idiot excavators and their bosses

[rockiesgirl]

I wanted to hear some of you guys stories about unqualified operators. Just last week I had this supposed operator (who doesn't speak english) hit a 600 and 100 pair that ran together. So I show up at the site to do my damage investigation. I was right on the money with both cables and was curious as to why they got cut. I asked one of the crew who spoke English and he told me they thought the marks were where they were supposed to be digging! These guys work for a company that does contracting for a major electric co. in my area. They were supposed to dig up a water line that feeds the lake for the cooling towers. Never done any work of this type. Don't even know what a one-call is. Their boss sent them out to the job site and told them to find the water line. They found a line alright. What is this country coming to that we can't or won't find someone who is qualified to do the job. Sorry for ranting but this really pisses me off.

[TheCableVine]

Like I always say. You get what you pay for. You want to pay an illegal to run your backhoe, your gonna end up paying more than you wanted.

[ProfessionalLocator]

Around my area it is uncommon to find a directional bore crew that speaks English. One crew leader speaks limited English and is difficult to understand. They show up with no site drawings and no idea of want an easement is.

There are plenty of qualified people to run excavating crews sitting around unemployed becasue illegals all have their jobs.

The employers figure they can charge just as much with lower overhead or underbid and still have a higher profit margin. Plus the illegals can be worked without regard to workplace laws because they cannot file a complaint.

We see things as they really are, the general public just see's TV's image of the problem. Illegals are portrayed as working as janitors or maids. We know better becasue we go to construction sites and are often the only one's there speaking English. The lunch wagons (roach coach) that feature sandwiches, hot dogs and chicken no longer show up because very few workers on a construction site will patronize them. Instead they all go to a wagon that features a menu that is not in English and often the wagon operator has little English.

[sprayandpray]

Years ago I had a contractor that was installing quite a few electrical services. After about their 5th damage in a 2 week span I asked their Foreman that instead of me spraying straight lines on top of my facilities he would prefer I draw Bull's-eyes. He gave me an evil look and got in his truck and left. After that the damages dropped way down and he and I became friends.

Of course, I call him "Bulls-eye" now!

[Thewiredownbelow]

There are many incompetent operators out there, all should learn from their mistakes, some do but what really CHAPS MY HIDE is the big companies with the big jobs that think it's cheaper to blow through, slash & dash all cables & pay for the repairs!!!!

[AULupstate]

If ANYONE bothered to REALLY take a look at pretty much any industry, the ACTUAL laborers who do the job, and the PRICE TAG associated with those things being produced it would make them PUKE.

Housing Developers - $250,000 up to a couple of million dollar homes - Fabricated by incompitant (at best), Un-skilled, Illegal (at worse) contruction persons making CRAP wages (one step above slavery) thowing cheese box houses up at 2 a day.

the Automotive Industry - $48,000 to $58,000 for a 'Luxury' SUV with a little sticker that says 'Final Assembly Point, U.S.A'. Take a look at what that REALLY means. U.S.A. could mean THAT is where that stupid sticker is put on, therefore it technically IS the final assembly point. After the WHOLE thing was actually made in a third world country by individuals making dirt wages.

Infrastructure repair and Installation - Do I REALLY have to explain this little gem and WHY it is F**KING stupid??? I think WE all know better than that.

These and MANY more reasons are why I am SO glad I switched to a career where they CAN'T hire people who don't speak and read English FLUENTLY, they CAN'T low-ball bid ANYTHING, They CAN'T outsource to a forgein country, There is NO magic machine that will EVER take the human equation out of the job, Projected JOB GROWTH to 2016, OSHA MANDATED equipment up-grades with ACTUAL ENFORCED expiration dates on the equipment.

If I have ANY advice to those who are reading my posts now after I have left Locating it is this. Join your local Volly Ambulance Corps or Fire Department, which ever you can. Let THEM pay for YOU to learn a NEW skill like EMT, First Responder or Firefighter. GET THAT TRAINING so when Locating has kicked you in the balls (or appropriate female parts) you can give the big middle finger to it and start applying for paid positions in whatever you have learned. It's NOT rocket science and it's NOT hard to learn while you are ACTUALLY getting trained.

[bearmaiden]

About three years ago I had a landscaping contractor working at the local university. I got that dreaded "damage" call. When I got onsite I looked at the area of the damage, and the cable was directly under the marks. luckily it was only a 100 pair, in an area infested with high profiles. When I asked the guy who was onsite, he said he put the trencher down between the marks because he didn't think there was anything was there.............Here's your sign!

[Wingfoot]

Around my area it is uncommon to find a directional bore crew that speaks English. One crew leader speaks limited English and is difficult to understand.

Illegals are portrayed as working as janitors or maids. We know better becasue we go to construction sites and are often the only one's there speaking English.

There are plenty of qualified people to run excavating crews sitting around unemployed becasue illegals all have their jobs.

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FoxTV11 of Phoenix aired a portion of this video on August 4, 2010. This is a gathering of proponents of SB 1070, the Arizona immigration law. La Raza supporters, who are opponents of the immigration bill, laid an American flag (that had writing on it) on the ground in an area just outside where supporters of the bill were assembled during the singing of the National Anthem.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Operation Wetback was a 1954 operation by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to remove about one million undocumented immigrants from the southwestern United States, focusing on Mexican nationals.

