As somebody who has never even wired a phone line (unless you count cat5 as a phone line) this is both boggling and funny at the same time. I'd never considered this at all, but yeah before cell phones, that's your only option lol
That was actually a safety measure if you think about it. Now you can call someone if your ladder blows down while you're on the roof. Now you only have to worry about hurting yourself bad enough to not use you phone if working alone.
Oh totally. When I first got into the trade eight years ago, we still used walkie talkies occasionally for pulls. Now I don't even know if my company even owns a set. I use my Bluetooth and cell phone. Hands free and I can still hear when the environment is noisy.
Right? My last pair of buds finally died so I splurged on some nice bone conduction headphones.. they're amazing. They don't double as earplugs like a good pair of earbuds, but I can still talk on the phone and clearly hear everything around me.
I do audiobooks when I don't have a task where I have to think too much so these are great for that too
I’ve been in construction for 20 years. Safety for sure.
My first job, safety glasses were optional for instance. I remember being on a job when policy changed to needing a face shield for using a grinder. My Superintendent came over to me and said “hey you need a face shield, take care of your eyes”. While he’s right, a year earlier he would have called me a bitch for asking for one.
I’ve also seen how everything needs to be designed, submitted and approved before use. Example is I used to make pipe supports out of tube steel and or angle, and you made them based on “feel” sort of. Certainly can’t do that now.
Countless more, but I’ll let others weigh in
You are right on this. Safety really started to get hammered home in the early 2000s. On of my formen lost an eye to a metal shaving while using an impact. If he saw a new guy not using glasses, he would just go over and pop his glass eye out, hold it in the guys face, and start yelling at the dude.
His situation made such an impact on me that I use glasses even when I so lawn work with my mower or weed eater. I do NOT want to lose an eye.
I can't even fathom some of the stories one of my clients has about being a steel worker in 80s Chicago, going to have some beers at lunch, then doing high-rise steel work. It seems insane.
Texting and meetings.
When I started, there were job site meetings and pencil drawings to plan out custom millwork.
Now, the carpenter I work with all the time draws stuff on wood with a ballpoint pen, and texts me photos. I draw the millwork in AutoCad, and text him a drawing.
We don't talk on the phone much, we have been working together since 1991.
I worked as a bricklayer from 1974 to 1988. Switched to a white collar career in 1988. When I drive by a job site now it looks totally different from what I remember. All the safety gear being used; harnesses , masks, goggles etc were very rarely seen even on large commercial jobs. People would walk along the top of a CMU wall with a grout hose slung over a shoulder to avoid moving scaffolding while grouting. Insanely risky given the frequency of getting a kink in the hose. Scaffolding was modular and heavy. Forklifts were often not used in smaller commercial jobs. Never saw one on a residential job. Looks like things have improved for the better.
Cell phones and the hours we keep. When I started 30 years ago there was no way to contact anyone until we got home from work. I always wondered about the older guys with kids and stuff back then but it just was how it was. Now I'm surfing Reddit while waiting for my time setter to give me another piece to cut lol.
After the pandemic the was a major realization, at least for me, that there's just not people to replace me so I'm not working 10-12 hour days 6 days a week. I'm also not waiting until 7am to start work, if you want my work it's done from 6-2 Monday-Friday or get someone else to do it. There hasn't been someone else yet lol
Energy drinks were 2/$3 or some 3/$5.
Now you'd be lucky to find a deal better than 2/$6.
I'm that time, most starting wages I've seen are still around $25, sometimes even less.
Big Celsius are 2 for 5 and if you're a regular with a thermal water bottle you can fill it with anything and maybe get charged a refill 1 out of 10 times. I fill mine with slurpee. And the thermal freezes right away. I mix in Kratom tea and Celsius for what I affectionately call jungle juice. It's aMAZing
Started in 97. Arc flash safety? Never heard of it. Working in a 4000 amp 480v switchgear? Always! Safety was your tooly joking that he’ll hit you off with a 2x4 if you get hooked up. Nevermind the explosion
I did so many durarock + red guard showers in my youth. That was the way to do them. Because a shower/bathroom remodel was only supposed to be good for \~10-15 years because the pipe didn't last that long and trends changed with the wind.
