Comfort Zone Freak Out

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Cletis

Senior Member
Location
OH
We have an old timer who were trying to get into commercial (from residential). He said he wants to learn it but a few times on some commercial stuff he gets all confused and panics and "Freaks Out". Starts cursing, yelling at people, and has walked off the job a few times. Were making him look at blueprints and I'm starting to think he can't read. He is mellow and confident at residential but on certain more technical commercial stuff he just gets all uptight. Pigeon hole him in resi or slowly force him to learn commercial ? He is over 60 yrs old
 
If he can't or won't learn, there's not much you can do about it. You may be right that he can't read or has a lot of trouble with it; I've met a couple of old-timers that could barely read but man could they work (as long as they knew what to do). You could call a couple of adult literacy groups and ask about the signs of not-reading and how to work with the person; they can be very self-conscious about it. It might just take a quiet non-confrontational conversation to work out a way to give directions without embarrassing the fellow.

Long ago a place I worked at had a maintenance man that couldn't read. His supervisor would take the work orders and read them aloud as if he always did that ("Hmm looks like the 5th floor mens room sink is plugged up, oh, and there's a light out on 7.") and the MM would hear and remember. Guy had been there for years, did good work, and was liked by the tenants.
 

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
We have an old timer who were trying to get into commercial (from residential). He said he wants to learn it but a few times on some commercial stuff he gets all confused and panics and "Freaks Out". Starts cursing, yelling at people, and has walked off the job a few times. Were making him look at blueprints and I'm starting to think he can't read. He is mellow and confident at residential but on certain more technical commercial stuff he just gets all uptight. Pigeon hole him in resi or slowly force him to learn commercial ? He is over 60 yrs old

If he is a residential electrician then he is not qualified to be a commercial electrician just because someone put him to work on a commercial job. There is a learning curve. He should be working under the supervision of someone that can teach him.

Why would someone assign him the "more technical" jobs when they know he is not qualified? He would have to learn just like a young apprentice.
 

rt66electric

Senior Member
Location
Oklahoma
I worked with a old-timer

I worked with a old-timer

I often worked with one GRUMPY older service-call journeyman.

I soon realized that nearly everyday he would get CRANKEY around 9:00 AM.

Then he would be fine for the rest of the day, After a while, everyday, near 9:00 I would give him an excuse to be mad, and go work elsewhere till noon, then we were buddies again for the rest of the day.
 

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
Works both ways though, I was trained in custom homes and small commercial, after I got my license I would sometimes have this commercial electrician help me do some resi work. For some reason he could just never grasp the concept of romex and I would have to walk him through it time after time and he was a very sharp guy.

I think that everyone has a portion of the trade that they are good at, I never could understand control panels, but I know there are guys out there that excel at that. Some guys can't bend pipe, or pull wire or feed wire, etc.

If he's a really good resi guy, I probably would just leave him there.
 

Cletis

Senior Member
Location
OH
Its usually when blueprints are around and when other guys around are goofing off and on their cell phones. When people start slacking it makes him think he has to get it all done himself and freaks out.
 

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
Its usually when blueprints are around and when other guys around are goofing off and on their cell phones. When people start slacking it makes him think he has to get it all done himself and freaks out.

So you have several guys that goof off and are on their cell phones when the prints are trying to be applied to the job at hand and you think the guy trying to get the job done is the problem????
 
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