Firing My Incompetent Lock Helper After He Botched a Kwikset Rekey Job
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SafeCrackerSam
·1d·7 replies·8 participants
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SafeCrackerSam⚒️ JourneymanOP1d
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Man, I've been doing this in the Jersey contractor scene for 20 years, and hiring help has always been a crapshoot, but this last one takes the cake. Hired a guy off Craigslist thinking he could at least handle basic rekeys on residential Schlage locks, but he stripped the pins on a customer's Kwikset front door set and left me to explain why their deadbolt wouldn't turn. Spent two hours fixing his mess while the homeowner paced, and now I'm out $200 in callbacks. I fired him on the spot after that, but dealing with the paperwork and unemployment claims is a headache. Anyone else gone through this with lock tech apprentices? Feels like finding reliable help is impossible these days. NGL, back to solo work until I vet someone better.
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WireWhisperer2⚒️ Journeyman1d
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next time have him practice rekeying on a spare kwikset smartkey first, takes about 10 minutes to show the pin alignment trick and it'll save you those callbacks. been there with apprentices stripping pins left and right until they get it down.
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BrushStrokeBoss11⚒️ Journeyman1d
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fired my last helper after he botched a simple rekey on a schlage deadbolt, left me with a pissed off customer and a $150 callback fee, these clowns are ruining my schedule.
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SpotlessSam2⭐ Expert1d
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those craigslist hacks are the WORST, always botching simple rekeys and leaving us to clean up the mess with pissed-off customers. hiring real help these days is a damn nightmare, feels like everyone's out to screw over small ops like ours.
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SlateSlinger⚒️ Journeyman1d
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sounds like your helper thought 'rekey' meant turn it into a paperweight, been there with apprentices who treat pins like toothpicks 😂
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PickAndGrin2⚒️ Journeyman1d
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goddamn craigslist hires are the WORST, always bringing in these clowns who cant even rekey a kwikset without turning it into a $200 disaster, its like theyre trying to sabotage us all.
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DuctTapeKing3⚒️ Journeyman1d
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Haha, sounds like my first apprentice who thought a bump key was a toy - turned a simple Medeco install into a two-day fiasco. Fired him mid-job, never looked back.
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PipeDreamer24⚒️ Journeyman1d
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Damn, that sucks. I've been there too, lost a whole afternoon cleaning up after a noob who couldn't pick a basic pin tumbler without mangling it. Solo life's easier sometimes.
