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Brotherskeeper
10-07-2012, 05:37 PM
At our service center we rotate troublemen. He will be on-call for the week. Than the next guy takes the week after that. The rotation is about 5 guys long. I'm just an ap-3 getting ready to be trained on shooting trouble. The trouble men share one truck. I constanly hear them fussing and complaining about the "state" or "condition" of the truck after each guys rotation. Spit cups, Dirty cabs, fuse-links everywhere in the bed, junk and h-tap boxs in the floor of the bucket, not stocking the truck for the next man in rotation. Any of ya'll deal with this? or do most of u troublemen have assigned buckets? Any good stories about this problem?

reppy007
10-07-2012, 07:01 PM
When you mention service center,I usually associate that with a utility...which makes me wonder why they are so cheap....5 men using the same truck,rotating...Im sure Ill be commenting on this more when I have a couple of flashbacks....we had the dented door stories,broken or cracked windshields stories,chicken left under the seat stories...often left on purpose to intentionally upset another lineman .....the dent and windshield stories came up more...with nobody admitting to why or how they occured....good luck...I have a feeling you will have more stories than anyone in the future about sharing a truck with 5 other guys..once again good luck.

Lineman8641
10-10-2012, 08:04 PM
Many years ago we used to "share" Trouble trucks. But it was really never more than 2-3 guys sharing 1 truck. But we used to have 14 Troublemen in our district. Since all of the cut-backs in the late 90's, we were down to 7 T-men, but have slowly crept up to 10. And that's with quite a few more customers to serve. Anyway I got a little off of the point. Nowadays each T-man has their own bucket. Most of us take them home and start and end our day at our homes. It works out so much better when you have your OWN truck. There are a couple of trucks that I would dread using when mine is in the garage for service. Some you'd need to wear surgical gloves before using the computer or even handling the mic for the radio. And heaven forbid if you needed a fuse or connector. I'm sure Reppy will attest to the idea that a Troubleman needs to carry things that you may only use once in a blue moon. I think we've all been "dumpster" diving a time or 2 seeing what the line gangs have tossed after upgrade jobs.

loodvig
10-11-2012, 02:48 PM
We were not able to take T trucks home because we shared them. And yes one guy would **** up the truck and the next man had to clean it. And it never had any fuel in it. Or stock! So you spend the first hour, of your shift, cleaning it. One guy would throw all used bulbs in the back to break them. It was a nice 2" of broken glass! Same guy would write up the truck on his last night before his weekend off so I would have to use a spare. The truck would be in the garage! I don't miss that *******!

T-Man
10-13-2012, 10:28 AM
We had our own and an allowance to park and hook up to a block heater. I had a van, but now almost everyone has a bucket due to the 24.9 system.

reppy007
10-14-2012, 11:21 AM
I would guess the biggest problem would be that you would have to check your bins before every shift,see whats there and whats not,and you may have to check all the fluids cause the guy before you might be the type that was simply too lazy to top off or check the oil.

The Riddlar
10-25-2012, 10:59 AM
At our service center we rotate troublemen. He will be on-call for the week. Than the next guy takes the week after that. The rotation is about 5 guys long. I'm just an ap-3 getting ready to be trained on shooting trouble. The trouble men share one truck. I constanly hear them fussing and complaining about the "state" or "condition" of the truck after each guys rotation. Spit cups, Dirty cabs, fuse-links everywhere in the bed, junk and h-tap boxs in the floor of the bucket, not stocking the truck for the next man in rotation. Any of ya'll deal with this? or do most of u troublemen have assigned buckets? Any good stories about this problem?

This is an age old ?.From my perspective,starting as a Learner in 1977,I have been at both ends of this ?.My answer to you,is You Do Your Best to KEEP YOUR TRUCK clean.It might become a majority,that way weeding out the culprits.:)

T-Man
11-02-2012, 08:57 AM
When I first started as a Troubleshooter, we had Chevy Biscayne Station wagons as Trouble cars. The lower senority guys had to share a pool vehicle. Depending on who a guy followed determined what condition the wagon was in when you took it. It didn't pay to cry about it, you just took the time to clean and restock. When they asked why you weren't out working I'd explain and you can bet in the next safety/operating meeting something would be said. This would adjust the problem for a short time and soon the slobs were back at it.

Don't forget the pay is the same shooting trouble or portering a vehicle.:cool:

Pootnaigle
11-02-2012, 10:04 AM
Ummmmmmmmmmmm we hadda dodge pick up with a slant six n auto matic transmission ummmmmmm no air n no power roll up winders n a bench seat
it was shared tween 2 of us n it n it always neded stocking ummmmmmm the guy werkin the midnite shift wuzsposta do that but more often than not he wuz busy takin a nap er sumpin i felt ummmmmm I felt lucky if it had fuel innit

reppy007
11-02-2012, 10:22 AM
Midnight man napping..come on Poot,Ive been on that shift...Ive had a truck that was given to me that was trashed out from the start....but what else do you give a man who has tuesdays and wensdays off.

T-Man
11-02-2012, 10:41 AM
No it had a crank window, and the rear was full of line materials,ropes,blocks,fuses etc. We had two buckets in a pool and a scissors lift for street lights. Reppy we climbed most everything back then, ask Poot, or Tramp, or Lood, I bet thy didn't start with buckets on every crew. I'm talking early 70's

reppy007
11-02-2012, 10:43 AM
We had an old boom truck,it wasnt a 4X4 but it had a reach about 70 feet,one of those that had a long jib that swinged out.....good for transformers that were hung 50/55/or 60 feet above the ground near freeways....funny seeing a 25 kva hung 55 feet up on a pole.

T-Man
11-02-2012, 12:23 PM
Lighter tubs hang higher. The fatboys need a chubby stick and not so much altitude, longer streamers coming down.

reppy007
11-02-2012, 12:37 PM
No it had a crank window, and the rear was full of line materials,ropes,blocks,fuses etc. We had two buckets in a pool and a scissors lift for street lights. Reppy we climbed most everything back then, ask Poot, or Tramp, or Lood, I bet thy didn't start with buckets on every crew. I'm talking early 70's

Yea,when they gave me a pic-up I guess they knew what they were doing,the other guys had buckets,if they had that pick up they would have just called for a bucket.Its transmission seemed half way shot,it leaned to one side,it had no room....but it was free and it worked,and it was easy to hide too :D

Pootnaigle
01-07-2013, 01:48 PM
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm nwe had dodge slant six trubble trucks no power no air and vvery little room my onlyest way up was to climb ummmmmmmmmmm a small buckw3t treuck wquzza werk wagon fer shure

flashman
01-28-2013, 01:21 PM
We share trucks alot even the regular line gangs use them if they aren't used foir the shift. The big issue is what the OP stated in his post. Why do you have to work in a pig sty? Clean up after yourself and stock the truck with what you used. Health issues are a big deal with close quarters flu, and colds not to mention other illnesses that occur with multiple users on any equipement. Time for some guys to grow up and take responsibility for their enviroment. Spit cups are filthy with your body fluid and should be thrown out after your shift. I've jumped into my truck and thought a six year old kid was behind the wheel eating cotton candy. I fault the company for lack of enforcing housekeeping standards. Trouble shifts are aggravating enough without having to clean and stock your truck before and after your shift.