# JOBS THAT YOU DISLIKE THE MOST.. WORKING IN A TRENCH IN FREEZING WEATHER? 150+ DEGREE FAHREHEIT ATTICS? CEILING FANS? TRACK LIGHTS?



## Quickservice (Apr 23, 2020)

I used to absolutely hate hanging ceiling fans, Considered it my most dispised electrical job, it seemed that no two ever went up the same... a million tiny part... balancing the blades... etc. etc. Well after finally finishing a big job today, my new most dispised job is hanging Track Lights. I had forgotten what a royal pain in the bu** they are!


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## SWDweller (Dec 9, 2020)

Being on a roof when the ambient is over 110F.


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## CWL (Jul 7, 2020)

Troubleshooting a control cabinet where the wiring is probably 50 years old, not labeled, rats nest full of wire nuts with a bunch of guys standing around wondering when the machine will be up and going again.


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## Cow (Jan 16, 2008)

Anything residential.


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## MrThrills (Jan 7, 2019)

Chasing faults in a system that I didn't install and has no as-builds. Pick a device. Inspect the device. Take apart the splice and ring out each conductor to ground. Pick a branch to follow. Chase the wire above the ceiling to the next device or splice. More often than not, the fault magically clears at some point.

Troubleshooting Ethernet also sucks, because any problem is assumed to be a physical layer issue. I was on a job installing a general announcement system a while back. The whole thing had several hands in it at one time or another (of course) and at startup we had tons of rooms not showing up. Wiremap the feeds and fix the bad ones (just redoing RJ45s and swapping ports). Still had issues. Obviously we know everything's now good on our end, but continue wiremapping and doing all sorts of tests to appease the customer and the data contractor. Sure enough, it was a VLAN issue -- nothing to do with us, IT just forgot to set up a port, but a whole day wasted nonetheless.

I don't like working in extreme elements, but I don't do it often enough where I despise it. But the worst memory I have is working in a steel plant above the ovens. Have to wear a hoodie, mask, and gloves just to bear the radiating heat. Over time, the metal on your tools got hot. All the material got hot. The scissor lift cage got hot. I remember taking down a chugger we had mounted to 4" rigid. It hurt, but I hurried just to get it over with. When I finally undid it and let it drop into the lift, I couldn't make my hands stop burning. My gloves and clothes had absorbed enough heat that they were burning my skin all on their own. Stepping out into the 88 degree summer day felt like stepping into a chiller.

On the opposite end of the spectrum: pulling aluminum 350s and 500s (iirc) in the freezing cold at a solar farm. Trying to wrangle it when you got towards the end of the reel with frozen hands. A bunch of us were basically lined up in a row with the wire over our shoulders, marching forward as we fed it in. 

Man... This thread made me think of all the crap I don't usually think about. This trade sucks, guys.


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## Quickservice (Apr 23, 2020)

CWL said:


> Troubleshooting a control cabinet where the wiring is probably 50 years old, not labeled, rats nest full of wire nuts with a bunch of guys standing around wondering when the machine will be up and going again.


Oh yeah... I forgot about this one!!!  My last one was a control cabinet in a large green house... a rats nest surpreme!


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## micromind (Aug 11, 2007)

Energizing anything in a 'high energy' system for the first time, especially closing in a breaker for a co-generator that uses PTs for synchronization. 

Not only the safety aspect but if something goes majorly wrong, it can be several hundred thousand or even several million dollars lost in just a few milliseconds.


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## em158 (Jul 7, 2016)

micromind said:


> Energizing anything in a 'high energy' system for the first time, especially closing in a breaker for a co-generator that uses PTs for synchronization.
> 
> Not only the safety aspect but if something goes majorly wrong, it can be several hundred thousand or even several million dollars lost in just a few milliseconds.


That is why they make phasing sticks. I have Live-Line phased new installations up to 13.8kv several times. I can't imagine anyone closing any system tie breaker for the first time relying on PT phasing only.


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## Forge Boyz (Nov 7, 2014)

Cow said:


> Anything residential.


Especially rewiring old houses. Especially when you step in the dog crap on the floor.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk


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## Phillipd (Jan 7, 2020)

Quickservice said:


> I used to absolutely hate hanging ceiling fans, Considered it my most dispised electrical job, it seemed that no two ever went up the same... a million tiny part... balancing the blades... etc. etc. Well after finally finishing a big job today, my new most dispised job is hanging Track Lights. I had forgotten what a royal pain in the bu** they are!


I don’t mind any of those jobs but if the home is filthy cluttered and stinks it makes any job nasty.


