I did go into the steel construction industry, working on projects as varied as ships, to oil industry tanks, water tanks, once a winery installation and welding on a launch platform for NASA.
But, always I struggled with some of the less skilled and difficult to work with types. It's frustrating and dangerous as some of these guys will actually try to kill you on the job as happened to me twice.
However, I learned that if the crew is just a bit lackluster in skills and maybe new to the industry it's a good chance to help out by dropping hints and constantly explaining things to them about how things work or helping set up equipment so we have a good work day. I've been on a few crews where my experience was noticed and I was placed in charge of certain aspects of the project as well as given a few guys to help me.
Unfortunately, I hate being "in charge" of things and cringe at having to tell younger guys what to do. Why do I have to tell a fellow that pulling out his cell phone to browse his text messages during work hours is counterproductive? Or showing porn (really nasty porn) on the job is just a huge violation as well as a waste of time and totally unprofessional? One guy actually thought it was funny to lock a female safety watch into the portapotty. His dad was the supervisor and I hope he chewed him out for at least an hour. I did rescue the woman within seconds and dragged the young guy away to give him some advice on how we could lose the contract, the contractor could get sued and even get his dad fired.
It's one thing to play pranks on a coworker you know, (still forbidden) but quite another to be the son of the supervisor and play a prank on someone from another company and a female as well. Also this particular woman was a bit unhinged anyway and I caught her babbling to herself about conspiracies. Damn, messing with her was like playing with a land mine. I advised the supervisor she was coming unglued on the job and to find a quiet way to ease her off back to her employer. Quietly being the key.
Over time on another crew I began systematically ingratiating myself with my coworkers by bringing them things from the toolroom, giving praise and helping them set up equipment and it worked. The entire crew became more supportive, less back stabbing and squabbling and more cooperation with the foreman and supervisor who I also coached on how to deal with company infighting. Day shift was scheming to sabotage our entire crew. Not nice. In the end, we had a huge if quiet change of understanding between crews and the sabotage and scheming ended. I had caught the day shift supervisor in a clear case of fraud and lying and rather than report him to HR I just let it hang there like a weapon I had ready.
People skills, something they really don't teach in trade schools.
Those are some nice people skills you have there, yes you are right, teaching these things would have helped enormously in any career, which is pretty much why I went into IT because this was a weak area for me
I grew up in a family working in the family business and surrounded by family with the worst people skills you can imagine. Zero accountability, lying, back stabbing, no cooperation and issues, etc, so leaving that to go work in the construction industry I really didn't know how to deal properly with people issues. Remaining calm when things went totally off the rails and dealing with huge expensive errors it was hard for me to bring up helpful criticism in a way that got accepted and without displaying my obvious annoyance. Yes, I've worked with and for some real assholes on construction jobs but I've also worked for and with really great people who I will quite fondly remember the rest of my life.
On one water tank job in Redding Ca. it was a huge water tank we were building in the hottest part of the summer. Just brutal heat and little wind every day. One Thursday we were getting ready to climb up and work on finishing out the roof and someone commented we should all play hooky and go to the beach. Just a joke. The foreman stopped, took off his safety harness and told us to hang tight while he checked something. He walks over to his truck and gets out his notebook. A minute later he calls out to us, "Hey, we're a day ahead of schedule so you can all take off, We're out of here". He marked us all down as having worked the day and told us to take off and keep it quiet. It's our secret.
Nice. Before we left he told us how another foreman he used to work for did this trick and on his way home he gets a call on his cell phone from the supervisor asking how the work is going. "Oh great, everyone's doing fine". Supervisor: "That's funny, 'cause I'm at the tank and I can't see any of you guys". So busted. Fortunately in our case there was zero chance of a supervisor coming to snoop on a Thursday since he actually knew where the guy was.
I gather the construction industry doesn't take fools gladly, so maybe it was a fast track to learning some good skills. Great story there, IME good bosses get people who work harder in return
Also this particular woman was a bit unhinged anyway and I caught her babbling to herself about conspiracies.
Given the events of the past few years, who knows, maybe she was a genius.
LOL. No man. She was walking around inside the tank we were repairing mumbling to herself and I asked her what was wrong. "Everyone's against me, you're all against me!" I tried to reassure her and she just doubled down on her quiet rambling. It was scary to see her unraveling like that. We need rational people to watch for fires, safety hazards and stuff like that, not someone who mumbles about work place conspiracies. The worst thing that ever happened to her was the kid putting a welding rod through the latch on the portapotty to lock her inside and I yanked that out in four seconds flat and shoved the kid away. She must have heard me warning him and came out yelling about how she was going to report him to corporate office, etc, etc, while I'm trying to pacify her and get her calmed down. It was after that she started mumbling stuff all day. Just that one incident of pranksterism set her off. Not good.
I had a coworker who liked to bang on the side of the portapotty when I'd go in to piss and after about three times of him doing that I stood outside telling him I would tip the damn thing over while he was in it. He'd go in and I'd rush the thing, he'd hear my feet on the gravel and jump back out. After about four times of this he was begging me to clear off and let him piss so I made him promise to never touch the portapotty while I was in it. Truce agreed to and we both left each other to use the portapotty in peace after that.
I wasn't being terribly serious, that sounds pretty nuts though. I wonder if the toilet prank pushed her over the edge.
Also... of all the careers such a delicate person could pursue, why would they volunteer for something contentious like a safety monitor on a building site?
That's hilarious. Must've been an interesting place to work.
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