As a German Machinist & former ExxonMobil IT staff: How realistic is the Texas "Landman" / Oil industry culture?
Posted by RangersV@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 106 comments
Hey everyone,
I’ve been watching the series 'Landman' lately and I’m fascinated by the portrayal of the oil and gas industry in Texas. As a machinist in Germany (and having spent some time in IT/CS for ExxonMobil back in the day), I have a huge respect for the technical side of the business and the rough, 'no-bullshit' attitude that seems to come with it.
My question to the Texans (and those in the industry) here: How much of that 'wild west' energy and the unique professional culture is actually real today? Is it still a world where a handshake and hard work count more than a fancy degree, or is that just TV magic?
I'd love to hear some real stories from the field or the shops.
Greetings from Germany!
False-Cookie3379@reddit
I have friends and family that work for oil companies, both in executive positions and pipeline workers. We’re in Oklahoma though. I haven’t seen the show but the pipeline workers make a lot of money, drink a lot, owe a lot of child support to their children’s mothers, and also have a lot of debt. The cousins I have that work in the office are regular people, nothing exciting. They do logistics.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
Ouch, the debt and child support part sounds like a tough cycle. It seems the 'big money' attracts a lot of people who don't know how to manage it, huh?
G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit
That's most young people though. Go to any town right by a military base and you'll see the Dodge Hellcat totally financed on 29% APR parked outside the strip clubs.
MajesticBread9147@reddit
In my experience a lot of young people don't even buy cars and take transit everywhere, or just focus on repaying student debt.
undreamedgore@reddit
Very different lives.
G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit
Outside of a dozen or so cities relying on transit is not realistic
RangersV@reddit (OP)
Wow, the detail about cocaine being common specifically because it exits the system faster for drug tests is dark. It shows the immense pressure these guys are under to perform for 24 days straight.
And the 'Dodge Hellcat with 29% APR' comment is hilarious but also sad. It sounds like a modern-day gold rush trap: high pay, high stress, and immediately spending it all on status symbols while the family life falls apart.
In Germany, our labor laws are so strict (max 10 hours a day usually) that this kind of '24 days on' lifestyle is basically illegal. Hearing this makes the 'brotherhood' in the industry sound more like a survival bond. Do these guys actually take pride in that 'grind', or is everyone just counting the seconds until they can leave the patch?
No_Town_1181@reddit
Yes, they take pride in the grind. That being said Germany is not a natural resource nation. Yall import this shit usually from Russians doing the exact same thing. It’s a culture endemic to oil
FWEngineer@reddit
You'll get all kinds. I think there's pride in getting the job done, but being away from family is tough, and sometimes the isolation is too. Another difference from Germany, many of these oil fields (especially Alaska or North Dakota) can be hours of driving away from even a moderate sized town (>10,000 people), forget about going to a city. And the winters are truly brutal.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
That's true. It's definitely not for everyone. I like the sense of community shown there. This "everyone for everyone" attitude. And not everyone for themselves. Unfortunately, you hardly find that in Germany.
FunTricky903@reddit
Why are you using AI to write this?
RangersV@reddit (OP)
Fair question! I’m a German machinist and while my English is okay for technical stuff, I use AI to help me structure my thoughts and make sure I’m not coming across the wrong way in a different culture.
I’d rather use a tool to be clear and respectful than post a garbled mess that nobody understands. The curiosity and the questions are 100% mine—I’m just using a 'digital translator' to help me hang out in this sub without the language barrier. Hope that’s okay with you!
GreenBeanTM@reddit
It’s not. Just write it yourself, I promise we can figure it out.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
Okay. Im Sorry. Then i will try to chat with my school englisch. 😅
JimBones31@reddit
You do have mariners.
FWEngineer@reddit
That's part of it. Also these are people that generally travel to the job and spend a lot of time away from the family. I know a guy who works in North Dakota oil fields, they grew up there, he's a mechanic and has a good family, but the stories about the "man camps" where the itinerant workers live are not good.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
What do you mean by not good? Like, that there's chaos there?
