responsability

[1idejim]

i got into a argument about locating with an uncle of mine that lives in reno.

i had the excavation manual in front of me and i'm telling him over the phone what the manual says.

here goes, he's telling me that when assigned a ticket # you have a contract and that the operator has 48 to locate, that's all. after the 48 he can dig and it's on the operator if there's damage.

then he tells me that hitting a utility and repairing it (empty tube, isn't a damage so it's unreportable)

locates on private property is the responsability of the facility and if not marked, on the operator.

i told him that there was a 3 step no response procedure, he told me i was stupid. how stupid am i?

[ProfessionalLocator]

i got into a argument about locating with an uncle of mine that lives in reno.

i had the excavation manual in front of me and i'm telling him over the phone what the manual says.

here goes, he's telling me that when assigned a ticket # you have a contract and that the operator has 48 to locate, that's all. after the 48 he can dig and it's on the operator if there's damage.

then he tells me that hitting a utility and repairing it (empty tube, isn't a damage so it's unreportable)

locates on private property is the responsability of the facility and if not marked, on the operator.

i told him that there was a 3 step no response procedure, he told me i was stupid. how stupid am i?

When it comes to contractors running their small firms I often find this attitude problem. No matter what the rules or laws say they say that is wrong and they them tell me the way thing "really are".

One of the common characteristics of these small firm operators is they opened their own business becasue they do not like other people telling them what to do. To them laws and rules are just other people telling them what to do and they are going to do things their own way. After all they opened their own firm to do things their own way, seems perfectly logical to them.

Stupid? In a way but mostly it is just emotional. Love makes us stupid. Greed makes us stupid. God only knows what emotion drove us to be locators.

This reminds me of earlier this week. I have a neighbor a few houses over who is a small contractor. He got busted last year for assault and given a year in jail reduced to 20 days time served and the remainder served as probation. All he had to do was do as he was told which was to adhere to the terms of probation. A couple of days ago here come the police, four cruisers and a warrant for probation violation. So now he is sitting in jail and so far nobody will post bail for him. His hearing is not set until 10 weeks from now.

How stupid does this guy sound?

Sometime I think I can save a few bucks by canceling my cable service. Just sit a chair out front and watch my neighbors.

[1idejim]

Sometime I think I can save a few bucks by canceling my cable service. Just sit a chair out front and watch my neighbors

i have a friend that lives in a trailer park, i know what you mean.