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## Southeast Power (Jan 18, 2009)

Florida. the West side of any building between the months of March through October.
The North side of any building during summer months.


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## Easy (Oct 18, 2017)

Climbing up and down extension ladders to install conduit because it's totally inaccessible with a lift.


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## Wirenuting (Sep 12, 2010)

Relamping tubes all day long and swapping ballast's.


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## gpop (May 14, 2018)

I dislike working in freezers or working in direct sun. I also dislike closing in new equipment or equipment that has had a hard fault but that's nothing compared to having to do a presentation or head a safety class. 

Im slightly un-social and i prefer to fly under the radar. Give me a rat nest panel with no prints and im a happy puppy.


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## tedanderson (Jan 31, 2021)

I dislike working on any project that is poorly managed. Every other trade depends on us to do our job so they can do theirs. As such, it's important that I know about EVERYTHING that's going on so that I can anticipate everyone's needs before they ask me for it. We're one of the first trades on site and one of the last to leave so it's easy to blame us for anything that goes wrong. 

So in a lot of situations I have to be the bigger person and correct some of the stuff that I didn't screw up. I don't mind bending over backwards if it makes everyone else job easier but when I start getting "dumped on" or my feet get held to the fire because I'm kind enough to answer my phone while the other trades duck and dodge their responsibilities, that's where I draw the line and stop being nice. 

I'd be a rich man if I had $100 for every time I got hammered for not having my wiring roughed in on a wall that hasn't even been built yet. 😄


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## Quickservice (Apr 23, 2020)

tedanderson said:


> I dislike working on any project that is poorly managed. Every other trade depends on us to do our job so they can do theirs. As such, it's important that I know about EVERYTHING that's going on so that I can anticipate everyone's needs before they ask me for it. We're one of the first trades on site and one of the last to leave so it's easy to blame us for anything that goes wrong.
> 
> So in a lot of situations I have to be the bigger person and correct some of the stuff that I didn't screw up. I don't mind bending over backwards if it makes everyone else job easier but when I start getting "dumped on" or my feet get held to the fire because I'm kind enough to answer my phone while the other trades duck and dodge their responsibilities, that's where I draw the line and stop being nice.
> 
> I'd be a rich man if I had $100 for every time I got hammered for not having my wiring roughed in on a wall that hasn't even been built yet. 😄


A client and his GC recently jumped us after a final for not moving some existing track lights.... there was absolutely no mention about moving them on the plans or in the scope of work.


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## micromind (Aug 11, 2007)

tedanderson said:


> I dislike working on any project that is poorly managed. Every other trade depends on us to do our job so they can do theirs. As such, it's important that I know about EVERYTHING that's going on so that I can anticipate everyone's needs before they ask me for it. We're one of the first trades on site and one of the last to leave so it's easy to blame us for anything that goes wrong.
> 
> So in a lot of situations I have to be the bigger person and correct some of the stuff that I didn't screw up. I don't mind bending over backwards if it makes everyone else job easier but when I start getting "dumped on" or my feet get held to the fire because I'm kind enough to answer my phone while the other trades duck and dodge their responsibilities, that's where I draw the line and stop being nice.
> 
> I'd be a rich man if I had $100 for every time I got hammered for not having my wiring roughed in on a wall that hasn't even been built yet. 😄


In other words, you hate about 80% of the jobs..........lol.


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## MrThrills (Jan 7, 2019)

tedanderson said:


> I dislike working on any project that is poorly managed.


One of the best lessons I learned as an apprentice was "where there's chaos, there's cash."


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## 99cents (Aug 20, 2012)

Quit whining and get to work.


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## Phillipd (Jan 7, 2020)

MrThrills said:


> One of the best lessons I learned as an apprentice was "where there's chaos, there's cash."


heard that many times in the last year


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## LGLS (Nov 10, 2007)

Ok, the job's in August on a sunny day on a smelly rooftop accessible by extension ladder infested with cats and the client will meet your there with their designer and the GC I think, because there's no prints, so design-build some track lighting next to the exhaust from the RTUs.


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## el dub (Oct 22, 2015)

Working with really short live wires in a device box.


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## VELOCI3 (Aug 15, 2019)

Running armored cable through metal studs


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## tedanderson (Jan 31, 2021)

MrThrills said:


> One of the best lessons I learned as an apprentice was "where there's chaos, there's cash."


You are SO right! Last year I made an extra $40k in re-work and change orders.


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## GPM (Jun 17, 2012)

Anything in a hot attic. It is almost never an easy job.


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## Dan the electricman (Jan 2, 2011)

el dub said:


> Working with really short live wires in a device box.


