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Physically demanding

mike007

Well-known member
Messages
1,409
Location
East Midlands
Any one else acheing all over returning to work?.When I returned Wednesday, ended with my left shoulder in mild pain, felt my body was tired from the exertion of what normally would be a easy walk in the park days workload. Brings it into perspective how actually demanding on our bodies this job is.......and how a strain or a sprain can impact our ability to work properly. Next day I was better, but makes you think what the constant repetitiveness of our techniques will impact our bodies in later life?.

 
I’m trad and I went up the ladder 72 times on Monday and 58 times on tues. I have a counter on my phone. My legs never seem to ache tho. Been doing it nigh on 40 years and I’m not light. Dunno why I never ache. 

 
I’m trad and I went up the ladder 72 times on Monday and 58 times on tues. I have a counter on my phone. My legs never seem to ache tho. Been doing it nigh on 40 years and I’m not light. Dunno why I never ache. 
I wfp tops and Trad bottoms....but ached first day....had to have a nap when got home.......thing is, believed I was indestructable when I was younger!!!

 
I had Monday of for a rest .... to get over the weekend ?

my body aches all the time done 76 houses over the 4 days so no idea how many times I went up and down my ladder ... 

 
I cleaned for 5 days this week. That's rare for me as I clean alongside another full-time job. Friday afternoon couldn't come soon enough. I don't think it's just the physical side of the job, it's also the motivation factor when it's your own business. My productivity is ridiculous when I compare it to my regular paid employment. Human nature I guess, when there's no incentive to work harder and you get paid the same no matter what you do it makes sense to do as little as possible.

 
Any one else acheing all over returning to work?.When I returned Wednesday, ended with my left shoulder in mild pain, felt my body was tired from the exertion of what normally would be a easy walk in the park days workload. Brings it into perspective how actually demanding on our bodies this job is.......and how a strain or a sprain can impact our ability to work properly. Next day I was better, but makes you think what the constant repetitiveness of our techniques will impact our bodies in later life?.
Me and my son have to drive to London, approx. 275 miles, on Monday, clean 180 flats and drive home Tuesday when we're done. Think I'll sleep well Tuesday night.

 
First of all I've worked through all this so no weeks off.  I started in January 2019, I noticed the aches straight away, particularly on my right hip, I'm left handed and I presume it's the rhythm of method while cleaning the windows is putting strain on this area, however my neck really hurt to begin with but other than long days on the glass it doesn't give me the pain like it used to.  Shoulders and arms ache but quickly return to normal, I did think I was getting tennis elbow at one point but that has now gone.  Get bits of back pain at times but it clears pretty quickly.

Thing is though, that pain in my right hip area has never gone and now I have pains in my right stomach area that comes and goes and also pains down below.  I contacted the doctor and they just gave me antibiotics, I wasn't convinced it was the right decision but it was obvious they were trying to keep away from seeing me with all what's going on.  I finished the antibiotics and the pains are still there.  On the plus side the pains did ease down below but now they've returned.  

The doctor said to give it a couple of weeks after finishing the antibiotics but the way its gone that feels like it's bad advice, they always tell you that anything wrong with you has to be nipped in the bud early so I might have to pay to go private if there is no urgency from the doctor when I ring him on Monday. 

It is very concerning for me as prior to window cleaning I could work really hard without issues and felt like I was almost bullet proof, but now feel a little like my bodies giving up.  I don't know whether it's anything to do with the window cleaning but I've never had any issues like this before and they only started when I started the window cleaning.

Does make you wonder though whether these things that go wrong with you are triggered by a change in your daily routine.  Friend of mine was a caretaker for a primary school, it's back breaking work and you're up early and expect to lock up late after disco's etc and then go in at weekends and clear up after disco's etc.  After 3 years he had to give up due to ill health, he had a ruptured appendix and now can't work due to a hernia, he's very down about it and blames the job for stress and ill health.  

I think work must have some sort of effect whether is stress or physical.

