# The Joys of Being an Electrician



## brian john (Mar 11, 2007)

I never did this to any helpers/apprentices though I had a few mechanics try to pull the old insulated bucket on me.


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## tedanderson (Jan 31, 2021)

I never understood how this was actually funny or what it accomplished. 

I can see the purpose of this if you just need to get the guy out of your hair for a little while and you don't want him standing around doing nothing. And I can even see this as a way of getting a chuckle if you have a know-it-all helper who needs his balls busted. But when you have a new guy that eagerly hangs on to every word when you're teaching him something, sending him to get the counter-clockwise wirenuts doesn't exactly make him look or feel stupid... or make him say, "Daaamn! I should have known!"

It's like the egg-headed guy at a party who knows a bunch of trivia about astrophysics. He'll say something like, "Who knows the evolutionary stages of a supernova? HA!! There ARE NONE! HAAA HAAA! Got all of you! Yeah!" and you think to yourself, "ummm.. Mmmkay.. that's nice" and think nothing else about it. You don't feel foolish. You don't even feel like you might have come anywhere close to knowing the answer to that trick question.

So if a guy doesn't know what tools exist and which ones don't, he's not going to really get the joke or feel like he got tricked.


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## micromind (Aug 11, 2007)

One of the joys is that we get to see stuff that's been blown and/or burnt up..........Some of it is quite hilarious!!


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## Almost Retired (Sep 14, 2021)

like when a fallen tree limb knocks down a 7500V line onto a 240V service drop and blows a fuse and its screw shell completely out of the fuse box inside the house
not hilarious, but very interesting. shows the awsome power of electricity


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## backstay (Feb 3, 2011)

The joys? Oh, that god like feeling you get when you fix “it” and everyone is so amazed. Except my wife, who just expects me to fix it. Don’t go breaking your arm patting yourself on the back husband. 😂


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## Almost Retired (Sep 14, 2021)

tedanderson said:


> I never understood how this was actually funny or what it accomplished.
> 
> I can see the purpose of this if you just need to get the guy out of your hair for a little while and you don't want him standing around doing nothing. And I can even see this as a way of getting a chuckle if you have a know-it-all helper who needs his balls busted. But when you have a new guy that eagerly hangs on to every word when you're teaching him something, sending him to get the counter-clockwise wirenuts doesn't exactly make him look or feel stupid... or make him say, "Daaamn! I should have known!"
> 
> ...


when i was in the navy the obnoxious new guy always got sent for the shoreline stretcher


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## Southeast Power (Jan 18, 2009)

I just got out of the Marines when I started my apprenticeship. This was in the early 80s. all of the construction workers at the time had long hair. Here was me, wound up like an 8 day clock with a high and tight haircut. They for sure thought I was just let out of some kind of mental institution. They wouldn't send me for any materials if they were not 100% sure they had what they sent me for. It was admitting failure if I came back empty-handed. I would be gone all day if I couldn't find it.


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## nrp3 (Jan 24, 2009)

I don’t mind the burned stuff so long as it’s not my fault and have to pay out of my own pocket.


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## brian john (Mar 11, 2007)

tedanderson said:


> I never understood how this was actually funny or what it accomplished.


What good does ranting, yelling, or belittling do? Yet some JWs make a habit of it.


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## wcord (Jan 23, 2011)

once read about sending the new guy for a non existing piece. 
The scene was in a factory. The new guy was directed to go from department to department.
the idea was that he learned where to find all the departments in the factory.


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## 205490 (Jun 23, 2020)

In my youth I had a gf that I needed to keep occupied while I got things done. I had friends who worked at auto parts stores, we kept her busy driving all over looking for a radiator hose for a beetle.


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## gpop (May 14, 2018)

Apprenticeships were brutal when i joined the work force at 16. I beat 800 applications to get a mechanical apprenticeships so there was 800 reasons to take the crap they dished out. 

I can not imagine making the apprentice sweep the car park with a paint brush during gale force winds now a days but back then it was an acceptable punishment for screwing up. Guys would give me hell then turn around and buy me quality tools out of there own pockets. I've been sent after long weights, sky hooks and a bunch of other non existent things and i have to admit it was funny. 

Once the guys realize your not quitting and worth training then they back off and your one of the team. We were built a little tougher then today's teen's.


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## Wirenuting (Sep 12, 2010)

I did it aboard ship.
40 years later a shipmate is still made I sent him for a roll of Fallopian tube. 
Told him we wrapped the bombs arming wire in it to protect from the salt air. 
Had him going from shop to shop. We kept calling ahead. Being an aircraft carrier we had a lot of places to send him. 
His last stop was medical. They gave him 12” of IV tubing and sent him back to us. 
I told him to go ask for a roll. They then explained the birds and the bees to him.

He came running back wanting to kill me. LoL


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## wcord (Jan 23, 2011)




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## five.five-six (Apr 9, 2013)

our children.


I was doing some Pro bono electrical work for a woman’s home and my wife was there working with some of the woman. I was fixing their serenity fountain in the middle of the courtyard.


To this day, if I want some action, I just walk a round with my bags on


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## oldsparky52 (Feb 25, 2020)

CA C-10 said:


> In my youth I had a gf that I needed to keep occupied while I got things done. I had friends who worked at auto parts stores, we kept her busy driving all over looking for a radiator hose for a beetle.


I remember a girl in high school telling us how she pulled into a gas station in her Beetle (you know, when they used to pump gas for you, back in the '60s) and asked them to check the anti-freeze since it was getting cold.


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## Almost Retired (Sep 14, 2021)

oldsparky52 said:


> I remember a girl in high school telling us how she pulled into a gas station in her Beetle (you know, when they used to pump gas for you, back in the '60s) and asked them to check the anti-freeze since it was getting cold.


they should have told her 
that will be an extra dollar to do that
just to see what she said !


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## 205490 (Jun 23, 2020)

"Look under your hood, miss?"

I'm gonna get banned 🤪


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## Norcal (Mar 22, 2007)

CA C-10 said:


> "Look under your hood, miss?"
> 
> I'm gonna get banned 🤪


A proper electrician will ask if he can check her shorts.


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