That's when I use these ideal spliceline connectors to extend the wires.

Ideal spliceline connectors


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## radio208 (Aug 27, 2014)

How 'bout working on a good job---mcc, rigid, HV terms, spring time weather----and one the crew-members hates the foreman,GF, company owner,his own wife, everyone around him, break time complainer---doesn't that ruin it for everyone else?...been on a few of those.


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## wiz1997 (Mar 30, 2021)

Repeat after me......
I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.


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## GrayHair (Jan 14, 2013)

MrThrills said:


> IT just forgot to set up a port, but a whole day wasted nonetheless.


Trying to explain to customers that the problem happened because their IT people did a port audit and closed all ports outside what they considered normal, deeming them a security risk. IT opens the port and everything is back to normal, until the next port audit.
I had to do it so often that I got pretty good at it.


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

Quickservice said:


> *JOBS THAT YOU DISLIKE THE MOST.. WORKING IN A TRENCH IN FREEZING WEATHER? 100 DEGREE ATTICS? CEILING FANS? TRACK LIGHTS?*


100 degree attic here would be a pleasure.
Try 150, 180.
I've never measured temps in attics around here, but it's much more than 100F.
Depending on who you ask, temps get well above 150F and as high as 180F.
Hydrate!


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## just the cowboy (Sep 4, 2013)

Rework a new project. Nothing worse than paying someone then having to fix their mistakes or things they did not know how to fix.


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## Larry Goldstein (Apr 28, 2021)

Clients who research a job on the internet and then follow you around all day telling you how “Bob” did it on a You Tube video.


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## NoMoShocks (Jun 10, 2020)

Two way switches are impossible to know how to orient them. Should it be one switch up and one switch down for ON, both switches same position = OFF. Either way, the OCD in me will have me running to both ends of the circuit to be sure the switches are in the right positions after installation or just in normal use.


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## John (Jan 22, 2007)

What really sucked the worst was doing work in slumloard rentals. The only reason they wanted to fix **** is because the fire marshal or building inspector told them the work had to be done or they couldn’t rent the place out. And they were always wanting the work done on the cheep and would be real slow in paying.


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## markhohio (Mar 23, 2021)

John said:


> What really sucked the worst was doing work in slumloard rentals. The only reason they wanted to fix **** is because the fire marshal or building inspector told them the work had to be done or they couldn’t rent the place out. And they were always wanting the work done on the cheep and would be real slow in paying.


Very true


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## GrayHair (Jan 14, 2013)

John said:


> ... doing work in slumlord rentals.


I had forgotten about having to clean the cockroaches out to get something back in place. Nasty!


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## 1600sensible (Jul 16, 2011)

Having to do new commercial with no print,waiting to have one drawn and stamped but never comes and the county inspectors look other way. Just a simple resturant,with 800 amp and 6 sub panels. full service kitchen. Just do IT! Nice site drawings but nothing for trades.


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## Djea3 (Mar 8, 2019)

Wirenuting said:


> Relamping tubes all day long and swapping ballast's.


You still replace ballasts? I just wire to 120V direct led tubes, I tell them I don't work with vapor bulbs any longer. Much better for everyone and easier. The hassle is making sure you have the tombstones handy for the lamp type. Kaching as well.


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## Djea3 (Mar 8, 2019)

MikeFL said:


> 100 degree attic here would be a pleasure.
> Try 150, 180.
> I've never measured temps in attics around here, but it's much more than 100F.
> Depending on who you ask, temps get well above 150F and as high as 180F.
> Hydrate!


Florida and TX are just like that. I remember one TX job where a vaulted ceiling was modified (6 inch rock wool insulation). We added thermal barrier on the drywall, then fir out 1.5 inches, added rigid foam with thermal's barrier reflecting back to the ceiling through an air gap and then....sheetrock again. The air conditioner finally cooled the room. When I was adding a box extender and installing the ceiling fan I actually BURNED my finger on the original box, it was metal and had to be 200 degrees or more.
I left the problem with the engineers who did nothing.
With attic in those two states 15 minutes in the usual maximum time that I feel is safe. Rehydrate and cool can take half an hour some days, especially in humid FL.


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## Wirenuting (Sep 12, 2010)

Djea3 said:


> You still replace ballasts? I just wire to 120V direct led tubes, I tell them I don't work with vapor bulbs any longer. Much better for everyone and easier. The hassle is making sure you have the tombstones handy for the lamp type. Kaching as well.


I hate it so much I haven't done it in years. I let the kids do it.


