the plot thickens

Ya know I'm such a cynical SOB. Today the new guy and the sevice guy went out to repipe a little cabin. all went pretty well I showed up around 2 oclock just in time for water turn on. Everything went well other than the hot side on the kitchen faucet was very low flow. So I tore the faucet down and then the riser and stop, all good. I backtracked the pipe and found a marble in the tee that went to the kitchen. Lost about an hour for the three of us. I've been piping for well over 25 years and closer to thirty and this is a new one on me. Usually when I see stuff like this it's a prank being played. What did Sherlock Holmes say? something is amiss.

That would probably have tripped my trigger. Three manhours shot to heck that could have been spent making income? I know you said skilled labor is scarce but stupid labor is costly. If you trust your service guy and nothing has happened like that with him before I'd sure be talking hard to the new guy.

I trust the service guy, he's been with me over ten years. I think it's time to trim the tree. This is beyong a talking to. There's no proof either, just gut.

Might possible be a feller at the supply warehouse with a big smile on his face about now too. just saying. When I was in high school( few years back) I worked for my uncle that had a plumbing and heating outfit. We set a new toilet one time and all was well till the first flush. It backed up and made one big mess for no reason we could see. Long story short we took it up and finally found a rag stuffed up in the neck. One very upset uncle. Never did know if the warehouse figured out where it came from but it does happen.

Oldtrap

exactly, that's why a fella can't go around making accusations, although I have to admit I've had more of this in the last month since this fella started than the last 25 years.

Gotta service call on a new furnace in a new construction house, blower noisy.....some one had stuffed the remains of their lunch in the blower, between the time we installed it and the home owner turned it on for the first time.....SOB was vibrating all over the place.....big joke.

The operative word in any similar situation, of course, is TRUST. My personal guideline is this -- once is an INCIDENT; twice is a CO-INCIDENT; three times is a PATTERN. I also acknowledge that my guideline goes one step further than most folks' guidelines because of my limitations as to who even gets "promoted to Step One.

I use trusted professionals in roofing, plumbing, electrical and HVAC. Each has earned his/her favored position by demonstrating excellence his his/her field. i must also reveal that, while I am not a journeyman in any of these, I do know my hat from a hole-in-the-ground about what it takes to become a journeyman in these fields.

But that's just my two-hundredths of a dollar.

-- Nighteyes

Who figured out the marble was there or decided to open it up to see?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by COWBOYSURVIVAL

Who figured out the marble was there or decided to open it up to see?

---

Good question!

Sounds like Randy did.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crashdive123

Sounds like Randy did.

---

Well yeah! but what led up to finding it.....

"Hey Randy, it sorta acts like it might have a marble in the tee, think we should check it out?"

More like......

Quote:

---

So I tore the faucet down and then the riser and stop, all good. I backtracked the pipe and found a marble in the tee that went to the kitchen.

---

Yeah, we get that too. I work for my dad as a general contractor, no journeyman stuff or master, just go out and do the work. I also worked in PA for a guy.

The one story that stands out is the guy who went upstairs to work. Everyone could hear the hammering. Apparently the guy just sat up there for a couple of hours randomly smacking the floor with his hammer to make it sound like he was working.

One guy did steal a battery tool. We know it had to be an employee cause the battery was charging behind an open door. If someone walked in off the street they would have just grabbed the tool. Who would close the open front door they came through?

The worst though was the kid who "allegedly" stole some jewelry out of a house we were working on. It wasn't a cheap bracelet (read multiple of thousands of dollars). He was a good kid and knew his stuff, but he got hurt real bad rock climbing and ended up getting hooked on pain killers. Thankfully he stole it from someone who knew us very well so there wasn't a huge problem. I mean, at the time it was my dad, cousin, myself, and this kid working at the house. 3 family members and him. The client knew myself and my dad very well. That one could have been really bad. Needless to say, that was the last job he was with us. Unfortunately there was so little evidence nothing ever came of it. It would have been good for the kid to get nailed and hopefully have gotten some help.
Another coworker was just dumb. Was driving home with a loaded gun he had bought at a gun show out of state. In NY its mandatory jail time for possession of a loaded unregistered weapon.

I think there is a reason our crew never really got bigger than 3-4 people... lol

I found the marble. There was no pressure to the kitchen but the lav had great pressure. The tee was a 3/4 by 1/2 by 1/2 tee. The marble was lodged in the port of the tee that went to the kitchen. Pretty strange happening. This is the same guy that's wants more hours. I can't have this, "this" is sticking jobs into a hole.

I've worked with a lot of guys that created their own overtime. I won't go into details but one would put customers out of service just so he could work overtime "fixing" them. Of course making the problem gives you a quick and easy fix so he'd sandbag the rest of his time. I had no use for the guy. Fortunately, he got fired.

Another guy stole a brand new in the box torch outfit off a job site. We were working out of the same truck and I didn't know about it until we got back to the dog house. I told him if he didn't take it back the next morning when we went back out that I'd report him. Fortunately, he did.

I don't get it. Why would you put your job at risk over a couple of hours work? If he was going to do something you'd think he would have put a blob of solder inside the T rather than a marble. You might be able to talk your way out of the solder. But either way it's pretty dumb.

Was this a prank or a ploy to be called back to do more work i.e. get more hours?

it was to stretch the day. When this guy came in looking for work he was told in no uncertain terms that things were very slow and 40 hours were not available, it's just not there.

So now he's getting 39 1/2.

not quite but soon it'll be -0-. I've been doing this a long time, long enough to know funny business.

That sucks man. I would fire him over the marble, there is zero excuse. If not this time man, next time. There are plenty of people out there that need work. Its just hard to find the good ones.

Is this the same guy that was involved in the great leatherman disappearance?

yup, the same. There are some other things, little mistakes that stretch out the day that even a two year apprentice wouldn't do much less a 25 year journyman.

You may wish to employ the use of some type of mechanized training. May I suggest....

http://www.3dshop.org.uk/images/guillotines.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rick

So now he's getting 39 1/2.

---

If he's not careful he may wind up getting 7 to 10, with time off for good behavior.

In the "guess what I found" department, the drain for our central air unit once got plugged. Naturally the condensation overflowed and got everything soaked. There was a large triangular dead space between the walls, right behind the unit. When I opened up the return-air grate to remove the water, I found lunch-bags, drink cups and other junk the builder's crew left behind. I also found a used feminine hygiene product... :eek2: :scared: :mad: :mad: :mad:

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