scap
July 12th, 2008, 12:09 AM
Greetings,
Been on the job 4 mo so far. Locating out of Utiliquest in Baton Rouge area. Started me at 12.00/hr. I know it's low, but whatever. I wanted experience in the telecommunications industry, and even though this is the job with the highest risk and lowest pay, I figured it'd be a good idea to get my feet wet doing it. If I like it, I may stay with it. If I dislike it in the long run, I could always goto work for Cox or AT&T after a few years, as they value locate experience. I just saw one of our top guys quit after a damage. It was about a 130,000.00 damage in Downtown Baton Rouge. I am not a guy who says names like that, so I'm not, but he was a great locater. He'd been doing it for awhile, and just up and quit. Big blow to Utiliquest. We just lost the Eatel contract in Ascension parish to Unibar. I'm sure yahoo has heard about it, btw whatup to a fellow Louisianian; brother, I enjoy your posts and wish you a quality weekend, enough to tolerate the inevitable MONDAY. ****, I hate Mondays SO MUCH compared to a Friday. Unless I'm working OT of course and am not completely rashed up by the 50 miles of pedestriac travel, done in mud encased boots, weighing them down significantly, throughout my 40+ hour workweek.
BTW, I'd just like to say that I'm working with a quality RD unit. I like the RD. Everyone loves subsite, but I like my RD. The top locaters that get shit done, also prefer the RD over the subsite. I'll take advice from a vet with experience, before I do take it from the guys who've been in it for just a few years. I like how the RD is better on Fiber Optics on 65.5, but 99% ofthe time I'm on freq 8, although I sweep from time to time.
Locating out here in Baton Rouge isn't so bad. Btw- we only locate CTV, Phone, and Sewer (sewer rarely) ...My bosses are very cool. I hear alot of bullshit from other guys who have been there awhile, complaints about this and that, but by and large, looking at it from an outside perspective, they seem like quality supervisors. It seems like the complaints are more like "They don't have an icemaker around here, and they don't have company BBQ's anymore, etc" type of whinefest stuff. But that complaint was from a pretty good guy.
I hate Industriplex. It's a large industrial area part of down, with tons of fiber everywhere. Luckily, some of the Bellsouth manholes have a tracerwire attached to the top which can make for an easy connection. The other day, I actually had to get inside a manhole to locate a duct run on Tiger Bend Rd near Jones Creek Road with the DR going down Tiger Bend...I was in a full prone position with both hands sticking down in the handhole, extension rod and all, smelling the shithole smell of this disgusting hole (it was a bad one), and I finally got a good grip on the cable, (It was about 25 feet down, or at least that's what it felt like I had to reach, literally, to where I was afraid of falling into that hole. heh. So, I complete the locate with no problems, as it was a gas ticket looking to expose the main.
Came back to the manhole and had my extension rod leaning on the side of the sewer when I had began the locate, and it sunk into the dungeon below.
I wasn't about the be jerkoff who calls his boss about everything because he probably had 100 things going on himself, so I yanked on the Ring Clamp's wire to raise the extension rod, in order to get everything to where I could at least reach it. I grabbed a hold of the rod, but it was stuck, horizonally wedged literally into the ****ing sewer. So, I kept pulling as hard as I could hoping it would wedge out and 'snap' my extension rod snapped in half, and in the process I think I may have damaged my Ring Clamp. But, I wanted to get the tools outta there and move on. I had a big ticket load that day. Anyway today I walk outside the safety meeting to my truck to bring the broken rod to the dumpster, (it was snapped in half, and my Sup saw it and gave me a new one.
Anyway, seems like a cool job, sometimes it can suck, but sometimes it's not so bad. I would like to quit smoking cigarettes, but a cigarette feels good after completing a tough locate when you have a cold drink with it. I jump fences with gloves on, and get kinda crazy when they give me stupid backyard locates and everyone's shit is locked, and plus I have to get that done because I have an emergency down the street to locate a bridge repair. I just take it one line at a time, though...(Woodlake/Monitor off of S Harrell's Ferry Bridge)
I've read some very informative posts from the forum, and am very happy that it exists. Will always be watching out for new advice here.
Sincerely,
-Scap
PS- Had a few damages so far. One was a Cox mainline that cost about 800.00. I didn't mark the job. The guys showed up after the ticket went red, and didn't call and say the lines weren't marked, they just did it anyway. I had a hillbilly contracter tell me one time, over the phone of course (these ****in' telephone tough guys, I tell ya...) 'I ain't gone let a couppla lines hold me up.'