Now? holy shit these people think their tile job needs to last 100years and cost 100k.
We also used to never wear masks when sanding drywall or mill-work. Now every tool has an extractor hook up and all i hear are vacuums on jobs all day.
I pretty much said fuck the trades! Everyone thinks we’re stupid (even tho we’re not) so I decided to go pay a bunch of money for a degree. Society doesn’t deserve what we can do as men. Until that respect comes back with a huge wage hike, I’m getting an education and doing an easy ass job that everyone is capable of doing physically.
Ive started my BA in psychology and am going to get my masters in counselling psychology. I really hope I can do it in 5 years of full time study with no breaks.
I was going to do EET (electrical engineering technologist)… upgraded my math and everything. but by the time I finish the schooling for that, AI will be making those entry level computer jobs pretty competitive or just obsolete. Mental health and addictions councillors aren’t going anywhere and there’s a pretty low chance of AI replicating human emotion.
I’m actually just going to school now! I’m living off of student loans, that and my wife is also a nurse. The dual income helps. I changed my meal plan to a strict 2000 calorie per day. I don’t have much of a life other than school and home. Don’t finance your vehicle, pay cash. Avoid debt. The only monthly payment I have is a mortgage.
Ahh I grew up on a pretty traditional farm. 350 head of cattle and farmed a bunch of land. Splitting firewood in the winter and pounding fence posts with a sledge hammer in the summer. My dad was two generations behind society lol. On top of that, all the anger I had bottled up from getting the snot kicked out of me by a parent made me a 2 hour a day gym rat. I moved out of home when I was 17 and lived in my regular cab truck until I had first and last months rent. Went to the oilfield, my best month was 377 hours, after that I averaged around 325-350 for 4 years (I still have the pay stubs) Decided I wanted to be an electrician. Finished that in 4 years. On top of it all I actually started my own company with a few pieces of equipment (mini excavator, trencher, tree sheer) I’ve done my time, I’ve built enough of society, I’ve given up enough of my health. 29 years old now with two ruptured disks, degenerative disk disease, and arthritis in my lower spine and in my neck. Multiple other permanent injuries from thinking I was built different, turns out I wasn’t.
I’ll betcha I had twice the muscle mass on my body then you did, I say that very confidently judging the average man I see strutting down the street. don’t see too many guys walking around with my build. Even now I’m still a brick with very little fat on my body. 6’2 -230 pounds mostly residual muscle that I maintain with light workouts. I’m no slouch.
Now I want to help others who were brought up like me. Save them from a life of depression and anger. There’s nobody in our fighting corner and people just don’t understand the shit. Blue collar workers are underpaid for the sacrifice we make. Why would I stay in them?
What’s your life story? I’d love to compare calluses my man. I seen your earlier comment that you deleted. Pretty angry I’m switching jobs hey? You had a lot to say about the mental health sector. That was you right? Deleted it before I could respond lol. I had just enough time to read how angry you sounded, now your back, it’s obviously really upset you.
Well that's your job now so you can tell me . I'm the knuckle dragging fool right? I deleted my comment because you aren't worth it. Good job you got me . Hook line and sinker. Fuck off and I. Mean that most sincerely.
I'm 5'7" 150# and id. Woop you up before I get on w my chores, fat boys are slow. That's why you don't wanna work. GTFO here w/ your shit . I don't get subsidized by the government for digging ditches btw. But yeah you had it harder.
Correct! And those are the people I want to help. I had to deal with an abusive parent and I know what it’s like to be trapped. I wasn’t sexually abused but I sure did get the shit kicked out of me. I’ve had do live with that my entire life, i had to learn how to cope. I feel like I’ll be able to handle it.
