How are apprentices treated in your area?

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One day the apprentice filled my hard hat with dry wall spackle dust. I returned from lunch and......

Next day I took a Ramset and shot the apprentices lunch box to the floor...

Of course I was working for someonme else, I would not allow that type of Tom Foolery at my company...Yeah Right.
 
brian john said:
One day the apprentice filled my hard hat with dry wall spackle dust. I returned from lunch and......

Next day I took a Ramset and shot the apprentices lunch box to the floor...

Of course I was working for someonme else, I would not allow that type of Tom Foolery at my company...Yeah Right.
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Okay.

When I worked for Halter Marine in New Orleans all the welders would eventually acquire enough scrap to make our own tool boxes out of 3/8" steel. We'd get oval lightening hole scrap and make it into square parts, then weld it up. One of the fringe benefits of being a welder :)

One of the favorite pranks was the tack weld the lids shut. Or tack weld them to the ground bars on the floor of the fab.

Not that I ever did this ... :cool:
 
allenwayne said:
Guess we all have some stories about putting a helper on the send for a non existent item.Wire stretchers,flour. tube benders, and sky hooks have been my biggest ones anyone else have some better:)I know it was mean but it was a great laugh at the time.When I started my j man had me looking for a left handed screw driver until I realized what he was doing.I was young dumb and full of .................................:)
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I saw an EC playing a prank on an 18 year old helper. He had a 1/4" metal fish tape, might of been 100 or 150 ft long tightly rolled up and taped. He told the kid to cut the tape and let it loose. The kid cut the tape and the tape shot out like a cobra in every direction.Helper received a nasty cut on his lip. EC was not laughing then. That kind of prank can do with out.
 
tallgirl said:
I'm a slow learner because I've never managed to install one properly without twisting the wires first :(
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Stick with it, practice makes perfect.

tallgirl said:
So ... can you tell me where I can buy a pair of left handed Kleins? I've got left handed scissors, you'd think I could find me some left handed Kleins, dikes, strippers, needle nose and everything else.
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I remember when I entered the trade some people talked about buying left handed versions of lineman's pliers, so I went to the supply house and told the counter guy I wanted a pair of lineman's side cutters so he reached back and pulled a pair off the display, I said no, I need a left handed pair, he promptly turned them over. :wink:

tallgirl said:
I have no future as an electrician.
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Why?

tallgirl said:
I'm going to go out in the back yard and eat worms ...
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Hey, I like Red Mullet Roe, so what ever makes you happy. :grin:

Roger
 
roger said:
Stick with it, practice makes perfect.
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I've been twisting wires for wirenuts for about 30 years now. There are some things I just never get good at and don't feel any great urge to work at. The twisting motion for wiring nutting uses the weaker of the wrist muscles when performed left handed and that probably explains it. And I'm very left handed, which means trying to do it right handed would be a mistake.

I remember when I entered the trade some people talked about buying left handed versions of lineman's pliers, so I went to the supply house and told the counter guy I wanted a pair of lineman's side cutters so he reached back and pulled a pair off the display, I said no, I need a left handed pair, he promptly turned them over. :wink:
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There are some tools with very subtle differences based on handedness. Kleins and dikes aren't two of them, but tools that aren't identical when turned over can be a bother since they are all made for right handed people. All of whom will be the first to go when the Revolution comes.

Why?
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I'm teasing.
 
tallgirl said:
There are some tools with very subtle differences based on handedness. Kleins and dikes aren't two of them, but tools that aren't identical when turned over can be a bother since they are all made for right handed people. All of whom will be the first to go when the Revolution comes.
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I've heard this threat before and I ain't skeert. :wink:

Roger
 
You mean some peolple use their left hand for normal everyday things! WHY?

When I was an apprentice a electrician sent another apprentice for an insulated bucket, just so happened the owner was on the job, when the apprentice asked the owner for the insulated bucket, he wanted to know how long the apprentice had been looking for this bucket, (about 1 hour) and the electricians name that asked him to locate said bucket....Some one got chewed out and it was not an apprentice.

And lastly fun and games can and do end up with someone getting hurt and I have seen a few fights.
 
Minuteman said:
There is something deep and dark about you. :cool:
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I'm from the tail end of the generation that was whacked in the back of the head for being left handed. The twelve greatest years of my life were the presidencies of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton when the ruler of the free world (bwhwhwhahahahaahaaa) was a leftie.

I thought the Revolution had come when Clinton won the presidency and we had two consecutive lefties in the Oval Office, but sadly was proven wrong when the forces of evil put a non-leftie in office.
 
I wasn't looking for time honored hazing rituals as mis-treatment. If you can't send a private out for keys to the impact area or a bucket of lanyard grease...

