God you pups are funny, chase a 1 ton for a couple years, everything was done off hooks, and these were some tough MFr's, come to work with an attitude and more often than not the forman slapped you around a bit and your tools went out through the woods and you walked back to the shop and went home, the turn over rate was 3 in 20 and everyone held thier own, you NEVER skipped poles, and we policed our own back then, there was no QC, there was no HR Dept, in most cases the owners were right out there with you, they ran materials, water and bought the beer at the end of the day, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that it was so much easier, all you had to do is show up and do your job, there were no kiss asses, there were no loop holes, no light duty, comp comando's, just a group of guys tough enough to get the job done, and get it done right the first time, your forman was god, I remember one guy from Maine, anyone remember Ricky Leathers? I had just got on his crew and we were having the weekly saftey meeting, we were working some bad roads, running strand with these pulp trucks coming around corners at 60 MPH any way he was going over all the hand signals and the art of stopping traffic with a bell wrench, when he pulled up his shirt and he had been cut open from his belly button to his adams apple, he had been on a stick when a car hit strand and it almost cut him in half, he climbed down the pole holding his guts in with one hand, the doctors couldn't believe he was still a live but did say the only reason was because he was just one tough SOB, and just as soon as he got stitched back togeather he was right back out there, s**t now days a guy gets a splinter and he gets a desk job, politics have taken over, I was brought up on a farm, I can't remember when I wasn't working, be it taking care of the animals, cutting wood, working the garden, haying or what ever, the only time I was allowed to sit down was to do my home work,we had 2 channels and the only time the TV came on is when the ole man watched his news, we didn't have Play Stations, X Boxes, computers but what we did have is good work ethics and it always sticks with you, I see these pups know days, and I just shake my head. It doesn't really matter how high tech this industry gets, your still going to need men out there tough enough to get the jobs done be it extensions, raise and runs, storm and traffic damage, what ever, and who do you think is going to be out there stomping threw the easements @-40 below? I worked in Maine last year in the 1200 mile up grade, and I guess there were about 30 guys, this was in the dead of winter and very cold any way I looked around the shop one day and you know out of the 30 guys, there may have been 1 under 40 yrs old, the same with the storm damage in Fla, where were all you pups? I don't think I saw one of you down there, again all I saw were the ole dawgs getting it done, we were brought up dealing with adversity on a daily basis, and there is nothing and I mean nothing that replaces experiance. Flap your gums all you want there puppies, we can see right through it.
it's easyer to ask for forgiveness than permission
This is CABL.com posting #141244. Tiny Link: cabl.co/mKUi
