Letting someone who helps you run your equipment?

I'm guessing a lot of people on here have run into this, so I thought I'd ask how you'd handle it. I have a guy that's been helping a lot at my MX track to pump water and weed wack, etc. A few years ago I let him run my tractor and disc and told him it has kind of weird hyd's. so you have to make sure the one lever doesn't accidently go back or you could damage something. Well, a bracket got a little bit bent. This guy just is not an equipment operator. He's not mechanical at all by his own admission.(The throttle on his 2" pump wouldn't stay in position and he couldn't figure out that the lock nut on the friction washer had some how came loose) Now he keeps bugging me to show him how top run my skid steer. I told him today it would take a month and a skid steer can be dangerous. I've had problems in the past where my equipment needs expensive repairs after letting other people use it. Even experienced operators. What's the best way to tell someone that's helping you a lot, that he's not going to be running your skid steer or tractor any time soon? I don't want to come right out and say he's just not an equipment operator. I'd let certain people run my equipment and even teach them but just not this guy. I don't want to make him mad, so that's why I'm asking how to handle something like this.

Just say NO.
No BS no excuses, i just plain tell them NO.
Want to play with one, go buy your own..

Just tell him when you yourself can do this --then you will be qualified to teach him--- Just kidding (I'd fire the first one to try this with my machine)
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Not trying to be a smart allec and state the obvious, but just be honest with the guy. If the guy can't understand and still be agreeable, friendly, or whatever, then the best thing he can do is go on his merry way.

I know that may sound harsh or whatever you want to call it but when your talking about any kind of equipment, the way I have always looked at it, MY SAFETY AND THE SAFETY OF EVERYONE AROUND THE WORK AREA COME FIRST, next is the safety of the equipment itself... Heck, SAFETY IN GENERAL IS THE ONLY PRIORITY.... When it comes right down to it, it's easy enough for an experienced operator to have a problem, much less someone that isn't an operator by any stretch of the imagination.

If someone can't understand that train of thought then they have no business operating any type of equipment. Doing so is basically putting you, the operator, any other bystander, any object in the area, and the machine all in jeopardy. Any one of those is reason enough to tell someone NO, no sympothy, no questions, no arguments needed.....just NO.......If they can't handle that then they aren't the kind of person I want to be working around when they are operating a piece of equipment. I've been around equipment all my life and one thing I learned early, the equipment feels no pain, but I do. As a result I refuse to work around anyone operating any kind of machine unless I know they know what they are doing and that I can trust them not to do anything that might hurt or kill me.........

SAFETY IS ALWAYS THE NUMBER ONE PRIORITY.....AND NO IS ALWAYS OK WHEN IT'S A SAFETY RELATED ISSUE.......

If the person is as you said there is no way he would run any of my equitment. And there is no way he would ever get close to my skidsteer for safety reasons.

Is there ANYTHING in your life that you don't turn into high drama and pathos?

Three words....DEAL WITH IT. (That's what NORMAL people do)

Just tell him he's a genious that is edecucated way past the level of an operator. Tell him the boss is an idiot that has old and unsafe equipment and the work area is not efficiently set up for normal productive folks to work and run equipoment in.... What other reason would there be for stuff to fall apart when he uses it???? Maybe he can give you a few pointers on how to do things right.......

Just say NO...

I would "politely" tell him, "Hey look, by your own admission you aren't any good with equipment. This stuff costs too much and is too dangerous to operate without experience. I just can't afford to give you that experience. You're good at what you do, but running my equipment isn't one of those areas that you're good at".

Come on... What harm would it do to take him out in the middle of an open field and let him get a feel for it?

It'll humble him a little bit. It'll make him happy. It'll shut him up. The skid steer won't get damaged. He still works for you. Everyone wins, and all it cost you was a little time and fuel.

You don't plop him in the skidsteer and tell him to go clean out the freestall barn, or load the mixer wagon. Maybe once he gets the hang of running the thing, you can give him simple jobs like scooping sawdust so he can build his skills.