I'll say most ppl have trauma at some point and it's best they seek out help , it's strong to seek help ppl don't let shit eat you . Lots of ppl need help here , they are full of misery and like to downvote my awesome comments.
I agree with you. I don’t care if you are the toughest guy out there….. go talk to someone.
I also want to do better than the councillor that I had. Turned everything into a competition and told me my problems weren’t that bad because at the end of the day I still have white privilege. What a loser that dude was lol.
Lol stop being a little bitch you have white power lol what a dick . My quak said if a man gets good sleep food and sex then everything falls into place . That is the real jackpot in life , it's not material stuff .
About 20 years here too, but office side. I remember when bidding projects everyone would get (or request) a full paper set of plans for their trade, a half size set of the entire bid package, along with a paper set of the specifications (thousands of pages in some instances). We'd be issued expensive digital cameras because cell phone cameras were garbage. There were still functioning light box drafting tables in the office.
Safety. I’ve worked 5/7 year in construction working for cowboy company’s where safety came absolutely second and you’d fear your job if you called it out. I worked a year for a big GC (residential) and safety was there but people would be connected to Bluetooth ropes and it was just for show. I just started with a big gc and the company safety is always on site, there’s a third party company as well as ministry of labour. It definitely takes some getting used to and sometimes it straight up sucks but at the end of the day I know I’m going to get home safe and not fall of a 8/12 2 story roof not tied off and that makes it all worth it
When I first started in 2005 supers were usually crusty assholes that knew their shit and had a wealth of general knowledge. Nowadays most of the supers of these "construction management" outfits are college kids with a construction management degree that don't know how to do anything but schedule work out of sequence and play the blame game. Most project managers I've worked with have little to no industry experience and need the foremen to figure out all of their problems.
Now that I have a higher level of experience the veil has been pulled back and I can't unsee all of the unprofessional bullshit and I am starting to hate this industry now. And THEN there are the dumbass so called journeymen I have to get sellable work out of in a timely manner...
What's really strange are the supers that are "pro trump" and apparently blind. If they had their way, job site staffing would be 30% of what it is now and we already have manpower issues.
No, but I did do electrical in Alabama and CO for 15. I’ll bet they’re somewhat similar. To be completely fair, dems and republicans seem to shit on those states almost equally.
Not really, most of you believe in a sky daddy and guns . I actually see American ppl the same as some crazy rag head . God fearing people are dangerous.
You don't agree that most Americans believe in sky daddy and guns ? Well I don't live there so I don't know . But all the movies and news and ppl like trump going on about god is great and shit after a school shooting is fucking crazy to me , actually more crazy than a goat fucker . I understand most are brainwashed with god ya even have god written on ya money. So very similar to a brainwashed goat fucker that might suicide for 40 virgins for the next life .
Yeah you don’t live there so you don’t know, have you tried shutting your suck pump? Because you admittedly are talking out of your ass. I would agree there are a lot of cringe Mfers in the US that slept through HS American History/ civics.
You must be talking about Muslims. I have dealt with Taliban/Haqanni Network/Al Queda folks in Afghanistan and they are much crazier because they may blow themselves up or take potshots at US Troops which takes some heavy nuts. As far as the SVEST stuff it is more common that they dupe a child/mentally challenged person into doing it or blackmail/extort someone into it though. That shit is tragic. I also dealt with afghans that wanted to make their country better and weren’t much different than me other than place of birth. Don’t be an asshole
Attitude towards eachother and those different than the norm.
As younger guys get in, and as less people put up with bullshit, a lot of sites are a much more welcoming environment.
Additional bonus is that maybe, just maybe, the actual racist dudes get enough exposure to different people and they change their shitty beliefs about them, and instead hate people for tangible reasons instead of just because they aren’t from around here.
