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The shit we take for granted


Wrecker
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I remember growing up, my dad wasn't home very often, but I was happy to see him when he turned around.

I had no idea at the time what he did for a living, or what kind of money he made, but he managed to support our entire family and quite comfortably for all my siblings and my own time growing up.

Well now I know, and I'm doing the same thing.

The whole fucking time, he was stuck up in some fucking shit-hole, working in situations where he was either liable to get gassed, blown up, froze from the insane fucking weather, falling from a few hundred feet in the air, ripped apart from some failure of a system in commissioning, caught in the middle of a mechanical component, crushed by a few thousand ton lift that slipped in its rigging which was hanging in tandem by some huge fucking cranes, or something as simple as having a grinder decide to say fuck it to a zip disk and blow it the fuck up your face.

This construction shit is a crazy ballgame, and my dad grew up in the days where there was next to no safety at all. He has some horror stories, but he's still kicking, and probably the first guy you'd want on site when you want somebody that actually cares about going home at the end of the day. He got me into the industry, and hearing some of the shit he had experienced first-hand - especially when I never heard any of it before in the safety meetings we had - it hits home.

Shit along the lines of tightening a flange under SCBA in an entirely explosive environment, with an atmosphere of H2S well above the LEL, with shit getting doused in C02 and using brass tools to ensure there aren't any sparks. The kind of job you only ask the crazy bastards to sign up for.

For fuck sakes, this is the shit he'd been dealing with every day while I was complaining about grade-school.

I'm in school for the last year of my trade, and in a few weeks, I'm going to be a red-seal journeyman... I've just been doing some thinking and reflecting on this shit, plus I had a few beers with Dad today, haha...

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Dude I feel you, I frame houses during the summer. Even today it's really sketchy work. In the maybe half a year total I've worked so far I've had a grinder blade shatter into pieces and go flying everywhere, I've nearly shot myself with a nail gun repeatedly, I've had a scaffold come off the wall while I was standing on it, and I've nearly had a lean ladder slide off a wall while I was 20+ feet up it, holding a nailgun in one hand and a 2x4 chunk of half inch plywood in the other. The fact that you and your dad do it full time for a living is really impressive. Hope you enjoyed that beer :3

Edited by MuttButt
I can't sple
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It does have an aspect of fun to it, though, doesn't it? Definitely some adrenaline involved haha. Them fucking grinders are crazy, I remember cutting off some tank skids when the disk blew up on me and a chunk of it went flying by my ear with that distinct "vvvvvvvvvvvphew" sound...  It turned out later that the tanks happened to be full of methanol at the time, too...

There is no flame when that shit is on fire, just the shadow of the flames, talk about weird stuff! Definitely enjoyed the beer! :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Wrecker
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I salute you folks.  My own Dad lost his right arm in a feedlot accident with a grain auger when I was a about 4 years old.  It somehow motivated me to want to work trauma and take care of people. I now teach the next generation of Registered Nurses Trauma primary and secondary survey skills and critical care.  Most days in the emergency department it is filled with colds, coughs, cuts, scrapes, or chest pain we train for Level I and Level II trauma and shock cases hoping it is not the norm.

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you have a serious amount of ability, then. I could not be anywhere close to what you practice in, and freaking kudos to you for doing what you do, nurseeyeroll!

my niece is soon to become a nurse, and just hearing bits and pieces of her stories, I know I couldn't handle what she does. I sure as shit would be fucked for life having to watch somebody in a real bad way or worse, and the folk that do that for a living deserve every ounce of respect! thanks for being a part of the field of work you're in, because it takes a certain kind of caring to look past all of the bad stuff.

hopefully your dad is doing okay these days!

Edited by Wrecker
removed the word because because i didn't need it. just because.
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I work in shopfitting, and some of these machines in the factory are the sort of thing you see in the saw movies. Remember the panel saw that sliced the last two character's arms down the middle in one of them? Yea, that shit has actually happened to people.

The speed of those blades will take off fingers and hands easily at the cost of just a few seconds inattention. And I've been working with one of the things about nine years now. It's a sobering thought every day.

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Congrats on finishing your Red-Seal Wrecker!  Good on ya, mate!

I work the other end of the spectrum, a cushy corner office job in a nondescript low rise office tower in a rather unremarkable central business district.   Paper cuts, stapler accidents and co-workers that cook fish in the office microwave are the sum total of daily risks that I'm exposed too.   But for a bit, I was accountable for about 1/3 of all data transport in Canada.

Its not particularly remarkable.  But it is shit we take for granted.  Because no one really misses dial-tone, cell service, the internet (which outside of convenience surfing and email is really a collection of integrated billing/logistics systems) 911 or e911 services until they are gone.  No risk to my person, but a lot of sleepless nights.  

 

Edited by Irreverent
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My Dad is better now but was 28 when he lost his right hand.  At 73 he is as healthy as a person can be that abused their body through the 70's & 80's trying to quell the loss.  

As a nurse I see the person not the injured or defect.  It has given me strength and been a source of pain. The main thing it has kept me a feeling caring human being which I will never regret as I see many of my collegues burn out and quit as they have performed like robots for less years than I have been working.  Take the time to listen and give support when needed.  I am selfish it makes me feel good to help others.  I would rather go home exhausted and spent.  I sleep better and wake up ready to do it again regardless what anyone else gets out of it. It adds to my own life.  Most important it inspires and motivates other nurses to get on their feet when an old lady is making a patient smile or calming a screaming kid with a busted arm or leg

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