From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

Is there any reason you know of that you may not be able to do this job?

(Yes / No) __________________________________________________________


I hired a guy a long time ago, and the first job I put him on was
running Cat 5 network cable in a school admin facility.

No red flags on his application, better than average on my basic skills
exam, nothing on his driving record, and he passed a background check.
He answered no on the question above.

I came in and started certifying cable runs with a PentaScanner, and
they all failed the basic wire map. I started popping off covers and
looking at the jacks. Every single one was punched down wrong, at both
ends and they weren't even wired wrong the same from jack to jack.
After about the 3rd one I went and found the guy, and explained again
all he needed to do was punch the wires down the same as they were
clearly marked on each and every jack, and on the patch panel. Just
like i showed him earlier.

I went back to fixing his previous runs. As soon as he finished the
next run I plugged in the PentaScanner right in front of him and it
failed the wire map again.

"Okay, watch, and I'll show you exactly how to punch it down." (again)

"See, the jack is marked with colors and pairs.Just put the orange wire
ont he all orange pins. etc etc etc. The white paired with the orange
goes on the half orange marked pin. Got it?"

"Sure."

Next jack failed again.

"Why are you doing this? Are you f'ing color blind?"

"Yes, I am."

"On your application it asked if there was any reason you could not do
this job."

Silence.

In my mind, but not out loud. "FUCK! If I fire him I open myself an
ADA lawsuit. I'll just have to figure out how to use a color blind technician."

"Okay just go pull the rest of the wire, and I'll terminate them all.
No point in paying you to terminate them if I have to take it apart and
do it over."

I proceeded to work my way around to fix all his work and terminate the
couple other wires he had pulled so far, and he came walking back over
to me to read me the riot act.

He was quitting because I was an asshole to point out how bad he was
screwing up in front of the customer, and how I was kissing the
customer's ass, and treating my employees like crap.

There were people in the vicinity, but nobody was "watching" us have our earlier conversation, but now I was starting to breath a sigh of relief.

I said, "So to be clear you are aware I tried to find a way to make you
useful to the company and you are quitting on your own initiative anyway?"

"No way I want to work for an a-hole like you."

"Great. You quit (glance at my watch) at 2:52. Lets go to the office,
and I'll write your final paycheck for 5hrs and 52 minutes."
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff


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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On 11/5/2025 3:48 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:

Is there any reason you know of that you may not be able to do this job?

(Yes / No)-a __________________________________________________________

I hired a guy a long time ago, and the first job I put him on was
running Cat 5 network cable in a school admin facility.

No red flags on his application, better than average on my basic skills exam, nothing on his driving record, and he passed a background check.
He answered no on the question above.

I came in and started certifying cable runs with a PentaScanner, and
they all failed the basic wire map.-a I started popping off covers and looking at the jacks.-a Every single one was punched down wrong, at both ends and they weren't even wired wrong the same from jack to jack. After about the 3rd one I went and found the guy, and explained again all he needed to do was punch the wires down the same as they were clearly
marked on each and every jack, and on the patch panel.-a Just like i
showed him earlier.

I went back to fixing his previous runs.-a As soon as he finished the
next run I plugged in the PentaScanner right in front of him and it
failed the wire map again.

"Okay, watch, and I'll show you exactly how to punch it down." (again)

"See, the jack is marked with colors and pairs.Just put the orange wire
ont he all orange pins.-a etc etc etc.-a The white paired with the orange goes on the half orange marked pin. Got it?"

"Sure."

Next jack failed again.

"Why are you doing this?-a Are you f'ing color blind?"

"Yes, I am."

"On your application it asked if there was any reason you could not do
this job."

Silence.

In my mind, but not out loud.-a "FUCK!-a If I fire him I open myself an
ADA lawsuit.-a I'll just have to figure out how to use a color blind technician."

"Okay just go pull the rest of the wire, and I'll terminate them all. No point in paying you to terminate them if I have to take it apart and do
it over."

I proceeded to work my way around to fix all his work and terminate the couple other wires he had pulled so far, and he came walking back over
to me to read me the riot act.

He was quitting because I was an asshole to point out how bad he was screwing up in front of the customer, and how I was kissing the
customer's ass, and treating my employees like crap.

There were people in the vicinity, but nobody was "watching" us have our earlier conversation, but now I was starting to breath a sigh of relief.