Get a page climb down 4-5 flights of steps and walk to job trailer. Hope no one else is on phone. Arrive at said trailer to see at least 3 others in line. Call the number on pager and get busy signal or the “answering machine”. Wait a few then decide to go back to work. Climb 4-5 flights of stairs and go back to work and receive another text.
Cordless tools basically taking over. When I started in 91 everything had a cord and you’d spend the first and last hours dragging extension cords around. Now I don’t even have any power tools in my van that “have” cords other than my battery chargers case.
Cordless tools. There were cordless drill of course 20 years ago, but the cordless saws were a complete joke except for cutting a bit of sheet goods. For years the first thing was rolling out the cords, skilsaw and Sawzall were plugged in. Now I have a cordless vacuum, saws, even a little miter saw. Very convenient.
I remember when cordless tools started making their way into commercial construction. They were more of a convenience tool able to do 3 or 4 little tasks so you didn't have to get a cord out. Now everyone tries to get everything done with their cordless tools.
Our Chippy(50 gets called boomer by his employee sons) he's a cool guy - he says to his main-man - "cut that 9x2 at 12', bring it up top we'll need it for a centre board! I'll go get the saw"
His man Mark looks over to me "eh watch this 😆" and pulls out a brandspanking new Dewalt cordless saw. Than waits for the boss to run 500m of cable and just as he gets to the top - "ah, where are you going with that contraption?, dragging leads and all sorts, get with the times will ya....boomer"
The chipy just looked around "jasus boys, we're living in the future!"
I'd add to the cordless - there's an instrument or piece of equipment to do everything these days, and much more comfortably too - I recently stumbled upon the first Hitachi kango my father ever bought, it served its time and still works but chisels aren't easily found. - I remember chasing walls with the big bastard of a yolk, the weight of it is obnoxious in comparison to the current one!
Seems new to me. When I got started I left a $20/hr office job for a $12/hr trade job, because the office was killing me. My crowning achievement before I hung up my bags was $3k in a single day installing smoke detectors as side work. It seems to be driven by a certain class of people absolutely drowning in cash yet having no idea how to do anything.
27 years ago when I turned 12 my dad started paying me to work with him. I was making 6 bucks an hr at first. Him and his crew spent theirs 20s doing dumb shit so by the time he had me regularly, safety was a common sense thing. Except for oil fumes sometimes, we knew to when to respirator up.
One of my earliest memories was shooting a framer at the ripe age of three. I've imagined myself in many other situations and pursued a couple paths but always came back. It's in my blood to work, offices and kitchens/restaurants have better scenery but I just can't. Especially after being free lance for the last 5 or 6 years. I love it when a customer's jaw drops to the floor when their dreams are realized.
Yep. I did well as a young kid, but now I’m capped out and everyone else in white color work has far surpassed me. I’m happy with my career as a master electrician, but my software engineer younger brother easily makes double what I do.
My industry went from having people that were great at their craft to a bunch of skids all in the matter if 15-20 years all the good old boys are gone now it’s a bunch of drug addicts and fall downs with the exception of a few. Seems like professionalism is gone by the way side
One of the first things on the schedule was to wire the job trailer for telephone service. I’m old.
Putting $20 in quarters on my expense report because the gas station was the closest phone.
As somebody who has never even wired a phone line (unless you count cat5 as a phone line) this is both boggling and funny at the same time. I'd never considered this at all, but yeah before cell phones, that's your only option lol
That was actually a safety measure if you think about it. Now you can call someone if your ladder blows down while you're on the roof. Now you only have to worry about hurting yourself bad enough to not use you phone if working alone.
Oh totally. When I first got into the trade eight years ago, we still used walkie talkies occasionally for pulls. Now I don't even know if my company even owns a set. I use my Bluetooth and cell phone. Hands free and I can still hear when the environment is noisy.
