# Sabotage



## Radium (Dec 25, 2010)

When I first started my company, five years ago, I was doing a job for an old contractor, I used to work for with my previous employer. It was his own house, new build. Six bathroom body sprays , all high end. I dropped by his house the day before drywall and saw a crimp ring cut on the hot side of the shower valve. And another ring cut on a frost free hosebib. side


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## johnlewismcleod (Apr 6, 2012)

That sounds like more sophisticated sabotage than the typical knuckle-dragger with a chip on his shoulder.

Really sorry to hear this, Radium...it's going to make for sleepless nights I imagine :sad:


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

After that I would do a pressure test ...

Here after roughin I leave the water pressure on from the time water piping is installed to the point the house is finished ... This way any problems will show up long before I have to replace anything expensive ...

I had guys use long brad nails to install base boards and they nail my water lines ... No problem they found out right away ... LOL

So the culprit knows he did it ...


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## Epox (Sep 19, 2010)

Man there's enough to worry about with accidental damage OS is talking about much less sabotage. I leave the pressure on all water piping which includes capping tub and shwr stub out nipples.


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## Relic (Sep 30, 2012)

Had a guy drop a bag of ping pong balls down my water main on a 12 story building once. I laid him off and thought he was cool so I allowed him to gather his tools unescorted. When I put water on the system a month later, I couldn't get water to anything and was baffled as to why. I had the guys make test cuts and finally during one cut, a bunch of ping pong balls came rolling out of the water main. I never allow people who get the axe to roam freely on my jobs anymore.


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## johntheplumber (Feb 11, 2013)

Relic said:


> Had a guy drop a bag of ping pong balls down my water main on a 12 story building once. I laid him off and thought he was cool so I allowed him to gather his tools unescorted. When I put water on the system a month later, I couldn't get water to anything and was baffled as to why. I had the guys make test cuts and finally during one cut, a bunch of ping pong balls came rolling out of the water main. I never allow people who get the axe to roam freely on my jobs anymore.


That sucks.


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## JDGA80 (Dec 9, 2012)

Relic said:


> Had a guy drop a bag of ping pong balls down my water main on a 12 story building once. I laid him off and thought he was cool so I allowed him to gather his tools unescorted. When I put water on the system a month later, I couldn't get water to anything and was baffled as to why. I had the guys make test cuts and finally during one cut, a bunch of ping pong balls came rolling out of the water main. I never allow people who get the axe to roam freely on my jobs anymore.


What a d**k


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## wyplumber (Feb 14, 2013)

OldSchool said:


> After that I would do a pressure test ...
> 
> Here after roughin I leave the water pressure on from the time water piping is installed to the point the house is finished ... This way any problems will show up long before I have to replace anything expensive ...
> 
> ...


Same here lots of brad nails seem to find pipes now that people here are putting in base that is 9 inches tall


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## deerslayer (Mar 29, 2012)

In no way do I condone this but some union guys can be real pricks to the non union guys. I have heard of wooden balls put in the sewer on a non union job, it gets stuck in a fitting and when a little water gets on the ball it swells and the sewer is blocked. 
I also seen a union plumber taking a sharpie to the numbers on all the ductwork on a high rise, so they didn't know where the pieces went. This may have been funny for a few pieces but he did a semiload of prefab ductwork. this same guy would grab a bundle of precut hangers for the sprinklerguy and cut 3 or 4 inches off of them so the entire floors sprinkler system was at the wrong elevation and would have to be redone. He got caught on the sprinkler one and fired and also barred by a major GC in town. They had put in a few hidden cams after the ductwork debacle and they caught him, I was only a 2nd year apprentice so i wasn't about to turn him in!


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## Greenguy (Jan 22, 2011)

There are a few more common ones like 2x4 down a drain line, had one fellow coworker cut some victaullic rubber gaskets the day before he quit.


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## aprilmayb (Feb 11, 2013)

Relic said:


> Had a guy drop a bag of ping pong balls down my water main on a 12 story building once. I laid him off and thought he was cool so I allowed him to gather his tools unescorted. When I put water on the system a month later, I couldn't get water to anything and was baffled as to why. I had the guys make test cuts and finally during one cut, a bunch of ping pong balls came rolling out of the water main. I never allow people who get the axe to roam freely on my jobs anymore.


So the guy just carries ping pong balls to work?


