[PoleBarnsNY]

Happened Friday.

We fully connect four trusses at a time together on ground and then lift up a four section wide roof assembly onto the wall with the lift.

We have this four truss wide roof section hanging in the air and the customer who was filming the lift starts telling my crew that was on top of the wall or manning control ropes or the lift on the ground that were tied to the roof assembly about his daughters wedding.

I had to tell him we were a little distracted right now and had to focus on communicating with each other until we are finished for the day. Please give us some space so we can get this done without getting anyone hurt or making a costly mistake. :no:

I thought about saying "Get a phuckin clue bud. Go make sandwiches. I like ham and cheese" but I figured that would have a negative impact on customer relations.

He gets the Darwin award for this month.

 

[Tom Struble]

i'm sure the bride was lovely..

 

[jamestrd]

I had a customer follow me room to room telling me about her problems and husband, sister, event you name it.

I would go to the truck to get something and there she was.

she did it to my guys when I wasnt there too.

I was installing trim around a column and just to FK with her I literally walked around the column in circles and she followed like a dog..it was surreal

 

[PoleBarnsNY]

just to FK with her I literally walked around the column in circles and she followed like a dog

:laughing:

 

[NCMCarpentry]

I was installing new gate hardware on a rusted out 30-40 year old gate, so it involved quite a bit of screwing around to make things work, and the HO wouldn't leave me alone. I basically just stopped talking to him and he went inside. His wife comes out 20 minutes later and starts talking to me saying "He's saying you're having a hard time with the gate" I stopped everything I was doing and said "well it's going as well as I thought it would go I just can't work and talk when I'm doing this sort of stuff its all metal, things are spring loaded and most of these pieces are just temporarily in place until everything is adjusted... If I stop paying attention next thing you know I have my hand cut open."

Sometimes you have to explain things that many might consider common knowledge. I guess if your life doesn't involve these sort of things you don't know why you can't talk to someone while they are setting and auto-closing steel gate, setting trusses or... bracing an 18 foot wall!

 

[Youngin']

My favourite is when I've got my notebook and calculator out running numbers and someone starts talking to me. You'd think that they'd get a hint when I don't say anything back. I've had a labourer that stood there talking for a good 20 seconds before I had to say "Go away! Not now!"

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[smalpierre]

Happened Friday.

We fully connect four trusses at a time together on ground and then lift up a four section wide roof assembly onto the wall with the lift.

We have this four truss wide roof section hanging in the air and the customer who was filming the lift starts telling my crew that was on top of the wall or manning control ropes or the lift on the ground that were tied to the roof assembly about his daughters wedding.

I had to tell him we were a little distracted right now and had to focus on communicating with each other until we are finished for the day. Please give us some space so we can get this done without getting anyone hurt or making a costly mistake. :no:

I thought about saying "Get a phuckin clue bud. Go make sandwiches. I like ham and cheese" but I figured that would have a negative impact on customer relations.

He gets the Darwin award for this month.

Send them on a wild goose chase or menial task - that sometimes works. "The guys are starving, and I've got to have all hands on deck - would you mind running for sandwiches? I like ham and cheese ..."

If the crew knows what they're doing, yell at them. "More paw, less jaw - I'm not paying you guys to stand around!" then engage the customer and walk away. "So I hear your daughter is getting married!" and lead him away from the guys like the pied piper :laughing:

 

[rselectric1]

:clap: I guess we all live in the same world when working in peoples homes.

When working on a fixed contract basis, I am EXTREMELY less chatty. If I'm on T&M like a service call I listen a bit more, but at a certain point I always realize that crawling around in a hot attic is much easier than listening to histrionics.

I do enjoy BSing with the old retired GUYS though. They tend to miss their male counterparts at work and are stuck at home listening to nagging, etc. It doesn't take long before we are throwing insults and crap at each other. (For women reading this....it's a guy thing and we all enjoy it)

I plan to never retire based on what I've seen.

 

[TxElectrician]

Here lies the benefit of being a sparky. When someone starts bothering you, a little spark, followed by " sumbitch that hurt" usually gets them to back off.

 

[rselectric1]

Here lies the benefit of being a sparky. When someone starts bothering you, a little spark, followed by " sumbitch that hurt" usually gets them to back off.

Oh yeah! This also keeps the rugrats away if the mother is attentive. Most of them are but geez I've had to pull off jobs and kill their circuits. Keep the pets, kids, and you away from me per contract fine print!

I'll let you know when I need you.:thumbsup:

 

[m1911]

they don't bother me...

 

[C2projects]

I once had a customer follow me around talking to me. I was digging holes for his deck. I said " I'll be right back" I came back with another shovel. I handed it to him and asked him to start digging. After about 10 minutes he found something else to do. He was a great customer just a little to chatty.

 

[RobertCDF]

I once had a customer follow me around talking to me. I was digging holes for his deck. I said " I'll be right back" I came back with another shovel. I handed it to him and asked him to start digging. After about 10 minutes he found something else to do. He was a great customer just a little to chatty.