 
I cleaned for 5 days this week. That's rare for me as I clean alongside another full-time job. Friday afternoon couldn't come soon enough. I don't think it's just the physical side of the job, it's also the motivation factor when it's your own business. My productivity is ridiculous when I compare it to my regular paid employment. Human nature I guess, when there's no incentive to work harder and you get paid the same no matter what you do it makes sense to do as little as possible.
I agree, incentive is very important. Years ago I was working on a pipeline several miles across countryside with many road-crossings. The agent said that we'd get a bonus if we laid over twenty, 6 meter x 600mm pipes a day. The weather was perfect. On the first day we laid 42 but we only booked in about 24 to see if the company would honour his word. When we booked it in he said that they'd changed their minds and there would be no bonus.

Result: the goodwill was gone. From  then on we laid around the twenty or so a day. We couldn't really do less as we were a very efficient team. We had a working method. We couldn't work slowly if we wanted to.

We would have been finished and on to the next job within a few weeks as the weather remained perfect for some time. Instead, because the job took longer we got caught out by weeks of incredibly wet weather. Our number of pipes per day dropped. Trenches and connection holes were constantly getting flooded. Pumps had to be transported across fields, diggers were getting stuck, roads were getting covered in mud, that muggings, also covered in mud, being the youngest in the gang (twas thirty years ago) had to clean up with a shovel. The company missed out on thousands of pounds of extra profit as we'd have beaten the bad weather and moved on to the next contract.

Everyone needs an incentive to get stuck in. Job and knock, and/or a share in the profit, even if it's only a small one. Work has to be done right. Mistakes or poor workmanship have to be put right in the worker's time, so unpaid.

 
Shave your head a life becomes easier ? I  had 4 weeks off and felt the aches on returning back to work. 

 
My work is easy these days......

No ladders

No collecting 

Electric reel,hot water and xtreme poles

I'm 48 and work 5 hrs a day 4-5 days a week and been window cleaning since 1993....

I very rarely ache.....it was a lot worse when I was younger TBH!(lon ger hours,ladder climbing and 3 hrs collecting every week!)also my lifestyle was very unhealthy(poor diet,smoking and lots of alcohol)....

 
I agree, incentive is very important. Years ago I was working on a pipeline several miles across countryside with many road-crossings. The agent said that we'd get a bonus if we laid over twenty, 6 meter x 600mm pipes a day. The weather was perfect. On the first day we laid 42 but we only booked in about 24 to see if the company would honour his word. When we booked it in he said that they'd changed their minds and there would be no bonus.

Result: the goodwill was gone.
I've worked for several places over the years that have made false promises like that. I no longer believe a word of it when the word bonus is used. Too many places think they can con you like that with false promises of this, that, being a great employer etc. Then they screw you and wonder why staff morale sinks through the floor.

Moons ago i worked for scottish power as a door to door salesman. Well technically i wore their uniform but was actually employed by a contractor. They promised us the earth - credit on our phones, loads of leave, easy money etc. Really hopeful place. First pay day, nobody got a penny. No credit for our phones ever turned up, no leave entitlements etc. I laughed when one girl actually asked "do we even get paid?" I thought she was being daft. 3 months later we still hadn't been paid. Most had gone, a few of us hung in there desparately hoping..

Unfortunately for them I had got wind of the SP CEOs home address (I have uncanny luck with things like that). I dropped him a line telling him everything that had been going on. I soon got a reply from the CEO himself and my cheque from the contractor followed by a phone call from the contractors top man threatening me with police action etc for fraud, racism, blackmail... He hung up when i revealed that as he'd not paid me for so long i'd taken on temporary work as a caretaker at the local police station. I offered to let him speak to an officer in the next room (and yes i actually was working there)., he said something impolite and hung up. I never heard from that prat again.

Never have taken any notice of promises of bonus's etc since. They're meaningless conman talk unless it's in writing.

 
I've worked for several places over the years that have made false promises like that. I no longer believe a word of it when the word bonus is used. Too many places think they can con you like that with false promises of this, that, being a great employer etc. Then they screw you and wonder why staff morale sinks through the floor.

Moons ago i worked for scottish power as a door to door salesman. Well technically i wore their uniform but was actually employed by a contractor. They promised us the earth - credit on our phones, loads of leave, easy money etc. Really hopeful place. First pay day, nobody got a penny. No credit for our phones ever turned up, no leave entitlements etc. I laughed when one girl actually asked "do we even get paid?" I thought she was being daft. 3 months later we still hadn't been paid. Most had gone, a few of us hung in there desparately hoping..