I was looking more for does the system where you are allow someone entering this career field to earn enough to stick with it, and not be jerked around as in not enough hours when he wants them and not enough training when both should be available?

Matt
 
megloff11x said:
..does the system where you are allow someone entering this career field to earn enough to stick with it, and not be jerked around as in not enough hours when he wants them and not enough training when both should be available?
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Several electrical-trade Temp agencies, including Union schools, keep people busy based on the markets they serve. Plenty of electrician / helpers also cold canvas their own work, and negotiate wages directly with the market they serve.

I also believe sponsored-trade school / employer programs keep surviving apprentices busy, but failure rates are higher.
 
megloff11x said:
I wasn't looking for time honored hazing rituals as mis-treatment. If you can't send a private out for keys to the impact area or a bucket of lanyard grease...

I was looking more for does the system where you are allow someone entering this career field to earn enough to stick with it, and not be jerked around as in not enough hours when he wants them and not enough training when both should be available?

Matt
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How much IS enough? I'd have a hard time earning enough to support my lifestyle working for someone. As far as the hours go I don't see how they can jerk you around if you are getting a paycheck.

My helper makes good $$$ but he has earned it for the last 4 years. I had a buddy go to the local Tech HS and try to pick up a Helper, offered the Kid 10/hr and the kid basically laughed at him! Said $$$ was tight and he had to make 12/hr.

This is a kid who does not have any work! Helper/App can make good $$$ depending on Skill/Hustle/Attitude. I would imagine in my area a Help/App tops out around 20/hr but I could be wrong.

Tom

BTW a 1bd apt around here North of the Boston is 800+/mo Not cheap.
Nevermind buying a Home.
 
Davis9 said:
the Kid 10/hr and the kid basically laughed at him! Said $$$ was tight and he had to make 12/hr..
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I have 14 out of 21 on Co Op S.E. MA. $12 is the minimum.
 
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cpal said:
I have 14 out of 21 on Co Op S.E. MA. $12 is the minimum.
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I hear you, but this kid didn't have work. Doesn't make sense to me. He needed the experience, get your foot in the door and then go for the $$$.

Tom
 
I did a quick search on left handed screw drivers and all I found was one about a left handed metric screw driver.Where the reviewer said they loosened all the screws on the left side of a vehicle and to correct it they turned it around in the driveway :).Now come on a left handed screw driver ?????I`ve seen left handed scissors but a screw driver ????? Next thing you will tell us is there are left handed pencils.......
 
allenwayne said:
I did a quick search on left handed screw drivers and all I found was one about a left handed metric screw driver.Where the reviewer said they loosened all the screws on the left side of a vehicle and to correct it they turned it around in the driveway :).Now come on a left handed screw driver ?????I`ve seen left handed scissors but a screw driver ????? Next thing you will tell us is there are left handed pencils.......
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Okay, this is about as off-topic as things can possibly get on this board, but yes, there are left-handed writing implements --

http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/acatalog/writing_equipment.html

I've not seen a left handed screwdriver for sale in a while, but it was a ratcheting screwdriver with the handle molded to fit the left hand to give increased torque, the way that some right handed screwdrivers are.
 
rcarroll said:
IMO an apprentice needs to do a lot of the grunt work. Haul materials from the truck to the site, clean up, learn materials & the like. You know, build character. The best apprentice I ever had was in a ditch chipping at a grade beam to expose all my pipe so we could extend them to gas tanks & dispensers. 6 years later, he was a master electrician with his own shop. I forgot to add that his 1st 2 days on the job was in that ditch. He was tatally green.
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Exclusively grunt work is for helpers. I really get disgusted by the electrician that treats people who aren't as advanced as him like worthless human beings. Everybody has to start somewhere.
The true definition of an apprentice is a person who is interested in learning how to contribute to society using a trade skill. He wants to learn how to install electrical wiring SAFELY. The last thing I want in this world is a man who spent the required hours digging ditches and handing wire nuts to his boss to get his own license. You have to teach these guys what they need to learn.
There is plenty of work out there and licensing requirements are only getting tougher. There isn't any reason to hold down your apprentice when public safety is the issue. Do you really want your "grunt work" helper wiring up a 400 amp main disconnect and deciding how to safeguard a really old house?
Grunt work is necessary, so I'm not suggesting that you shield yourself or your apprentice from it. I am only suggesting that you don't make that you main tool.
In my opinion, your best apprentice that you mentioned was excellent despite your treatment of him. He was already motivated. His ambition carried him through the task because he REALLY wanted to learn how to be an electrician. In fact, YOU got lucky to have a person like him work for you.
 
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jaylectricity said:
Do you really want your "grunt work" helper wiring up a 400 amp main disconnect and deciding how to avoid harmonic problems?
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I wouldn't worry about teaching a helper about "harmonic problems" -they don't exist.
 
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