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## TX MECH PLUMBER (May 27, 2011)

deerslayer said:


> In no way do I condone this but some union guys can be real pricks to the non union guys. I have heard of wooden balls put in the sewer on a non union job, it gets stuck in a fitting and when a little water gets on the ball it swells and the sewer is blocked.
> I also seen a union plumber taking a sharpie to the numbers on all the ductwork on a high rise, so they didn't know where the pieces went. This may have been funny for a few pieces but he did a semiload of prefab ductwork. this same guy would grab a bundle of precut hangers for the sprinklerguy and cut 3 or 4 inches off of them so the entire floors sprinkler system was at the wrong elevation and would have to be redone. He got caught on the sprinkler one and fired and also barred by a major GC in town. They had put in a few hidden cams after the ductwork debacle and they caught him, I was only a 2nd year apprentice so i wasn't about to turn him in!


We'd be having a talk in the parking lot and I'd have my steel 24" pipe wrench in my hand. F it I'd call the cops.


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## Relic (Sep 30, 2012)

aprilmayb said:


> So the guy just carries ping pong balls to work?


I believe he had them in his car and in the process of getting his things he did the deed. The building was secure at night and it was just us on the site at the time with a few sparkies. Just one of those things were you know even without video tapped evidence. Nothing became of it, we just made the repairs and moved on like nothing happened.


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## Relic (Sep 30, 2012)

When I was an apprentice back in the day, I smeared service weight gasket lube under the car door handles of all the electricians lol. Remember when the handles pulled up. I'd also tie 1/2" fittings with string under their trucks. They'd hear that chit clanging by the time they got on the highway lol.


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## JDGA80 (Dec 9, 2012)

TX MECH PLUMBER said:


> We'd be having a talk in the parking lot and I'd have my steel 24" pipe wrench in my hand. F it I'd call the cops.


Right, cause no one uses steel wrenches anymore. Lol


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## rzp 06 (Mar 21, 2012)

I live in the same town as Radium, used to work for him and I live right up the road.. 

The same thing happened to us not too long ago. We had 2 rings cut in a crawl space.. Both in difficult places to re crimp and both were cut with the actual crimp ring cutting tool (which run about $60-70+ around here) and I've never seen anyone but a plumber own one of em'.


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## Relic (Sep 30, 2012)

I crammed a McDonalds fish sandwich in the seat springs of my friends brand new truck and it rotted. I felt bad for that one lol.


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## JDGA80 (Dec 9, 2012)

Relic said:


> I crammed a McDonalds fish sandwich in the seat springs of my friends brand new truck and it rotted. I felt bad for that one lol.


I would have felt bad for buying that sandwich too. Ugh


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## Greenguy (Jan 22, 2011)

Had two guys get In a small tiff on the job, the one guy took victaullic lube to the other guys window wipers made for a horrible mess to clean up on a rainy day. He returned the favor on the first guys hard hat, eye glasses and a half can of abs glue in dumped in his bucket buddy.


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## Relic (Sep 30, 2012)

Saw a welder chase after a mason for pooping in his welding glove lol


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## revenge (Jun 30, 2011)

Or plastic bags in water lines whole box of pencils down sewer line marbles in copper line baloons over cpvc pipe primer dropped in tubs put fingers on fluxed pipe about to be soldered those plastic bbs on water lines i have seen all of this on repairs i have done plus more


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## wyplumber (Feb 14, 2013)

Not sabotage but stupidity helper was cutter rod off on 4 inch water riser dropped it in the hole for the life of me I could not figure what was screwing up the backflow preventer


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## Greenguy (Jan 22, 2011)

Other trades using tubs and water closets before the water gets turned on in the building during new construction.


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## wyplumber (Feb 14, 2013)

Former employee told me about when he was a helper building a restaurant after 2 weeks of stone work on the out side they when back to finish only to find poop 2 ft over the seat of the toilet said his boss game him 500 bucks to bucket it out


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## JDGA80 (Dec 9, 2012)

Relic said:


> Saw a welder chase after a mason for pooping in his welding glove lol


That's hilarious.


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## Plumbus (Aug 4, 2008)

On multi story, sheet rocker is too lazy to hump down and over to the outhouse. Plumber catches him taking a dump in a tub and proceeds to teach him a lesson with a Ridgid 18" (steel).


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## RW Plumbing (Aug 16, 2010)

I would have taken that shiot out of the tub and covered his gang box with it. I always seemed to get into it with rockers and tapers on jobs. I kicked one of their tool boxes once, and shattered it into a million pieces. I went to slide it out of the way, because I was rolling a huge fitting cabinet down the hallway.

