Overtime

[Llama8 8]

Have a week vacation between xmas and new years then back to the grind.

I'm taking Xmas-New Years off for the first time (ever, since it's usually very quiet in the office & you can get in late & leave early...)

 

 

Need to start using up some of my vacation. Company policy prohibits rolling over vacation days from previous years but an exception was made in my case.

Is that common in the US? Over here you can usually take some holiday over into the following year.

[Knuckles 904]

It's really up to the company....I don't believe there are any federal or state guidelines on it. Just been so busy this year that I haven't been able to sneak away for a week. Will have it in the schedule months ahead of time but when the date gets close it always seems like there a big project going on where if I took a week off it would really mess things up. Only 7 employees at our shop so it's hard to cover for me.

[Knuckles 904]

Well so much for the off-time.....Was nice to have December and first part of January off. Even got a lot of wiki stuff done. But just worked the first weekend of at least 4-6 in a row. With more to come. Have about 1200 trucks that need their communications systems changed out and we only got about 40 done this weekend. A typical line truck like this :

 

 

 

 

Edit: I went to look for a line truck from the company we're working for and I actually did this truck this weekend

 

These take 4-6 hours for me and the other guys are taking longer. It's a pain since most of the existing wiring has to be removed. Whoever did the radio system before was a hack. That and some of the vehicles have so much crap in them that it takes an hour to clean it out just to work on them. So it looks like I got a lot of weekends coming up. Least the pay is pretty good.

[chattius 2,520]

This is a truck carrying a four-dimensinal moving platform for streetlamp repairs, work on power grid poles and such?

 

 

 

Mine is something like this, second hand from army. A bit short legged, only 3 dimensions, the platform cant rotate on an own axis,....

But I can modify the crane to carry a platform, bush cutter, mechnical shovel, pressured air digger,... Custom mde tools are better in each discipline, but the nearly 40 year old beast still works.

 

What I learned at car electrics, to save a cent the manufacturers keeps the wires so short, that you can't lift them a bit to reach something. You have too remove the whole wires at repairs and reconect them after, and more time eating, check the whole electric if all is properly connected. Luckily unimogs were build with repairs in mind.

[gogoblender 3,068]

Vehicles are nice guys. chattius, we have a lot of construction happening just two blocks over from me, old school stores, all torn down in one fell night, busted up wood, exploded floors, old forgotten restaurant chair, in piles on the site the next day. The machines are pretty cool though. Huge, trucks tractors, cranes, I can get caught in this stuff and forget to get to work (can forget to do that anyway )

 

At least glad you had that time off Robb, you really bared down on quests! HOpe this return is easy on the soul for you, find lots of breaks. lol, funny about all that stuff in these trucks before you take over them, maybe they overnight or something for long hauls?

 

 

gogo

[cider_steve 26]

I should enjoy the work you have, even if it means long hard hours. So many have lost thier jobs these days that full time employment is something to cherish. Just try to stay under the bankers radar, they're out to destroy the world !

[gogoblender 3,068]

True about the bankers Steve. All these fees!

 

 

gogo

[cider_steve 26]

Hey Knuckles, how is your health these days ?

 

Seeing that Schot is off with a bad back reminded me that you were suffering a while back with a bad back injury.

 

Just wondering if you are back to full health or just soldiering on ?

 

Steve.

[gogoblender 3,068]

I just msned with him a while back, he's doing a lot of hours, but posting to this topic sets in place a summons for him, I'm sure he'll be back to tell us about the hours, which, at last count, he had done TON in a single day.

 

 

gogo

[cider_steve 26]

Thanks Gogo.

 

I guess if he's working that hard then his health must have improved, which is a blessing.

[Knuckles 904]

Yeah back to working crazy hours - again. And not complaining too much I've had so many friends/acquaintances ask if we were hiring. Unemployment is kind of high around here. I would love to hire some help but it would only be temporary, and that's the prob. By the time I got them trained we'll probably be back in a slow spell in between phases of this project and would have to lay them off. We're too small to be doing that. Insurance/unemployment compensation costs make hiring temp help cost prohibitive.