FWEngineer@reddit
Not chaos, but cramped living conditions, pretty basic living without much shopping or entertainment options, and of course the drinking that others have mentioned.
voltairesalias@reddit
Some do, some make out like bandits working the patch. But you have to understand the work is very hard 12 hour shifts upwards to 24 days on at a time AND it's one of the last industries that pay really well without any formal education. Cocaine is very common, as is raging alcoholism, because they exit your system quickly which comes in handy with piss tests.
Being absent from your family 3 weeks at a time is hard for relationships, so divorce is very common.
False-Cookie3379@reddit
This. If you’re smart, you can work a few years and create a nice nest egg. A good friend of mine’s husband did this years ago, he worked while she went to college. They were able to buy a couple hundred acres and a nice house. She’s a school teacher and he’s a firefighter.
voltairesalias@reddit
Oh totally. Camp work also means one can buy a house / property anywhere and work the rigs fly in / fly out. So you can buy in a really LCOL area and be set. Lots of oil production is also done in really LCOL areas too.
Consistent_Post_2558@reddit
Yep, this is my experience with it to - the show has a basis in reality, but it’s heavily dramatized to make it entertaining.
Basically everyone I know in the industry is either hardly a functioning adult with a massive drinking problem or they’re pretty white collar/tame.
Original_Ant7013@reddit
I was working with some Texans once. I wanted to show them our products performance in Florida. They were like ok lets go have a look.
To make a long story short they had their own privately owned twin turbo prop plane (Beechcraft King Air 350) with pilots (semi retired commercial airline husband and wife) to fly us there. It was just another day to them.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
That is absolutely mind-blowing. A Beechcraft King Air 350 just for a quick trip to Florida?
In Germany, even if you are a high-level executive at a major company, you’d probably still take a commercial Lufthansa flight or a high-speed train (ICE) to save on the 'CO2 footprint' or just to avoid looking too flashy.
It seems like in Texas, if you have the means, you just build your own infrastructure to get things done faster. That 'larger than life' attitude is something we rarely see over here. It’s like they live in a completely different economic reality!
blackhawk905@reddit
You should check out some of the graphics that overlay the US over Europe, if Oregon is the same location as Ireland South Florida would be in Iraq and Maine would be somewhere like Perm Russia and Texas would almost be touching Libya.
Triscuitmeniscus@reddit
Lol what do you mean "quick trip to Florida?" A road trip from Dallas to Orlando is about 1,100 miles (1,770 km) and takes over 16 hours of driving. It's roughly the same distance as Berlin to Moscow.
Texas alone is almost twice the size of Germany. I'm pretty sure a Deutsche Bank executive isn't taking an overnight train ride from Berlin to Barcelona.
_edd@reddit
That's own an absolutely massive multigenerational ranch with boatloads of oil type money. Or maybe sell an oil company.
I know an oil exec or two and they certainly can afford to do absolutely wild stuff but they mostly just live a very very comfortable life in a big house with their family.
procrasstinating@reddit
Texas is twice the size of Germany with 1/3 of the population. And most of those people live far away from the oil patch. There is no reason to build a high speed train or a big airport in that area.
2Asparagus1Chicken@reddit
Yeah, they don't go very far.
2Asparagus1Chicken@reddit
Not even a jet? Smh
RangersV@reddit (OP)
Haha, the 'Smh' got me! To be fair, some of our ultra-wealthy or top-tier CEOs do own jets, but it’s a very small circle.
In Germany, there’s a huge cultural pressure to stay 'down to earth.' If a CEO is seen flaunting a private jet too much, it’s a PR nightmare. We’re the land of the 'Mittelstand' (medium-sized global leaders), where the owners often drive a normal Mercedes or Audi to the shop floor to stay connected with their workers.
Plus, our country is small. I can cross half of Germany in a high-speed train in the time it takes you to pre-flight a jet! But I guess if I had to cross Texas, I’d be asking for a jet too.
blbd@reddit
Texas is the Bavaria of MURICA. And is famous for having Texas sized egos and getting very triggered by California. California pretty much doesn't even hardly remember that Texas exists.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
So very traditional?
mtcwby@reddit
Nice thing about a king air is their stout and can work out of some strips you don't want a jet on
G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit
I own property in west Texas and I drive through the area. Odessa, Monahans, Kermit, Orla Texas.
