grandmaster
09-05-2008, 12:19 AM
Im stuck in ElDorado Arkansas to clean up after this shitty storm, and because the utility doesnt give a fuck how long it takes to get the electricity back on, Im standing around all god damn day for 16 hours with a bunch of douchebags and Mexicans, all because of one god damn tree!
My job for storm work is basically to scout the line to determine the outage, and stay on scene until whatever work needed is done. We found and reported this tree at 9 in the morning. It was leaning on, and knocked out a transmission line, which powers half the city. No big deal. Happens all the time.
Once reported, the foresters and linemen waited for a tree crew to come in and cut it up so the linemen, could power it back on.
For some reason, the crew they assigned to do this job was coming from way far away and even though there were other random crews milling around, all of which were doing nothing, but speaking spanish and playing ass tag with each other, we had to wait for the assigned crew. Once they finally get on scene four hours later, the flood waters had risen so much, they couldnt get to the tree with their equipment, (I guess that was the issue, I dont speak Spanish-ebonics.) So the higher-ups called in a contractor with one of those fanboat things. :funny: Now we got foresters, linemen, Mexicans, and a bunch of other people, whose job Im still not sure of...just standing around, pissing off the public.
Once the fan boat gets there, the utility safety assholes wont let him do anything because hes out of compliance. No lifejacket! :funny: Doesnt matter that the water is four feet deep. Doesnt matter that there are tree crews minutes away with floating equipment. We stand around some more while the deciders decide what to do. :rolleyes:
Finally, they call in an arial saw...which is pretty bad ass. Its a helicopter with ten circular saw blades hanging from it. Hacks the hell out of a forest! Of course, the arial saw is flying all over a three state radius so needless to say it took hours for it to get there. Luckily though, once the safety people got bored enough and left, the fan boat guy took us out for rides so that was pretty sweet. :funny:
Finally, the arial saw gets there and cuts the tree off the line and like 20 of us finally leave, and we all convoy over to the substation where the linemen can unground and switch up the line. Only problem is they cant climb the tower because the safety people were there, and thats apparently not safe. So now we need a bucket truck!
Same fucking scenerio...hundreds of buckets just driving around, doing nothing, wasting fuel, and we have to wait for the one coming from BFE!
You guys wouldnt believe the unorganization, and how much wasted time there is in this business! And if I was a property owner without electricity, and there are dozens of guys just standing around out in front of my house for hours and hours...just screwing around and eating, and sleeping in their trucks, and going on boat rides, and not giving a damn, and then no one can tell me when the power is coming back on!....Id be ...I dont even know! Its absolutely rediculous.
Missed the fucking Vandy game, probably not gonna be around to bet this weekend. I heard theres another tree on the line. :angryfire :funny:
My job for storm work is basically to scout the line to determine the outage, and stay on scene until whatever work needed is done. We found and reported this tree at 9 in the morning. It was leaning on, and knocked out a transmission line, which powers half the city. No big deal. Happens all the time.
Once reported, the foresters and linemen waited for a tree crew to come in and cut it up so the linemen, could power it back on.
For some reason, the crew they assigned to do this job was coming from way far away and even though there were other random crews milling around, all of which were doing nothing, but speaking spanish and playing ass tag with each other, we had to wait for the assigned crew. Once they finally get on scene four hours later, the flood waters had risen so much, they couldnt get to the tree with their equipment, (I guess that was the issue, I dont speak Spanish-ebonics.) So the higher-ups called in a contractor with one of those fanboat things. :funny: Now we got foresters, linemen, Mexicans, and a bunch of other people, whose job Im still not sure of...just standing around, pissing off the public.
Once the fan boat gets there, the utility safety assholes wont let him do anything because hes out of compliance. No lifejacket! :funny: Doesnt matter that the water is four feet deep. Doesnt matter that there are tree crews minutes away with floating equipment. We stand around some more while the deciders decide what to do. :rolleyes:
Finally, they call in an arial saw...which is pretty bad ass. Its a helicopter with ten circular saw blades hanging from it. Hacks the hell out of a forest! Of course, the arial saw is flying all over a three state radius so needless to say it took hours for it to get there. Luckily though, once the safety people got bored enough and left, the fan boat guy took us out for rides so that was pretty sweet. :funny:
Finally, the arial saw gets there and cuts the tree off the line and like 20 of us finally leave, and we all convoy over to the substation where the linemen can unground and switch up the line. Only problem is they cant climb the tower because the safety people were there, and thats apparently not safe. So now we need a bucket truck!
Same fucking scenerio...hundreds of buckets just driving around, doing nothing, wasting fuel, and we have to wait for the one coming from BFE!
You guys wouldnt believe the unorganization, and how much wasted time there is in this business! And if I was a property owner without electricity, and there are dozens of guys just standing around out in front of my house for hours and hours...just screwing around and eating, and sleeping in their trucks, and going on boat rides, and not giving a damn, and then no one can tell me when the power is coming back on!....Id be ...I dont even know! Its absolutely rediculous.
Missed the fucking Vandy game, probably not gonna be around to bet this weekend. I heard theres another tree on the line. :angryfire :funny: