Tag Archives: working in Dickinson North Dakota

The Police Are Trying To Encourage People To Leave North Dakota

June 11, 2017UncategorizedLiving in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, police harassment in Dickinson North Dakota, police in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, working in Dickinson North Dakota, would you move to Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

I first came to North Dakota to work in the oil field in May of 2011. For the first two years, I primarily worked around Dickinson, North Dakota. I realized very soon after arriving in Dickinson, that the police were very eager to stop people for DUI.

There is very little to do in Dickinson, North Dakota. Especially if you are not from Dickinson, don’t have friends, don’t have family, and don’t own a home here. There is very little to do here, except go to bars and restaurants. The police drive around and around the downtown areas, waiting to try to get a chance to stop someone.

The police have already driven past the Paragon, the Spur, the Rock, Bernie’s Esquire Club, the Eagles Lodge, and Applebees several times, and noticed what vehicles were parked outside. When a customer has to drive home on Villard, State, or Main, the police already know where the person just left.

I don’t call this policing, or law enforcement. Policing and law enforcement would be to deter and detect crime. This is more like harassment and corruption, starting out with the intention of making an arrest, pulling over as many motorists as possible, and trying to come up with something illegal that you can accuse them of.

Over the past three years, I have written several blog posts about getting stopped by the police in Dickinson, North Dakota, and Watford City, North Dakota. I try to not ever drink alcohol at bars and restaurants in North Dakota, because I know that the police are very aggressive in stopping people for DUI. When I have not been drinking alcohol, and have not been speeding, I have gotten stopped by the police more than several times in North Dakota. The police are hopeful that once they get you pulled over, they will find something that you can be arrested for.

Beginning this spring, the police and Highway Patrol in North Dakota have become much, much more aggressive in trying to stop motorists for anything they can possibly come up with. I would say, that this behavior of the police and Highway Patrol in Dickinson now amounts to violating people’s Civil Rights, and constitutional rights.

I have been a licensed driver for 30 years. In my first 15 years of driving, I got two moving violation tickets, and had one accident. In my second 15 years of driving, I have gotten no moving violation tickets, and had no accidents. I got stopped by the Montana Highway Patrol in March of this year, and I was given a “failure to wear seat belt” citation. I got stopped by the North Dakota Highway Patrol last weekend, and I was given a “failure to wear seat belt” citation. In both of these stops by the Highway Patrol, I was going under the speed limit, and I was towing a trailer.

Let me repeat, and point out again, that prior to being stopped by the Montana Highway Patrol in March of 2017, and by the North Dakota Highway Patrol in June of 2017, I had not had any moving violations or vehicle accidents in the past 15 years. During the past 15 years, I have driven to Florida, through Utah many times, and I lived in Arizona, Texas, Idaho, and North Dakota.

I am writing this blog post because I have had enough of the police in Dickinson and the Highway Patrol in Dickinson trying to stop me for something.

In the beginning of June, I rented an apartment in downtown Dickinson. In mid-June I got stopped by the Highway Patrol when I was towing a trailer from the north side of Dickinson across town to where my new apartment is. The following weekend, I was continuing to make trips to move things to my new apartment.

I was driving west on Villard, driving the speed limit, 25 mph. My police radar detector started beeping just as I was passing through the stoplight at 3rd Avenue. I saw the front end of a Dickinson Police vehicle sticking out beside the wall of the Sax Motor Company building. He was hiding. There were very few vehicles on Villard, it was approximately 9:00 a.m. As I passed the police vehicle that was parked, the police vehicle did not pull out onto Villard.

After I had driven three blocks further, I looked in my rear view mirror, to see if the police vehicle had pulled out onto Villard, and it had not. I did not want to get stopped by the Dickinson Police. I did not want them following me.

Just before I reached the west end of Villard, just before the very last stop light beside the gas station, I needed to change into the left lane, because the road narrows from two lanes to one lane. I didn’t plan on using my turn signal to change lanes, I just looked in my rear view mirror and my side mirror to make sure that there were no vehicles beside me. Whoa!, there’s that Dickinson Police vehicle, he got behind me and he stayed back three blocks behind me, for about a mile, with his radar turned off so that I didn’t know he was there.

Attention Dickinson Police, this is beyond ridiculous, this is going too far. First, you are hiding behind the wall of the Sax Motor Company building with speed detector radar on, and then you are pulling out behind passing motorists on Villard, and then following them for one mile, hoping to be able to stop them for speeding, changing lanes without signaling, turning without signaling, failure to come to a complete stop, not maintaining lane, expired registration, brake light not working, etcetera.

This is not policing and law enforcement, this is harassment, and interfering with people’s Civil Rights, and constitutional rights to travel freely, and not be required to explain and prove that you are not engaged in any illegal activity. I don’t know if the Chief of Police in Dickinson has instructed the police officers to stop, question, and ticket every vehicle with an out of state license plate, or if the police officers in Dickinson have decided to do this all on their own.

Whenever I have to drive in Dickinson now, I have to try to find a way to not get stopped by the police. I have to watch out for where the police are hiding, and watch out for them trying to sneak up behind me. Figuring out ahead of time, that there is a temporary construction zone ahead, where you have to change lanes and reduce speed, and that this is why the police are trying to follow behind me right here, without me noticing them.

To answer a question, why do I have an Idaho license plate on my truck? I have two trucks with North Dakota license plates, and two trucks with Idaho license plates. I own a home in Idaho, which is my primary residence. I have the full amount of income tax withheld from my pay checks by the State of North Dakota, and, I have to pay Idaho income tax too. I pay motor vehicle registration, and income tax, equally to both North Dakota, and Idaho.

I purchased two trucks, thousands of dollars in construction equipment, thousands of dollars in personal property, paid thousands of dollars in truck repairs, and paid $25,000 in rent, all in North Dakota. I wish that the police would leave me the fuck alone, instead of trying to harass me and try to get me to leave North Dakota.

I think that the police are trying to force people from out of state, to leave North Dakota, so that the less able and less qualified North Dakotans will be able to gain employment. Also, I think that this is part of a strategy to get the people in North Dakota back under control.

My New Job In Dickinson, North Dakota Almost Turned Out To Be The Worst Job I Ever Had

June 7, 2017Uncategorizedgetting a job in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

This winter I was working very few hours for a company in Dickinson where I had been employed for the past three years. I looked at all of the internet job posting websites several times each week for job openings in Dickinson all winter.

I wrote several blog posts about very few job openings being advertised for Dickinson, North Dakota. I began looking for job openings in Williston and Watford City. There were very few job openings in Williston and Watford City.

I applied for about six jobs, for work that I had done in the past. I received no response. For one job that I applied for, I had the highest level of State of North Dakota certification that you can get, and a very good work record in that field. I contacted the human resources department of the company, and they couldn’t explain why they would not hire me.

Finally, I applied for a job, for work that I had done before, and both the first interviewer and the second interviewer were very complimentary and enthusiastic about my resume, my work experience, and what I could do at their company. I was very happy to get some acknowledgement. I was hired last week at this company.

I had to buy about $310 of fire resistant clothing, because it was required, and I only had four FR shirts, and no FR pants. I had to go to an all day oil field safety training class, and later that night do some on-line orientation and tests. I was told to show up at 5:00 a.m. Friday for my first day of work.

When I showed up for work at 5: 00 a.m. Friday, I was asked by a manager if I was willing to go work in New Town, two hours drive to the north. I could stay at the Four Bears Casino resort. I said that I could do this. The manager said that the crew truck was already up there, but they would try to find me a truck to drive up there.

In order to not cause the company any trouble, and to have a way to get away if I needed to, I offered to drive my own truck. This was fine with the manager, and it was fine with me. I was told to arrive at the office at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning.

When I arrived at the office at 3:45 a.m. on Monday, there was no one around. Shortly after 4:00 a.m., there were a few work crews loading their trucks, but none of them were going to New Town.

At about 4:30 a.m., a manager arrived, and this manager told me, that the manager that I had talked to on Friday would not be in all this week. I didn’t like this, it looked like things were turning bad. The manager that was present, telephoned the manager that was absent, to ask what was going on. The new instructions were, that I was to drive a very large crane truck from the company yard, up to New Town. They were mad that I was already late. I was mad because I was there at 3:45 a.m.

If I had known that I would have to drive a very large crane truck, I would have gone through this truck on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. It is very dangerous to get in and drive a large crane truck, without checking everything. You need to check the tires, the engine oil, if the boom is locked down, are the outriggers up, what is your height clearance, check the side mirrors, clean the windshield, make sure all the tool compartment doors are closed, make sure all the rigging and equipment is secured. You could get someone killed if everything on the truck is not locked down. The managers just wanted me to get in it and go.

When I got in the crane truck, there was week old spoiled food in a take out box on the dashboard. There were about five other pieces of garbage on the dashboard along with ten other things that should not have been there. The seat was so full of garbage and debris, that I could hardly sit down. There was garbage on the floor boards. Looking out the rear window, I could see an unsecured metal gas can on the top of a side tool box. When I climbed up on to the rear bed, I found two five gallon buckets of grease, on the very back ledge, that would have fallen off on the highway.

I was very, very angry. No company should allow employees to leave a company vehicle like this. I had thought that I was going to work for a good company, but it was obvious that this was a terrible company. They wanted me to just get in this truck and go. There were no keys in the ignition, and I could not find keys anywhere in this truck.

I went back inside the office, and I said that the keys were not inside the truck. The manager had to think a while who might have the keys, and who he could call. I wanted so much to say, “Hey, I don’t want to work here, this place is a mess.”

I had never worked for a company as bad as this. I did not have a company credit card to pay for fuel for this truck. I did not have any drive directions, contact information on who I was meeting and where, and I did not have a hydrogen sulfide H2S monitor which is absolutely mandatory in the oil field.

When I was asking the manager these things, he was kind of irritated. When a young man was found who had the keys, this young man had included the six keys for this truck and its tool boxes, with his personal keys. As this young man was fishing through all the keys that he had, and trying to separate the ones for this truck, he was informing us that a major piece of equipment on this truck that would be required for work in New Town, was not working.

I had to sign an agreement that I would be liable for the multi gas meter that was issued to me, that cost $750. I had already signed an agreement that if I quit prior to six months, I would be liable for the cost of my all day oil field safety class, and the cost of my pre-employment drug test. I had already spent $310 on FR clothing. I never felt so bad about going to work for a company, so disgusted, disappointed, angry, and tricked.