I've only seen the first two episodes of Landman, but it's a modern day soap opera like Yellowstone. It's probably hard work but people that work the patch can make some good money. There's lots of people there working contracts that are staying in what's more like temporary housing or barracks than actual hotels, and there's also a ton that are in RV parks.
The "making serious blue collar money in west Texas" combo is a husband who working in the patch and wipe who is a travel nurse living in an RV.
blackhawk905@reddit
It seems little more "grounded" than Yellowstone that seems to have all kinds of insane shootouts, murder, etc
G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit
Taylor Sheridan can pull it back more when he wants to. He wrote Sicario. He also did Wind River and Hell or High Water which are both worth checking out for modern westerns as well.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
The RV park thing is wild. In Germany, we mostly use RVs for vacation, not as a permanent base for work. Is it because the infrastructure in West Texas just can't keep up with the boom?
Tomj_Oad@reddit
Exactly. People are paying 2k to rent a room in a larger house; some ppl pay that for what you'd call a caravan I think. Think a trailer with no motor.
Proud-Delivery-621@reddit
I know it's not the exact same situation, but my girlfriend works for a construction company that pays their employees a monthly housing stipend. Lots of the workers live in RVs because they can take out a loan on the RV, then use the housing stipend to pay off the balance. When the construction job finishes they can move the RV to the site in whatever town the next contract is in, and eventually they'll own the RV outright while still getting the stipend. As opposed to renting an apartment and not getting any asset out of it.
Tomj_Oad@reddit
That's just smart. What it does to the local housing market isn't her fault
RangersV@reddit (OP)
Holy cow, $2k for a room or a trailer without water/power? That is absolutely insane.
In Germany, we have so many regulations for housing and safety that the local government would probably lose their minds if they saw people living in trailers without running water on a large scale.
The YMCA 'grandfather clause' for showers is the most 'Wild West' thing I’ve heard in a long time. It really sounds like a gold rush where the only ones getting rich are the ones selling the shovels (or in this case, a place to park your trailer).
Is there a sense of community among the folks in these RV parks, or is everyone just there to make their money and get out as fast as possible?
MyUsername2459@reddit
Likening the situation to a gold rush is a good way to look at it. It's a relatively short-term boom around mineral wealth that attracts people seeking fortunes. . .and a lot of the same exploitation and stresses and difficulties that happened in gold rushes happen in the oil fields.
Tomj_Oad@reddit
This exactly it
Add in living expenses being paid for many workers and the sky is the limit for rents
AmericanNewt8@reddit
Lol you should see what it's like in DC country. Literally tens of thousands of RVs. The best site in the region is like 10,000 daily workers added to a city of 100K and most of them are literally just fields with nothing more than a gas station for fifty miles.
Rev_Creflo_Baller@reddit
Remember that to drill the well takes on the order of weeks, not years. Further, the drilling equipment is rented, and, therefore, is kept running day and night, every day of the year if possible. The workers stay close by and move to new sites frequently.
My grandfather and father worked the Texas oil patches. By the time my dad was 18 years old, he had lived in 22 places.
G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit
Partly, and party because you can make the RV your own, it's more private than the "barracks" and you can more easily move around to different jobs. I mean, everyone has a big truck (you have to have one to be able to handle all the west Texas dirt roads) might as well get a nice fifth wheeler RV you can move from job to job.
No_Meeting145@reddit
It's not just keep up, why invest in a structure that will take twenty or thirty years to pay off the initial investment when the boom will move somewhere else in ten to twelve years and the town will be filled with empty places where no one can afford any rent much less what you need. I've seen it in Wyoming in the 90s, Dakotas more recently.
Tomj_Oad@reddit
This is the truth. RV campers (just campers, not real RVs) rent for 1200 - 1700 with no utilities. Just a of camper, finding a place to put is up to you. (More money). Then water, propane ...all the travel bills with none of the savings
adultdaycare81@reddit
Only been to Odessa twice. But it seems right on
Agonze@reddit
I work oil and gas in texas. The entire show is bullshit. Some of it made more sense for texas oil and gas in the 50's. But it's 99% bullshit.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
Okay, that's good to hear. Could you explain where the series goes completely wrong?
