TheLuckyDucky
12-22-2008, 07:48 PM
Well anyways, I finished my plumbing course back in May/June and had been working since. My teacher had a connection with a company and was more than happy to shoot my name to him and give me good feedback because I am always willing to help, im friendly, nice and just a general happy camper.
Up until roughly 8 weeks ago today, I had been working with that same company.40 hours a week here, 65 here, 25 there, its a service company and seeing as how im 19 first year plumber I dont really get any steady hours, but prefer service to construction for the learning reasons.
Anyways, the jist of it is like this; The company themselves was very money grubbing and greedy. I remember times I was working with one of the guys and he would take naps when the customer wasnt looking/wasnt there/couldnt see, another time where a guy would say go more slowly I want to be here all day and get my hours worth for a dinky 3 hour job, and just so on in that kind of a fashion.
Needless to say I guess I didnt get along with them too well, as an apprentice I try to voice my opinion and if I dont understand something ill ask (To which I got mocked about later on infront of the boss!). I recall times where I would get hours cut because I was never the driver of the truck, or getting hardcore yelled at for opening a demolition container because I cant throw toilets 10 feet high, and arguing with another guy because he was making side job deals instead of doing his jo and the boss called me and asked where we were etc (But when he called, it always showed up as private number so how was I to know???).
Truely, the list goes on, and it especially didnt help that I was probabaly 1 of the 3 honest people there out of the 8-9. Other times I watched them add fittings/parts/materials to a receipt, or add additional hours for no reason.
Many things contributed up to my morals being hurt, but still, I wasnt ready to pack it up and quit!
I had spent too much time and WAYY too much effort in school (Full time, and doing full time work aswell, without car transportation options!) and had already been practicing this trade for maybe a year or so beforehand, on and off with my now ex's brother.
Finally comes a bad day (Well, worse than any other so far....). My boss asked me if I could chip in a few hours on a Saturday. I reluctantly said yes, but also informed him that I had to go somewhere important and couldnt be late or anything around 1pm. He said that was fine and it was official.
I showed up at the shop at 7am, the 2nd year plumber was there for me waiting in his truck. Nothing against him hes very smart and deserves everything he's earned up until this point, especially considering the hours and everything he put in, but boy has he back stabbed me so many times, even though I actually thought he was my friend for a while.....
We went off and had a simple job to unblock this stack in a triplex. It was a call back because I had been there with a different one of the guys before to do the EXACT same problem, and knew myself it wasnt done right but couldnt say anything against the 50 year old Italian whos been to jail and deals drugs right?
Happy to say, but we were going right this time around and fished everything, and even gave it a couple shots down the vent stack to clear anything that might have gotten down there. All was good, and at the end we decided we were going to re-do the underneath of a kitchen sink since it was VERY old and needed to pass the mini fish (Super Vee) down it to clean it up.
The piping that was there already was galvanized in inch and a half. I took out the sawzall, cut it, all was going good, I left myself enough room to slap on a fernco and redo it in PVC (Because thats what we use where I was). As I put on my fernco, I notice that the glavanized pipe that is there goes down a little further, hits an elbow (90 degrees) and is now wobbly and loose in its threads. Great!
I let my elder know, and he has no choice but to go downstairs and open up a section of the ceiling to access it further down the line. Since it was a Saturday and no suppliers were open we agreed to cap it for now and come back another day throughout the week.
I go back upstairs for whatever reason, and as im working under my kitchen sink (I believe I was just checking for a potential leak??), the kitchen sink ITSELF collapses and comes crashing down on me. FANTASTIC! Turns out when the sink was installed, the contractor who did it cut the hole too big and simply using caulking to compensate whatever difference. Good thing the appartment was rented to an elderly lady whom never really needed to fill the sink up too much or it would have collapsed, or imagine she leaned on it because she fell????
Ohh yes, sounds bad so far but it gets worse!
I let my elder know and he goes up looks at it and tells me to go downstairs and cut the galvanized pipe at a section he marked in the hole he made so we can cap the **** head and get out of there because I was pissing him off... I go down, start cutting, LONE F***ING BEHOLD, I knick an inch an a quarter heating pipe :(.
Water starts spewing everything while im on this ladder, got my sawzall in one hand, the other trying to hold the water in with all my possible force. Put the sawzall in between my legs, squirm my hand into my pocket, get my cell out and call the other guy. I let him know, he comes wlaking down as if theres all the time in the world, looks at it says, calls me a dumb ****, walks off and closes the mueller.
To spare details after that that really I suppose arent important, I pretty much ****ed up good. I cant really point fingers since it all WAS infact me, but gee sometimes I wish things would turn out better, seems like ive had really bad luck for the longest time now, and so here I am, 8 weeks later, havent had any jobs since, nobody is hiring, its off season and my reputation is fairly ruined. Im thinking about going to Calgary?
