Posted on 11/05/2015 5:02:35 PM PST by MichCapCon
Despite having no horses, the water and sewerage department for the city of Detroit employs a horseshoer.
Yet even with a department so bloated that it has a horseshoer and no horses, the local union president said it is "not possible" to eliminate positions.
Union rules have turned the department into a government jobs program, some critics say.
The horseshoer’s job description is "to shoe horses and to do general blacksmith work … and to perform related work as required." The description was last updated in 1967.
The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) has a large debt, rising water prices and inefficient services — using almost twice the number of employees per gallon as other cities like Chicago.
A recent independent report about the DWSD recommends that the city trim more than 80 percent of the department’s workforce.
(Excerpt) Read more at michigancapitolconfidential.com ...
The proper term is farrier.
Sounds like a classic no-show job.
Yup..and to have your horse Shod you hire a..farrier.
Old times are not forgotten for some.
Sounds like a classic no-show job.
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It’s a no shoe job.
Or is it Shawed?
I recently went to NYC and saw a huge number of employees, both public and private that seemed to have unneeded jobs. I went into a loading dock for a large office building with both government and business occupants. There were multiple guys sitting around the loading dock to tell you where to park. There were elevator operators in the freight elevators. Multiple unarmed security people manning a desk at the main elevators.
“The proper term is farrier.”
Say “farrier” to Joe Average, and you get some pretty dumb looks. Even here in horse country.
I hear the deer hunting is getting pretty good in some parts thereof.
Sis-in-law lives in Ferndale.
God Almighty..below 8 mile road is really something to see.
They’ve got a deer problem in Ann Arbor. They’ve been discussing bringing in some hunters to kill about 100 deer.
The stupid hurts.
Iron Mountain/Kingsford, they have a bow season right smack in town each year. I have sat at a stop light at 3 in the morning and watched them run down the street.
It is a real WTF Moment.
Note to Detroit City: When the horse dies, dismount.
you'd think he'd have a full time job shoeing all the jackasses in the democRAT party
My grandfather was blacksmith for one of America's most heavily populated counties. By the time I was eligible for "take your grandkid to work days" his job was primarily training others and repairs to fencing/lighting/county shop & maintenance equipment, and often repairing wrought iron and forged property he'd created.
By then it wasn't too stressful a job (& a fun place to hang out) but he'd done his chops on the full range of blacksmith stuff (check out a large ranch or farm from the 19th century); Ferrier, wheelwright, cobbler, forge and iron work to include tool maker, and when automobiles came along, general mechanics as well.
Oh, also ditch digger and park ranger.
Today, the work he did should be farmed out beause virtually none would be apt anywhere outside a large farm operation.
(I'm old enough to have known a number of people who ended their days refurbishing things they'd built a couple of generations before, some who'd fought wars seldom taught about or remembered. People who could describe reconstruction, cavalry charges, indian raids, horse or cattle drives, and the advent of telephones, iceboxes, gasoline engines, aeroplanes, and silent movies...all first hand).
(Old sucks but the experiences can be pretty cool.)
The husband of my mom’s first cousin shoed racehorses for a living. He worked at a good number of racetracks including those in Chicago and Hot Springs, Ark. For some years he was president of the Horseshoers Union, AFL-CIO. He told me it was the smallest or one of the smallest national unions to be part of the AFL-CIO.
He was pretty good at his craft. Several very wealth stable owners asked him to come and work for them.
Must be regional, we had a farrier, he got hurt, we found a new one under farrier in the phone book. Rural Kansas, not known for fancy language.
Speaking of, sounds like a lot safer job in Detroit, no horses, no kicking, biting or getting stepped on.
I was actually referring to Joe Average on the street guy that never had, nor ever dreamed of having a horse. That comprises most of America the other side of the fence from here LOL.
We’ve had the same farrier since ‘93. Great guy! Only down a few months about five years ago for hip replacement, and he was right back at it.
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