Nice to Hear

Today as we got in the company van and rode off campus to where our cars were parked, a couple of guys were talking about the new apprentice who has just started with the company this week. The apprentice had taken the metro home already.

"What year is the new apprentice on John's job?" one guy asked.

"A first-year," was the reply.

"Is he going to make it to his second year?" asked one of the guys, trying to coyly determine the skill-level of the new-recruit.

I was very surprised when, at the same time, two of the mechanics in the van exclaimed, "We'll get him to his second year!"

I hadn't expected that kind of support, especially when the new guy wasn't around. These guys were both correcting the other who was trying to be funny and showing their feelings about the union. I was really, really surprised.

"This is a brotherhood, man," one of them said to me the next day when I mentioned the incident in passing. "We have to look out for each other. It's up to us to help new guys become IBEW electricians. It shouldn't make any difference that this is his first week in the trade. It's our job to see that he makes it through the apprenticeship and keeps the union going strong."

I just thought that was an incredible thing to hear. Wanted to pass it on!

More Mechanics

I've bounced between four different jobs in the last four months but seem to have found a new home. I'm working on a decent sized job at NIH which looks like it'll keep me busy for awhile, and I'm happy to be so lucky!

I've spent the last couple of weeks planning out pipe runs and building racks to hang pipe on and now, as material comes in and more and more sections of the job are ready to be started, the foreman has started calling for more men to come to the job. This is always an exciting time for me. You never know who's coming out to help--perhaps it's someone you've worked with before or maybe it's someone new. Maybe it's someone you're going to be working with for the next year or more. You never know!

Two mechanics arrived this week to help on the project and it's been great. Both guys have been with the company for awhile, but none of us have ever met before. We're all mechanics, and it's like we all speak the same language. I'm learning that a lot of what a mechanic brings to a job is intangible. They're not intimated by the size or difficulty of different tasks, they approach problems which calm and reason, and they bring the "can-do" attitude which comes from experience (the "have-done!"). I know that these qualities come from experience, just like speed does, and it's fun to meet more people who've been around the block and bring that sense of capability to a job.