Dealing with burnout can be a real beyotch. My last bout with it was during the summer of 2010. I suddenly found myself doing things I’d never done before during my 7 years as a maintenance technician. I was scowling at residents as they walked by and rolling my eyes…
I’ve been on both sides of this issue. I’ve dealt with shops that had the bare minimum to work with and shops that had more than enough to work with. Needless to say, working in a skeleton shop annoys the piss out of me. Early in my maintenance career I…
The debate that has been going on for decades. And will continue to rage between management and maintenance techs for years to come. Should the company pay for a maintenance tech’s tools? Yes they should! Now, before you feel like putting my head in a vice let me explain. Does…
August. Even though I haven’t worked in student housing for 6 years, just looking at that month on a calendar still spikes my anxiety. The 16 hour work days, Monday through Sunday, for 3 weeks. The 100 U-Hauls jockeying for position. Parents hollering at the office staff claiming that their…
Ah yes. The lowly maintenance man that doesn’t know anything. Usually a shady, filthy looking, lazy, Jerry-rigging hack that fixes very little in between his naps. Am I right? Nope. Actually dead wrong! I’m not sure when this happened, but there seems to be a stigma tied to the maintenance…
What if I told you that you could make an extra $1,000 a year at your day job by tweaking a routine by 15 minutes. Would you Robert Downey Jr. me? It’s true! This is not a scam I promise. But, it’ll only work if you get time and a half…
I’ve got some good news and I’ve got some bad news. The good news is there’s a huge, fun, party tonight. The bad news is: you’re on call. After 15 years in the apartment maintenance field, I’ve finally made my peace with going on call. It is what you make…
How I Started My Financial Journey The van was stinky. My band and I were on our way home to Tallahassee, Florida from a gig we played in south Florida. And I was disgusted with myself. Not because we had a bad gig. But, because the gig was Friday night and it was…