Within about one hour of driving this truck, I had to go through the mountain switchbacks north of Killdeer called “the breaks”. With this type of truck with air brakes, the air brakes alone are not enough to slow you down on steep down hills. Before you start going down hill, you have to shift into a lower gear. If you don’t get the shifter into a lower gear while you are still going slow, and you start to speed up, you never will be able to get into a lower gear, it is too late. It is a good thing that I knew this, because I found that the brakes were not enough to slow this truck down on the steep down hills.

When I made it to New Town, the experienced oil field worker that I would be working with, said that there was no work assignment that we could complete with the piece of equipment on the truck being broken. Phone calls were made to try to get some parts. The client who was expecting work to be completed that day, had to be informed why work could not be completed today. We had to drive a different truck back to Dickinson, to try to get parts.

The experienced oil field worker that I would be working with, he was from the South, like me. He was very knowledgeable and easy to get along with, so I thought that I would try to stick it out a while longer, at least long enough to pay for my oil field safety class and my pre-employment drug test.

How Dickinson North Dakota Is Controlled

May 19, 2017Uncategorizedgetting a job in Dickinson North Dakota, how is Dickinson North Dakota controlled, lack of education in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, people being kept down in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, who controls Dickinson North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

I first came to work in Dickinson in 2011. I left to go work in Texas in 2012. Then I returned to Dickinson in 2013, and I have been working here since then. That is about five years that I have spent living in Dickinson.

Prior to coming to work in Dickinson, I had lived and worked in five different states. I had worked as a laborer, engineer, estimator, inspector, superintendent, project manager, and as a business owner. In my previous jobs, I had operated a backhoe, bobcat, compactor, crane, excavator, forklift, scissor lift, and snorkel lift.

The economy was bad in Idaho where I had been living, and I was coming over to North Dakota to work because of the oil boom. I didn’t know exactly what it would be like, but I had a vague idea. I wasn’t expecting to get my dream job, I was prepared to take what I could get.

I dropped my resume off at some of the oil field businesses on Hwy 22 in Dickinson. The people at Marathon Oil Company were not nice at all. The person at Key Energy Services was fairly nice. An engineering company manager was very interested in hiring me, but he said he had to get approval from the company owners. On the first or second day that I was in Dickinson, I got hired to work at an oil field service company, and this company would allow me to stay in my truck camper on the company property.

Looking back on it now, I was kind of timid when I first started working at this oil field service company in Dickinson, especially considering my previous employment and work experience. It was probably better that I was a little timid, rather than being assertive and confident.

I used my experience to not get hurt, not get other people hurt, to help, and to stay out of trouble. I was able to do everything that I was asked to do, and I was able to help make sure that projects turned out O.K. As time went by, everyone else was getting hurt, making mistakes, and having accidents, but I wasn’t. This caused resentment with my coworkers, and even my manager.

In time, I probably explained to my coworkers, that I had already worked as a superintendent and project manager on many large construction projects in the past. But even though I explained this to them, I don’t think that they comprehended or understood, they probably didn’t want to.

I began to see pretty clearly, that the people from Dickinson did not want to acknowledge that anyone could have relevant education and experience that was greater than what they had. Their way of dealing with someone who had relevant education and experience, was to make believe that it did not exist.

I wrote up above, that when I dropped my resume off at Marathon Oil company, the people there were not very nice to me. I later learned through the years of living and working in Dickinson, that about 85% of the people working at Marathon Oil in Dickinson do not have college degrees in engineering. Not only that, but with my work experience as an engineer, estimator, inspector, superintendent, and project manager on large commercial construction projects, I would have been one of the most senior and experienced people working for Marathon Oil in Dickinson. Because most of the people working for Marathon Oil in Dickinson do not have college degrees, when they look at my resume, they just make believe that my qualifications and work experience don’t exist, and therefore they are much more qualified than me.

The second oil field service company that I worked for in Dickinson, I did my job as a crew worker, then began to do more what a foreman would do, and then more what a superintendent would do, without any acknowledgment or thanks from the manager or company owner. Several times I identified and solved some big problems on projects, that the manager and company owner had not seen or known about. I never received any thanks or acknowledgement.

Working for other companies in Dickinson, it was the same thing. This is what they do in Dickinson. This is a learned behavior in Dickinson, that is standard practice. This is all about controlling people. It took me several years of living in Dickinson to really see what was going on, and then another couple of years to become certain that this is what is going on.

The people who settled western North Dakota in the late 1800s were German and Ukranian Catholics. Western North Dakota was very barren and harsh. The settlers had such a hard time surviving, that they really could not afford to be hospitable to their neighbors. There were so few resources in western North Dakota, that no one really got ahead. The only way that anyone did better than their neighbors, was when their neighbors failed. This is the origin of the belief of people in the Dickinson area, that they get ahead by other people failing.

It became prevalent in the Dickinson area, that people believed that they could be successful by other people failing. My coworkers, managers, and the company owners were not about to acknowledge that I had education and work experience that made me knowledgeable, capable, and useful in getting work done and managing projects. How could they be successful, if I was successful?

Another way of stating this, and explaining how this works in Dickinson, is that there is great effort put into keeping people down. There is this belief in Dickinson, that if you don’t keep people down and try to control them, then how are you ever going to be successful? How are you going to be successful, if you allow other people to become successful? You have got to control people, and keep them down.

Trying to keep people down, is kind of a primitive and outdated belief in my opinion. This is what kings, queens, lords, shieks, and slave holders used to try to do to people. They tried to keep people uneducated and uninformed so that they are easier to control, which is also something that they try to accomplish in Dickinson.

When I was working in Tampa, the company owner required that each of the employees must read books about success and leadership. This would never, never happen in Dickinson. One of the books that I bought was titled “The Power Principle, How To Influence With Honor”, by Blaine Lee. In that book, there were several chapters about getting out of other people’s way, letting them succeed, even if it meant that they would surpass you. I was only 27 years old at the time, and I wanted to get ahead, how could I just let people surpass me I wondered?

I tried doing the things that were described in the book “The Power Principle” and within a year I was a superintendent, with an new limited edition Toyota 4-Runner as my company vehicle, and I was making about 40% more money. Within another two years I was a project manager. Whenever somebody working for me had a good idea or plan, I listened to them, I let them do it, I let them take charge of it, and I gave them credit for it. Work got done better, faster, less expensively, innovatively, and with workers being happier, satisfied, and more motivated. Who do you think got the credit for that? Me, I got the credit. But it all began by me getting out of other people’s way and letting them be successful.

I had a degree in engineering, I wasn’t a business major, I hadn’t read books about success and leadership. Other books that I then began to read that had important information for me to consider were, “The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People”, “Gung Ho”, “The Power Of Positive Thinking”, “How To Win Friends And Influence People”, “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, “Winning Through Intimidation”, and many books on psychology. I realized that there was a lot that I did not know about being successful.

A common theme in many of these books about being successful in business, was the importance of how you treat people. For instance, believe it or not, a business expert explained that it was even more important to treat an employee fairly, than a customer. An employee, in most cases, has more opportunity to affect your business, than does a customer.

Other topics in these books were the necessity of taking a genuine interest in people, to seek first to understand others before expecting to be understood, to be aware of your emotional bank account with people, and the importance of always encouraging others.

The people in Dickinson are so determined to keep other people down, that education and learning is widely discouraged and belittled. In order to maintain control, the company owners and business owners try to hire and promote people with no education. This just perpetuates that lack of education and knowledge in Dickinson. The business owners now, and the business managers now, do not have any business education.

They do not know that you are supposed to treat your employees well, because employees have much more opportunity to affect a business than do customers. They do not know that you are supposed to encourage your employees. They do not know that by allowing employees to come up with good ideas, present them, implement them, and give them credit, increases the efficiency and productivity of their business, and makes the employees happier, more satisfied, and more motivated.

There is a final principle that I will mention called “synergy”. Synergy is the principle that people or businesses working together in a collaborative effort, can accomplish much greater things than they could accomplish working separately.

I will give an analogy to describe synergy. Imagine that you have water, sand, gravel, and cement. Could you make a wall only with water? Could you make a wall only with sand? Could you stack the sand on the water? When you mix the water, sand, gravel, and cement all together, you can make concrete walls, houses, and buildings.

Not only do businesses in Dickinson try to keep their own employees down, they do not cooperate with other businesses. There is no Synergy. For instance, I described in some previous blog posts, that I do self employed construction work in my own business. In the past couple of years, I purchased $1,200 worth of equipment from two locally owned businesses in Dickinson. In the month of April, I talked to these two local business owners about buying more equipment from them, and both of these business owners were very nasty to me.

Why don’t these local business owners in Dickinson see, that if I buy the equipment from them that I need, so that I can complete my projects, so that I make money, that I can then come back and buy more equipment from them?

The town of Dickinson and everyone in Dickinson would be so much more successful if there was Synergy, where everyone makes an effort work together, so that collectively everyone is better off.

Only Seven Jobs Posted This Week On North Dakota Job Services In Dickinson

April 22, 2017Uncategorizedavailability of jobs in Dickinson North Dakota, Catholics in Dickinson North Dakota, economy in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, oil boom in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what are the people like in Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

On Friday April 21, I received a comment to one of my blog posts from a 31 year old local woman in Dickinson, North Dakota. This woman was from a local family that had lived in Dickinson for several generations. She had graduated from the private Catholic Trinity High School in Dickinson. She later married a man who came to Dickinson from out of state to work here during the oil boom, and she later became divorced from him, though he still lives here in Dickinson.

I could not find a woman who is a more perfect representation of local women in Dickinson, coming from a family who has lived here for several generations, being Catholic, and having graduated from Trinity High School, and making the comment, “The oilfield is not dying it’s picking up. Companies can’t find enough workers to fill all the open positions.”

No matter how many articles I write exposing the lies and misinformation in Dickinson, North Dakota, that are spread in attempt to lure people here to take advantage of them, the local people persist in spreading these lies and misinformation. “This oil boom is going to last for the next twenty years.” “Everyone is making $100,000 per year in the oil field.” And, “The oilfield is not dying it’s picking up. Companies can’t find enough workers to fill all the open positions.”

This week in Dickinson, North Dakota, for the entire week, from Friday of last week to the end of the day on Friday of this week, North Dakota Job Services posted a total of seven new jobs this week. Seven new jobs! For the entire week!

April is the busiest time of the year in Dickinson for new employment. Dickinson goes through a cold and snowy winter where a lot of outdoor work is postponed, and then there is a rush in April to hire workers for companies to get their work done in the Spring and Summer. In 2011 through 2013 in Dickinson, during the spring, there were typically thirty to forty new jobs posted each week on North Dakota Job Services. Then in 2014 through 2015, there were typically twenty to thirty new jobs posted each week on North Dakota Job Services. This week there were seven! A huge drop in new job postings!