Agonze@reddit
Well. A landman is very rarely on an actual rig. When they are, it'd mostly be for a shown and tell kind of field trip. Their work never necesitates being in the rig. Most of what that character is shown doing is called a company man (somebody who works for the operator and is boots on the ground for making sure the entire drilling process goes according to plan). Landman work is usually a lot of legal paperwork in an office or dealing with land owners (on the phone or in person).
The "handshake deal" type of culture was a lot more prevalent in the 60's and earlier but hasn't been a thing in decades as that generation has mostly died out. There is still very much a "good ol boy" culture but it's just not as awful as it was 50+ yrs ago due to modern corporate practices.
Crazy personalities are also a lot rarer now. In the 90's you still very much had high functioning severe alcoholic cowboys doing things but they have also mostly died off.
The industry is a lot more corporate/procedural so most of the shit in the show would not fly legally.
It's all a show for dramatic purposes so it's whatever. But there's very little to take away from the show as being realistic.
Sbeast86@reddit
There's not nearly enough meth and strippers tbh.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
Is it really that bad?
Sbeast86@reddit
Strippers will travel from Dallas to West Texas when they need to make big money fast.
Former-Fig-9686@reddit
Here we have another foreigner who saw something in a movie or on TV and believes it’s a realistic representation of how Americans act and live.
From what I’ve seen on TV and in movies about Germany, the men wear Lederhosen and the women wear Dirndl. They spend a lot of time drinking beer and doing dances in which they slap each other. In other movies the Germans are wearing Nazi uniforms and arresting people. I wonder: is that how Germans really live?
KriegConscript@reddit
"americans don't know anything about other cultures...anyway i'm going to interpret america entirely through its fiction"
RangersV@reddit (OP)
Sorry if I'm stepping on anyone's toes. I just want to get a real picture of how you live and work there. That's why I'm asking.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
Touché! Point taken. I promise I’m not wearing Lederhosen while typing this, and I definitely don't have a Nazi uniform in my closet.
That’s exactly why I asked! I knew the show was a 'soap opera' version, and I wanted to hear the real stories to break those stereotypes. And to be honest, the people here from Texas and Oklahoma have been amazing—they've shared stories about $9k moving costs, 24-day shifts, and the 'Wild West' reality of the oil patch that are way more fascinating than anything on TV.
So, thanks for the reality check on the German stereotypes—now, back to the oil fields!
Leucippus1@reddit
About as realistic as Yellowstone, as in Texas is a place that exists. Otherwise, it is just another Taylor Sheridan boomer-slop.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
As a German, I can't say much about Yellowstone either. I'd have to fly there myself to find out.
1000StickersGalore@reddit
West Texas landowner here. I only own a couple acres and no mineral rights, even so I have to deal with landmen frequently. I share a last name with one of the bigger farm families in the area, so I get contacted frequently by the "newbie" landmen hoping to score their big break. Some of them are respectful and leave me alone after the initial contact, and others are quite persistent, apparently believing that I was lying about not owning any mineral rights.. And there was one guy that assumed I was an idiot and tried to convince me that "my" property was worthless. That was a wild conversation, I ended up blocking him.
The oilfield equipment shown being blown up or being worked on in the program is all old and outdated. It's been years since I saw a company run equipment that old. The worker lifestyle is real enough.
My wife and I watch the show to see what we recognize and what we can call BS on. For example: Football game allegedly in Odessa. In the background, you see low mountains. Dude, there are no hills around Odessa, much less mountains of any size. It's fun to watch for that reason.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
You say "a few acres" so simply. It would be a dream for me to "own" land. But that's not possible in Germany. Because even if I build a house that's approved by the city, the next stupid neighbor can simply sue against it. And if the judge likes it, I lose my house.
CG20370417@reddit
Landman is fiction, and dramatization and hyper real, so to speak. But its not "wrong".
In The South, a lot of shit still gets done with a handshake.