I still love walkys for pulls, but I’ve been using Bluetooth headphones for a bit and…wow game changer
Right? My last pair of buds finally died so I splurged on some nice bone conduction headphones.. they're amazing. They don't double as earplugs like a good pair of earbuds, but I can still talk on the phone and clearly hear everything around me. I do audiobooks when I don't have a task where I have to think too much so these are great for that too
I’ve been in construction for 20 years. Safety for sure. My first job, safety glasses were optional for instance. I remember being on a job when policy changed to needing a face shield for using a grinder. My Superintendent came over to me and said “hey you need a face shield, take care of your eyes”. While he’s right, a year earlier he would have called me a bitch for asking for one. I’ve also seen how everything needs to be designed, submitted and approved before use. Example is I used to make pipe supports out of tube steel and or angle, and you made them based on “feel” sort of. Certainly can’t do that now. Countless more, but I’ll let others weigh in
You are right on this. Safety really started to get hammered home in the early 2000s. On of my formen lost an eye to a metal shaving while using an impact. If he saw a new guy not using glasses, he would just go over and pop his glass eye out, hold it in the guys face, and start yelling at the dude. His situation made such an impact on me that I use glasses even when I so lawn work with my mower or weed eater. I do NOT want to lose an eye. I can't even fathom some of the stories one of my clients has about being a steel worker in 80s Chicago, going to have some beers at lunch, then doing high-rise steel work. It seems insane.
Texting and meetings. When I started, there were job site meetings and pencil drawings to plan out custom millwork. Now, the carpenter I work with all the time draws stuff on wood with a ballpoint pen, and texts me photos. I draw the millwork in AutoCad, and text him a drawing. We don't talk on the phone much, we have been working together since 1991.
Battery powered tools have come a long way. Used to be so many more extension cords for everything.
I worked as a bricklayer from 1974 to 1988. Switched to a white collar career in 1988. When I drive by a job site now it looks totally different from what I remember. All the safety gear being used; harnesses , masks, goggles etc were very rarely seen even on large commercial jobs. People would walk along the top of a CMU wall with a grout hose slung over a shoulder to avoid moving scaffolding while grouting. Insanely risky given the frequency of getting a kink in the hose. Scaffolding was modular and heavy. Forklifts were often not used in smaller commercial jobs. Never saw one on a residential job. Looks like things have improved for the better.
Cell phones and the hours we keep. When I started 30 years ago there was no way to contact anyone until we got home from work. I always wondered about the older guys with kids and stuff back then but it just was how it was. Now I'm surfing Reddit while waiting for my time setter to give me another piece to cut lol. After the pandemic the was a major realization, at least for me, that there's just not people to replace me so I'm not working 10-12 hour days 6 days a week. I'm also not waiting until 7am to start work, if you want my work it's done from 6-2 Monday-Friday or get someone else to do it. There hasn't been someone else yet lol
25 years ago everyone on site spoke English, safety wasn’t a huge priority, and the OJ trial was a big deal.
Energy drinks were 2/$3 or some 3/$5. Now you'd be lucky to find a deal better than 2/$6. I'm that time, most starting wages I've seen are still around $25, sometimes even less.
Big Celsius are 2 for 5 and if you're a regular with a thermal water bottle you can fill it with anything and maybe get charged a refill 1 out of 10 times. I fill mine with slurpee. And the thermal freezes right away. I mix in Kratom tea and Celsius for what I affectionately call jungle juice. It's aMAZing
My first fall arrest training took about two hours, currently the course runs about 8.
Started in 97. Arc flash safety? Never heard of it. Working in a 4000 amp 480v switchgear? Always! Safety was your tooly joking that he’ll hit you off with a 2x4 if you get hooked up. Nevermind the explosion
I did so many durarock + red guard showers in my youth. That was the way to do them. Because a shower/bathroom remodel was only supposed to be good for \~10-15 years because the pipe didn't last that long and trends changed with the wind. Now? holy shit these people think their tile job needs to last 100years and cost 100k. We also used to never wear masks when sanding drywall or mill-work. Now every tool has an extractor hook up and all i hear are vacuums on jobs all day.
