2010 Close to home

2010 was a busy year for me, but it was also one in which I mostly stayed close to home. In April, I once again made the trip to Oswego to do a shutdown at Nine Mile 2. Due to my previous experience, I was assigned to the Leak Rate test crew. This time I was able to stay for the whole job! I really like doing testing. It uses your brain to figure out the system while still being enough physical work to keep you going and awake. The Superintendent, Steve N., was an operator there. He made sure we all knew what was going on and was always willing to share his knowledge and experience with us. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It took 7 weeks before my BA, Bryan A., assigned me to another job. Amazingly it was to work on a school district about 15 minutes north of me in Spencer-VanEtten, close enough to get home at lunch if I had to for some reason. One day I even raced home to jump in the pool it was so hot! We had 3 different schools that were getting new heating systems and cabinet units. My foreman John was from Binghamton as was the contractor. He was one of those great bosses that cared about his people. He made sure we had the Tools and Information and Material to do the job. All we had to do was provide the Effort. TIME makes all jobs run smoother. He also cared about our wellbeing; bringing around water or telling us to take a break on really hot days. The job was supposed to last all summer, but by the end of July we were so far ahead he was laying off everyone but the two apprentices. When I called Bryan he told me there were no local jobs, so I called Brad hoping for something close, if there was nothing local. He called me back in 20 minutes with a job 10 minutes south of me. Another series of schools getting new heating systems in the Waverly-Chemung-Horseheads school systems. What a great summer I was having! So close to the house and only 40 hour work week. Tom W, the foreman/owner of the company really liked me, although he was very frustrated with the other workers being sent from the hall. Most people were already working at other jobs by that late in the summer. One morning he walked up to me shaking his head. “What am I going to do with these two guys?” Apparently they hadn’t shown up for work. When I asked if they had at least called in, he said not really, but the police left him a message saying one was going to be staying with them for a few days. The other eventually showed up, but smelt so strongly of alcohol Tom sent him home. Trying to plan my life I asked how much longer we had. Tom swore I would be there until late October, so I didn’t go on the outage circuit as I wanted to do. To accommodate the students, we went on nights working 4 until midnight. When I was laid off the second week of September, I was quite miffed. I had given up thousands of dollars to help this guy out. Never again I would I bend over backwards for a contractor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luckily Brad was able to get me a job with my old contractor P&J at SUNY Binghamton where they were building some new dorms. It was only about 40 minutes from the house, but in the opposite direction of where my daughter lived. I was still able to see her every weekend though, so that was good. I had a really cool foreman Vince C, and then my old foreman, John showed up. It was a good job with nice co-workers, but no indoor plumbing…UGH! One day I was working when I heard an anguished scream. I ran in that direction and found a man writhing on the floor with blood gushing from his wrist and his shoulder at an odd angle. A sheet metal worker who was also volunteer fireman joined me. Between us we put a compression bandage on his wrist, got his tool belt and hard hat off as we calmed him down. I told my foreman to call 911 and to send someone to the gate to guide the EMTs to where we were. This guy was a carpenter working on a bakers scaffold only 36” off the floor. He had simply walked off it and landed on some rebar that was sticking up off the concrete floor. Imagine if he had been any higher. Construction is a dangerous job and distraction can seriously hurt you. While the president of the company did search me out to thank me for my actions, they still laid me off when I took the ten day vacation I had planned months before to London. Never again would I change my plans for a contractor. My life is my own. I work to provide for my family. I travel to enrich my soul.