumpster is appalling. Not to mention the waste. Some people will never understand that. We deal with so much shit, and have to have the pride to still do a good job. Which we do. The best thing about tile is doing the finishing touches, standing back, and knowing you put every inch of your ability into it tbh. Trying to teach that to other people is near impossible too, which is sad.

Yeah I was paid by the meter as a contractor. It's great when things are going well but as soon as things go bad it's money down the drain. If I had to go out to a site again that can vost a lot of fuel money and work time. Shit was often going wrong , when there's 4 different partys involved in a job happening and any of them can make a mistake it's fucking happening atleast once a week.

Posted by Walk_on_by
So I'm at a new job and I realize something about myself. I'm a pretty inventive kinda person and I can make shit to solve problems or I can figure out a tool that will solve that problem.

If you can do all that, why do you have to have a job?