First job blues

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Re: First job blues

DaveTap,
I tend to agree. The best tool buddy I ever had is a woman. My one and only gripe about her is that she is an exceptional electrician and refuses to believe it.
Minuteman,
I don't care if it was your first button or 400th button he pushed. I believe your response was perfect. "I want to be paid, but I don't want to have to work for it" helpers need to be put in their place, whether it be in the trade or out of it.
 
Re: First job blues

The company I'm working for now has many electricians and helper, so i end up working with many different people. but at the end of the day i would rather work the helpers that want to know, then the electricians who think they know
 
Re: First job blues

Originally posted by Brian D:
...at the end of the day i would rather work the helpers that want to know, then the electricians who think they know
Click to expand...
Brian, nobody would argue with that. Regardless of a persons title of position, we need to give a days labor for a days pay. I believe it all pays the same. Digging a ditch, running a raceway, or landing conductors. What I can't tolerate is somebody who won't earn their keep.
 
Re: First job blues

I agree that a days work is worth a days pay and if someone isn`t going to pull thier weight cut the fat and get someone else.
We all have had THOSE GUYS,lazy or just plain dense.There are still young guys willing to learn heaven knows I have seen alot of my former helpers that are now good electricians.
What gets me is that while our cost of living has skyrocketed our pay rates have not stayed abreast.In fact compared to 1996 dollar value compared to today we have actually lost income.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774473.html
It is disturbing to know that we are getting in 1996 dollar value what was made 15 years ago.
I know in 1973 I started with $1.60/hour and now the min. is almost tripled that but the skilled rate is far from that ratio.There was a time the only trades that surpassed electricians in pay were high rise steel workers and maybe steam fitters.Now we aren`t in the same class we were. ;)
 
Re: First job blues

I had a helper once that comes to mind. About 7 years ago, he swaggled them out of 12p/hr upon hire. He fed them a line of crock about his experience. We were in a huge custom home with plenty of room to "run with it". I told him to roll out the wire and when he gets down to the last 20ft, to roll the remainder out the window and loop the end around an interior stud, so we could double the ends and make 2 panelfeeders at 1 time. He rolled out about 20ft, looped the end on the stud and threw the remaining 230ft out the window of the top floor.
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[ February 17, 2006, 12:27 AM: Message edited by: throttlebody ]
 
Re: First job blues

I have one better 2 dunce cap wearers given to me doing town homes ,I was trying to finish up the 2 units by noon to move into the next two.All that was left was to cut in the service,so I brought them next door to the second floor and told them that I wanted them to drill through the studs marked as I swept a marker across the leading edge of the studs.3 bedrooms a bath and the stairwall no problem right. WRONG they drilled alright through almost every stud there was.The problem was they drilled through the 1 1/2 edge and not the 3 1/2 side :eek:
 
Re: First job blues

i had just got out of the navy and applied for a job with an electrical company--same afternoon they called me and told me to show up on a particular job "see harry" i was told! the job consisted of three story town homes. just harry and i on the job. my father was a plumber so he looked around his garage and found an old leather pouch and a set of 6inch pliers(burnt up real nice) a few worn out screw drivers and a stick rule -- the double numbered one and of course the numbers on the first or exposed section was worn off. harry was up on a ladder and he needed a ruler to measure a pipe offset. he then came down the ladder and used his rule to bend the offset --- the bend was off by six inches???? harry turned to me and asked to use my ruler again! he studied the numbers for a few seconds --then looked at the first section with no numbers left ---- looked at me ---broke my ruler into four pieces and threw them out the third floor window. a while later he was cutting a wire and asked to borrow my pliers --- he whinched a few times as he tryed to cut a #4 copper wire in half ---again, he looked at me and immeadiately thru the pliers out the window!!! next day he showed up in the morning and gave me a new pouch with all new basic tools --- when he retired some 28 years later -- he was working fo me on a 34 story apt. building!!

the first job i ran was two ten story apt buildings with a total of 276 units--- it was romex---nice job and the boss was happy with the results!! 1972
 
Re: First job blues

My first duty as a helper was to help a guy with a fire alarm system. He was working high above the ceiling and opened the j-box. He gets down off the ladder and tells me to go up and uncap the white wire and fold it out of the way. I was told it was not a working circuit. I folded back the white wire, it hit ground and put a three story medical wing into alarm, bells, lights, door closings AHU shutdowns, everything.
After the teasing in the shop I am told he was color-blind. (I told him the wire looked yellow to me!) THAT was an experience!
 