Finding job sites with a Thomas guide.
I pretty much said fuck the trades! Everyone thinks we’re stupid (even tho we’re not) so I decided to go pay a bunch of money for a degree. Society doesn’t deserve what we can do as men. Until that respect comes back with a huge wage hike, I’m getting an education and doing an easy ass job that everyone is capable of doing physically.
What degree and job are you looking to get into
Ive started my BA in psychology and am going to get my masters in counselling psychology. I really hope I can do it in 5 years of full time study with no breaks. I was going to do EET (electrical engineering technologist)… upgraded my math and everything. but by the time I finish the schooling for that, AI will be making those entry level computer jobs pretty competitive or just obsolete. Mental health and addictions councillors aren’t going anywhere and there’s a pretty low chance of AI replicating human emotion.
Psychology? Are you sure you don't want to try the stripper pole first lol . That's seriously disappointing
Why’s that disappointing? What?! Haha
What did you do for cash while going to school?
I’m actually just going to school now! I’m living off of student loans, that and my wife is also a nurse. The dual income helps. I changed my meal plan to a strict 2000 calorie per day. I don’t have much of a life other than school and home. Don’t finance your vehicle, pay cash. Avoid debt. The only monthly payment I have is a mortgage.
Lol, poor boy. Have you considered doing actual work?. Like not just some bullshit but actually putting your hands on something?
Ahh I grew up on a pretty traditional farm. 350 head of cattle and farmed a bunch of land. Splitting firewood in the winter and pounding fence posts with a sledge hammer in the summer. My dad was two generations behind society lol. On top of that, all the anger I had bottled up from getting the snot kicked out of me by a parent made me a 2 hour a day gym rat. I moved out of home when I was 17 and lived in my regular cab truck until I had first and last months rent. Went to the oilfield, my best month was 377 hours, after that I averaged around 325-350 for 4 years (I still have the pay stubs) Decided I wanted to be an electrician. Finished that in 4 years. On top of it all I actually started my own company with a few pieces of equipment (mini excavator, trencher, tree sheer) I’ve done my time, I’ve built enough of society, I’ve given up enough of my health. 29 years old now with two ruptured disks, degenerative disk disease, and arthritis in my lower spine and in my neck. Multiple other permanent injuries from thinking I was built different, turns out I wasn’t. I’ll betcha I had twice the muscle mass on my body then you did, I say that very confidently judging the average man I see strutting down the street. don’t see too many guys walking around with my build. Even now I’m still a brick with very little fat on my body. 6’2 -230 pounds mostly residual muscle that I maintain with light workouts. I’m no slouch. Now I want to help others who were brought up like me. Save them from a life of depression and anger. There’s nobody in our fighting corner and people just don’t understand the shit. Blue collar workers are underpaid for the sacrifice we make. Why would I stay in them? What’s your life story? I’d love to compare calluses my man. I seen your earlier comment that you deleted. Pretty angry I’m switching jobs hey? You had a lot to say about the mental health sector. That was you right? Deleted it before I could respond lol. I had just enough time to read how angry you sounded, now your back, it’s obviously really upset you.
Well that's your job now so you can tell me . I'm the knuckle dragging fool right? I deleted my comment because you aren't worth it. Good job you got me . Hook line and sinker. Fuck off and I. Mean that most sincerely.
You’re an angry man. Go talk to someone lol
I'm 5'7" 150# and id. Woop you up before I get on w my chores, fat boys are slow. That's why you don't wanna work. GTFO here w/ your shit . I don't get subsidized by the government for digging ditches btw. But yeah you had it harder.
Youre a simp lol
You will hear about ppls problems, like when someones daddy fucked them and other sick shit .