Outside of corporate America (and even within it) its very much still there. I worked field commercial insurance claims for a decade out there. Ive worked claims all over the US. In The South, you can still get a handshake agreement with a contractor, standing on a roof, throwing out numbers--you go back and back into it on your computer estimating programs, everyones numbers agree we settle the claim and move on. In NY or FL or CA it can be months of negotiations to reach an agreed price, and its all over email where the estimates basically count out the number of nails you will need for that 4" x 4' strip of drywall that will go in the window sill.
Landman is interesting in that it dives into "Saturday Night" but almost entirely avoids "Sunday Morning". One of the great ironies of Texas is how it can be all about shakin' your tits and ass, being the quarterback fuckin the prom queen, knockin her up with 2 kids by 21...but then its also the capital of Southern Baptism and dry counties and the puritanical rejection of hedonism. And as often as not, the same people in the bar on saturday are in the pews on sunday.
a11encur1@reddit
I live in west Texas. Experience sometimes matters more than a "fancy degree"- it depends on what you are attempting to do. There is quite a bit of the "wild west" spirit out here- those oil rigs are sometimes put in extremely remote places so you have to be willing to be out in the elements with the wild animals. I would say over all,out here, "your word" aka your reputation means most; are you an honest person to do business with? Do you keep your promises? Are you willing to work hard to get the job done? Those are the things that matter most out here.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
Old school, that's how we'd describe it around here. A man's word is his bond. No nonsense. I like that.
Jolly-Bowler-811@reddit
Well, I can tell you that the odds of a newly widowed, new mother that just came in to millions of dollars in oil money deciding that she wants to go be a bartender are vanishingly low.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
I've thought the same thing.
bazilbt@reddit
I've known lots of people who worked there and I've been through the area. It's just less dramatic. At one point in the show the kid gets assaulted by the family of one of the workers who are killed in an accident. I can't imagine that happening.
Turd_Fergusons_@reddit
Crazy shit happens in the oil fields, but Landmen don't do much of it. They mostly, but not all (think field Landmen) are just researching historical records and reviewing old contracts to see who actually owns the mineral rights under a property. For example, a grandfather might have been a farmer 100 years ago. He had ten children for simplicity's sake. None of them wanted to become farmers so he sold the land but did not sell the mineral rights. When he passed his children each inherited 100 acres of mineral rights. A landman spends most of their time researching and trying to contact these children, or their children so they can obtain a lease.
Djknymx@reddit
I live in Midland, where the show takes place. I don’t work in the oil industry, but know people who do. Some aspects of the show that portray roughneck work are pretty of accurate, but not everything. For example: Billy Bob Thornton’s character is more of a foreman than a landman. Landmen tend to spend a lot of time in the office, while occasionally visiting property owners. At least the ones I know. The safety standards on oil rigs are pretty high in real life, while in the show they are pretty relaxed.
All in all though, Landman is just a run of the mill tv drama set in an oil town.
EnvironmentalCrow893@reddit
My stepmother was a Landman from her early twenties. Picture a pretty, petite blonde about 5 feet four and one hundred ten pounds.
It’s not all about macho swagger. Solid technical knowledge, good communication skills, emotional intelligence, and confidence were important.
She did have to put up with a lot of sexist nonsense, especially back in the 1980s.
Supermoon62413@reddit
Like everything on TV; take it with a grain of salt.
That said, Taylor Sheridan does a better job than most at trying to portray his stories as “real” as possible. There is. IMO, the essence of the show is real. You could probably find all that out there and meet people just like that if you work in that industry.
Btw, Cattleman’s steakhouse in Fort Worth is 100% worth it!
Abu_Everett@reddit
The character is based on a combination of people, one of whom is Cody Campbell. He’s done several podcasts and interviews about the level of accuracy.
The funniest part to me is how Ali Larter is associated with Texas from this show and Varsity Blues while she is New Jersey.
FallenEagle1187@reddit
Isn’t he the athletic director for Texas Tech?
lilstrath@reddit
He’s a donor
Abu_Everett@reddit
That’s like saying King Kong is a big gorilla. He’s a mega donor, the driving force behind their team big $ players last year.
