# Do you remember your first day at work



## BigD (Jan 22, 2010)

Just wanted to start a thread


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## Plumbdog (Jan 27, 2009)

Yep, was totally pumped to do some "real plumbing" Got introduced to all the guys put my hand tools in the truck and then was told that I would be staying at the shop to get it organized... and thats where i stayed for the next week. Found out later that it was more of a test than anything just to see if i would crack and quick. 

There were many more test like that over the next couple of years.


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## Airgap (Dec 18, 2008)

I remember it well... 

I was handed a ratchet with 2" dies in it, and a can of oil... Bossman gave me a 5 minute tutorial on how to get it started and when to stop.

"Alright boy, go around each floor and put threads on all these 2" stainless pipes that are stubbed down for these emergency showers".....:blink:


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

Hand digging a sewer replacement on Christmas eve! 1974, 80 degrees am and snow flurries in the pm. The owner told me latter that he new then that I would make a plumber.


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## pauliplumber (Feb 9, 2009)

Digging a trench for my boss running a poly water line of all things. I still remember him yelling at me " gimme that FN shovel, I'll show you how a MAN digs.....:laughing:


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## UnclogNH (Mar 28, 2009)

All to well. Welcome to Roto Rooter. Here go letter up your van. Oh ya those logos will be deducted from your check. :blink:


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## plumb4fun (Feb 18, 2009)

My first day on the job..........1978 ? here's your shovel! In fact the first couple of years it seemed I dug way more than I plumbed. A union apprentice plumber is cheaper than a union laboror. :furious:What the hey, it built strong character in me.


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## Herk (Jun 12, 2008)

I still remember (May, 1966) my dad taking me to the back of his pickup and showing me how to solder, and from that moment on I was not allowed to have leaks. 'Fraid I don't remember much else about it.


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## TheSkinnyGuy (Sep 15, 2009)

had been out of work for a while and had real soft hands. Got stuck with a crusty rough-in plumber. "Here's your shovel, dig a STRAIGHT line" and when we got the underground in it was time to dig for the water lines. I had blisters covering my hands. And I ended up digging for the next 2 years. I got rather good at it.


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## 1plumb4uall (Jan 6, 2010)

Yes I do, I had been working with my Dad for 2 years has his helper. My first official job on my own in my own truck was changing out a garbage disposal.
I suprised myself at knowing exactly what to do with out my Dad looking over my shoulder.
I just wish my Dad was here today to see me owning my own Plumbing co. 
Ken


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## ILPlumber (Jun 17, 2008)

4" black t&c. June 1992. I thought i was pretty tough back then. I still hurt from some of the stupid crap i did back then....


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## PLUMB TIME (Feb 2, 2009)

Hand dug an outside cleanout 5' down, mostly clay and gravel, in a not so nice section of Franklin Park, Il. Did I mention it rained on and off. Did a lot of digging back then but it did weed out the riff raff. The plumber I worked for at the time was a good guy, he sat in the truck with the heat on doing a crossword puzzle. Today you would probably get sued for something.


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

I sure dont,not the first day but is was in 1984. I was a journeyman plumber by 1991.


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

TheMaster said:


> I sure dont,not the first day but is was in 1984. I was a journeyman plumber by 1991.


Where you in special ed.?


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## Plasticman (Oct 14, 2008)

My first day back in 75 was with this old plumber. He showed me how to thread pipe and I racked my brains trying to thread the next joint after the lesson and he liked me for the fact that I never gave up. I then dug sewer ditches with a shovel and filled out his invoices for him ( he didn't read or write too well ).
I had to wash out his dog kennel every morning. He had some fine bird dogs but I hated them. lol. I mowed his grass, helped him with his garden, and got to go on repair calls with him. Most of which were faucets and toilets.
I worked for him for 2 years or so, I forget. 
He was a nice old man. He would buy candy and take it too the black kids in the project and hand it out the window of his truck to them. I miss him a lot to this day. He is the reason I fell in love with plumbing.  Here's to you Mr. Alagood :drink:


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## ChrisConnor (Dec 31, 2009)

UnclogNH said:


> All to well. Welcome to Roto Rooter. Here go letter up your van. Oh ya those logos will be deducted from your check. :blink:


I have a friend in Florida that tells the same story and the only gloves he was allowed to use had the RR logo on them. He said he bought one pair and hid the non-RR gloves in the truck.