It wasn’t just North Dakota Job Services in Dickinson. For the month of April 2017, for the entire month up until April 21 on the website CareerBuilder, there were only five new jobs posted for Dickinson, if you don’t include enlisting in the National Guard. Only five new jobs, for the entire month of April, on CareerBuilder for Dickinson!

Several years ago on the website CareerBuilder for Dickinson, North Dakota, there would have been approximately one hundred new jobs posted during the month of April. For most towns the size of Dickinson not any where near the oil field, these towns probably had more new jobs posted in April than Dickinson’s five new job postings.

The local Catholic people here keep lying to everyone to try to get them to come to Dickinson, North Dakota so that they can rip them off on housing, and try to take advantage of them with their evil schemes and plans. But people will quit coming once they find out that there are no jobs in Dickinson.

The businesses here in Dickinson will begin closing, one after another. The commercial warehouses and industrial buildings will become vacant. People will abandon their homes in order to get out of Dickinson. Then the Catholics will begin killing each other and practicing cannibalism. They will all get what is coming to them.

Don’t worry about me, I will leave before the cannibalism starts.

I Haven’t Seen Optimism And Hope For The Past Four Years In Dickinson, North Dakota

April 18, 2017UncategorizedLiving in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, oil boom in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, what was the oil boom like, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

I haven’t seen optimism and hope for the past four years in Dickinson, North Dakota. This has been a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual drain on me. The stress of living here has probably made me age by six years in the past three years.

In the Spring of 2011, when I first came to Dickinson, North Dakota, there was widespread hope and optimism in everyone, both in the local people and in the out of state workers. The oil boom began in North Dakota in about 2007. News of the oil boom did not become widespread across the United States until about 2010.

When I arrived in Dickinson in the Spring of 2011, the local people and the oil industry were saying that this oil boom was going to last for the next twenty years. The local people and the oil industry were saying that everyone was making $100,000 per year in the oil field.

People that arrived in Dickinson with old, beat up $1,000 vehicles, with only $50 in their pocket, were feeling on top of the world, because everything was going to change for them, right then. People that arrived in Dickinson with new vehicles, but were months behind on their payments, and had $30,000 in credit card debt, they were optimistic too, because they were going to be able to turn everything around, right then.

People that arrived in Dickinson in the Spring of 2011, were willing to sleep in their vehicles in WalMart parking lot, in the Tiger Truck Stop parking lot, or at Patterson Lake, because they thought that they would be making so much money, that it would be worth it.

At the bars in Dickinson in the summer of 2011 after work, there were hundreds of workers, and they were all bragging about their jobs, how much money they had made, or how much money they were going to make. I had very little difficulty in getting my first job and my second job in Dickinson in 2011. Both of my jobs had about 20 to 25 hours of overtime each week.

However, once six months had gone by, and it became winter, the optimism and enthusiasm went way down. There were less workers in the bars at night after work, and instead of bragging about work, the workers were complaining about work.

Even though most of the workers had been working a tremendous amount of overtime, and they were initially impressed with the amount of their weekly pay checks, they were no longer impressed. They weren’t becoming rich, not even close. So much money was taken out in taxes. So much money was spent on buying food and drinks at convenience stores that had to last ten to twelve hours at work, then going out to eat at night, and drinking at bars. There was so much eating out at restaurants and drinking at bars because many workers lived in small old campers with no water or sewer hook ups, in company parking lots. If a worker did have an apartment, it cost at least $1,500 per month, plus utilities.

In the winter of 2011, when the temperature became 0 degrees Fahrenheit, most of the workers were disgruntled. Workers could no longer sleep in their vehicles in WalMart parking lot, the Tiger Truck Stop, or Patterson Lake. Small old campers in company parking lots became very cold and miserable to live in. The workers had not become rich over the previous six or seven months, they had saved only a few thousand dollars in most cases. They couldn’t see signing a one year lease and spending $1,500 per month on a small old apartment, with a $250 per month electric bill. They didn’t want to be in North Dakota any more, working outside in below freezing weather.

This was the last time that I saw optimism and hope in Dickinson, North Dakota. By the winter of 2011, most of the workers saw that they weren’t going to make $100,000 per year in the oil field. Even though many of them worked 12 hours per day, seven days a week, so much money was taken out in taxes, so much money was spent on food and drinks, so much money was spent on housing, there was not that much money left over. They were tired of working every day, being dirty and oily every day, eating convenience store food every day, and there being no women and no prostitutes. It was a miserable life, and not worth it.

After 2012, all the workers had the realization that they were being gouged on housing, there was a shortage of women, a lack of attractive women, no availability of prostitutes, nothing to do, no where to go, and the Dickinson police were trying to arrest everyone for DUI, when drinking was the only thing to do in Dickinson. No one wanted to be here, all of the optimism, hope, and enthusiasm was gone.

By 2013, none of the workers were under the illusion that they were going to become rich or make $100,000 per year. The only thing that Dickinson had to offer, was more availability of jobs, with slightly higher pay than the states where the workers came from. This was offset by a much much higher cost of housing, and there being no where to go, and nothing to do in Dickinson. There was no optimism, hope, or enthusiasm, the workers just did their “time”, the same as if they were in prison.

Class And Race Distinction In The South Versus Dickinson, North Dakota

April 9, 2017Uncategorizedculture in Dickinson North Dakota, education in Dickinson North Dakota, engineers in Dickinson North Dakota, hatred of educated people in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, the South compared to Dickinson North Dakota, values in Dickinson North Dakota, what are people like in Dickinson North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

On Saturday I was reading an internet news article about the poor and poverty in Charlotte, North Carolina. According to the article, though Charlotte is doing well as far as economic and growth indicators, the poor stay poor like no where else in the United States. The news article gave several different reasons and detailed explanations of why the poor people stay poor in Charlotte. In being so thorough in the explanations, an uneducated or simple minded reader would not have realized that the writer was saying that this was mostly deliberate.

Yes, wealthy people in the South, politicians, leaders, and people in prominent public and private positions do not promote poor whites, poor blacks, and poor minorities. The wealthy people in the South, do not want to have very much to do with poor whites, poor blacks, and poor minorities, other than to put them to work at physical labor jobs to make them money or get work accomplished.

In the South, there is class distinction, there are social rules, and enforcement of social rules. If you are educated, have good manners, and enough money, you are welcome in any wealthy or upper class social environment in the South. If you lack any of these three things, you are less welcome, but lack of good manners is not forgivable.

It happens every year, in every town or city in the South, that a person arrives who has money, possibly an education, but no manners. This person would be thought of in simple terms as an “asshole” or a “Yankee”, or a combination of these two terms.

The “Yankee asshole” might think that they have enough money to walk over everyone else. This mistake gets made every year. There is enforcement of social rules. They may buy land to build a “McMansion”, but surprisingly to them, never get zoning, use, EPA wetlands, endangered species habit threat, access road, utility easement, building plan approval. They can try to fight it out in court. They can spend a lot of their money on attorneys to argue with other attorneys, and appear before judges who all went to high school and college together. The attorneys and judges don’t mind if it takes a long time and a lot of money.

An “Asshole Yankee” might think that they have enough money to walk over everyone else and start any business they wish. This mistake gets made every year. A local person may sell them or lease them property for a business, or maybe they won’t. Planning, zoning, permitting may even let them start a business. It may have been decided, let them buy the land and building from so and so, let them have their permitting, let this local contractor do the remodeling, let them hire the local electricians, plumbers, carpenters, dry wallers, painters, and landscapers. Let them get this property all fixed up to make their restaurant. Let them hire local people to work there.

The wealthy people’s wives and daughters may want to go to this new restaurant, or whatever business it is, to see what it looks like, what they have, and to try it out. If enough wealthy people’s wives and daughters like a new business, the wealthy people may decide to patronize it and allow it to exist, concluding, “That asshole Yankee wasn’t so bad after all. He created a lot of jobs, and I like his business.” However, if the business owner continued to act pushy, aggressive, rude, and without any manners, his business would be doomed to failure.

So far, I described the enforcement of social rules as it applies to people with money, likely people from somewhere else, because they never would have been allowed to make that money in the South. The news article that I read about poor people staying poor in Charlotte, North Carolina, does have something to do with the wealthy people in the South having control over who makes money and who gets ahead, based on what kind of person they are, and how they behave.

To educated white protestant wealthy people in the South, and to educated black protestant wealthy people in the South, it seems blatantly obvious, that you don’t give a lot of money to uneducated, uncouth, or trashy people. To maintain order, peace, quiet, and civility in towns in the South, the educated, well mannered, well meaning people get to make and accumulate money, and the uneducated trashy naer-do-well people don’t get paid a lot of money so that they can’t cause a lot of harm.

Though I can’t explain it all in this blog post, I will try to give a brief description of what the social order is supposed to be in the South. Husbands and wives in good families, stay together, raise their children, supervise their children, discipline their children, and try to enforce what is right and what is wrong in their families. This means that the husbands and wives don’t cheat on each other, and that no one in the family lies, steals, or uses illegal drugs. It is hoped that the children will do well in school, and go to college if possible. These are basic protestant values. It is believed that if each individual family behaves with these values, the entire community will be a good one. These people are allowed to make money and accumulate money, and are given the opportunity for good jobs, advancement, and education.

However, on the other hand, people in the South who demonstrate destructive behavior such as: alcoholism, illegal drug use, theft, dishonesty, recklessness, carelessness, laziness, criminality, irresponsibility, and stupidity, these people are not looked upon as beneficial to the community. These people are not considered for good jobs, advancement, or education. In the South, it is not desirable to pay these people high wages, this would be like promoting carelessness, irresponsibility, recklessness, and stupidity.

So yes, in the South, wealthy people, people in prominent private and public positions, do try to determine and control who makes and accumulates money, and who gets ahead. They would rather see people from good families, with good protestant morals, ethics, and values get ahead and be successful, rather than trying to equalize their communities by dividing up the good jobs with people who don’t demonstrate their protestant morals, ethics, and values.

To compare this with Dickinson, North Dakota, the local people and the local employers here in Dickinson would rather hire someone who did four years in prison than hire someone who did four years in college. The people in Dickinson, rather than seeing someone who did four years in college as someone willing to work, educate themselves,, and apply themselves, the people in Dickinson see these people as being “no good”.

In Dickinson, North Dakota, two of the largest manufacturing companies in Dickinson, offered me, a degreed and experienced engineer, $18 per hour, forty hours per week, which equals $720 per week. At this same time in Dickinson, concrete laborers and road flaggers with criminal records and no education, were being paid $1,200 to $1,400 per week.