Re: First job blues

You know you are doing right by a helper when he picks up your tools in the morning and carries them to your work area for you...without being asked.
 
Re: First job blues

what a diffrence a weeks make. Those two lazy helpers without me saying anything got themselves fired. I got a helper with 3 months experience 20 years old and outstanding. He stands around a little too often but thats somewhat my fault for not laying him out. Kid pulls wire like theres no tomorrow. And hes willing to learn. I agree with an earlier poster you always remember those electricians who are willing to teach ya. Ive had two that stick out. One because he was an ahole but ive come to resdpect him for installing a work etiquette that will never change. The other was a lot more laid back but not afraid to teach ya everything he knew. I met the latter after a couple years in the trade but I credit him with helping me become a better electrician. So if Dano or scruffy duffy reads this thanks again. AS far as a helper carrying my tools thats one sure way to piss me off. I didnt carry anyones tools and nobodys going carry mine. AS far as good stories how about a 5/16 bit in the drill backasswards its possible. Or rolling up an extension cord forearm style Hopefully Ill never forget those days
 
Re: First job blues

I was replying to the part about a helper carrying tools and it touched me in a bad way, so I backed out and cooled down. It "P's me off even thinking about someone touching my tools. Let's just say when things come up missing, it's a lesson learned.
 
Re: First job blues

I usually agree. The one kid that comes to mind was different though. He asked to borrow my tap set. He broke a tap. He was using it in the proper way right down to lubricating the tap and backing off after every 1/2 turn. He was doing it right and the thing just broke, nobody's fault. He brings it back to me and appologizes all over himself. Next morning, He hands me a new set. Not a replacement tap, a full set. I told him to keep it. He didn't have a full tool list but was buying a couple a week until he had them all. He never touched my tools without asking and even wiped down the tools before putting them back. One day, I was talking to the foreman about the work at the end of the day. The kid put the couple of tools I had left out neatly in my box and brought it up with the other stuff. It meant a lot to me as I had explained to him that he was a helper not a pack mule. I didn't expect him to carry my tools or do anything else I was unwilling to do.
From him, it was a sign of courtesy and respect.
 
Re: First job blues

think you can clone him, Matt ? Make more $$ selling clones than you would beinga lawyer.
 
Re: First job blues

Better hang on to that one while you can Matt. I am just very cautious about my tools after several incidents.

I let a 6 month helper use MY brand new Hilti TE-76 ATC and pointed to the ground rod adapter in the box, explained how to use it and slapped the thing in hammer mode, being a nice guy just to make things easy on him. 20 minutes later, I shut down my auger drill to mark some circuits for him to start, I hear a whining sound coming from the location of the service. I immediately make my way outside to the service location, he is standing on top of a ladder, pressing down on the rod with the Brand New Hilti that I paid for, without the rod bit and in rotary mode.

I had another helper one time blow out and warp the end of my Hilti powder acuated gun by blowing 90+ shots and not oiling it, like instructed to do so.

Another who was cutting blocks for boxes cut the cord, by not paying attention to what he was doing. A brand new 150$ skilsaw with a cord ripped in half and a blade with burnt bladetips.


This thread is like having some sort of Vietnam flashback. I need to stay away from it or I'm bound to have a heart attack. :D

[ February 19, 2006, 04:02 PM: Message edited by: throttlebody ]
 
Re: First job blues

Not to sure how others here feel but over the years I have realized that even with a good helper his/her potentials are only what the leadman allows them to be.All to many so called leadmen to me are afraid to teach.Maybe for thier own fear of them being better.To me if I teach someone something then that is one last thing I have to do personally.We all have an end goal and it takes more than one to get there.
Electricians have the one same problem they all think they are the best but in fact if a day goes by they don`t learn something then they wasted that day ;)
 
Re: First job blues

Ya know, that last sentence was what I use to tell my helpers. By no means did I want to keep any of my helpers in the dark. The more they knew, the less I had to worry about.

I have been stressed to the point that one time a new guy, on his first day, jumped into my van, I asked him what encouraged him to want to learn electrical, his reply was he didn't have a care of learning it, he was just there for his 8 hours. I left the parkinglot without a passenger. :eek:
 
Re: First job blues

It`s sad but some employers make these things happen.I am ashamed now in retrospect but I remember having a useless helper that was also there for 8.I told the boss send him back tomorrow and I`ll have him dig a ditch and then fill it in. :D
 
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