That's awesome! A great way to handle it. My luck is he'd help out and then expect a huge discount for "helping"

 

[BamBamm5144]

I was in the trailer taking a potty in a bottle once and the HO came right in to look around at the tools. Very awkward.

 

[Warren]

Here lies the benefit of being a sparky. When someone starts bothering you, a little spark, followed by " sumbitch that hurt" usually gets them to back off.

We have our carpenter tricks too.

A hammer flying two feet from their head is an attention grabber.

"Wow man! Did that almost hit you? My hand gets really sweaty and the hammer flies out quite a bit. Wasn't expecting to have someone hanging over my shoulder like that."

 

[Bearded Wonder]

Here lies the benefit of being a sparky. When someone starts bothering you, a little spark, followed by " sumbitch that hurt" usually gets them to back off.

Lol I did that once. Owners daughter, probably about 13-14, was the chattiest girl ever, and I was changing a light fixture in her closet. She was standing in the doorway yakking about her dog and training him and school and blah blah blah, wouldn't shut up.

I said hey, I need the breaker to this light turned off, want to see how I can do it from here? She said yeah, so I said watch close. Kind of dark in the closet with the light down, and she was staring right at the wiring. I casually reached up, grabbed the hot, and put it right on the ground. Fireworks, loud noise, the works.

I looked over at her and she had eyes as big as saucers. Didn't say a word and ran off. I didn't hear a peep out of her and barely even saw her for the rest of the time I was there.

 

[Tinstaafl]

Learn to multitask. One of the more memorable compliments I've received was when the client commented to the GC "He can work and talk at the same time!" :laughing:

But if it's truly a brain-strainer or hazardous to bystanders, call it like it is. I've never had anyone take offense at that.

 

[rselectric1]

Lol I did that once. Owners daughter, probably about 13-14, was the chattiest girl ever, and I was changing a light fixture in her closet. She was standing in the doorway yakking about her dog and training him and school and blah blah blah, wouldn't shut up.

I said hey, I need the breaker to this light turned off, want to see how I can do it from here? She said yeah, so I said watch close. Kind of dark in the closet with the light down, and she was staring right at the wiring. I casually reached up, grabbed the hot, and put it right on the ground. Fireworks, loud noise, the works.

I looked over at her and she had eyes as big as saucers. Didn't say a word and ran off. I didn't hear a peep out of her and barely even saw her for the rest of the time I was there.

Now that's awkward. Sadly we need to be aware that just one perceived "bad look" or any talk that could be possibly perceived as inappropriate can ruin someones life.

The worst part of service calls for me is working in a home where the wife is the only one there and I am working in the master bedroom. It's so incredibly awkward to me but it's part of the job.

As far as kids, get them the hell away from me. I have no problem telling the parent to keep them out of where I am working. I use the excuse that I don't want them to get hurt and there are live exposed wires in the room.

It's sad that we have to be this paranoid but unfortunately this is how things work nowadays.

 

[m1911]

Now that's awkward. Sadly we need to be aware that just one perceived "bad look" or any talk that could be possibly perceived as inappropriate can ruin someones life.

The worst part of service calls for me is working in a home where the wife is the only one there and I am working in the master bedroom. It's so incredibly awkward to me but it's part of the job.

As far as kids, get them the hell away from me. I have no problem telling the parent to keep them out of where I am working. I use the excuse that I don't want them to get hurt and there are live exposed wires in the room.

It's sad that we have to be this paranoid but unfortunately this is how things work nowadays.

I know how it is. I don't have anything against kids, but I don't like them around when I'm working. Most of my customers are usually good about keeping their kids away from the work area. Unfortunately these days you can't even talk to peoples kids for fear of a misunderstanding or some sort of accusation. I just remind customers to keep an eye on their kids, while work is going on.
I hate when you're looking for your hammer for twenty minutes, and you come to find the kid is banging on the dog house with it. :blink:

 

[rselectric1]

I know how it is. I don't have anything against kids, but I don't like them around when I'm working. Most of my customers are usually good about keeping their kids away from the work area. Unfortunately these days you can't even talk to peoples kids for fear of a misunderstanding or some sort of accusation. I just remind customers to keep an eye on their kids, while work is going on.
I hate when you're looking for your hammer for twenty minutes, and you come to find the kid is banging on the dog house with it. :blink:

Actually this is quite unfortunate. The kids (boys) are usually quite intrigued with what we are doing and cant get enough of us. I would have no problem with them tagging along and watching but for the "stranger danger" world that we now live in.

Years ago we didn't even consider this. For example, I used to ask the kids what color wires they wanted me to use when pulling a switch leg to their ceiling fan through the conduit. (Purple, orange, yellow, pink, or blue) while they were attentively watching me. I always told them that they wouldn't be able to see the color but they would know that they picked what was inside the pipes. Also the boys used to love to roll the spools of wire back up when I was done with them.

Now.....as I said before.....just keep them the hell away from me. At least we can still play with the dogs on our jobs.