In Dickinson, the way that people are paid and advanced, this is why you have ignorant uneducated workers with a new four dour 7,000 lb diesel truck trying to drive 60 mph in a 25 mph residential neighborhood. In Dickinson, this is why if you went to the nicest restaurants in town, you would be seated next to ignorant uneducated oil field workers telling white trash tales of drunkeness and sex with fat ugly women.

In Dickinson, this is why you have doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals coming to Dickinson and leaving within a couple of months due to having to live amongst dirty, uneducated, ignorant, white trash oil field workers, having to live in a town that functions and works at a low level, and having to work with local nurses and administrators that are a product of an uneducated and ignorant town.

One of the reasons why the local people and local employers hate educated people, and try to hire and promote uneducated people, is the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has nearly a two thousand year history of wanting to control people by telling them what to think and do, and discouraged education of people which would lead to them reading, understanding, and interpreting the Bible for themselves. To the protestants in the South, by all means, please everyone educate yourself, read and understand the Bible for yourself, the more you learn and know, the better you will be. To the Catholics in Dickinson, the less you know the better for them, the less education the better for them, this makes people easier to control, this makes people reliant on what they tell them, this makes people more able to be manipulated.

The Difference Between The Oil Field In Texas And North Dakota

March 20, 2017Uncategorizedcost of housing in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Living in Watford City North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, North Dakota drives people away, reasons why people leave North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, women in Dickinson North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

In May of 2011 I came to Dickinson, North Dakota to work in the oil field, and I stayed for about eight months. In April of 2012, I went to work in the oil field in Texas, and I was in Texas for about ten months.

I have written about two hundred blog posts describing what living in Dickinson, North Dakota was like during the oil boom: extremely high housing prices, housing prices increasing by 400% to 500%, people living in their cars, extremely cold weather in the winter, police trying to stop everyone, shortage of women, lack of attractive women, lack of anything to do, local people being hostile, unfriendly, not cooperative, unhelpful, hateful, mean, and mistreating educated people in every way possible.

In Texas there was not really a shortage of housing. Near the oil fields, they made trailer parks where they needed trailer parks. In the oil field where I worked, the housing prices were increased by 100% to 150%. Near the oil field, I lived in a three bedroom, one bathroom new manufactured home in a very nice RV park that rented for $1,800 per month, (In Dickinson, North Dakota this same manufactured home would have had rent of $3,000 per month.) In the large cities that were involved in the oil industry like Dallas and Houston, housing was very affordable. I lived in a three bedroom, two bathroom, two car garage house, with a big yard, in a nice neighborhood outside of Dallas, and the house rent was $1,000 per month, (In Dickinson, North Dakota this same house would have had rent of $3,500 per month.)

There was a shortage of women in the oil field areas of Texas, however the women that were there did like oil field worker men very much, unlike Dickinson, North Dakota. Also, all the oil field workers that I knew in Texas would sometimes go away for the weekend to San Antonio, Austin, Corpus Christi, or Mexico where they would have a good time, and the women all liked the oil field worker men very much, unlike North Dakota. In Texas, most people valued education, and I was treated with much more respect in the oil field and everywhere else in Texas when they knew I was an engineer, unlike North Dakota.

North Dakota got down to -20 degrees Fahrenheit in Winter. Texas got up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit in Summer. The police tried to follow, sneak up on, and stop all the oil field workers in North Dakota. The police did the same thing in Texas. I would much rather go to jail or prison in North Dakota, than in Texas.

It was harder to get an oil field job in Texas, because there are over 25 million people in Texas, and many people want to work in the oil field in Texas. It was much easier to get an oil field job in North Dakota, because there are less than 1 million people in North Dakota, and there was a shortage of oil field workers. This I believe, is the reason why you often see Texas license plates on vehicles in North Dakota, it had been much much easier to get an oil field job in North Dakota than in Texas.

I would rather live in North Dakota than in Texas, because I don’t like large cities like Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. Large cities bring out the worst in people, pushy aggressive uncaring behavior. And, in the large cities, the wealthy people live so much better than the lower middle class and poor people, that this causes a great deal of discontentment. Partly because of the wealthy people living so much better than the lower middle class and poor people in Texas, I have never seen so much bragging, boasting, showing off, fakery, and pretending to be something you are not, than I have in Texas, which is very sickening and repulsive to me.

Though there is a lack of things to do in North Dakota, a shortage of women, a lack of attractive women, the local people are hostile, unfriendly, not helpful, uncooperative, and they have hatred for educated people, the worst thing about Dickinson was the absurd greed of the property owners, property developers, and real estate agents in trying to take almost all of people’s money for housing. They did not attempt to do this in Texas. This is one reason why the population of Texas is over 25 million, and the population of North Dakota is less than 1 million. North Dakota drives people away.

What Happened To Other People Who Moved To Dickinson, North Dakota

January 25, 2017Uncategorizededucated people in Dickinson North Dakota, how are people treated in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Living in Watford City North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what happens to people who move to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, working in Dickinson North Dakota, would you move to Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

Many people do not like my blog website because I write so many negative things about Dickinson, and they think that these things aren’t true. What I had wanted to do for a long time, was to show what other people write about Dickinson, and what happens to other people in Dickinson, North Dakota.

In this blog post, I want to point out someone else’s blog post about moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, and what happened to them. I found this other person’s blog post by typing into a Google search, “relocating to Dickinson, North Dakota”. I found an article titled “Reflections on Moving to North Dakota in the Winter”. The website address of this article was https://fhsarchives.wordpress.com/…/reflections-on-moving-to-north-dakota-in-the-winter.

The article was written in March of 2010, and was posted to the Forest Historical Society website, by an approximately 36 year old man named Joseph who had recently completed his Ph.D., and had been working as an assistant professor in Michigan. He had recently accepted a position as a research historian at Dickinson State University. In January of 2010 Joseph moved to Dickinson with his cat, his baby, his wife, and his mother-in-law.

When he first arrived in Dickinson, he and his family stayed in a rented town home. The second week he was in Dickinson, there was a blizzard with -30 degree Fahrenheit wind chill, and widespread power outages. This made Joseph see the benefit in owning a home with a fireplace. Joseph wrote that he found a home that had two fireplaces, and that he would be able to purchase this home in the Spring of 2010.

It was surprising to me that in 2010, in the middle of the Oil Boom, that a young man who just completed his Ph.D., would be able to purchase a home in Dickinson. The house Joseph was describing, sounded like it would have cost at least $250,000, because even small older houses cost that much in Dickinson at that time.

I wondered what happened to Joseph. So I looked him up on the internet using his full name, Ph.D., his research historian position, and I found on the internet his complete resume from year 2011. Joseph moved to Dickinson in January of 2010 to accept the position of research historian at Dickinson State University. However, before 2010 was over, he was in down in Houston, Texas as an adjunct humanities professor at Strayer University.

What would make a Ph.D. move his family to Dickinson in January to accept a position at Dickinson State University, find a house to buy, and leave Dickinson before the year was up?

In my opinion, these are the likely reasons: Dickinson State University being backwards and substandard; Dickinson State University cutting a position that someone just relocated here to fill; local people in Dickinson being unfriendly, not helpful, uncooperative, and hostile; being treated with disrespect in every way possible for having a great deal of education.

It was not that Dickinson was too cold, because Joseph had spent approximately the previous ten years in Michigan. It was not that Joseph was not good enough in his job, he had been successful in his previous academic positions, and he later went on to work as an adjunct professor at a university in Tennessee from 2012 to the present 2017.

I have written in many blog posts that the local people in Dickinson are unfriendly, not helpful, uncooperative, hostile, and that they deliberately disrespect educated people in every way possible. I believe that this is what happened to Joseph to quickly kill his enthusiasm about moving to Dickinson, and leave Dickinson in less than a year.

I will give some more accounts about what happened to other people in Dickinson in future blog posts.

Most Unpleasant Winter Of My Life, Here In Dickinson, North Dakota

January 14, 2017UncategorizedLiving in Dickinson, North Dakota, Living in Watford City North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is living in Dickinson North Dakota like, Winter in Dickinson North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakota, would you move to Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

This has been by far the most unpleasant Winter of my life, here in Dickinson, North Dakota. This past mid-November through mid-January 2017, has been almost as bad as being in prison.

In year 2016, I had three jobs at the same time. The first was Sunday through Wednesday for 48 hours, the second was Thursday through Saturday for about another 16 hours, and the third was self employment work that I could fit in on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Year 2016 was the most money that I ever made.

It is not that I don’t have money this Winter, it is that I don’t have very much to do, or anywhere to go, here in Dickinson.

In Florida in the Winter, no one’s life shut down. You could still go to the beach to walk, lay in the sun, roller blade, run, wind surf, ride your bike. You could still golf, play tennis, go boating, go fishing. At night there were all different kinds of good restaurants to go to, all different kinds of night clubs, and bars. You would meet people in every profession, from every state, different countries, a huge variety of people.

In Arizona in the Winter, not many people’s life shut down. Where I lived, in the Winter people went skiing down the mountain and cross country skiing. You could still hike on the south faces of some mountains, or you could drive to Sedona to hike which was twenty degrees warmer. In Arizona, like Florida, you could fill your day with fun outdoor activities, and look forward to going out at night, eating at good restaurants, meeting interesting people, socializing at different bars.

In Tampa, I looked forward to going to eat at a Thai restaurant where the waitresses were very beautiful young Thai women in dresses with long black hair down to their hips, who were very pleasant, friendly, and polite. The food was excellent. I could have eaten at the Columbia restaurant in the old Cuban section of town, Ybor City, and then gone to several of the twenty night clubs in the old buildings and warehouses.

On most Friday or Saturday nights I would drive across Tampa Bay to Clearwater on the Gulf of Mexico to go to the bars and nightclubs. The Turtle Club was built out over the water, the Beach Bar was right on Clearwater Beach. There were many successful business people, celebrities, professional football players, baseball players, and hockey players in Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Pete. There were many beautiful girls and women that would get dressed up when they went out, trying to get attention and look better than all the other women.

After I had lived in Florida and Arizona and was older, I was ready to settle down for a quieter and less expensive life in Idaho. In Idaho, the Mormons were fairly pleasant and decent people, but not glamorous, not extravagant, not partiers. Idaho was more dull, but I was ready for that. In the Winter in Idaho, in the small town where I lived, I looked forward to going to the hardware store, the grocery store, the printer, Artic Circle, and Fiesta Ole, because they had very good looking friendly young ladies working there. The young women were friendlier than was for their own good, they were as friendly as puppies.

In Idaho, I would fill my day doing ordinary things, my self employment work, vehicle repair, home maintenance, errands, shopping, going to the gym, going to restaurants, going to bars. I was never bored or lonely. There was never a day that I did not have more than several things that I looked forward to doing.