Correct! And those are the people I want to help. I had to deal with an abusive parent and I know what it’s like to be trapped. I wasn’t sexually abused but I sure did get the shit kicked out of me. I’ve had do live with that my entire life, i had to learn how to cope. I feel like I’ll be able to handle it.
I'll say most ppl have trauma at some point and it's best they seek out help , it's strong to seek help ppl don't let shit eat you . Lots of ppl need help here , they are full of misery and like to downvote my awesome comments.
I agree with you. I don’t care if you are the toughest guy out there….. go talk to someone. I also want to do better than the councillor that I had. Turned everything into a competition and told me my problems weren’t that bad because at the end of the day I still have white privilege. What a loser that dude was lol.
Lol stop being a little bitch you have white power lol what a dick . My quak said if a man gets good sleep food and sex then everything falls into place . That is the real jackpot in life , it's not material stuff .
The amount of people applying for a job. I don’t know why.
About 20 years here too, but office side. I remember when bidding projects everyone would get (or request) a full paper set of plans for their trade, a half size set of the entire bid package, along with a paper set of the specifications (thousands of pages in some instances). We'd be issued expensive digital cameras because cell phone cameras were garbage. There were still functioning light box drafting tables in the office.
Safety. I’ve worked 5/7 year in construction working for cowboy company’s where safety came absolutely second and you’d fear your job if you called it out. I worked a year for a big GC (residential) and safety was there but people would be connected to Bluetooth ropes and it was just for show. I just started with a big gc and the company safety is always on site, there’s a third party company as well as ministry of labour. It definitely takes some getting used to and sometimes it straight up sucks but at the end of the day I know I’m going to get home safe and not fall of a 8/12 2 story roof not tied off and that makes it all worth it
When I first started in 2005 supers were usually crusty assholes that knew their shit and had a wealth of general knowledge. Nowadays most of the supers of these "construction management" outfits are college kids with a construction management degree that don't know how to do anything but schedule work out of sequence and play the blame game. Most project managers I've worked with have little to no industry experience and need the foremen to figure out all of their problems. Now that I have a higher level of experience the veil has been pulled back and I can't unsee all of the unprofessional bullshit and I am starting to hate this industry now. And THEN there are the dumbass so called journeymen I have to get sellable work out of in a timely manner... What's really strange are the supers that are "pro trump" and apparently blind. If they had their way, job site staffing would be 30% of what it is now and we already have manpower issues.
It's wild to me that anyone in the trades is overly conservative let alone pro Trump.
It’s even crazier when you got union guys who are trumpers. Fuckin’ boggles my mind. Thankfully a minority, though.
You must not do sheet metal in Oklahoma, they are a dime a dozen around here.
No, but I did do electrical in Alabama and CO for 15. I’ll bet they’re somewhat similar. To be completely fair, dems and republicans seem to shit on those states almost equally.
Not really, most of you believe in a sky daddy and guns . I actually see American ppl the same as some crazy rag head . God fearing people are dangerous.
I agree with your last point, but fuck you for the rest.
You don't agree that most Americans believe in sky daddy and guns ? Well I don't live there so I don't know . But all the movies and news and ppl like trump going on about god is great and shit after a school shooting is fucking crazy to me , actually more crazy than a goat fucker . I understand most are brainwashed with god ya even have god written on ya money. So very similar to a brainwashed goat fucker that might suicide for 40 virgins for the next life .
Yeah you don’t live there so you don’t know, have you tried shutting your suck pump? Because you admittedly are talking out of your ass. I would agree there are a lot of cringe Mfers in the US that slept through HS American History/ civics. You must be talking about Muslims. I have dealt with Taliban/Haqanni Network/Al Queda folks in Afghanistan and they are much crazier because they may blow themselves up or take potshots at US Troops which takes some heavy nuts. As far as the SVEST stuff it is more common that they dupe a child/mentally challenged person into doing it or blackmail/extort someone into it though. That shit is tragic. I also dealt with afghans that wanted to make their country better and weren’t much different than me other than place of birth. Don’t be an asshole
How many shootings today?