He was like why did you kick my tool box. I didn't kick it just slid it with my foot. We got into it, I asked him what he even needed a tool box for as he was in the one trade that didn't need a tape measure (drywall taper). He kept cocking off so I kicked his tool box down the hallway shattered it into a million pieces, and threw a Jackson at him. I said here go buy yourself some new tools. I did this in front of the first year who was on his second day on the job. Should have seen the look on his face. 

Those or the rough carpenters pissing in elevator sumps. I always piss in their lunch boxes for that.


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## SewerRat (Feb 26, 2011)

There is a difference between sabotage, and the pranks, fights, and stupidity being discussed here.

Like the time, back when I was little helping my dad (a building contractor). We laid out batter boards one evening, preparing to set forms for the footings and foundation. Came back the next morning and, for some unknown reason, Dad decided to double-check square. We measured it up and it was way off. Stood and scratched our heads for a while, until Dad noticed that the batter boards had two sets of nail holes. We went around and pulled the nails and moved them to the other holes and everything was square again.:blink: 

No known enemies. Why would an idiot do such a stupid thing?:furious:


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## RW Plumbing (Aug 16, 2010)

SewerRat said:


> There is a difference between sabotage, and the pranks, fights, and stupidity being discussed here.
> 
> Like the time, back when I was little helping my dad (a building contractor). We laid out batter boards one evening, preparing to set forms for the footings and foundation. Came back the next morning and, for some unknown reason, Dad decided to double-check square. We measured it up and it was way off. Stood and scratched our heads for a while, until Dad noticed that the batter boards had two sets of nail holes. We went around and pulled the nails and moved them to the other holes and everything was square again.:blink:
> 
> No known enemies. Why would an idiot do such a stupid thing?:furious:


Someone pissing in your stuff, or starting fights with you IS sabotage. It's screwing with your ability to get the job done.


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## TX MECH PLUMBER (May 27, 2011)

A framer nailed sparkys bag to the ceiling then took sizzor lift off the job. I take glass foam insulation. U crush it smells like sulfer. It smells good to me. I put in old man blues springs on truck seat. Lol.


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## SewerRat (Feb 26, 2011)

RW Plumbing said:


> Someone pissing in your stuff, or starting fights with you IS sabotage. It's screwing with your ability to get the job done.


So, in other words, a lot of guys on here are bragging about how they sabotage others? 

OK, you win.


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## Epox (Sep 19, 2010)

Speaking of sabotage. 
Long ago I heard of grudges against sparkies. This guy went through the house reaching behind the insulation and snipping wiring. :no:


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## 89plumbum (May 14, 2011)

We were doing a doctors office once on 2nd rough. We were taking break and smelt pot. My workmate was clean 6 months and was hyper sensitive to the issue.

He went over to the electricians and started accusing them and they just blew up chasing him back to were I was. It took everything I had to diffuse the situation. There were 4 of them all with hammers in there hands.

We made it out alive but got pulled to another job for a week. When we came back to test water and vents we found holes drilled in our copper and pvc waste and vent lines in the most precarious places. 

Honestly, we didnt always test drain arms on smaller jobs,,, but im glas we did on that one.


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## deerslayer (Mar 29, 2012)

One off the better pranks I ever did was smearing antisieze on the back of a guys tape measure all around the clip, it took him a while to figure out how he had antisieze all over him! LOL that taught him not to F with my coffee cup


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## TX MECH PLUMBER (May 27, 2011)

Put tyseal lube in the band of the hard hat. I yet to do it but il give a guy a left hand nipple


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## TPWinc (May 30, 2011)

A few years back I entered a house to start a second rough, the HVAC contrator was paying piece workers to install the ducts so naturally they picked the fastest way to run them. Only one problem. They were in the way of my overhead drain lines. When I told him they have to be moved and he laughed then left. The GC came out later and asked me to take down what I needed to and he would call them back out. We got back to the house late the next day to find the duct work repaired. When we started the pressure test it looked like a fire sprinkler system went off. Someone had drilled a hole in the overhead water lines every few inches. I never saw that HVAC contractor on the job site again.