I came to North Dakota in 2011 to make money. It has been pretty bad, living here, working here, just existing here. There is not one restaurant, one fast food restaurant, bar, store, location, or destination that I look forward to going to. The majority of women who are from Dickinson, have been raised to be mean and unfriendly, to not take care of their health and appearance, and their lack of education and ignorance makes them tremendously unaware of how primitive and nearly savage like they are. The women from out of state who came to work here in Dickinson, are the trashy, drug addict, mentally ill women from places like Seattle, Portland, Coeur d’Alene, Boise, Rapid City, because they could get a job here with no background check or concern that there was something wrong with them.

When I first came to Dickinson in 2011, several years before there was any indication that the Oil Boom would be over by 2015, there were many different types of men that came to Dickinson, any kind or category of men that you could think of. Though many of them were broke, poor, stupid, or incompetent, there was widespread enthusiasm and optimism amongst them. The enthusiasm and optimism among the men, and some of these men actually being intelligent, talented, competent, and educated, made Dickinson much more positive, upbeat, fun, and entertaining.

As more and more of the people that had arrived in Dickinson came to a more accurate and realistic understanding of how things were in Dickinson, the great enthusiasm and optimism went away. I believe that the intelligent, talented, and educated men were the first to leave Dickinson because they could clearly see how things were going to be, and what was going on. If you were a truck driver, rig hand, roustabout, equipment operator, or electrician, and you were willing to work twelve hours per day, seven days a week, you would make a lot of money in overtime. But, you would have 30% of this money taken out in taxes, you would risk getting killed or injured every day, you would be filthy dirty all the time, you would be cold most of the time, you would pay $1,800 per month for a small apartment, there was no place to eat, there were no attractive women, …does this make any sense? No, for people that were intelligent, talented, educated, or competent, there were other places in the world to work that they could think of.

When the Oil Boom went away in 2015, the employers in Dickinson let their worst and most troublesome employees go first, if they had a choice. I have said before that the people that kept their jobs were the most competent and dependable employees. What you have now in Dickinson are mostly dependable truck drivers, mechanics, equipment operators, welders, and electricians, who are older and settled. But the enthusiasm and optimism is gone from the workers in Dickinson. Many workers wonder when their job will end, and they look at what they have, and what they owe, and they can’t believe that’s all there is.

Throughout Dickinson, the women are unfriendly and unattractive, the local people are both angry about the Oil Boom and at the same time angry that it is over, the workers are not enthusiastic or optimistic about their jobs or being here in Dickinson, there is very little to do, and no where to go.

The Fate Of Workers & People Relocating To Dickinson, Illustrated By Some Statistics

December 21, 2016Uncategorizedeconomy in Dickinson North Dakota, fate of workers moving to Dickinson North Dakota, finding a job in Dickinson North Dakota, information on moving to Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Living in Watford City North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

Here are some brief statistics on what working and relocating to Dickinson, North Dakota is like. I have compiled some numbers from the places that I have worked in Dickinson. I show the number of people employed at each company while I was working there, the number of these people that I worked with who remain in Dickinson to this day, and the number of these people who were severely injured, having a lifelong injury:

1) At my first job in in Dickinson in 2011:

Total co-workers = 10, Number of these people still in Dickinson = 3, Severely injured = 4

2) At my second job in Dickinson in 2011:

Total co-workers = 8, Number of these people still in Dickinson = 3, Severely injured = 3

3) At my third job in Dickinson in 2013:

Total co-workers = 10, Number of these people still in Dickinson = 0, Severely injured = 0

4) At my fourth job in Dickinson on in 2013:

Total co-workers = 13, Number of these people still in Dickinosn = 3, Severely injured = 1

5) At my fifth job in Dickinson in 2014:

Total co-workers = 10, Number of these people still in Dickinson = 7, Severely injured = 0

To summarize and point out something important, since 2011, I have worked with 51 co-workers in Dickinson, 35 of these co-workers have moved away from Dickinson (the majority of them leaving the state), and only 16 of these co-workers have remained in Dickinson. In other words, 69% of the people that I worked with in Dickinson in the past five years have moved away! (The majority of them leaving the state.)

The Chamber of Commerce in Dickinson, North Dakota would never publicize or tell anyone considering moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, that 69% of the people that come to work in Dickinson will leave within five years!

16% of the people that I worked with in the past five years in Dickinson were severely injured.

10% of the people that I worked with in the past five years in Dickinson were arrested and convicted of DUI, that I know of.

At the first two companies that I worked for in Dickinson in 2011, nearly 50% of the workers were severely injured. I was nearly severely injured or killed at these two companies many times.

Yes, I made more money here in Dickinson than I would have where my home is in Idaho. Most of my blog posts describe and explain what living in Dickinson, North Dakota is like: unfriendly, uncooperative, hostile, shortage of women, lack of attractive women, bad service everywhere, extremely high rent, extremely aggressive DUI enforcement, police placing advertisements for prostitutes, nothing to do, and very controlled for many years in not letting anyone get ahead.

Feel free to go ahead and think, ask, or say, “Well, if you hate it so much why do you stay?” I evaluate living in Dickinson, every day, several times a day. Just about every minute of every day, I wish that I were some place else. I think about what the economy is like everywhere that I have been, and everywhere that I can think of. I haven’t used my home and automobiles in Idaho for five years, I would like to be there, it is a nice environment, there are many enjoyable things to do, the people are fairly pleasant, and it is not difficult to date healthy attractive women. I am here in Dickinson because it is easier to make money, though it is harder to live. In order to try to make a home and a living here in Dickinson, I have four trucks, equipment, trailers, motorcycles, mountain bikes, kayaks, and all kinds of stuff here. But is sucks so bad here in Dickinson, that I look at internet job sites to see if I could get a job in Salt Lake City or Boise and make a little bit more money than what it costs to live in a hotel room.

The Rumor, “Everyone Was Making $100,000 Per Year In North Dakota”

October 24, 2016Uncategorizedfalse rumors about North Dakota, how much money did people make in North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Living in Watford City North Dakota, living in Williston North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, moving to Watford City North Dakota, moving to Williston North Dakota, out of state worker in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, wages in North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

In 2011, 2012, and 2013, I read newspaper articles, magazine articles, heard it on the radio, and heard it on television news, that workers from all over the United States were moving to North Dakota and were making $100,000 per year. Getting rich. Making so much money, that they didn’t know what to do with it.

I have lived in western North Dakota for a little over four years now, met many local people and workers from out of state. I have only ever met three people who came close to making $100,000 per year in the oil field. One of them was a drill rig boss, one was a wireline operator, and one of them was a Union electrician.

The wireline operator told me, that a few months, with both working a tremendous amount of overtime hours and bonus pay, he made $15,000 in a month. But in several years of working as a wireline operator, he made $70,000 to $80,000 per year.

About one person in a thousand who came to North Dakota could be a wireline operator. You had to have a commercial drivers license to drive a very large tractor truck that contained about $150,000 in special equipment. You had to be the farthest thing from an idiot or dumb ass, in order to be able to operate and understand the equipment. You had to be able to stay in one spot and work for maybe 24 hours straight or more, being filthy dirty, tired, and cold. And when you were filthy, tired, and cold, you had to load, rig, and detonate explosives. Most people are not capable of doing this job.

The Union electrician that I knew, he and his co-workers would sometimes work seven days a week, ten hours a day, for months at a time. At $40 per hour, that’s $3,400 per week, about $14,000 per month. After working about four months like this, a project would be over. Not all projects were like this. Some projects were fewer hours per week, and only a month or two in duration. Neither my friend or his co-workers were willing or able to work ten hours per day, every day of the year. The best year that my Union electrician friend had was $90,000.

About one worker in a thousand who came to North Dakota was a Union journeyman electrician. About one worker in a thousand who came to North Dakota could be a wireline operator. These two highest paid oil field workers that I ever met, almost made $100,000 per year. So why was there this popular widespread rumor going around the world that all of the people who came to work in North Dakota were making $100,000 per year?

One reason why there was this rumor, was because the reporters and journalists from Los Angeles and New York would get sent to Williston for three days to do a story about the oil boom, they would go to a bar and start talking to everyone, ask people how much money they were making, ask them to prove it. There were many people that could show a one week pay check for over $2,000, including me. Many people worked seven, twelve hour days in a row, I did. But I didn’t do this every week. Most people aren’t going to be boasting in a bar in Williston about making $600 a week, and run and get their pay check to show a reporter. The reporters who got sent to Williston from the west coast and the east coast for three days to cover the oil boom here, seldom if ever saw how things really were in western North Dakota.

I could write several pages about all of the truck drivers that I met in western North Dakota that were broke because they had not been paid for the work that they had done. (I will write about it in a future post.) I could write several more pages about all of the people that I met in western North Dakota that were broke and living in their cars. Why was there this rumor going around the United States that all of the workers who came to North Dakota were making $100,000 per year?

Here is what I think about the reporters and journalists who came to North Dakota. They might not have wanted to be in North Dakota at all, and would have preferred to have been back home in Los Angeles or New York where they were comfortable, and it is civilized. After getting off one of the fifty passenger jets that land in Dickinson and Williston, they were probably ready to do some reporting at the nearest bar. In a bar, a new school, a new prison, you don’t trust the people that run up to you and start talking to you. But the people who came up to the reporters and started giving them the story about how things were, were the people the reporters got their information from, (though these people that came up to the reporters running their mouth might have arrived in Williston a week before.)

The next day, it was probably a big relief for the reporters and journalists to find that the Chamber of Commerce was so willing to give them all kinds of information about the oil boom, and was so considerate to hook the reporter up with a local real estate developer who very graciously drove them around in his Chevy Suburban. Can you imagine how difficult it would have been for a reporter or journalist to rent a car, drive around in the snow in an unfamiliar area, and possibly make a wrong turn into one of those truck stops or Walt-Mart with all of those wretched looking people? Who were those wretched looking people? They looked like they were living in their cars or something. It was a lot easier to be driven around by some business person in their Suburban and be taken to meet their business associates who worked in real estate and development, who provided them with more than enough information to write their story over lunch at a nice restaurant.

It was in the interest of the real estate agents, property investors, real estate developers, and business owners, to get the story out, that everyone who came to work in North Dakota was making $100,000 per year. There was already a shortage of housing, more people relocating here would mean being able to raise housing prices and rents even more. An over abundance and surplus of workers would mean that the wage rates would go down, and business owners would make more money if they could pay lower wages. Newspapers, magazines, radio, and television helped lure and trick people into relocating to North Dakota by spreading rumors that weren’t true.

Is This Confusing To You?