Burgeoning numbers of undocumented Mexicans prompted President Dwight D. Eisenhower to appoint longtime friends John Cox and General Joseph Swing as INS Commissioners. According to Attorney General Herbert Brownell, Jr., Eisenhower had a sense of urgency about undocumented migration upon taking office. In a letter to Sen. J. William Fulbright, Eisenhower quoted a report in The New York Times that said, "The rise in illegal border-crossing by Mexican "wetbacks" to a current rate of more than 1,000,000 cases a year has been accompanied by a curious relaxation in ethical standards extending all the way from the farmer-exploiters of this contraband labor to the highest levels of the Federal Government."

The operation was modeled after a program that came to be termed the Mexican Repatriation, which put pressure on citizens of Mexico to return home during the Great Depression, due to the economic crisis in the United States.

Operation Wetback in action

The effort began in California and Arizona, and coordinated 1075 Border Patrol agents, along with state and local police agencies, to mount an aggressive crackdown. Tactics employed included going as far as systematic police sweeps of Mexican-American neighborhoods, and using racial profiling on random stops and ID checks of "Mexican-looking" people in a region with many Native Americans and native Hispanics. In some cases, undocumented persons were deported along with their American-born children.

750 agents targeted agricultural areas with a goal of 1,000 apprehensions per day. By the end of July, over 50,000 undocumented persons were caught in the two states. An estimated 488,000 undocumented immigrants are believed to have left voluntarily, for fear of being apprehended. By September, 80,000 had been taken into custody in Texas, and the INS estimated that 500,000 to 700,000 had left Texas of their own accord. To discourage illicit re-entry, buses and trains took many deportees deep within Mexican territory before releasing them.

Tens of thousands more were deported by two chartered ships: the Emancipation and the Mercurio. The ships ferried them from Port Isabel, Texas, to Veracruz, Mexico, more than 500 mi (800 km) to the south. Some were taken as far as 1000 mi (1600 km). Deportation by sea was ended after seven deportees jumped overboard from the Mercurio and drowned, provoking a mutiny that led to a public outcry in Mexico.

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[1idejim]

let me reply from another standpoint, i operate a mini excavator in many tight and congested areas. i haven't had a single (don't jinx me now) damage of a utility due to my me or my equipment. i operate in a slow methodical manner, use my dynatel or catv locator often and hand excavate in hand dig areas. pretty simple isn't it.

when using the other equipment i normally do the babysitting with the dynatel, giving line and depth. this makes hand digging easier and if i get a different reading, we stop until i am satisfied with the locate. nobody's perfect.

my cousins on the other hand live and work in another state, go like a bat out of hell and always blame the "stupid" locator for them hitting the target. we no longer talk. so english doesn't matter.

[mattm211]

The worst damages is saw ($-wise) was when i worked for my local city water/sewer department. Start of the housing boom and you had illegals out the wazoo breaking lines and leaving. We were at a new house fixing a meter and saw a backhoe crew with a pneumatic jackhammer attached to the end trying to chisel out more rock (geologically the entire city sits on a huge rock about 7 ft under ground) to run the sewer at the house nearby. We were just just checking out their work for the heck of it and then 1 hr. later we get a call they hit the water line (which was already exposed when we where there)...1 work day later, 10 inch water line repair, several sections of road repair, backhoe costs, gas, and about 3 crews worth of work hours later they racked up a sweet $800K+ bill.

When I marked new subdivisions it was the worst. I wish they would of called emergency locates when they arrived and there were no marks because the ground was constantly being leveled off and destroying marks. Crew hit a line and took down a subdivision and the company's office guy shows up like he's been on the job the entire time (it was about my 5th remark) and tries to get me to admit some kind of fault. I had pictures, etc. and never got blamed one bit.

Excavators who can't bother to dig and find the line when there is only ONE marked (going to the front of a lot for street light or simple drop on the side of the house). They always think it's further down or that they'd be sticking their auger for the fence pole just next to the line without hitting it.

[Locates with a cape!]

i can say after being able to work with some great excavators, that their are the nicely versed experienced ones out their who are so good with they're machines and how they feel, that its almost like they can use the "force" and feel the utilities as they approach them. I have rarely seen one who carries a locator and locates himself/herself though...I always thought it would be a good idea, some of the public locates out in Seattle are scary...and some are great, but u never know!

[1idejim]

i can say after being able to work with some great excavators, that their are the nicely versed experienced ones out their who are so good with they're machines and how they feel, that its almost like they can use the "force" and feel the utilities as they approach them. I have rarely seen one who carries a locator and locates himself/herself though...I always thought it would be a good idea, some of the public locates out in Seattle are scary...and some are great, but u never know!

i only have one eye so no depth perception, i move more slowly and am aware that "objects in the mirror are closer than they appear" i like that saying. knowing that what i see is not always what everyone else sees i make sure of where i am digging at all times, some companies make a living blowing and going, i can't afford to be that way.

[TMINTH]

I had a Q&E (Quick and Easy) cable drop one time at a house that was having some work done to it. The crew working on the house was all Mexican. They spoke English well, and I exchanged the usual pleasantries. After I finished my markings, I got out my camera (we take video). Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. They were all looking at me nervously. Finally, one of them asked "Hey, mang. What's with the camera?" I told him I had to video my marks to document them. I left right after that, but they still looked nervous.