 

The back's not better. Actually it'll never be better unless someone invents nerve regrowth serum. Mostly just manage the pain and when the meds don't work, just grin and bear it. I know I didn't post this but got hit with a 2 inch pipe a few weeks back. A guy was swinging it around and didn't check to see if anyone was in the way and whacked me right in the face

 

Fractured my cheekbone and broke 2 teeth. Still worked the whole day (I'm a glutton for punishment) Just got the 2 molars replaced the other day and the cheek is fine. All the swelling is gone.

 

Still looking at 3-5 more weeks in a row. Then it depends after that whether or not I can power up/test some other sites. Waiting on the local telephone company to route a few T1 lines. I can't test the sites or convert the other offices over until that's done. So I may have a gap in weekend work but that just means it'll push everything back into spring and summer. And then I still have another huge project gearing up for the fall.

 

We're so busy I can't even call in sick. The last time I tried was over a year ago. My boss called me back and said "you answered the phone, so you're alive...get your butt in here "

 

If everything stays the way it has this week I might break my record of 103 hours worked in one week

[Dragon Brother 619]

If everything stays the way it has this week I might break my record of 103 hours worked in one week

 

Dang! I hope you are getting paid overtime!

 

And fractured cheekbone? That's a bit unlucky...

[cider_steve 26]

Goodness me Knuckles, I feel so sorry for you.

 

I can only hope that you soldiering on through the pain does not increase the back damage any further !

 

Ouchie about the face too ! I'll bet the guy was worried about your reaction ?! Bet he's a bit bashful around you these days ?

 

I can only wish you the best mate.

 

Steve.

[gogoblender 3,068]

When I heard about the fractured cheekbone, first thing I thought of was SO close to the eye!

 

 

gogo

[cider_steve 26]

When I heard about the fractured cheekbone, first thing I thought of was SO close to the eye!

 

 

gogo

 

We almost had a new nickname for knuckles..........'cyclops' !

[Knuckles 904]

The guy that did it is actually part of the company we're doing the work for. We have to have a 'company presence' while on their property. Basically a babysitter lol. Usually it's one guy all the time. So I've gotten to know him real well. He doesn't have to do anything but watch us and that get boring really quick so he'll help out where he can. He obviously felt horrible about it. Actually the worst part about the whole thing was we had to go back to the scene of the 'crime' and do a re-enactment a couple days later for their safety officer (since I was injured on their property). Had at least 5-6 of the bosses/corporate biggies there. Took all day to do it. Kind of a waste of time really but they were all about injury prevention and to make sure it could be prevented in the future. The real simple answer was don't swing a pipe around but that was too easy

 

I'd rather get hit by a pipe again then to go through that. I think part of it was for liability since there will be a claim for damages on my part. Their lawyer contacted me the day it happened. I hadn't even talked to mine yet. Hoping to settle out of court since this customer is a huge contract for us and don't want to ruin that relationship with an ugly lawsuit. Just as long as all my medical bills are paid with a little extra for the aggravation. The injury really wasn't that bad. It could have been much worse if it had been an inch higher....you would be calling me cyclops

 

And all this weekend work is overtime (whether I work 40 hours or not) Saturday is time and a half and Sunday is double. It's definitely tiring after a week or two but can't complain when I see the paycheck. Plus another 3-4 weeks and I get a break. Will have this district done and then it'll be a few weeks before the next one will be ready.

[Knuckles 904]

Well my 'break' is coming earlier than expected. We still can't finish one site since they haven't finished restoring the water tank (it's an old one that the town made a historical landmark). So until that's done the weekend work is on hold. Right now it looks like Feb 17th is when I'll start back up.

 

So at least I got a few weekends off to continue working on my living room

[Dragon Brother 619]

I bet you are gonna love that time to yourself! Make sure you enjoy it.

[gogoblender 3,068]

Those weekends sound great Robb...lol coninciding JUST when I'm gonna start losing sundays off, because weekends will be changed for me to friday sat... not too bad...but when my seniority gets better, hopefully I can win some days back.

 

 

gogo