As for right now, im just working on getting my drivers license, have a couple of exams I have to re-do that I didnt pass in high school that im studying for, and well.....Recently took a bulls**t job at a Jean Coutu in desperation of money and start next Monday........
Up until roughly 8 weeks ago today, I had been working with that same company.40 hours a week here, 65 here, 25 there, its a service company and seeing as how im 19 first year plumber I dont really get any steady hours, but prefer service to construction for the learning reasons.
Anyways, the jist of it is like this; The company themselves was very money grubbing and greedy. I remember times I was working with one of the guys and he would take naps when the customer wasnt looking/wasnt there/couldnt see, another time where a guy would say go more slowly I want to be here all day and get my hours worth for a dinky 3 hour job, and just so on in that kind of a fashion.
Needless to say I guess I didnt get along with them too well, as an apprentice I try to voice my opinion and if I dont understand something ill ask (To which I got mocked about later on infront of the boss!). I recall times where I would get hours cut because I was never the driver of the truck, or getting hardcore yelled at for opening a demolition container because I cant throw toilets 10 feet high, and arguing with another guy because he was making side job deals instead of doing his jo and the boss called me and asked where we were etc (But when he called, it always showed up as private number so how was I to know???).
Truely, the list goes on, and it especially didnt help that I was probabaly 1 of the 3 honest people there out of the 8-9. Other times I watched them add fittings/parts/materials to a receipt, or add additional hours for no reason.
Many things contributed up to my morals being hurt, but still, I wasnt ready to pack it up and quit!
I had spent too much time and WAYY too much effort in school (Full time, and doing full time work aswell, without car transportation options!) and had already been practicing this trade for maybe a year or so beforehand, on and off with my now ex's brother.
Finally comes a bad day (Well, worse than any other so far....). My boss asked me if I could chip in a few hours on a Saturday. I reluctantly said yes, but also informed him that I had to go somewhere important and couldnt be late or anything around 1pm. He said that was fine and it was official.
I showed up at the shop at 7am, the 2nd year plumber was there for me waiting in his truck. Nothing against him hes very smart and deserves everything he's earned up until this point, especially considering the hours and everything he put in, but boy has he back stabbed me so many times, even though I actually thought he was my friend for a while.....
We went off and had a simple job to unblock this stack in a triplex. It was a call back because I had been there with a different one of the guys before to do the EXACT same problem, and knew myself it wasnt done right but couldnt say anything against the 50 year old Italian whos been to jail and deals drugs right?
Happy to say, but we were going right this time around and fished everything, and even gave it a couple shots down the vent stack to clear anything that might have gotten down there. All was good, and at the end we decided we were going to re-do the underneath of a kitchen sink since it was VERY old and needed to pass the mini fish (Super Vee) down it to clean it up.
The piping that was there already was galvanized in inch and a half. I took out the sawzall, cut it, all was going good, I left myself enough room to slap on a fernco and redo it in PVC (Because thats what we use where I was). As I put on my fernco, I notice that the glavanized pipe that is there goes down a little further, hits an elbow (90 degrees) and is now wobbly and loose in its threads. Great!
I let my elder know, and he has no choice but to go downstairs and open up a section of the ceiling to access it further down the line. Since it was a Saturday and no suppliers were open we agreed to cap it for now and come back another day throughout the week.
I go back upstairs for whatever reason, and as im working under my kitchen sink (I believe I was just checking for a potential leak??), the kitchen sink ITSELF collapses and comes crashing down on me. FANTASTIC! Turns out when the sink was installed, the contractor who did it cut the hole too big and simply using caulking to compensate whatever difference. Good thing the appartment was rented to an elderly lady whom never really needed to fill the sink up too much or it would have collapsed, or imagine she leaned on it because she fell????
Ohh yes, sounds bad so far but it gets worse!
I let my elder know and he goes up looks at it and tells me to go downstairs and cut the galvanized pipe at a section he marked in the hole he made so we can cap the **** head and get out of there because I was pissing him off... I go down, start cutting, LONE F***ING BEHOLD, I knick an inch an a quarter heating pipe :(.
Water starts spewing everything while im on this ladder, got my sawzall in one hand, the other trying to hold the water in with all my possible force. Put the sawzall in between my legs, squirm my hand into my pocket, get my cell out and call the other guy. I let him know, he comes wlaking down as if theres all the time in the world, looks at it says, calls me a dumb ****, walks off and closes the mueller.
To spare details after that that really I suppose arent important, I pretty much ****ed up good. I cant really point fingers since it all WAS infact me, but gee sometimes I wish things would turn out better, seems like ive had really bad luck for the longest time now, and so here I am, 8 weeks later, havent had any jobs since, nobody is hiring, its off season and my reputation is fairly ruined. Im thinking about going to Calgary?
As for right now, im just working on getting my drivers license, have a couple of exams I have to re-do that I didnt pass in high school that im studying for, and well.....Recently took a bulls**t job at a Jean Coutu in desperation of money and start next Monday........