Another was outside an old business that didn't seem operational. I hooked up to the ped, and the line didn't locate. I caught the cox mains going both ways, (2 leg cableped) and the guy cut the cable right next to a UP40 (Mini crossbox), which was about the size of my pinky. I reconnected to the cox cable ped and the line did not light up, even when I powersweep it. I assumed it was dead. The guy hit another AT&T wire near the cox one that looked like a 10pair telephone cable, but it didn't light up when I tried to locate it. So, the toothless ****er asked me to go out there again for him, and I didn't mean to look like a dick, but I just went out there with 2 cans of paint, and triple-T'd that shit in huge T's, separated by inches apart, the entire 200ft locate where I knew there were any phonelines. Asshole wanted me to stay there and supervise his excavation on some shit like that. I had stuff that needed to be DONE in higher profile areas than this shitbox. I triple T'd almost everything, took pics out the ass, and left. (No manifest, but a picture is a thousand words, especially 12 pictures)
Been on the job 4 mo so far. Locating out of Utiliquest in Baton Rouge area. Started me at 12.00/hr. I know it's low, but whatever. I wanted experience in the telecommunications industry, and even though this is the job with the highest risk and lowest pay, I figured it'd be a good idea to get my feet wet doing it. If I like it, I may stay with it. If I dislike it in the long run, I could always goto work for Cox or AT&T after a few years, as they value locate experience. I just saw one of our top guys quit after a damage. It was about a 130,000.00 damage in Downtown Baton Rouge. I am not a guy who says names like that, so I'm not, but he was a great locater. He'd been doing it for awhile, and just up and quit. Big blow to Utiliquest. We just lost the Eatel contract in Ascension parish to Unibar. I'm sure yahoo has heard about it, btw whatup to a fellow Louisianian; brother, I enjoy your posts and wish you a quality weekend, enough to tolerate the inevitable MONDAY. ****, I hate Mondays SO MUCH compared to a Friday. Unless I'm working OT of course and am not completely rashed up by the 50 miles of pedestriac travel, done in mud encased boots, weighing them down significantly, throughout my 40+ hour workweek.
BTW, I'd just like to say that I'm working with a quality RD unit. I like the RD. Everyone loves subsite, but I like my RD. The top locaters that get shit done, also prefer the RD over the subsite. I'll take advice from a vet with experience, before I do take it from the guys who've been in it for just a few years. I like how the RD is better on Fiber Optics on 65.5, but 99% ofthe time I'm on freq 8, although I sweep from time to time.
Locating out here in Baton Rouge isn't so bad. Btw- we only locate CTV, Phone, and Sewer (sewer rarely) ...My bosses are very cool. I hear alot of bullshit from other guys who have been there awhile, complaints about this and that, but by and large, looking at it from an outside perspective, they seem like quality supervisors. It seems like the complaints are more like "They don't have an icemaker around here, and they don't have company BBQ's anymore, etc" type of whinefest stuff. But that complaint was from a pretty good guy.
I hate Industriplex. It's a large industrial area part of down, with tons of fiber everywhere. Luckily, some of the Bellsouth manholes have a tracerwire attached to the top which can make for an easy connection. The other day, I actually had to get inside a manhole to locate a duct run on Tiger Bend Rd near Jones Creek Road with the DR going down Tiger Bend...I was in a full prone position with both hands sticking down in the handhole, extension rod and all, smelling the shithole smell of this disgusting hole (it was a bad one), and I finally got a good grip on the cable, (It was about 25 feet down, or at least that's what it felt like I had to reach, literally, to where I was afraid of falling into that hole. heh. So, I complete the locate with no problems, as it was a gas ticket looking to expose the main.
Came back to the manhole and had my extension rod leaning on the side of the sewer when I had began the locate, and it sunk into the dungeon below.
I wasn't about the be jerkoff who calls his boss about everything because he probably had 100 things going on himself, so I yanked on the Ring Clamp's wire to raise the extension rod, in order to get everything to where I could at least reach it. I grabbed a hold of the rod, but it was stuck, horizonally wedged literally into the ****ing sewer. So, I kept pulling as hard as I could hoping it would wedge out and 'snap' my extension rod snapped in half, and in the process I think I may have damaged my Ring Clamp. But, I wanted to get the tools outta there and move on. I had a big ticket load that day. Anyway today I walk outside the safety meeting to my truck to bring the broken rod to the dumpster, (it was snapped in half, and my Sup saw it and gave me a new one.
Anyway, seems like a cool job, sometimes it can suck, but sometimes it's not so bad. I would like to quit smoking cigarettes, but a cigarette feels good after completing a tough locate when you have a cold drink with it. I jump fences with gloves on, and get kinda crazy when they give me stupid backyard locates and everyone's shit is locked, and plus I have to get that done because I have an emergency down the street to locate a bridge repair. I just take it one line at a time, though...(Woodlake/Monitor off of S Harrell's Ferry Bridge)
I've read some very informative posts from the forum, and am very happy that it exists. Will always be watching out for new advice here.
Sincerely,
-Scap
PS- Had a few damages so far. One was a Cox mainline that cost about 800.00. I didn't mark the job. The guys showed up after the ticket went red, and didn't call and say the lines weren't marked, they just did it anyway. I had a hillbilly contracter tell me one time, over the phone of course (these ****in' telephone tough guys, I tell ya...) 'I ain't gone let a couppla lines hold me up.'
Another was outside an old business that didn't seem operational. I hooked up to the ped, and the line didn't locate. I caught the cox mains going both ways, (2 leg cableped) and the guy cut the cable right next to a UP40 (Mini crossbox), which was about the size of my pinky. I reconnected to the cox cable ped and the line did not light up, even when I powersweep it. I assumed it was dead. The guy hit another AT&T wire near the cox one that looked like a 10pair telephone cable, but it didn't light up when I tried to locate it. So, the toothless ****er asked me to go out there again for him, and I didn't mean to look like a dick, but I just went out there with 2 cans of paint, and triple-T'd that shit in huge T's, separated by inches apart, the entire 200ft locate where I knew there were any phonelines. Asshole wanted me to stay there and supervise his excavation on some shit like that. I had stuff that needed to be DONE in higher profile areas than this shitbox. I triple T'd almost everything, took pics out the ass, and left. (No manifest, but a picture is a thousand words, especially 12 pictures)