People need to crawl before they walk. Expecting someone to be able to go out and run a diskbine like a seasoned pro when they have ZERO tractor driving experience is just plain foolish.

My cousin, fine fellow, best of intentions wiped out a hay rack, a bale elevator and about 15 feet of barn siding 10 seconds after getting on a tractor he had run before. My fault for not instructing him, but inexperienced people who must be constantly instructed are no help at all. Just like the rest of us, learn from the basics and experience and even then there will be mishaps.

I would let a guy like that only pick stones..by hand..alone.

SUPER DAVE
there is no reason to be a hypocrite about this someone gave you a chance at one time,give him a chance..
if he breaks your equipment have your buddy with the weld truck come over and fix it, he fixed your backhoe.
al

MF
I especially liked the story where he got into a snowball fight with the old woman next door and she bested him, SUPER DAVE is full of interesting and funny stories. please do not discourage him i get a charge of some of his lifes predicaments al

Figured you have some kind of smart a$$ comment. That's about all you know how to do. My friend brought his rosebud, that's all.

SUPER DAVE
you bring this on yourself by putting senseless little mundane problems of yours on this board.
when you attack other people for what you do not agree with expect the same in return.
for the life of me i cannot see where the problem is? Man up and tell the man NO!!!!! unless of course your afraid he will leave and you will not have his help anymore.
you always resort to name calling does that satisfy your childish impulses?

The way I handled it several years ago when I took my backhoe to help clean up after a tornado was to tell the guy to get down off there. My insurance does not cover you. He told me he probly had more time on a backhoe than I did. I told him good deal and to go get his own then and get off mine and do it now. I got off the backhoe to see where they wanted me to go next and the feller got on before I had gone more than ten feet.

If someone gets hurt feelings it is their problem not yours. A person has to make a personal decision to have hurt feelings. They can also make the decision not to have hurt feelings as well.

To build on what Dick L and others said, I tell people one of the following:

1. My insurance does not cover my equipment working on other peoples property. It is for personal use only. (when someone wants to use it on their property)

2. I trust you, but every other time I let someone run my equipment in the past, something gets broke. So nothing personal against you, just the people before you ruined it for the rest. If I break it, I can only be mad at myself.

The worst is when someone says what is that? I tell them a tree spade. Oh, think I could borrow it? Borrow it, you didn't even know what it was and you want me to let you loose on a $20K+ piece of equipment? That usually get a dumbfounded and frustrated look.

Rick

DAVE:

Ask yourself this...which is harder, telling him NO, or telling his family what happened when he has that inevitable accident and hurts--or kills--himself?

Once you mull that one over, the answer should be obvious.

Didn't read the other replies.

You don't want him on the big stuff; he's looking to do a little more.

Your 'no' makes good sense.

is there something else new & different you can show him how to do, other than the big equipment? This would keep his tasks from seeming mondane & old, give him new challenges, while keeping him off the spendy dangerous stuff?

Any way to do something to make his day more interesting - that's what he's looking for when he asks to try the skid steer, just something new and challenging instead of the same old tasks - and feel valued and learning? Would be better than a cold 'no' and leave it at that.

People skills.

-->Paul

I have had people want to help and I just told them that when, not if, something went wrong, I wanted to have only myself to blame.

When I had my dump truck, I would hire on by the day with various small excavation contractors. They look at equipment pretty much the opposite. They tell you "Go there get a load of X" You get there there is a Wheel loader, or a LBH or an excavator and nobody around. You are supposed to know how to run it, with out a word of instruction. Or they may load you and say "go deliver this there." So you get there and there is a rock truck or roller blocking the entrance and you better get it moved quick and get back for another load. Or where they told you to dump there is no more room. There is a dozer there and nobody around so you gotta grade the material and get back for another load. I didn't care, I wasn't burning my fuel while running their equipment. Just Git er done, and fast.