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## revenge (Jun 30, 2011)

not really a prank but a lessoned learned someone was stealing tools at a job site so i got my tool box put razor blades in the handle and screwed it to a peice of ply wood behind my truck i did see quite a few blood stains in my truck


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## newyorkcity (Nov 25, 2010)

I have never had my work sabotaged, and god help the idiot who ever does. That being said, pranks are great. Once one of the laborers made a good sketch of another guy on a wall, face only. A co worker and I were working late. The co worker proceeds to draw male genitalia next to the sketch of the laborers face. The next day my lip was scarred from biting it trying to keep from cracking up.


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

revenge said:


> not really a prank but a lessoned learned someone was stealing tools at a job site so i got my tool box put razor blades in the handle and screwed it to a peice of ply wood behind my truck i did see quite a few blood stains in my truck


Who's bloody fingers was it?


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## revenge (Jun 30, 2011)

a few people at local stores and places i have been to and a sparky if i recall correctly there was drips all the way to his car lol


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## newyorkcity (Nov 25, 2010)

Is it a pickup truck you screwed the toolbox to? I love it!


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

revenge said:


> a few people at local stores and places i have been to and a sparky if i recall correctly there was drips all the way to his car lol


Served them fookers right...


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## revenge (Jun 30, 2011)

newyorkcity said:


> Is it a pickup truck you screwed the toolbox to? I love it!


 no buddy lay a sheet of ply wood in your bed of your truck and screw that to the tool box :thumbup:


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## revenge (Jun 30, 2011)

newyorkcity said:


> Is it a pickup truck you screwed the toolbox to? I love it!


no buddy lay a sheet of ply wood in your bed of your truck and screw that to the tool box :thumbup:


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## revenge (Jun 30, 2011)

you heat the blades with a torch hold blade with lineman pliers when it gets red hot burn it into the handle then super glue the handle were it stays in the up position then screw box to wood close box and put lock to make it more tempting


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## newyorkcity (Nov 25, 2010)

*Awesome*



revenge said:


> you heat the blades with a torch hold blade with lineman pliers when it gets red hot burn it into the handle then super glue the handle were it stays in the up position then screw box to wood close box and put lock to make it more tempting


You should post this in plumbing tips!


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

So far unimpressed with anything I've read so far. Real amateur stuff. Won't get into the details of what I've been forced to do but let's just say the unlucky recipients had to get put on suicide watch and requested to leave the country.


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## revenge (Jun 30, 2011)

Wow junkie i have got my share of revenge on people but thats not a prank as you say forced to due i wasnt forced but they got what they deserved. would i do it again you can bet the farm i would but i gaurantee you one thing for sure 1st they wont f with me again and more than likely nobody else


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

revenge said:


> you heat the blades with a torch hold blade with lineman pliers when it gets red hot burn it into the handle then super glue the handle were it stays in the up position then screw box to wood close box and put lock to make it more tempting


 Lineman plier????? No where did you get that from??


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## smoldrn (Oct 4, 2010)

89plumbum said:


> We were doing a doctors office once on 2nd rough. We were taking break and smelt pot. My workmate was clean 6 months and was hyper sensitive to the issue.
> 
> He went over to the electricians . There were 4 of them all with hammers in there hands.
> 
> .


You sure they were electricians? I've never seen one use a hammer to hit anything, only pliers.:laughing:


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## AKdaplumba (Jan 12, 2010)

Greenguy said:


> Other trades using tubs and water closets before the water gets turned on in the building during new construction.


Typical thing here. 

It's always the drywallers. 

They can be so lazy that they will pee in there mcdicks cups, put the cup under the tub then board over it. Later when the cup breaks apart the bathroom smells like piss. 

Framer told me last week when they tore out a bulkhead and cups of piss fell out. Seriously, can you have any less respect for people?:blink:


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## Rando (Dec 31, 2012)

I've had tubs pissed in, new toilets pissed and crapped in with no water. we tape the lids down with blue painters tape, they still rip up the lids and use them. I've seen them piss at the stub up for the closet and fill up the wafer cap.
this last project they were pissing in the vanity's before the sink was installed and in the corner of the bathroom right on the floor :furious:
I refused to work on or near any fixture that was used so the GC had to hire some day laborors to go around and clean them up.

It got so bad the GC got some game camera's and hid them up in the fart fans. They actually caught a guy in the act and ran him off the job. it got a little better after that. 
I always wonder what the home of some that does that looks like. I'm guessing they live like dirty pigs. 
Oh and on the original topic, I've had my stuff screwed with by union hands. Thank God I didn't catch them in the act or I would be in jail right now.


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