I said, "So to be clear you are aware I tried to find a way to make you useful to the company and you are quitting on your own initiative anyway?"

"No way I want to work for an a-hole like you."

"Great.-a You quit (glance at my watch) at 2:52.-a Lets go to the office, and I'll write your final paycheck for 5hrs and 52 minutes."

I wonder years later if maybe he was hoping for a chance to file an ADA lawsuit, and when I didn't fire him right away that is why he quit
shortly afterwards.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On Wed, 5 Nov 2025 17:42:03 -0700, Bob La Londe <none@none.com99>
wrote:

I wonder years later if maybe he was hoping for a chance to file an ADA >lawsuit, and when I didn't fire him right away that is why he quit
shortly afterwards.

Color blindness does not work like that. Color blind people can still
see colors, they just have problems with some specific colors or color combinations. The most common variety is the red/green type. It makes
it difficult to tell the difference between red and brown, and also to
see small red objects if they're surrounded by green. Finding
cranberries, for example, is nearly impossible.

If he was consistently mixing up, say, orange and brown, it would be
plausible that color blindness could be the issue. But if he was even
mixing up the white banded wires with the solid color wires, then
color blindness is not the (only) issue.

So, yes, there must have been something else at play here.
--
RoRo
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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

Bob La Londe <none@none.com99> writes:

On 11/5/2025 3:48 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:

Is there any reason you know of that you may not be able to do this job?
(Yes / No)-a
__________________________________________________________
I hired a guy a long time ago, and the first job I put him on was
running Cat 5 network cable in a school admin facility.
No red flags on his application, better than average on my basic
skills exam, nothing on his driving record, and he passed a
background check. He answered no on the question above.
I came in and started certifying cable runs with a PentaScanner, and
they all failed the basic wire map.-a I started popping off covers
and looking at the jacks.-a Every single one was punched down wrong,
at both ends and they weren't even wired wrong the same from jack to
jack. After about the 3rd one I went and found the guy, and
explained again all he needed to do was punch the wires down the
same as they were clearly marked on each and every jack, and on the
patch panel.-a Just like i showed him earlier.
I went back to fixing his previous runs.-a As soon as he finished the
next run I plugged in the PentaScanner right in front of him and it
failed the wire map again.
"Okay, watch, and I'll show you exactly how to punch it down."
(again)
"See, the jack is marked with colors and pairs.Just put the orange
wire ont he all orange pins.-a etc etc etc.-a The white paired with
the orange goes on the half orange marked pin. Got it?"
"Sure."
Next jack failed again.
"Why are you doing this?-a Are you f'ing color blind?"
"Yes, I am."
"On your application it asked if there was any reason you could not
do this job."
Silence.
In my mind, but not out loud.-a "FUCK!-a If I fire him I open myself
an ADA lawsuit.-a I'll just have to figure out how to use a color
blind technician."
"Okay just go pull the rest of the wire, and I'll terminate them
all. No point in paying you to terminate them if I have to take it
apart and do it over."
I proceeded to work my way around to fix all his work and terminate
the couple other wires he had pulled so far, and he came walking
back over to me to read me the riot act.
He was quitting because I was an asshole to point out how bad he was
screwing up in front of the customer, and how I was kissing the
customer's ass, and treating my employees like crap.
There were people in the vicinity, but nobody was "watching" us have
our earlier conversation, but now I was starting to breath a sigh of
relief.
I said, "So to be clear you are aware I tried to find a way to make
you useful to the company and you are quitting on your own
initiative anyway?"
"No way I want to work for an a-hole like you."
"Great.-a You quit (glance at my watch) at 2:52.-a Lets go to the
office, and I'll write your final paycheck for 5hrs and 52 minutes."

I wonder years later if maybe he was hoping for a chance to file an
ADA lawsuit, and when I didn't fire him right away that is why he quit shortly afterwards.

--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff

"service economies" tend to develop these ways of "making the money
flow".
Makes manufacturing ever even more impossible.

In Britain we are about 10% of the population (9%?), so the 90% will
want things which keep meals appearing on their tables. So there will
not be a "survival" aversion to this sort of thing. Can understand that
- next meal on the table; keep it coming; go meal by meal.
In any "service economy" money wells-out of a hole in the ground
somewhere beyond your sight and washes across the economy and you grab
your bit of its flow.
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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Robert Roland" wrote in message news:lpoogkdg7p450ai5kc8mhvha9pcvsck5v9@4ax.com...