Unfortunately for them I had got wind of the SP CEOs home address (I have uncanny luck with things like that). I dropped him a line telling him everything that had been going on. I soon got a reply from the CEO himself and my cheque from the contractor followed by a phone call from the contractors top man threatening me with police action etc for fraud, racism, blackmail... He hung up when i revealed that as he'd not paid me for so long i'd taken on temporary work as a caretaker at the local police station. I offered to let him speak to an officer in the next room (and yes i actually was working there)., he said something impolite and hung up. I never heard from that prat again.

Never have taken any notice of promises of bonus's etc since. They're meaningless conman talk unless it's in writing.
When my son joined me and my wife we took him on as an equal partner with an equal share of the profits and one quarter back into the business but yeah, your right most jobs I've had I didn't get the promised bonuses. A few crumbs slid of the side of the table now and again.

 
I agree, incentive is very important. Years ago I was working on a pipeline several miles across countryside with many road-crossings. The agent said that we'd get a bonus if we laid over twenty, 6 meter x 600mm pipes a day. The weather was perfect. On the first day we laid 42 but we only booked in about 24 to see if the company would honour his word. When we booked it in he said that they'd changed their minds and there would be no bonus.

Result: the goodwill was gone. From  then on we laid around the twenty or so a day. We couldn't really do less as we were a very efficient team. We had a working method. We couldn't work slowly if we wanted to.

We would have been finished and on to the next job within a few weeks as the weather remained perfect for some time. Instead, because the job took longer we got caught out by weeks of incredibly wet weather. Our number of pipes per day dropped. Trenches and connection holes were constantly getting flooded. Pumps had to be transported across fields, diggers were getting stuck, roads were getting covered in mud, that muggings, also covered in mud, being the youngest in the gang (twas thirty years ago) had to clean up with a shovel. The company missed out on thousands of pounds of extra profit as we'd have beaten the bad weather and moved on to the next contract.

Everyone needs an incentive to get stuck in. Job and knock, and/or a share in the profit, even if it's only a small one. Work has to be done right. Mistakes or poor workmanship have to be put right in the worker's time, so unpaid.
I read an article in a plane magazine on my way to Menorca on a family holiday, so around 1993, written by the bloke in charge of the redevelopment of Albert Dock in Liverpool.

He was writing about his earlier days when he was starting out and he quickly learned that if he had to go and ask for a pay rise the company wasn't worth working for as they didn't value his work. He continued doing this throughout his career until he owned the business but he then made sure he appreciated his staff.

I left school at 16 and worked for the family business, my brother and I were expected to show an example to the other workers. When I started to run the business all the lads knew I wouldn't ask them to do jobs I wouldn't do, as I'd done everything including cleaning out the drains that had never been cleaned for the 10 years we'd been there and as it was riverside there was plenty of rats about. 

The family business was sold in the late 80's for £1 million, which I saw non of, and closed at the end of 1998. I was kept on by the parent company but resigned in April, I didn't respect the Directors, and have been self employed since May 99 as I've never found anyone to pay me what I am worth.

If everyone learned that you're only employed by the company but you work for you then they would have a chance to progress in life and beat the rat race. The above is what everyone on here has done and that is why anyone that leaves the relative safety of paid employment will always have my utmost respect as they are doing so to get out of the rat race, improve their life and to be finally paid what they're worth.

Sorry for the long rambling post but it's always been something I'm passionate about.

 
PT you probably wished you did it years before actually leaving, sometimes we need a nudge but humans are creatures of habit. I read Bill Gates book and he said a valid point regarding programmers. He used to promote the best so they would get more money and become managers. Bad move, he quickly realised because he was left with the not so good programmers. Instead he realised their worth was in programming and started giving them a bonus each year like merchant banking. Only problem with this is, they get used to their bonus going up each year, The moment it goes down they jump ship to another company like merchant bankers do every March. Best thing is to treat your company like a family and the top guy goes round and talks to all staff. Arnold Clark used to do this and had a great relationship with his staff, now he's dead the company will probably go bust because there is no one guiding the ship so to speak.

 
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