LABELyourPHOTOS@reddit
If FOX news produced a drama it would be this. Is aimed at conservative viewers and not trying to be realistic.
It's literally funded by the oil industry.
Tomj_Oad@reddit
Dude. Where do you live you think you can make this judgement? I actually live here and a one room efficiency apartment is 1500 bucks and up
First and last plus a month security deposit means 4500 (minimum) bucks up front to move in. That excludes utility deposits and upfronts as well as moving expenses.
Moving in this town means around 7 to 8k if you get cheap moving from friends Other wise add another thousand.
8 or 9k to switch apartments
This ain't no manufactured news and if you believe that you're already rich watching FOX or Newsmax
And if that's you? You're out of touch and the biggest part of our problems today
busbythomas@reddit
Let us not forget the $20+ an hour pay at McDonalds
Tomj_Oad@reddit
That won't pay 2/3 of your living expenses
LABELyourPHOTOS@reddit
WHat are you talking about?
Did you mean to send this to me?
Handshake and hardwork?
RangersV@reddit (OP)
Wow, things got heated quickly! I didn't mean to start a political debate, but the numbers Tomj_Oad is dropping are a massive reality check.
$8k to $9k just to switch apartments? That’s not 'drama,' that’s an economic nightmare. It’s wild to see how a show can be seen as 'propaganda' by some, while the actual cost of living in those towns is crazier than anything on script.
Whether the show is dramatized or not, the financial pressure you guys are describing in West Texas sounds very real and incredibly tough. Respect to anyone grinding through that.
yellowlinedpaper@reddit
Yeah I watch a few episodes. In one episode he’s ranting that oil is king and electric will never the able to take over, the next he’s ranting it’ll run out. Watching it made me feel ugh
KriegConscript@reddit
every taylor sheridan show makes me feel ugh
my conservative mom looooves them
8amcoffeepoops@reddit
I almost got shot outside a bar in west Texas for not understanding Mexican and oil worker drinking culture. Our waitress understood what was going on and she was kind enough to sneak us out through the kitchen.
magicfungus1996@reddit
As a midwest American who also watched landman, I too am wondering.
No-Conversation1940@reddit
As a Midwest American whose sister married a roughneck, it's real, down to the divorce and tacky behavior during the proceedings.
voltairesalias@reddit
Not American, but heavily involved in that side of the oil industry in a past life.
Most landmen have to deal with religious families more than drug dealers or money launderers. But the drinking, the craziness, all that can be fairly accurate. I've met some raging alcoholic landmen in my time on both sides of the border. But most of the job is just rubbing shoulders with religious / conservative farmers and their families. It's a lot of the same skill cross over as real estate agents IMO.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
That’s a great perspective, thanks! The comparison to real estate agents makes a lot of sense. It sounds like the 'soft skills' and building trust with conservative families is actually the biggest part of the grind
I guess the 'raging alcoholic' part is where the TV shows get their inspiration from, but it’s interesting to hear that the day-to-day is much more about navigating local community values. In my job as a machinist, it's all about the technical specs – nice to hear how different the 'human' side of the industry is.
voltairesalias@reddit
Yeah it's a very front of house aspect of the industry. Trust is a very important commodity for a landman. If you get in right with the right land owners you're a very valuable asset and you'll be rewarded very handsomely. BUT it's an easy position to get the brunt of anger from jilted land owners too. Landmen can take a lot of abuse.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
The 'brunt of anger' part sounds intense. It makes total sense that if you’re the face of a big corporation wanting to drill on someone’s ancestral land, you’re the first one they yell at.
In my world as a machinist, if something goes wrong, I can usually point at a technical drawing or a faulty material. But for a landman, it seems there’s no blueprint for an angry landowner. You just have to stand there and take it.
It really changes how I view the 'swagger' these characters have in shows like Landman—it's probably less about ego and more about having a thick enough skin to survive the day. Thanks for that insight, especially regarding the 'front of house' aspect!
voltairesalias@reddit
In my experience it's mostly like some farmer had a bush league upstream company not clean shit up way back when so blame anyone associated with oil for it. Alot of them also feel like the landman is just out to rip you off so they view them as suspect.
