Keystone State Thread

I’ve heard horror stories of guys doing contractor work in an active slaughterhouse, one guy I know said he was working in a mechanical closet right next to where they dumped scrap meat and such. He said he had to buy new clothes every day

 

I've always had a hands on type of job. And staying put in one spot drives me nuts. But the pay out here is absolutely shit. And my area is expensive as fuck. I'd like to have a real job one of this days

 

I damn sure ain't getting any younger. And I love Pennsylvania would love to move out there sometime in the future

 

If you’re serious about something, my company is desperate for guys right now (just like every other company, since nobody wants to join the blue collar work force)

 

What is it that you do?

 

We’re an HVAC company, we do mostly commercial. Very rarely do we do residential

 

I grind my ass off out here for 14hr and no health insurance.

 

That sounds fun. Never done that type of work. I would dare to apply for that out here cuz you need exp. And they would probably start me at like 10hr with none

 

Lotsa HVAC places looking for help right now. Seems like that trade is always losing people or can't get good help. All of my HVAC friends are always complaining about being understaffed and long hours due to the shortage of people.

 

That's a tough industry.

I remember when I first moved to Pittsburgh and was looking for a job, I interviewed at an HVAC company and they invited me to spend a day working with one of their technicians to get a feel for the job. So there I was, using a jackhammer to chip away 100-year-old concrete in the world's tiniest bathroom in a row house on the south side of Pittsburgh. The sewer line had collapsed and the entire house was like an open sewer.

The sweat was rolling into my eyes because it was about 100 degrees in there, but I couldn't wipe the sweat away because my hands and shirt sleeves were covered in filth and concrete dust. I kept sneezing while I was trying to work because of the massive amounts of cat hair and dander in the house.
The resident of the house, a crazy cat-lady who had no job, would stand in the doorway of the bathroom and insist on having a random and meaningless conversation with us while we were trying to work. She was constantly underfoot and fussing around with her multitude of cats.

That was just one job of several that day. I respectfully called the owner of the HVAC company (honestly, really did) and told him I appreciated the opportunity but felt it wasn't a good match for me.

 

I just quit my old HVAC job. 14 hrs a day working my balls if so the boss could golf and coach his kids sports got old. My new boss and job kick ass! Still get in some hours but not so much stress.

 

Believe it or not we have some guys from your area working for us, one guy lives as far up as Newark. Last winter we were working in shrewsbury at a new assisted living center

 

Yeah, fuck residential work. Good thing we mostly do new commercial construction

 

That’s spot on. The “can’t get good help” is much, much worse than you know. I can’t tell you how many new hires we had to fire within their first few months because they just couldn’t get to work on time or they lied on their resumé or whatever.

 

That sucks. Sounds like it's working out for you though.

 

Mechanics start at 17ish.

 

Same situation where I live, I just got lucky and found an opportunity with a new company straight out of high school. It is ran like shit though, so I am also in the market. Around here I make too much to just jump jobs, and my skillset is limited to my line of work. I can't even jump to another company because I wouldn't be compensated the same. I wear like 3 hats here, so I make decent coin for the area. I also carry 3 peoples work loads though. Higher ups don't see the value in my work though, and ignore my advice. That doesn't bother me too much, I've just adopted a mindset of fuck it as long as they pay me. I do quality management as one of my responsibilities. Our biggest issue is having enough competent employees on a weekly basis, but no one wants to do the work, or answer why we keep losing them before 1 year of employment. Lifelong friends at the top, makes it very easy to turn a blind eye I guess. After almost 20 years though, this is a career, and I would like to ensure that the job is here until I retire or find a better more fulfilling gig.

 

Sounds like a bunch of pussies to me. I've been inside of an offal screw conveyor (think guts and shit), welding the screw back together, and stopped to eat a sandwich half way through the project. Also we get uniform service as FR is required.

 

Well it was his personal tools and clothes getting covered in various animal blood

 

It all comes out in the wash. Just ask Tony @Skell