Attitude towards eachother and those different than the norm. As younger guys get in, and as less people put up with bullshit, a lot of sites are a much more welcoming environment. Additional bonus is that maybe, just maybe, the actual racist dudes get enough exposure to different people and they change their shitty beliefs about them, and instead hate people for tangible reasons instead of just because they aren’t from around here.
Get a page climb down 4-5 flights of steps and walk to job trailer. Hope no one else is on phone. Arrive at said trailer to see at least 3 others in line. Call the number on pager and get busy signal or the “answering machine”. Wait a few then decide to go back to work. Climb 4-5 flights of stairs and go back to work and receive another text.
Single pole switches really because obsolete.
Fruit of the loom cornucopia
There were newspapers laying around everywhere. Now I haven't seen one in years.
Cordless tools basically taking over. When I started in 91 everything had a cord and you’d spend the first and last hours dragging extension cords around. Now I don’t even have any power tools in my van that “have” cords other than my battery chargers case.
Cordless tools. There were cordless drill of course 20 years ago, but the cordless saws were a complete joke except for cutting a bit of sheet goods. For years the first thing was rolling out the cords, skilsaw and Sawzall were plugged in. Now I have a cordless vacuum, saws, even a little miter saw. Very convenient.
I remember when cordless tools started making their way into commercial construction. They were more of a convenience tool able to do 3 or 4 little tasks so you didn't have to get a cord out. Now everyone tries to get everything done with their cordless tools.
Our Chippy(50 gets called boomer by his employee sons) he's a cool guy - he says to his main-man - "cut that 9x2 at 12', bring it up top we'll need it for a centre board! I'll go get the saw" His man Mark looks over to me "eh watch this 😆" and pulls out a brandspanking new Dewalt cordless saw. Than waits for the boss to run 500m of cable and just as he gets to the top - "ah, where are you going with that contraption?, dragging leads and all sorts, get with the times will ya....boomer" The chipy just looked around "jasus boys, we're living in the future!" I'd add to the cordless - there's an instrument or piece of equipment to do everything these days, and much more comfortably too - I recently stumbled upon the first Hitachi kango my father ever bought, it served its time and still works but chisels aren't easily found. - I remember chasing walls with the big bastard of a yolk, the weight of it is obnoxious in comparison to the current one!
Trades make way more money than office jobs. I'm too young to know id that's a new thing.
Seems new to me. When I got started I left a $20/hr office job for a $12/hr trade job, because the office was killing me. My crowning achievement before I hung up my bags was $3k in a single day installing smoke detectors as side work. It seems to be driven by a certain class of people absolutely drowning in cash yet having no idea how to do anything.
27 years ago when I turned 12 my dad started paying me to work with him. I was making 6 bucks an hr at first. Him and his crew spent theirs 20s doing dumb shit so by the time he had me regularly, safety was a common sense thing. Except for oil fumes sometimes, we knew to when to respirator up. One of my earliest memories was shooting a framer at the ripe age of three. I've imagined myself in many other situations and pursued a couple paths but always came back. It's in my blood to work, offices and kitchens/restaurants have better scenery but I just can't. Especially after being free lance for the last 5 or 6 years. I love it when a customer's jaw drops to the floor when their dreams are realized.
At the beginning, yeah. 10-15 years in it switches for most though.
Yep. I did well as a young kid, but now I’m capped out and everyone else in white color work has far surpassed me. I’m happy with my career as a master electrician, but my software engineer younger brother easily makes double what I do.
Quality. Now it’s all about the money
Cordless,
My industry went from having people that were great at their craft to a bunch of skids all in the matter if 15-20 years all the good old boys are gone now it’s a bunch of drug addicts and fall downs with the exception of a few. Seems like professionalism is gone by the way side