Good conflict resolution skills are essential for sure.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
That makes so much sense. It’s like inheriting a machine that was poorly maintained by the previous shift—you’re the one who has to fix it, but you also get blamed for it being broken in the first place.
The 'historical distrust' aspect really adds a layer of depth to the job. It’s not just about the deal on the table, it’s about cleaning up the reputation of an entire industry. Respect to anyone who has the patience for that kind of conflict resolution. It sounds exhausting but fascinating!
voltairesalias@reddit
Yeah in this context it would be more like having a plumber do a bad job and then blaming a carpenter for it. They just see "oil" and don't differentiate between landmen, drillers, testers, or even different companies.
I worked as a well tester for many years and got chewed out a few times from land owners pissed off over pipeline crews making a mess, or drilling companies not cleaning up access roads in time for seeding. It's just part of the game.
groundhogcow@reddit
I grew up with dad as an oil man (not in Texas) and the show is a lot of fun.
It's kind of fast forward. I season sees as much action as a man can see in 10 years, but they kind of things you have to deal with are real. You also get quite an array of people with a lot of different personalities. Swindlers, roughnecks, accountants, egos and crooks. Dad taught me how to balance them all before I was 10.
Dad's dead. Screw the oil business. It sucks. I'm and enginear.
aliendepict@reddit
My dad does this, he has never been kidnapped by the cartel. It is a lot of drinking and debt out in the oil industry though. Its a drama so one season is probably a careers worth of fuckups to deal with its not near that exciting.
ApollyonFE@reddit
Sounds interesting, I should watch the show 🤔
Extension-Respond289@reddit
oil and gas culture in Texas is def a trip, like way different from regular jobs. the landmen I know are super chill but also kinda ruthless, it's a whole vibe lol. what do u think of the show's take on it?
Fearless_March_1791@reddit
man, the oil scene in Texas is wild for sure. met some landmen before and they really do have that whole rough and ready vibe going on lol, like a different world from IT stuff. how’s the show been?
Quirky_Commission_56@reddit
I was born and reared in a border city in Texas and when I was a kid the oil refineries never shut down unless there was a spill, which was rarer than when it actually snowed in the desert. No idea how similar it may be to “Landman” because I haven’t watched it.
research1975@reddit
I (From Texas) have a former fraternity brother who is a landman. He has a college degree and spends the vast majority of time sitting in an office going through legal documents. He is polite, mild mannered and as far as I know has not fought cartel members or put out oil well fires. That said oilfield workers can make a lot of fast money without a lot of formal education so imagine blue collar workers with disposable income. Some are surely wild and some are just boring hardworking family men.
Keep in mind the show is a highly dramatized soap opera that takes place within the oilfield, it is not a documentary. No one would watch a show about a guy at a desk who looks at lease agreements all day or a guy who drives a truck delivering steel pipes to drill sites for 10 hours a day.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
Haha, fair point! I guess a show called 'The Lease Agreement Analyst' wouldn't exactly be a Netflix hit.
It's good to be reminded that for every dramatic moment on screen, there are thousands of guys just doing their 10-hour shifts or pushing paper in an office. But your point about 'blue collar workers with disposable income' is key—that’s usually where the best (and craziest) stories come from anyway
As a machinist, I know the feeling: People see the cool sparks and the giant CNC machines, but they don't see the hours spent deburring parts or checking tolerances. Every industry has its 'boring' reality behind the hype. Thanks for keeping it grounded!
Opening-Ad-2769@reddit
To a degree. The people I knew in the business were in the oil fields. It was rough work and they drank a lot and chased a lot of women.
This was back in the 90s though.
As for all the business and executive level stuff probably but in a much less dramatic fashion.
RangersV@reddit (OP)
The 90s in the oil fields must have been like the Wild West on steroids. It seems like that era really cemented the legendary 'roughneck' reputation that shows like Landman are still leaning on today.
It’s interesting that you mentioned the executive level being less dramatic now. I guess with global corporations and HR departments, even Texas oil magnates have to play by the rules eventually—at least a little bit. Thanks for sharing that 'vintage' perspective!