October 18, 2016UncategorizedLiving in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

I was in western North Dakota this week, but not in Dickinson. I had some of my tools with me, but the battery in my saw was not very good, the most it would cut was a 2″x4″. I was making a 2′ wide by 2′ tall floor cabinet for the inside of my utility trailer. I went to a lumber store and asked if I bought a 4’x8′ sheet of plywood, would they cut it in half for me?

I said let me draw you a sketch so that you can see how I want it cut. The young lady was very attractive and nice, I had noticed her when I was looking for the hardware that I needed. She looked at the sketch and said, “O.K., you want it cut in half, and then two inches taken off each side.” I said no. She said, “Well, that is what this says.”

She handed the sketch to a male co-worker, who looked at it and said, “O.K., you want it ripped down the middle, …and then you want it cut up into two foot pieces.”. I said no, just ripped down the middle, leaving me two pieces that are 2’x8′.

Both of them were pissed off at me. Then a third guy who cut the plywood was pissed off at me. They had never seen such a thing, and they didn’t like it at all. It was confusing to them.

I designed and drew bridges for a 1-1/2 years, did the structural detail drawings too. Got the plans permitted in different jurisdictions. I did the structural drawings and detail drawings for ships. I did the loading calculations and structural drawings for houses. I can’t believe North Dakota. I didn’t want to hurt these people’s feelings, so I didn’t say anything, but them not being able to understand that sketch caused me great concern and tremendous doubt about people in North Dakota.

How Dickinson Treats Educated People

September 27, 2016UncategorizedDickinson, North Dakota, economy in Dickinson North Dakota, engineers in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Living in Watford City North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, out of state worker in Dickinson North Dakota, out of state worker in Watford City North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

I have lived in Dickinson, North Dakota for four years now. In the past two years, I have written approximately two hundred blog posts. I have stated that the purpose of this blog is to write the truth about Dickinson, so that people from out of state who are considering moving here will have correct information, so that the people who recently arrived here can understand what is going on, and so that the long time residents can see what other people experience in Dickinson.

My primary motivation in creating this blog website was probably anger. I was angry about the way people from out of state were mistreated in Dickinson. I was angry about how I was mistreated. I was angry about it, I didn’t like it, and I wanted to do something about it.

For at least the past year, anyone, anywhere in the world who wants to know anything about Dickinson, North Dakota, gets their information from me. Anyone who looks up “living in Dickinson”, “moving to Dickinson”, “relocating to Dickinson”, “what is Dickinson North Dakota like”, “people in Dickinson”, “economy in Dickinson”, “women in Dickinson”, “Catholics in Dickinson”, “corruption in Dickinson”, my website comes up at the top or near the top of the search results.

I am happy that my blog website about Dickinson, North Dakota comes up at the top or near the top of the first page of search results so that everyone in the world can know how badly out of state workers were mistreated and taken advantage of in Dickinson. Below I will give one example.

In 2014 there was a well known manufacturing company in Dickinson that had a job advertisement for an estimator, designer, and drafter. I applied for this job. I had a bachelor of science in engineering, had worked for several years and several companies as an estimator, and had worked for several years and several companies as a designer and drafter. This manufacturing company offered to pay me $18 per hour, forty hours per week, which equals $720 per week.

In 2014 in Dickinson, a concrete laborer was paid about $18 per hour, worked sixty hours per week, and made about $1,260 per week. A road construction flagger was paid about $20 per hour, worked sixty hours per week, and made about $1,400 per week.

The difference between a concrete laborer, a road construction flagger, and an engineer is this: an engineer most likely graduated from high school at the top of his class or he would not have been admitted to an engineering college, he had a very difficult five to six years of college which cost anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000, and, a concrete laborer or flagged didn’t graduate from high school.

The majority of people in Dickinson so hate people with an education, that they offer engineers 1/2 the weekly pay of laborers who didn’t even graduate from high school.

Most of the manufacturing companies and other companies in Dickinson disrespect and mistreat degreed engineers in every way possible, because they hate educated people. The people in Dickinson like this, that is why they do it.

Now that the Oil Boom has gone away, Dickinson is going to have economic difficulty because it has very few industries that are not oil field related or oil field dependent. If you disrespect and mistreat engineers, and have done so for years, yes, you will have a lack of manufacturing and industry in your area.

I know how poor Dickinson was prior to the first Oil Boom in the 1950s, and in between the Oil Boom of the late 1970s and the Oil Boom of 2007. You all can go back to growing corn and sunflowers now to earn your living. I want to stick around so that I can see each and every one of you, get what is coming to you, after you mistreated and took advantage of all the out of state workers for the past eight years.

Recommendations For People In Dickinson And Watford City Regarding The Recession

September 21, 2016UncategorizedDickinson, North Dakota, economy in Dickinson North Dakota, economy in Watford City North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Living in Watford City North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, moving to Watford City North Dakota, recession in Dickinson North Dakota, recession in Watford City North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Watford City North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

It is clear now that drilling operations in western North Dakota will not increase in the next six months, possibly not in twelve months, possibly not in twenty-four months. Western North Dakota is entering into a Recession at this time.

More people will continue to lose their jobs, even some city government, state government, and federal government jobs. Wage rates will go down. Very few people will work overtime hours. The longer that oil drilling operations do not increase, the worse the Recession will get. If the Recession continues for a year, there will not be enough jobs for everyone. There will be fierce competition for even low wage jobs.

It will become necessary for skilled trades people from western North Dakota to travel to other states that may have building projects. These skilled trades people sending money back to their families that stay behind in western North Dakota, this money coming into town to pay for rent, mortgages, car payments, and consumer items will help the local economy. The fact that some workers will go away, leave town, and find work out of state, will allow there not to be 100 people applying for and fighting over every single local job.

Now in western North Dakota, the heads of households, moms and dads, need to have a serious family meeting like they may have never had before, with the TV off, phones put away, and everybody being quiet and paying attention. I don’t believe in scaring kids or sharing financial information with kids, but this Recession is going to be so bad, that you are going to need to make your family members understand now. You are going to have to explain to your kids that either mom or dad, or both, may lose their job, have reduced hours, or reduced wages. The family is going to have to do things differently.

The family can no longer waste money on stupid shit. In order to pay for necessities like rent, utilities, and food, the family can not waste money on stupid shit. You have got to let the kids know that they can’t be whining about expensive toys, clothes, trips, because there is not going to be money for that. Not to waste food and utilities. Mom or dad may have to go work out of state. Mom or dad may have to get a second job. Teenage sons or daughters may have to get a job after school and use that money to pay for their own clothes and other things. Mom and dad need to explain the necessity of doing these things, and explain what everyone else in Dickinson and Watford City will go through. Some of their friends will lose their homes or be evicted from their apartments, or have to move away.

You the reader may be thinking that this is drastic. Yes, it is drastic. If this were Idaho, where people have not been making much money, for ever, I would have had little talks with my family all along about not spending money, not one Big talk scaring everybody. But that is what is required now, to scare your family.

Even though ordinary workers in Dickinson and Watford City did not save a lot of money because rents were so high, many workers made a high enough hourly wage to make consumer items like clothes, cell phone, groceries, and gas easily affordable and not significant. Individuals and families in Dickinson and Watford City have gotten used to spending a lot of money every day, because they had a lot of money coming in. If it has not already happened to them, it very likely will happen soon that they will not have so much money coming in. They will have to change their spending habits, drastically.

I would be explaining to my family that his whole thing was crazy anyway.

Looking back on this, people from all over the United States that were having financial difficulties and not making much money where they were, came to North Dakota in hope of getting a good job and getting ahead. It was because of this hope, that they went and paid $1,500 to $2,500 per month for a place to live, thinking that they would still clear enough money to come out ahead. I have lived here in North Dakota now for four years, and I have only ever met people who came here who at best just got by. I have only ever met people who came here who just paid for themselves and their families and just got by. The cold, the unfriendliness, nothing to do, no where to go, no women, and no one got ahead, they just paid for their existence, and now its over.

To make it all worth while, I expect some North Dakotan to offer up, “Nobody asked you to come here.”

Advice To Poor People From Out Of State Regarding Dickinson, North Dakota

June 23, 2016Uncategorizedhomeless in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Living in Watford City North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, moving to Watford City North Dakota, poor people in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Watford City North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakota, working in Watford City North Dakotaname withheld

If you are a poor person living in a different state, and you are considering coming to North Dakota, I have some advice and some warnings for you. If you are White Trash, and you don’t plan on buckling down before you get here, you will probably be stopped by the police your first day here, your information will be collected, and every time a police car gets behind you in Williston, Watford City, or Dickinson, your information will show up from when you were last stopped. They will try to get you for everything and anything that White Trash normally do: open container, DUI, drug paraphernalia, illegal drugs, drugs without a prescription, concealed weapon, failure to have vehicle insurance, and possession of stolen property.

Keep this in mind, I know someone this happened to, and I have read about it being done elsewhere. You can be arrested for possession of stolen property, placed in handcuffs, placed in a police car, be processed at the jail, have your photo taken, post bail, have court dates set, for “possession of stolen property”. After several months pass, and your court date nears, and you have obtained legal representation, and some legal filings have been made, the prosecutor may dismiss the case against you because they can’t prove that anything in your possession at the time of your arrest was stolen. You never did have any stolen property in your possession, but you were acting like White Trash, and the police in North Dakota will try every minute of every day to incarcerate you, or make you leave, they don’t care which. You will see for yourself if you don’t believe me.

If you are a poor person living in a different state, and you want to come to North Dakota, I want to warn you that it will be very difficult in a number of different ways. Because of the number of people who have tried to move to North Dakota since 2007, the local people here and the transplanted people here have no sympathy or mercy for anyone. The local people hate people from out of state now. Any problems that you may have, you will not find help, but you will find hatred.

If you have an older vehicle that is not in good condition, everyone here will notice you right away, treat you with scorn, assume you are White Trash, and expect that you will get out of your car and begin asking people for gas money. And if you do begin trying to tell people your hard luck story, several people will call the police immediately, and then you will have a hard luck story to tell involving the police, (see paragraph two above.) That is how you will be treated, and you need to know this before you come here.

If you have vehicle problems, and you have a credit card, you probably can get your vehicle repaired within a week at a car dealer, but know that it will be expensive. If you expect to not pay dealer prices and take your vehicle to a mechanic, you will probably be told that they can get to your vehicle in six weeks. They don’t want to hear your crying, they have about thirty people just as poor as you, in the same situation as you, ahead of you in line.

