Being a long time construction road warrior one rule should always be strictly adhered to. Always have your belongings be minimal and simple. Be prepared to roll up your possessions and hit the road within a couple hours or four at most. If it takes you longer than that, you've a need to simplify. On one contract I was the last one there and working happily as the supervisor and front office greatly enjoyed profiting off my dedicated and skilled work. One day they had the brilliant idea to sever my relationship with my employer and take my services without bothering to pay my contractor. Very unscrupulous and unethical. They came and told me they had permission and my employer was on board with me working directly for them. I was a bit peeved my employer would just sell me out like that to them and I would be left without my per diem subsidy and get reduced wages but from what they told me it was either that or be laid off. Ok. I agreed but I was unhappy. First day after this they took me out of the shipyard to do a contract at the port where I labored all day as the only welder in a freak heavy rain and strong winds right next to the cranes lifting shipping containers past me by inches. I shorted out three welding machines in the heavy rain which came in sideways as I repaired a hatch. Ship was to be out of port as soon as it was unloaded and I did temporary repairs till it could return and get a proper upgrade. Lots of things I did besides this were way outside my normal duties and I was further annoyed. End of shift I called my former employer to ask what was going on and was told I had been sold a pack of lies and the shipyard was in breach of contract. Ok. I'm done there. I went to work in the AM with the pretense there was nothing going on and as soon as I had access to my equipment packed it all up and went to the tool room to have my tools tagged as personal property and get a pass to leave with my equipment as per protocol. I got zero cooperation, no one would issue me the proper paperwork and I threatened to just leave without documents. My tools are mine and simply refusing to issue documents means nothing to me. As I said to them, I WILL leave and I WILL take MY tools, checked and documented or not. Security got called at the gate and instructed to not let me leave. The fucker actually locked the gate and threatened to call the marshals or some such claiming I would never make it past the bridge which was the only exit off the island. I tossed my tools over the 7 foot fence and then heaved myself over. The dumb security guard suddenly became all thumbs as he tried to unlock the gate to come after me. I was still walking toward my vehicle as he screamed threats of arrest behind me. Sure, ya, what ever and since I had come prepared with all my things from the motel I only had to continue driving until I crossed the county line. My employer already had another job waiting at another shipyard in another state. That's always been our greatest weapon, being ready to leave if mistreated or disrespected and take our skills somewhere else. I saw one job going sour with subtle disrespect from the supervisor and foreman as I was marginalized and sent off on meaningless errands rather than actually doing my trade. I set up some hints to another contractor in a subtle way just greasing the way ahead of time and then challenged both the supervisor and foreman pissing them off enough to fire me. They had some sort of agreement to hold on to part of our wages should we voluntarily drag up and quit so I needed to be fired. Then while still in the yard I went to the corporate office of the shipyard where these contractors worked and ratted them out for safety violations and other things. Just threw them under the bus and then walked out as they made a show of calling security on me. The shipyard driver drove me out to the front gate and commented on how many people were dragging up from that contractor, just a sad long parade of people who couldn't stand these horrible excuses for humanity. I went back to my rental and an hour later got a call to come work on another job. Timing couldn't have been more perfect. I actually thought I would be waiting maybe a week but turns out, no, only an hour. First week on new job my paycheck which included a bunch of stuff besides actual wages was $3,000.00 . New contractor paid for everything possible.