On Wed, 5 Nov 2025 17:42:03 -0700, Bob La Londe <none@none.com99>
wrote:

I wonder years later if maybe he was hoping for a chance to file an ADA >lawsuit, and when I didn't fire him right away that is why he quit
shortly afterwards.

Color blindness does not work like that. Color blind people can still
see colors, they just have problems with some specific colors or color combinations. The most common variety is the red/green type. It makes
it difficult to tell the difference between red and brown, and also to
see small red objects if they're surrounded by green. Finding
cranberries, for example, is nearly impossible. ...

RoRo
---------------------------------------------
During the development of Power over Ethernet I wrote a complex program to configure the controller ICs which included color to show status. A color-blind engineer couldn't use it so I made the colors user selectable
and he found a combination he liked.

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

Some traffic lights here have flashing white strips across the red and a matching beeper.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On 11/6/2025 6:29 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:

"Robert Roland"-a wrote in message news:lpoogkdg7p450ai5kc8mhvha9pcvsck5v9@4ax.com...

On Wed, 5 Nov 2025 17:42:03 -0700, Bob La Londe <none@none.com99>
wrote:

I wonder years later if maybe he was hoping for a chance to file an ADA
lawsuit, and when I didn't fire him right away that is why he quit
shortly afterwards.

Color blindness does not work like that. Color blind people can still
see colors, they just have problems with some specific colors or color combinations. The most common variety is the red/green type. It makes
it difficult to tell the difference between red and brown, and also to
see small red objects if they're surrounded by green. Finding
cranberries, for example, is nearly impossible. ...

RoRo
---------------------------------------------
During the development of Power over Ethernet I wrote a complex program
to configure the controller ICs which included color to show status. A color-blind engineer couldn't use it so I made the colors user
selectable and he found a combination he liked.

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

Some traffic lights here have flashing white strips across the red and a matching beeper.

My uncle Doug (RIP) used to get a ticket almost every time he drove
thru Preston Idaho . He had red/green and the traffic lights there were reversed from the pattern he was accustomed to .
--
Snag
I appreciated foreign cultures more
when they stayed foreign ...
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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Richard Smith" wrote in message news:m1tsz75xhe.fsf@void.com...

"service economies" tend to develop these ways of "making the money
flow".
Makes manufacturing ever even more impossible.

In Britain we [the productive?]
are about 10% of the population (9%?), so the 90% will
want things which keep meals appearing on their tables. So there will
not be a "survival" aversion to this sort of thing. Can understand that
- next meal on the table; keep it coming; go meal by meal.
In any "service economy" money wells-out of a hole in the ground
somewhere beyond your sight and washes across the economy and you grab
your bit of its flow.

--------------------------------
A fundamental of socialism is obscuring cause and effect so those in power
can deny responsibility and shift blame, for example our current shutdown.

That well is pretty deep here but noticeably diminishing, especially from Bidenflation. I am aware of the loss of manufacturing because I attended the closing auctions to buy home shop machinery. Since the 80's producing the items that I prototyped in the USA has been declared impossible.

The demand for real vs artificial 'fiat' value has driven gold and silver prices up dramatically.
https://www.monex.com/liveprices/?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money
It has value because the government says so, and has guns for enforcement.

However US currency doesn't have to be accepted for payment, despite the "Legal Tender" claim printed on it. https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12772.htm
"There is no federal statute mandating that a private business, a person, or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on
whether to accept cash unless there is a state law that says otherwise."

And so are their suppliers.

The dream of releasing people for more "fulfilling" work by automating factories, and taxing the output of the machines, has either been bungled by incompetent leftist economics or wouldn't keep us strong anyway since any
poor country with a largely uneducated rural population could adopt it. I
have a 6-jaw lathe chuck from Outer Mongolia and electronics from Laos.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

Bob La Londe <none@none.com99> wrote:

On 11/5/2025 3:48 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:

Is there any reason you know of that you may not be able to do this job?

(Yes / No)-a __________________________________________________________


I hired a guy a long time ago, and the first job I put him on was
running Cat 5 network cable in a school admin facility.

