As I've occasionally mentioned, I'm a plumbing foreman for a mechanical company. Company is neither huge nor tiny, with a total payroll of around 160. I've just about finished the job that I've been working on for the past 6 months, and when that happens, a foreman is often bounced around a little, as skilled labor, until he starts his next job. So I went to a job where a hotel is being built.
On my second day at this job, the foreman asked me to take a look at some cast iron pipe that needed to be inspected. He said that it had failed inspection, and needed someone to get it ready to pass. It turned out that the story was somewhat more involved. I went to the other side of the building and talked to the testing crew. "How many rooms are we inspecting?"
"Thirteen."
"How many do you have under test?"
"Two."
OK, I'm beginning to see the problem. To inspect waste pipe, whether cast iron, plastic, or whatever, the procedure is to fill it to ten feet above the area that is being inspected. This puts close to 5 psig of pressure on the low points, much more than a waste pipe should ever experience in service.
As it turns out, the testing crew, consisting of two supposedly skilled (one journeyman) plumbers and two laborers had been trying to get this area under test for the past eight days. Knowing it wasn't ready, they tried to Bravo Sierra their way through the inspection. Didn't work, the inspector wasn't born yesterday.
The foreman asked me if we could inspect the next day. I said yes. Then a number of superintendents and other mucky-mucks asked me the same question. Same answer. The foreman flooded me with manpower, and we got started. 6 hours later, we were ready.
Inspector came, we walked, he signed.
The guy running the previous inspection crew got his walking papers. Why? Not because he had trouble with getting the system ready. Because he couldn't bring himself to admit that he was having trouble, he kept promising that he would be ready, and finally, he allowed the inspection to take place knowing it wasn't ready. In other words, pride, or perhaps hubris is the word.
I was able to finish it off in six hours, not because I'm some sort of superman, or God's gift to the plumbing trade, or something like that, but because I've done it before, and I know how to do it in an orderly fashion. Plenty of guys could have done the same thing, but apparently not the guy who was doing it. In fact, after 30+ years in the trade, there would be no excuse if I couldn't get it done.
We all occasionally get in over our heads. Even though I've been a plumber for most of my adult life, sometimes something comes along that I haven't seen before. I have to ask for help. The guy who got canned wasn't really a bad guy, in fact, if he had brought his rhetoric down a notch or two (you would have thought he was the King of Plumbers), he would probably still have a job.
On my second day at this job, the foreman asked me to take a look at some cast iron pipe that needed to be inspected. He said that it had failed inspection, and needed someone to get it ready to pass. It turned out that the story was somewhat more involved. I went to the other side of the building and talked to the testing crew. "How many rooms are we inspecting?"
"Thirteen."
"How many do you have under test?"
"Two."
OK, I'm beginning to see the problem. To inspect waste pipe, whether cast iron, plastic, or whatever, the procedure is to fill it to ten feet above the area that is being inspected. This puts close to 5 psig of pressure on the low points, much more than a waste pipe should ever experience in service.
As it turns out, the testing crew, consisting of two supposedly skilled (one journeyman) plumbers and two laborers had been trying to get this area under test for the past eight days. Knowing it wasn't ready, they tried to Bravo Sierra their way through the inspection. Didn't work, the inspector wasn't born yesterday.
The foreman asked me if we could inspect the next day. I said yes. Then a number of superintendents and other mucky-mucks asked me the same question. Same answer. The foreman flooded me with manpower, and we got started. 6 hours later, we were ready.
Inspector came, we walked, he signed.
The guy running the previous inspection crew got his walking papers. Why? Not because he had trouble with getting the system ready. Because he couldn't bring himself to admit that he was having trouble, he kept promising that he would be ready, and finally, he allowed the inspection to take place knowing it wasn't ready. In other words, pride, or perhaps hubris is the word.
I was able to finish it off in six hours, not because I'm some sort of superman, or God's gift to the plumbing trade, or something like that, but because I've done it before, and I know how to do it in an orderly fashion. Plenty of guys could have done the same thing, but apparently not the guy who was doing it. In fact, after 30+ years in the trade, there would be no excuse if I couldn't get it done.
We all occasionally get in over our heads. Even though I've been a plumber for most of my adult life, sometimes something comes along that I haven't seen before. I have to ask for help. The guy who got canned wasn't really a bad guy, in fact, if he had brought his rhetoric down a notch or two (you would have thought he was the King of Plumbers), he would probably still have a job.