There is no homeless shelter in Dickinson or Watford City. God knows the Catholics in Dickinson collectively have way more than enough money to have a homeless shelter, but they don’t want one, because they hate you. You will not have any sympathy or mercy for being homeless in Dickinson, you will have hatred and scorn. You will not be left alone if you try to sleep in your vehicle. The truck stops, WalMart, the parks will not allow you to sleep in your vehicle. Retired Catholic couples in Dickinson like to go out to eat breakfast or lunch, then afterwards go driving through the parks, parking lots, and truck stops to spot people sleeping in their cars, and then call the police to report suspicious illegal activity. In their minds, all people who sleep in their vehicles are naer-do-wells, up to no good suspicious illegal activities, and they are just “cleaning out the trash”.

If you are poor, you will probably not be able to afford an apartment. Even though apartment rents have gone down, a cheap one bedroom apartment will probably be $750 per month, with $750 deposit due at the same time, with probably a $200 utility deposit due at the same time. Do you have $1,700 for an apartment, $300 gas money to get over here and drive around, $300 for a motel for a couple of days, $200 for food, that’s $2,500? You probably don’t if you are poor.

Everything that I wrote above is the truth, and I wanted you to know it before you try to come to North Dakota. I do have some suggestions to try to help you. Right now there are very few job openings in North Dakota. Look at all the jobs listed on the internet website Indeed.com for Dickinson, Watford City, and Williston. Also look on the North Dakota Job Service website for all jobs in Dickinson, Watford City, and Williston. See if there are any jobs that you can do. Get a resume together, even if it is just a job history with employer names and dates of employment. Remember, North Dakota employers are simple, direct people, and they are looking for simple, direct, truthful answers, nothing fancy. Call or contact the job listings that you can do, and be ready to write down names, phone numbers, dates, and addresses. Don’t be a pain in the ass on the telephone with an employer asking a bunch of questions, as if you are helpless to figure things out for yourself, they are not the convention and visitors bureau, they are an employer.

At this time, I would not drive to North Dakota from out of state unless I had one good firm specific offer of employment, and at least two other employers that I had spoken to that were willing to give me a try if I got here. Don’t load up your entire family! If you have any friends or family where you are, or if your spouse has a job, let your spouse and family stay behind, they are much safer staying where they are, and you might have to go back. Probably about 60% to 70% of out of state workers return to where they came from within a year. Just the person who has the job offer needs to come.

Currently in western North Dakota, I know of two older motels that have a monthly rate of $650. This is where you want to stay when you first get to North Dakota. You do not want to get committed in a lease before you know how your job will turn out. Even as you get your first pay checks, do not get into an apartment lease, you need to save these first several pay checks. At your new job, you need to be aware that North Dakotans are slow thinkers, they are taking in the things that you say, and they are trying to think what to do with it. North Dakotans are sometimes determined to not like people, the friendliest they will ever be is when they first meet you, which is not too friendly, but they will take in what you say, consider it, and begin to hate you more and more. Things that you talk about that may seem ordinary, your North Dakota co-workers may be using to convince themselves more and more that they do not like you. So you may have thought that things were going well at your new job, but after a few weeks your North Dakota co-workers may say that you just can’t do anything right, and you will need to find another job. Save as much money as you can from your first pay checks, you may unexpectedly have to go home.

Regional Construction Manager Quit, And I Don’t Blame Him

May 6, 2016Uncategorizedeconomy in Dickinson North Dakota, economy in Watford City North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Living in Watford City North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, moving to Watford City North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Watford City North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakota, working in Watford City North Dakotaname withheld

In Watford City, at my third job, the manager of my manager, recently resigned. He was the regional manager, responsible for all construction activities in North Dakota. I was sorry to hear that he resigned. I did not see this coming. He was in his late fifties, calm, steady, controlled, and having more energy than anyone I know.

I don’t blame him for quitting. The owners of this company have management teams in Texas and New York City, and they were calling daily to quiz and question the managers. The management teams wanted to put constant pressure on the managers here in North Dakota, thinking that this was necessary to make them perform optimally. In my opinion, when this happens, you tell management to get somebody else.

The regional manager here in North Dakota was extremely intelligent, highly competent, very knowledgeable about all areas of finance, business, and construction. I see no way that this company will be able to find anyone equaling his abilities. This is exactly the kind of person you let alone to do their job, because there is no one that could do this job as well or better.

One of the reasons that this company did such a stupid thing as to make this regional manager quit, is because they are from Texas, they are stupid, obnoxious, loud-mouthed, know-it-alls. Likewise, the managers in New York City are also pushy, obnoxious, know-it-alls. I don’t know which is worse, people from Texas or people from New York City.

Why do they know better than the regional manager here in North Dakota? Because of the recent internet and newspaper articles like “Oil Boom Headed For North Dakota! (It’s About To Get Crazy Again!)”. In one of my recent blog posts I explained that this article was a desperate attempt by people in Williston to get people to move to Williston to occupy their nearly vacant new apartments. I was angry about this article because it was spreading misinformation that would cause people harm.

The company managers in Texas and New York City read articles like “Oil Boom Headed For North Dakota! (It’s About To Get Crazy Again!)”, where it stated that the population of Williston was going to climb from 30,000 to 80,000, and new construction was needed right now. How could this be? All the managers in North Dakota have been saying that new construction occupancy rates are at 30%, and that 80% of the oil field workers have already left Western North Dakota.

The managers here in North Dakota tried their best to explain what was happening here. In order to operate a business you have to understand what is actually happening in your environment and have a strategy to succeed in that environment. Right now in North Dakota, it is not the time for property developers to buy more property, to create more subdivisions, to build more apartments, for construction companies to hire more employees, to buy more equipment, because most new construction is at 30% occupancy, and may even decrease.

How Businesses Treat People In Dickinson, North Dakota

April 1, 2016UncategorizedCharboneau Dodge, Dan Porter Toyota, Dickinson Mafia, housing in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, Parkway Ford, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

I want to write a brief, to-the-point post about how businesses in Dickinson treat people. In addition to giving out-of-state people some information, I would like for the Dickinson Mafia to think about this.

The following businesses in Dickinson that I have dealt with have been fair:

Dan Porter Toyota, Charboneau Dodge, Parkway Ford, R&R Repair, have all been fair, their prices were only 10% to 15% higher than ordinary towns not in the oil field. The personnel were reasonable.

Ace Hardware, Macs Hardware, and Runnings have a good selection of quality merchandise. The prices are not high. Mostly, the personnel were O.K.

Most of the stores in the Prairie Hills Mall have normal priced merchandise, the personnel are O.K. The Prairie Hills Mall Cinema is O.K. Herberger’s has nice clothes.

The West River Community Center is one of the nicest indoor recreation centers in the United States. It is moderately priced. In the summer, Patterson Lake is a nice large outdoor recreation area that is moderately priced.

There is a large selection of fast food restaurants that are not high priced, McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, Arbys, Taco Bell, Subway, Dominos, and the King Buffet. There are a few inexpensive restaurants with good food, like Don Pedros.

There are more than enough grocery stores now, three Family Fares, Cash Wise, Wal-Mart, and the Family Dollar. These stores have normal prices.

Having just written the list above, it would seem like everything is O.K. in Dickinson. Most of the things that people want or need, are readily available in Dickinson, at reasonable and fair prices. Except for housing.

What I want to point out to the Dickinson Mafia, is that everyone, everyone who moved to Dickinson felt like they were being taken advantage of, and they were very angry and resentful about it. I explained in several previous posts, that the property owners, property managers, and property investors, had cost increases of approximately 50% after 2007, but they increased the housing prices by 400%.

Even though most of the businesses in Dickinson had fair prices and were reasonable, everyone who moved to Dickinson felt like they were being taken advantage of. If it would not have been for the property owners, property managers, and property investors, many of the people who moved to Dickinson for work would have thought that Dickinson was as good a place as any to stay, buy a home, and raise a family. Instead, most of the out-of-state workers planned on staying here only so long as the oil field work lasted, because they felt like they were being taken advantage of.

Dickinson would have been better off if people thought of it as a place to settle down. Many people made up their mind that they weren’t going to remain in Dickinson because the price of housing was just too high. All of the oil field workers who left Dickinson will remember for the rest of their lives, how cold it was, and how they got ripped off.

Getting Treated Like Shit in Dickinson, North Dakota, Part II

February 1, 2016UncategorizedDickinson Chamber of Commerce, engineering jobs in Dickinson North Dakota, manufacturing jobs in Dickinson North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, pay in Dickinson North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

“Getting Treated Like Shit in Dickinson, North Dakota, Part II”, is a continuation of the previous post. It is not absolutely necessary for you to read the previous post, but it would help.

Just before I returned to Dickinson in 2013, after having lived in Texas for a year, I looked at the North Dakota Job Services website and saw a job listing for an estimator and an AutoCAD drafter at the same manufacturing company in Dickinson. This looked promising because I had several years of experience with different companies working as an estimator, and several years of experience with different companies doing AutoCAD drawings, plus, I was an engineer. I e-mailed this company. The contact person e-mailed me back warning me that it was tough to find a place to live in Dickinson, did I have a place to stay? I said yes, I did, I could stay on a friend’s property in my camper. I don’t think that they liked my friend’s name, or that I was going to stay on his property in my camper, because they didn’t contact me back. I was just being honest about where I was going to live.

I arrived in Dickinson and got a job. About ten months later, I saw the same two job advertisements again for an estimator and an AutoCAD drafter at the same manufacturing company in Dickinson. When you see the same job advertisements come up again after a short amount of time, you know that the employee didn’t work out, and they left either by their own choice, or the company’s. The person who owned the property that I was living on, said to me, you don’t want to work at that company, my cousin is the vice-president, they pay very low wages, and they don’t treat people very well, they have been like that for many years. I said to him that I would be working as an engineer, not as a laborer, it would be different for me. My friend told me, you’ll see.

I contacted the manufacturing company, e-mailed my resume, and an appointment was set for an interview. At the interview, I brought a variety of good, detailed AutoCAD drawings that I had made for several different companies, all of these companies had given me pay raises because my drawings were good, the most recent one in 2012.

I had a preliminary interview with the contact person for about fifteen minutes, then he introduced the vice-president of sales, and the head of the estimating department. They interviewed me for at least an hour. Then the contact person interviewed me for another ten minutes. Then I had to take about a twenty minute IQ and personality test.

I was kind of pissed-off, and insulted. I had a degree in engineering from a very large, well-known, University, with a very difficult engineering program. At this University, those who were admitted to the college of engineering after their sophomore year, only about 40% successfully made it through the program I was in. The education that I had was more than what was required. I had been an estimator for several different companies. In my late twenties, I was completing several $200,000 estimates each week. At the next company I went to, I was completing million dollar estimates. Then I became a superintendent over several $100,000 projects running simultaneously. Then I became a project manager over larger projects.

