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  1. #1

    Default It's time to get out

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    When you have to wear gloves sleeves and booties to soft side triplex on a house it's time to get out! When tree trimmers can't touch trees with wire and their job is line clearance trimmer, it's time to get out. Every year there gets a new wrinkle making this job a lot harder. And there is always someone out there who can tell you how to do your job that has never done it, because he can't and won't and doesn't know. I feel outnumbered with those that can't. They somehow got in charge. We use to shake the guys out that can't. Now they have polysyllabic titles and over abundant egos patrolling our right of ways. I just want to do my job with the least amount of bull****. Never seen a primary fire. Never seen anyone hurt on my crew. Doing this everyday for twenty years. I think it has something to do with the corporatization of our industry. Layers and layers of people, government and utilities, too many rules with no common sense. Rules that trump other rules to reduce liability for everyone but the guy doing the work. Yea the paycheck is great. But it isn't worth it anymore. I loved this job when I started because it took a lot of problem solving and intellect. Now that's taken away from me. Some one screaming you need a gut and I am 8 feet clear. Someone saying you need more cones and a couple more signs, when they are the only vehicle that passed in the last 2 hours. We used to do construction, rebuild and reconductor whole circuits. Now I am trying to figure out how to fit an arrestor on a 60 year old pole. So old and she'll rot it can't even hold a staple. Nobody wants to hear there is an infrastructure deficit. It's cheaper to have factories overseas, not only the labor part, but the infrastructure part. A company pays less tax and utilities somewhere else and pay nothing in labor. We have so much overhead now, how many pick ups do we need out there and how many supervisors? We used to have to support a GF, an office girl,'and a yard dog. Now you can't fit your digger and bucket because there are so many pick up trucks in the way. Counting down my days!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    ireland/ Dublin
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    2,119

    Default 33 years

    I've been doing it over 33 years now. The best saying I've ever heard is this " THOSE THAT CAN..DO...THOSE THAT CANT, TEACH"
    IF IT WASN'T FOR BAD LUCK WE WOULD HAVE NO LUCK AT ALL. !

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    1,012

    Default

    Yep but the real problem is - those that can't don't just teach anymore. They are becoming safety men and telling everybody what they can and can't do!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Jersey
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    Default

    [QUOTE=rob8210;143018]Yep but the real problem is - those that can't don't just teach anymore. They are becoming safety men and telling everybody what they can and can't do![/]

    aint that the truth....... In the business 42 years and every day it's another moronic rule thought up and instituted by another moron who has never been in the tools.....

    Bobbo is right, time to get out!!
    "It is not the critic who counts:The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena" Teddy Roosevelt

  5. #5

    Default Every corner buck I have done has been basted

    Quote Originally Posted by rob8210 View Post
    Yep but the real problem is - those that can't don't just teach anymore. They are becoming safety men and telling everybody what they can and can't do!
    For the last three years every corner has been built ******* that I have worked. People are dying because they build a switch with the line and load side reversed. So many people don't care about anything. The old school **** is gone. Three fourths of the utilities don't know their phasing because it has been so ******* built for so long. Just burned out and tired of it all. We lost a lot of knowledge in the last twenty years. The money is too good. And instead of getting the best in the trade. We got the best politickers and bulls hitters. It would be fine if I was left alone and I can do my job. But it's not like that. Who ever can bull**** the best sucks the best wins in this trade. And that's how it is. The men that can do things are gone, they retired. And ai am waiting for the guys who care about doing **** right to win. But they never do. They lose all the time. It's bull****.

    Simple **** America. A is northeast, c southwest. X northwest, z southeast. Feed high, load low. Don't buck. There aren't too many systems that are not bucked. Why? They don't maintain it. Then you go buy your ticket somewhere, politick, suck. . C. Build ******* everywhere. I learned with the old timers and the old guys,are,rolling in their graves.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    South East Texas
    Posts
    3,278

    Default

    Umm and couple that with the latest trend to place people completely outta their depth in supervisory positions and they all have the same ideas that the last 10 of their predeccessors had , implemented, and proved not to work we are going backwards in a hurry

  7. #7

    Default Everyday something gay

    Everyday I hit an old man no no. Let me climb a can pole with a secondary riser with 4 inch u guard. Of all the places they put it, right under the switch ! Too replace the switch and arrestor I had to put my feet between the secondary leads. Stupid. How about under the can or opposite of the equipment like well thought out places. Thank god it was during the day. Feel sorry for the poor guy at night doing that. Everyday see a trap. And it's built by men making 40 plus an hour. That's ridiculous.

    the old rules:

    keep the switch quarter clear. No grounds risers secondary bus.

    underbuild keep the arms above the cans so you can climb to the top circuit.

    coops put cans on the quater opposite of the switch. Every utility has something different, opposite traffic, you nevercan figure it out because everyone is built different.

    First two take offs face the dead end.

    Tap connection faces feed. Feed on top, load low.

    same for bucks and single phase taps.

    A northeast. x northwest.

    99% nobody knows where the feed is anymore. 99% no one knows the phasing anymore. And 100% of the time the answer is rubber gloves and sleeves .

    every man in the trade should follow the rules of dept. of agriculture specs. Too maintain consistency from one property to another. It is the base of engineering, staking, and quality construction. Every apprentice in the country should know the first ten pages of rules regarding of direction of line load and phasing. It would help this industry greatly!
    Last edited by bobbo; 07-13-2014 at 01:14 PM.

  8. Default

    I applied for an apprenticeship and am awaiting the result, so I'm not in the trade yet. There isn't a standardized set of rules that line work follows? How the hell does that work? Electricians have the NEC. Seriously, what dictates how the work is done?

  9. #9

    Default The Trade

    I have to ask, does anyone have to wear a long sleeve shirt under rubber sleeves when rubber gloving? Yes buttoned down all the way when its 95....
    Birdog37: "Remember we're all on a journey in life, the only difference is, some people know it and some people don't."

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Jersey
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    Default

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    Quote Originally Posted by birdog37 View Post
    I have to ask, does anyone have to wear a long sleeve shirt under rubber sleeves when rubber gloving? Yes buttoned down all the way when its 95....
    yes i do...........
    "It is not the critic who counts:The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena" Teddy Roosevelt

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