No red flags on his application, better than average on my basic skills
exam, nothing on his driving record, and he passed a background check.
He answered no on the question above.

At the time of the question, did he know the job required him to identify wires (or anything else) by color pattern? Could he have possibly thought
he'd pull the cable and somebody else would connect it? They are at least somewhat different skills, the former more labor-ish and the latter more electric-ish.

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

BP wrote in message news:10eib9q$15ti3$1@dont-email.me...

Bob La Londe <none@none.com99> wrote:

He answered no on the question above.

At the time of the question, did he know the job required him to identify
wires (or anything else) by color pattern? Could he have possibly thought
he'd pull the cable and somebody else would connect it? They are at least somewhat different skills, the former more labor-ish and the latter more electric-ish.

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska

---------------------------------
I have never been asked if I was color-blind when applying for an
electronics technician job that required reading color codes.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On 11/6/2025 2:13 AM, Robert Roland wrote:

On Wed, 5 Nov 2025 17:42:03 -0700, Bob La Londe <none@none.com99>
wrote:

I wonder years later if maybe he was hoping for a chance to file an ADA
lawsuit, and when I didn't fire him right away that is why he quit
shortly afterwards.

Color blindness does not work like that. Color blind people can still
see colors, they just have problems with some specific colors or color combinations. The most common variety is the red/green type. It makes
it difficult to tell the difference between red and brown, and also to
see small red objects if they're surrounded by green. Finding
cranberries, for example, is nearly impossible.

My dad claimed blue/green color blindness kept him out of the pilot
program in the USAF, but he could accurately distinguish many shades of
blue and green.

If he was consistently mixing up, say, orange and brown, it would be plausible that color blindness could be the issue. But if he was even
mixing up the white banded wires with the solid color wires, then
color blindness is not the (only) issue.

I don't recall exactly which wires were wrong, just that they every jack
was wrong and not the same each time. In Cat 5 twisted pair you have 4
pairs. White/Blue, White/Orange, White/Green, White/Brown. The whites
are typically mostly white with enough of the other color dashed or
striped along them to easily identify, but the big thing is the white is twisted with its corresponding pair mate.

The twist is to reduce noise and interference and with Cat 5 (unlike
telco) it has 5 twists per inch, making it nearly impossible to
accidentally un-pair the pair accidentally. Telco is twisted, but at a
rate that can allow the pairs to fall apart when a loose dry cable
jacket is removed. I don't think anybody uses telco for new
installations anymore. Even analog tends to Cat 5 or better to
facilitate future upgrade to VOIP.

So, yes, there must have been something else at play here.

I didn't really think of it at the time. I was just glad he quit. The
thing is on my aptitude test (people didn't have to know the answers, it
was just to determine of they were lying on their application, and how
much I would have to train them) he did know the color pairs and their
order.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On 11/6/2025 5:29 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:

"Robert Roland"-a wrote in message news:lpoogkdg7p450ai5kc8mhvha9pcvsck5v9@4ax.com...

On Wed, 5 Nov 2025 17:42:03 -0700, Bob La Londe <none@none.com99>
wrote:

I wonder years later if maybe he was hoping for a chance to file an ADA
lawsuit, and when I didn't fire him right away that is why he quit
shortly afterwards.

Color blindness does not work like that. Color blind people can still
see colors, they just have problems with some specific colors or color combinations. The most common variety is the red/green type. It makes
it difficult to tell the difference between red and brown, and also to
see small red objects if they're surrounded by green. Finding
cranberries, for example, is nearly impossible. ...

RoRo
---------------------------------------------
During the development of Power over Ethernet I wrote a complex program
to configure the controller ICs which included color to show status. A color-blind engineer couldn't use it so I made the colors user
selectable and he found a combination he liked.

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

Some traffic lights here have flashing white strips across the red and a matching beeper.

Reminds me of a story I heard from an alarm co owner who did a security
system in a federal law enforcement building. Every conductor had a
white jacket, and no conductors were allowed to be labeled. All devices
were tampered, so they couldn't identify any conductor without
triggering the system. As long as batteries were good you couldn't even
power it down without triggering it. All they could tell was these
conductors coming out of this device went to this device. Yes, I know
about piercing probes. I've used them. Heck telephone tests sets have
them by default. I have 3 or 4 good ones still around somewhere.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff

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