What the fuck is wrong with these people in Dickinson? Look, I completed a degree in engineering from a good school, I have had a great deal of experience estimating and producing AutoCAD drawings, at this point, what the fuck difference does my IQ make? At this point, when I am in my forties, and have had twenty years of work experience, and much of the work experience has been at a higher professional level than this job, why can’t they understand that I am somewhat over qualified for this job that they have?

Obviously, obviously, I am not that fucking brilliant if I am in Dickinson, applying for an estimator job and an AutoCAD drafter job, any person that is really fucking brilliant is probably working at Microsoft, the NSA, Lockheed, Batel, Bettis Labs, Bechtel Marine Propulsion. I can’t believe this, the pay they are offering is $18 per hour, 40 hours per week, that’s $720 per week. Neither an engineer, nor a good AutoCAD drafter, nor a good estimator would work for $720 a week, yet I am all three of those things, and they think that they need to give me an IQ test to see if I am up to this $720 per week job. Oil field laborers are being paid about $18 per hour, 70 hours per week at this time in Dickinson. I can’t believe this.

I have said it before in this blog, in Dickinson, they will like you more and treat you better if you did 4 years in prison rather than 4 years in college.

The manufacturing company that I interviewed with, every six months, I see the same job advertisements for estimator and AutoCAD drafter, again and again. From my experience interviewing with them, they treat people like shit.

There are several manufacturing companies in Dickinson. For one of them, about every two months, I see the same job listing for welder and electrician, welder and electrician, again and again. I talked to a welder and an electrician who worked at that company, he said they were assholes.

The other large manufacturing company in Dickinson, I keep reading job advertisements that they have for a manufacturing engineer, again and again. I read the job responsibilities and duties. The job responsibilities and duties are so extensive and numerous, that these would be what an engineering department with four engineers would handle, not one individual.

I can make the general statement, that you do not want to work for any manufacturing company in Dickinson. There is a history in Dickinson, of the manufacturing companies not paying people well, and not treating people well. For just about every manufacturing company in Dickinson, I see the same job openings advertised again, and again, and again, especially in the areas of engineering, estimating, and drafting.

From my personal experience in Dickinson, the people at the manufacturing companies have resentment, jealousy, and contempt for people with an education, especially an engineering education. There are about three manufacturing companies and one engineering company in Dickinson that are having difficulty filling an engineering position right now, because I keep seeing the job advertisements. I am not going to apply. For some reason, people from outside this area are not applying either. Dickinson must have a bad reputation, it is well deserved. I think that the Chamber of Commerce in Dickinson, should let people know, that the manufacturing companies in Dickinson do not pay very much, they treat people badly, they especially treat engineers badly.

Pros and Cons for Staying in Dickinson, North Dakota

February 1, 2016Uncategorizedemployment in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

For those of you who have not read my blog before, I am not from Dickinson. I have lived in Dickinson for about three and a half years now.

I write this blog to provide useful, truthful, helpful information about Dickinson, North Dakota, primarily for people from out-of-state. I sincerely recommend that you do not come to Dickinson at this time.

I want to warn people from out-of-state, do not use the last of your money to get here, thinking that you will get a job, and things will be O.K. There is no homeless shelter. The people who live here were not very hospitable to begin with, and they are especially not hospitable now, because they have grown tired of out-of-state oil field workers and construction workers.

If you are not from here, have no money, and have a hard-luck story, the people here will have no sympathy for you. You can freeze to death in your vehicle, and they would not care. If you are down-and-out, have no money, you will very likely not get a job in Dickinson because people will look at you like a bum, a vagrant, an undesirable. Everyone here is sick and tired of people showing up and wanting help. The economy in Dickinson is not doing well right now, there are many people who are from here who are struggling now.

If you are from out-of-state, and have enough money to travel to Dickinson, rent an apartment, and look for work, I want to warn you that you might be better off remaining where you are, or doing more research on other areas of the country. I want to point out some things that you will experience, that you are probably unaware of.

The population of Dickinson right now is probably about 25,000 people. Most of the residents are from here, they went to high school here, and they have a lot of family members here. The residents here don’t really like people from out-of-state. They are suspicious, resentful, jealous, and hateful to people from out-of-state. There are some values and cultural differences, different beliefs, and different educational levels. This is about the third time I am saying it in this blog, if you want to know what Dickinson is like, you need to watch the movies “Grapes of Wrath”, “Deliverance”, and “Planet of the Apes”.

I had to go back and edit this blog post, I have so many stories about interviewing and working for companies in Dickinson, what a nightmare, it was taking up the entire blog. I have to leave out my examples for the time being, about what living and working in Dickinson is like. It is also literally painful and angering, to write about, and re-live my experiences in Dickinson, it is like writing about what it is like to be in prison.

I am going to switch now, and tell you the reasons why I stay in Dickinson. I look at the internet job advertisement sites “Indeed.com”, “Careerbuilder.com”, and “Monster.com”. I search for jobs in the state where I have a home, and I find very few jobs. I find very few jobs, and low paying jobs. It refreshes my memory about how ridiculously low the pay is back there, and what it is like to run out of money. I would be stupid to think that I could go back there now.

I have lived and worked in seven different states. I have been paid well in large cities, but I can’t stand living there. The several areas that I loved living in, I could not make any money. I listen to people’s experiences, advice, and recommendations about where to live. I read news articles about living in different areas. Most of what is published about good places to live, is a bunch of shit, because it is contradictory to what I experienced there and contradictory to what other people who actually live there describe. In short, I can not find any valid information that indicates there is any good place to live in the United States at this time.

In Dickinson, I have my “job, job”, where I am not very busy right now. Then I have my “self-employment job”, where I am not very busy right now. And now, I have my “third job”, which I am just starting. At least I have three jobs. I am better off here, than the state where I came from.

My Forecast For Dickinson, North Dakota

January 18, 2016Uncategorizedblack people in Dickinson North Dakota, homeless in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, wages in Dickinson North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

During the past week I read several newspaper articles and several business journal articles about the price of oil. Each of these articles explained that the price of oil could go down to $20 per barrel. It was explained that in the past four or five years, many oil companies took out large loans in order to grow and expand their companies, with the expectation that they would have high revenue in the coming years. In the past two years, the price of oil has fallen from over $100 per barrel, to $30 per barrel. The oil companies with large loan debt, are having to continue to pump oil in order to pay the interest on their large loans, even though the price of oil is low, which just continues to add to the oversupply of oil on the market, and keeps the price of oil low.

One article explained that there is about $100 billion in venture capital money, that is waiting to buy the assets of oil companies as they go bankrupt due to the low price of oil. Once the oil companies go bankrupt, and oil wells are purchased at prices that are well below the costs that went into drilling them, the venture capitalists will be able to sell oil at $20 per barrel, and make money doing it. When the venture capitalists do this, the price of oil will remain low. The point is, there are reasons why the price of oil will probably remain low for the next couple of years.

If the price of oil remains low, there will be no new drilling, and no new oil exploration in North Dakota. It is already known that there is a large reserve of oil in North Dakota in the Bakken formation and the Three Forks formation, but you have to drill about 8,000 feet deep to get it, drill horizontally, and then fracture it, which is costly. Because of the low price of oil, about 80% of the oil field jobs have gone away in North Dakota since late 2014.

Most of the out-of-state oil field workers went back home when they lost their oil field job. There were very few high hourly wage jobs with a lot of overtime, outside of the oil field in North Dakota. Rent was high, there was a shortage of women, it was cold for about seven months out of the year in North Dakota. Most of the out-of-state workers went home.

I made a joke in one of my past blog posts, that the only people who continued to come to North Dakota in 2015, were people who didn’t watch television news or read the newspaper. I thought this joke was funny, but it actually is happening. There are some really unintelligent, low functioning people showing up in Dickinson looking for work and for a place to stay. The church that I go to is trying to help some of these people that show up at church and ask for help. I have met these people, and they are really difficult to help, because they have never really understood what is going on where ever they lived. For instance, in Dickinson now, a cheap hotel costs about $350 per week. At the temporary labor companies, a worker can maybe get about $350 per week take home pay, if they really, really try, because there is not a lot of work right now. There is just no way an unskilled laborer who is single, is going to make enough money in Dickinson to afford food and housing. There is no homeless shelter in Dickinson, so the people that arrive in Dickinson who are poor, low skilled, low intelligence, have a very, very difficult time, especially because it is -15 degrees Fahrenheit right now. It is really not good when these people show up in Dickinson, because they are just a burden.

There is a second group of people who are moving to Dickinson. There are a lot of black people moving to Dickinson, and at first I could not understand why. If you go to fast food restaurants in Dickinson, like McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, or Kentucky Fried Chicken, you will see many black workers, though the population in Dickinson is about 95% white. If you go to WalMart, you will see many black workers. What was happening was that people in Dickinson did not want to work in fast food restaurants or WalMart, and during the oil boom, the wages in these fast food restaurants and WalMart went up to $15 per hour more or less, in order to get people to take these jobs. To black people that had already been working in fast food and WalMart in other states, $15 per hour was nearly twice what they had been making. Over the past couple of years, word got out about the wages paid in fast food restaurants and WalMart in Dickinson.

I don’t want to work in McDonalds or Burger King, even if you can make $600 per week. But for black people from Minneapolis or St. Louis that had already been working in fast food for years, this is the same job for nearly twice the pay. Also, if these fast food workers have a spouse or a friend that they can split the rent with, they are actually better off financially than they were in Minneapolis or St. Louis.

There have been about 1,000 new apartment units that have been built in Dickinson in the past several years. Right now the occupancy rate for these new apartment units is at about 30%. The rent in Dickinson is still high right now. But because the occupancy rate in the new apartment units is so low, and the oil field workers are not coming back, the apartment unit price is going to drop down much lower, and there are many apartments available. For a time in the near future, the news spread by the black workers in Dickinson will be that there are very high paying jobs in fast food and WalMart, and there are many nice new apartments, with low rent. Many, many black workers will continue to move to Dickinson for the next year.

It will take about a year for the wages in fast food restaurants and WalMart in Dickinson to drop down to about $10 per hour, because of the large amount of available workers, and business being much slower. By that time, the black population in Dickinson will be much higher. I have written in several previous posts, that most of the women in western North Dakota are unattractive and overweight. Black men like unattractive white women who are overweight, and unattractive white women who are overweight like black men. If you don’t know this, try watching the Jerry Springer Show, Divorce Court, Paternity Court, or the People’s Court on television. After several days of watching, “Who that baby’s daddy?”, you will be convinced of this. The next boom in Dickinson, will be a baby boom. Who that baby’s daddy?