“This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you.”
That’s what my Dad said right before he took the belt to my rear end. I didn’t believe him back then, but now I think he was sincere. He whooped my butt because he loved me. He did it so I would learn. He did it so I wouldn’t end up in prison. He did it so I would know there are consequences for breaking the rules. He did not coddle me in my transgressions and say it’s okay you are trying to be good but “slipped up”. He said if you break the rules you get your ass whooped. And I learned very quickly he meant it.
I have a friend who runs an oilfield service company. He had seven fatalities at his company in three years. All of them car wrecks. All of them were not wearing their seat belts (a company rule). He gathered up all his employees for the umpteenth time and told them they would be fired if they did not wear their seat belt. He then told his division manager to catch the next guy leaving their yard without his seat belt on and fire him on the spot. The next guy was his top employee, the operations manager. As instructed, the operations manager was fired on the spot for not wearing his seat belt.
He has not had a single fatality in the five years since then. Pretty sad that people wonÂ’t wear their seat belt to save their damn life but will to save their job.
In my company I went around to all of our field locations and told everyone that wearing a seat belt was just another piece of PPE (personal protective equipment, like a hardhat) and if they did not wear it they would be fired. A few months later an employee got in an accident and was cited for not wearing his seat belt. I fired him that day. I really, really did not want to fire him. Made me feel like shit.
I have not had a single fatality amongst the 3 dozen or so car accidents my guys have had since. Every single one was wearing their seat belt.
The rules on this site are pretty simple. Don’t use nicotine. Keep your word. Don’t use multiple aliases. If you break the rules, don’t be surprised at the consequences. There is no accountability without consequences. For those of you who want to award ribbons for “trying”, please remember there are many, many lives we are trying to save, not just the one that broke the rules. You do not help anyone if you do not hold them accountable.