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## cutlerhammer (Aug 16, 2011)

Quickservice said:


> I used to absolutely hate hanging ceiling fans, Considered it my most dispised electrical job, it seemed that no two ever went up the same... a million tiny part... balancing the blades... etc. etc. Well after finally finishing a big job today, my new most dispised job is hanging Track Lights. I had forgotten what a royal pain in the bu** they are!


You do the attic stuff, I'll do the fans. Easy Peasy...


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## Quickservice (Apr 23, 2020)

cutlerhammer said:


> You do the attic stuff, I'll do the fans. Easy Peasy...


cutlerhammer?


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## Quickservice (Apr 23, 2020)

MikeFL said:


> 100 degree attic here would be a pleasure.
> Try 150, 180.
> I've never measured temps in attics around here, but it's much more than 100F.
> Depending on who you ask, temps get well above 150F and as high as 180F.
> Hydrate!


Excellent point... See the new title of the thread.


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## eastlake503 (Sep 21, 2009)

Any electrical job around the house when my wife is asking me if I know what I'm doing after 46 years in the trade & 34 years as a master electrician.


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## JourneymanJohn (Jan 22, 2011)

I build complex process panels. I hate it when engineering can't deliver proper plans. It's like I'm having to perform both my job and theirs.


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## joe-nwt (Mar 28, 2019)

JourneymanJohn said:


> I build complex process panels. I hate it when engineering can't deliver proper plans. It's like I'm having to perform both my job and theirs.


Do what I do. Charge for red ink. That's as subtle as I can be.


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## JourneymanJohn (Jan 22, 2011)

joe-nwt said:


> Do what I do. Charge for red ink. That's as subtle as I can be.


Wish I could. It's not contract work. It's just part of the job.


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## oldwirepuller (Dec 12, 2015)

Quickservice said:


> I used to absolutely hate hanging ceiling fans, Considered it my most dispised electrical job, it seemed that no two ever went up the same... a million tiny part... balancing the blades... etc. etc. Well after finally finishing a big job today, my new most dispised job is hanging Track Lights. I had forgotten what a royal pain in the bu** they are!


IMHO hanging ceiling fans and track lights were a piece of cake compared to climbing up a dirty 60+ foot silo to work on the unloader. Removing the motor and replacing it when it couldn't be repaired in the silo. All this by oneself. I'm guessing we all have a job or 2 we really dislike. But i just kept thinking-----the money was good.


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## Local#3retiree (May 1, 2021)

Quickservice said:


> I used to absolutely hate hanging ceiling fans, Considered it my most dispised electrical job, it seemed that no two ever went up the same... a million tiny part... balancing the blades... etc. etc. Well after finally finishing a big job today, my new most dispised job is hanging Track Lights. I had forgotten what a royal pain in the bu** they are!


Anything in cold weather!


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## dspiffy (Nov 25, 2013)

99cents said:


> Quit whining and get to work.
> View attachment 155625


That looks like an enjoyable project to me.


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## dspiffy (Nov 25, 2013)

eastlake503 said:


> Any electrical job around the house when my wife is asking me if I know what I'm doing after 46 years in the trade & 34 years as a master electrician.


Sounds like my parents. They hired a guy to replace their garage door opener because "They wanted a professional."


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## dspiffy (Nov 25, 2013)

Least favorite: Crawlspaces, attics you cant walk around in, and anything outside, especially if it involves digging or mud.


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## Song Ping (May 4, 2021)

tedanderson said:


> I dislike working on any project that is poorly managed. Every other trade depends on us to do our job so they can do theirs. As such, it's important that I know about EVERYTHING that's going on so that I can anticipate everyone's needs before they ask me for it. We're one of the first trades on site and one of the last to leave so it's easy to blame us for anything that goes wrong.
> 
> So in a lot of situations I have to be the bigger person and correct some of the stuff that I didn't screw up. I don't mind bending over backwards if it makes everyone else job easier but when I start getting "dumped on" or my feet get held to the fire because I'm kind enough to answer my phone while the other trades duck and dodge their responsibilities, that's where I draw the line and stop being nice.
> 
> I'd be a rich man if I had $100 for every time I got hammered for not having my wiring roughed in on a wall that hasn't even been built yet. 😄


This job that I am now is by far the most challenging. I came in to a job where the general bailed for 14 months, but had their concrete laborer do the plumbing and wiring.. Everything was wrong and all the wiring had to be ripped out. I looked at the job card and the framing was not even signed off on, and the plumbing was not inspected and was wrong. Around here the framing has to be signed off on before anyone can drill a hole. It's been an absolute nightmare. 
It's a disaster, but fortunately the person I am working with was a carpenter/builder before becoming an electrical contractor, so we caught all the issues and had the general correct them.
Lack of management was the problem, the architect sucked and said to put GFI's on the refrigerator, garbage disposal and dishwasher, but the worst thing was his framing, it is a shame that some architects and contractors could produce a product (addition) that made it apperent that they absolutely didn't know what they were doing. And now, the owners are a bit upset because (they think) that the electrical rough in should have been finished by now.