When RR went out of business here, I called the phone company and had the numbers turned on at my office. That was four years ago and people still call them.


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## ROCKSTARPLUMBER (Dec 14, 2008)

All to well do I remember. One of my dads buddies hooked me up with a job at Jim Bennett's plumbing, this was in 99. The main reason he hired me, well, because i had a drivers license.:laughing: I swear. Got stuck with this old crack head looking african american fella. I can't remember his name. But, I drove us to the job, in the oldest POS van the company had at the time. I mean Old. Exhaust fumes, somehow leaked into the inside of the damn thing. Drove over to take a drainage test off of some apartments, and put on stud gaurds. Piece of cake, only problem, i starting pulling out the blow up balls, before the guy had told me to dig up the stub outs and bust the test caps. Oh well. I learned that week working with that dude, that osb makes a good matress to nap on, all through the day, and that my best help for him, was running to the van to get parts for him. That dude was fired a couple of weeks later, after I had a chat with Mr. Bennett. 

And to find out later, that guy really was a crackhead.


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## ChrisConnor (Dec 31, 2009)

I started in this business working for my dad's business. I started just riding the truck and carrying tools, then digging ditches and would load and unload machines for him. He started letting me unstop drains and run equipment with supervision when I was 14-15.

The day I got my drivers license I was sent on my first call by myself, it was a washing machine drain clog for a repeat customer. 

I quit working for him in '97 and never looked back. I worked for a few different shops, working my way up to service manager, then I started my own business in '02.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2008)

slickrick said:


> Where you in special ed.?


 HAHAHAHA !!! Jesus Rick ,,, Crown Royal all over my screen !!! 


First day , thought i was slick wearing some loud yellow beach shirt . Had to help tear out an OLD oil burner . KNOCKED the ego outta me !! :thumbup::thumbup:

Next LLLOOONNNGGGGG time ,,, pick and shovel ,, sewer and water . Best days of my life at $ 1.75 hour :yes:

Great memories ! Great education !


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## liquidplumber (Dec 6, 2009)

February 1986 Oceanfront condos Hull Massachusetts. "This is a pair of tin snips. This is a roll of duct tape. These 50+ dryer vents need to go from here to there" Never knew the wind could blow so cold. This was only supposed to be a one week job to help out a family friend. ........24 years later seems like the blink of an eye


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

slickrick said:


> Where you in special ed.?


 I mostly went to private schools but then went to high school in the public system. I quickly became a major player in a school of 3,000 students.


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

TheMaster said:


> I mostly went to private schools but then went to high school in the public system. I quickly became a major player in a school of 3,000 students.


I couldn't help it, you walked into that one.


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## AndersenPlumbing (Jan 23, 2010)

My first week, I show up to a commercial job. Two journeyman standing next to a ditch one with a shovel in his hand. They tell me that the ditch needs to be dug down another 3". I ask him "you want me to run to the van and get another shovel?" He says "Why? Can you use two at once?"

He never picked up a shovel for the rest of the job!


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## Ron (Jun 12, 2008)

Yea I remember the 1st post you made I asked for an intro, and we yet to see one.

How about that intro

Click link below and give an intro.. Thanks

http://www.plumbingzone.com/newthrea...=newthread&f=3
__________________


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## ChrisConnor (Dec 31, 2009)

TheMaster said:


> I mostly went to private schools but then went to high school in the public system. I quickly became a major player in a school of 3,000 students.


Great, the major player is an internet stealing turd herder.:laughing:


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

ChrisConnor said:


> Great, the major player is an internet stealing turd herder.:laughing:


I dont clean drains as a general rule,but I do break it.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*1964*

1964.. mom wants me out of her hair for the summer, so dad gets to have me come in to work.....I am 10

he is doing tract homes , 2 a day , every day including satrudays... basically humping like a dog.

I got to go around and pick up the scrap lead and throw it back into the boiling lead pot....


later I get to nail up drop ears and feed the water line drops through the floor...

eventually , I get shown how to install a lead flashing on the roof, take the side of the hammer and peel the lead down to about an inch of the 3 inch copper stack, then tap the lead over into the innner pipe...

climbing the ladder and installing the flashings 
became my pernament summer job...

if mom knew any of the **** that was going on , she would have freaked out...


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## Ron (Jun 12, 2008)

BigD your thread will reopen after we hear from you, until then if anyone whats to start a thread like this one of there own, do so, BigD's thread is locked for now, I'll reopen it after we have an intro.


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