An operations leader describes the firefighting-style pressure of his job, where a recent crisis forced him and his partner Nick to train 15 temporary tractor operators at 1 a.m. after 14-16 hour shifts, getting them on the road within an hour. He admits the schedule is brutal and unhealthy, but confesses he's addicted to the adrenaline.
What have you learned psychologically or just personally to deal with that kind of jump in stress levels? It's emergency services. Yeah, that's kind of how I look at it. We're like firefighters and, and, uh, you know, ambulance drivers. Yeah, that's how I look at it. It's like the house is burning down and you are the guy responsible to go put the fire out, and you only have a certain time window. We ended up saving the company. I did like a bunch of training classes with me, my partner Nick, and our operations manager at 1 in the morning after doing snow for 14, 16 hours, calling guys in that we had through our form, running them in, showing them one or two things on the tractor, giving them a key and tablet. Okay, be here in an hour, going out. We did for like 2 training classes where we were able to scab like 15 operators. It is very difficult. It's very taxing on time. It's unhealthy for you as an individual. It really is. The schedule's all over the place, but there's something that I absolutely love about it. No other business gives me the same rush.