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## Quickservice (Apr 23, 2020)

Song Ping said:


> This job that I am now is by far the most challenging. I came in to a job where the general bailed for 14 months, but had their concrete laborer do the plumbing and wiring.. Everything was wrong and all the wiring had to be ripped out. I looked at the job card and the framing was not even signed off on, and the plumbing was not inspected and was wrong. Around here the framing has to be signed off on before anyone can drill a hole. It's been an absolute nightmare.
> It's a disaster, but fortunately the person I am working with was a carpenter/builder before becoming an electrical contractor, so we caught all the issues and had the general correct them.
> Lack of management was the problem, the architect sucked and said to put GFI's on the refrigerator, garbage disposal and dishwasher, but the worst thing was his framing, it is a shame that some architects and contractors could produce a product (addition) that made it apperent that they absolutely didn't know what they were doing. And now, the owners are a bit upset because (they think) that the electrical rough in should have been finished by now.


My SIL was on a job just like that a few years ago... the architect was such a disaster and the HO's were so demanding and changed their minds so much that the GC and all the subs walked away.


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## Inspector Grump (Jun 4, 2008)

CWL said:


> Troubleshooting a control cabinet where the wiring is probably 50 years old, not labeled, rats nest full of wire nuts with a bunch of guys standing around wondering when the machine will be up and going again.


rip it out and start over That's what I do spent about doing that in the long run makes it easy to work you have to trouble shoot the unit
Inspector Grump


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## Inspector Grump (Jun 4, 2008)

Larry Goldstein said:


> Clients who research a job on the internet and then follow you around all day telling you how “Bob” did it on a You Tube video.


death to "BOB"


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## just the cowboy (Sep 4, 2013)

joe-nwt said:


> Do what I do. Charge for LARGE red ink. That's as subtle as I can be.


FIFY


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## Inspector Grump (Jun 4, 2008)

eastlake503 said:


> Any electrical job around the house when my wife is asking me if I know what I'm doing after 46 years in the trade & 34 years as a master electrician.


My wife would tell me how do the job. She worked in a zoo all of life. She thinks she is an expert on electrical wiring. She get when I tell her to go clean a pile of horse ????. That when the fright starts


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## Larry Goldstein (Apr 28, 2021)

Quickservice said:


> I used to absolutely hate hanging ceiling fans, Considered it my most dispised electrical job, it seemed that no two ever went up the same... a million tiny part... balancing the blades... etc. etc. Well after finally finishing a big job today, my new most dispised job is hanging Track Lights. I had forgotten what a royal pain in the bu** they are!


I thought I was the only one that noticed that. I can put up two of the same fans in the same home and each has its own "problems". No two fans are the same. Weird huh?


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## Thirty-eight (Mar 2, 2020)

remodels


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## paulengr (Oct 8, 2017)

I hate working for idiots that try to maintain a staff that is no threat to them…all “yes men”.


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## GrayHair (Jan 14, 2013)

I hated working for installation & service managers that would say, "We're going to start doing this differently" and never checked to see if installers followed his pronouncement. On calls to recent installs I took the time to change what I happended to be working on to the way he wanted it, and would get chewed out for taking so much time. *That* really pissed me off.


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## Quickservice (Apr 23, 2020)

paulengr said:


> I hate working for idiots that try to maintain a staff that is no threat to them…all “yes men”.


Man oh man... Have I ever been through that. Quit two companies down through the years for junk like that, and in each case I was lucky enough to find an even better job.


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## Quickservice (Apr 23, 2020)

cutlerhammer said:


> You do the attic stuff,* I'll do the fans. Easy Peasy*...


Wish you lived closer... I would sub out all my ceiling fan jobs to you. Did one two week ago that.. yet again.. that made me say bad words under my breath.


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## Quickservice (Apr 23, 2020)

NoMoShocks said:


> Two way switches are impossible to know how to orient them. Should it be one switch up and one switch down for ON, both switches same position = OFF. Either way, the OCD in me will have me running to both ends of the circuit to be sure the switches are in the right positions after installation or just in normal use.


Don't you mean 3-way? I have installed a thousand of them and never every cared what position they ended up in.


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