I really could use another set of hands around here

 Right now I am so overloaded with shop work, paperwork, and so many other things that it is just overwhelming.

What I could really use is another set of hands around the shop.

To just hire someone SOUNDS like a simple solution, but it really isn't.

Here are some of the reasons why:

1. Bookkeeping. To hire someone means that there is MORE paperwork to be done on a regular basis. I'd need to keep track of payroll, withholding, unemployment insurance, and workman's comp insurance. That stuff uses up hours of time per payroll period.

2. Training time. Remember what you learned in 5th grade about the apprentice system? A tween or teen would be "bound out" to a tradesman to learn a trade in exchange for some cash (paid to the parents), the kid's education, room & board, and usually a new suit of clothes and set of tools at the conclusion of the kid's training. The training/education time was generally 7 years. Think about that....in the 18th century they didn't expect a new apprentice to be a gunsmith until he had SEVEN years of hands-on training under his belt.

The same lessons need to be learned by someone today, regardless of the fact that we have the internet and power tools. This means any new person hired here would not only NOT produce skilled, reliable work, they would also take up my time in training them. This would slow things down for a while as opposed to speeding things up.

3. Trust. The shop is on the first floor and our house is on the second. The bathroom for the shop is the same one my kids use up in the house. Breakroom space? My kitchen and dining room table. To have someone work here means it would need to be someone we could trust to roam freely in our home and be around our kids.

Years ago we hired a local guy, Jim Lamontagne. From all outward appearances, he was someone whom you could trust. They were a homeschooling family and active in their church. Turns out he was a kleptomaniac too, stole several guns and since he was an employee whose JOB it was to keep track of such things, he was able to doctor the books to make them disappear off of the record so the theft wouldn't be noticed. It was a long, complicated saga. Who knows what else he stole! After a long investigation, he ended up going to jail for six months.

The point is that if you can't assume a guy who is portrayed as the pillar of his community is trustworthy, who can you trust?

It would be great to spread out some of my workload to another set of hands, but these three issues would need to be overcome first.