The Construction Thread

[Hester]

Equal pay or not, I have no desire to dance in a strip joint.

and for this, the world is grateful.

 

[rosco rathbone]

No fucking kidding!

I just built a little shop for myself. I put a monorail in it so i could hang a chainfall and trolley to work on my toys a bit. Sled, ATV, stuff like that. Well, I talked to an ironworker about quality and such. he said, go to that tool barn place and get a cheapo 1 ton and be done with it. I only had a 1000 lb cap'y beam so what the hell. I went and got one for 40 bucks instean of a CM for 160.
Hooked it to my sled and started to lift. it jambed and wouldn't move up or down. How did I get this undone you ask?. Well, I grabbed the sled and with one hand, lifted it to unhook the sling from the chainfall hook with the other hand. I don't think I overloaded it. I took it back the next day and got a quality unit.

I think they are sending us the garbage. I dunno. They might be using it over there. I've seen chinese scabbers tripping columns with a boom truck, setting headers with 10 guys and a tagline.

 

[Hester]

Thank you guys

Ha, I don't look like that at work. And I would never go around in pig tails and my bra. I wear my work clothes which are all raggedy and loosely fitted. I don't turn many heads that way, but I'm not supposed to, it's work. But thank you

Yep, it's mine. It's not the one I use daily though, I have this one home just incase I have to work someplace else last minute. I'm a thermal insulator/pipe lagger now, I used to do woodworking and shrink-wrap.

Women in trades is a good thing. Prissie girls in trades sucks. I think that men who let themselves be "distracted" by women at work just have a crappy work ethic and/or no self control.

I pull my own weight, I do not require any help from all the "manly men" I work with. I like the atmosphere, I love coming to work and joking with all the guys, saying whatever I want and cursing like a sailor. I knew the kind of environment I was going into when I signed up for the job, who am I to go in and complain about everything? Some men take it too far, but I keep the mindset that I choose to work in a male dominated environment and if I don't like it then I don't listen to it.

I don't feel that women should get any special treatment. If they can't do the job then they shouldn't be there. I respect your opinion and especially respect that while you think that, you don't act it. I'm lucky enough to work with a lot of great men who like me and we all get along, but every once in a while I'll run into a prick or two who has their balls all tied up in a fucking knot about me working alongside them. Fuck them, they're fucking morons.

Bottom line, I hold my own as a woman and am better at what I do than some of the men.

I'm really tired, so if some of this doesn't make sense, just ignore it.

in my experience, and very generally speaking, a man walks into a job and it's assumed he knows what he's doing and he's not assumed incompetent until he proves himself so.

a woman walks into a job and her competence is not assumed. she's not assumed competent until she provers herself so.

regardless, in either case, it only takes a day or two for the wheat to get separated from the chaff.

 

[rosco rathbone]

in my experience, and very generally speaking, a man walks into a job and it's assumed he knows what he's doing and he's not assumed incompetent until he proves himself so.

a woman walks into a job and her competence is not assumed. she's not assumed competent until she provers herself so.

regardless, in either case, it only takes a day or two for the wheat to get separated from the chaff.

This is true. But, it really doesn't take long to sort it out, and no one is fooled.

 

[Xander]

As far as women in the trade, my corner of the trade.

I've never had to fire a woman for incompetence.

 

[chillywilly2]

Back to thw woman thing.
With little girls and young boys it is silly. Older is better.

We had a female diesel mechanic

never got to finnish this, kids came in.

Anyway, diesel meck This girl was smart and knew her stuff. She had been shacked up with another girl and everybody assumed she was lez.
I could see different in her. I ended up being quite close with her and was the only one that knew she went both ways and actually preferred guys

 

[toys_em_us]

Interesting thread. I have just left the construction management business and after reading many of these posts, I started to look back at my office when i left and found that I was lopsided in my office as well. I never really looked at the compensation and terminations in this way before and was shocked to review the numbers.

Women to men ratio 2.76 to 1 Women lead. ( I knew I had more women but didn't know it was that high)

Wages were 6% higher in my office for women of staff positions, 12 % higher for field operations. The wage scale I created was performance based!

Terminations over the last three years, 12 males......... 0 Women.

My only area that I could find that was male dominated was demolition. I had no women in demo.... not sure why but it's just the way it is!

I guess i have always based my success on the principal of surrounding myself with people that are the best at what they do and simply let them do it. I loved to show up at at a jobsite for a day of labor, just to let everyone know that I CAN do it, I just have risen within the company to a level that I don't HAVE to anymore. (kinda freaks them out when I take the gun and popcorn a ceiling, pop up on the roof and lay a few squares right next to them, then hop into a loader and clean up the jobsite for them. (maybe it's cuz I usually cater in lunch on those days for them as well?)

 

[Saint Peter]

This is true. But, it really doesn't take long to sort it out, and no one is fooled.

I can tell by the way he or she carries the tools.

 

[thør]

and for this, the world is grateful.

*slips a fiver in your tool belt*

 

[chillywilly2]

*slips a fiver in your tool belt*

Holy crap

I knew Alaska was expensive

but a fiver?

your'e trying to get lucky after the show aren't you

 

[Hester]

I can tell by the way he or she carries the tools.

and how do you carry your tool?

 

[thør]

Holy crap

I knew Alaska was expensive

but a fiver?

your'e trying to get lucky after the show aren't you

It was a good line.......

 

[Saint Peter]

and how do you carry your tool?

And this is the problem. Pretty little things like you expect the menfolk to carry your tools because that is the way it always is. That is not the case for the men, who must take our tools from job to job.

To answer your question, I have a number of boxes and bags to carry my tools in. It depends on which tools are needed for a certain job. For example, The Wizzie many not be needed when I am eating ice cream.

 

[Saint Peter]

*slips a fiver in your tool belt*

*shows one tit*


The other will cost you a Jackson.

 

[Hester]

The other will cost you a Jackson.

and an eye.

 

[Saint Peter]

and an eye.

The "eye" will cost you dinner and a show.

 

[thør]

*shows one tit*


The other will cost you a Jackson.

I didn't know you liked Michael. What do you think of llamas?

 

[Saint Peter]

I didn't know you liked Michael. What do you think of llamas?

They are sure footed on mountain trails and do not eat or drink very much.

What is not to like?

 

[chillywilly2]

It was a good line.......

It was

 

[chillywilly2]

and how do you carry your tool?

my tools go in my shirt pocket

pencil and a calculator


the clip board I carry under my arm and walk smartly

 

[thør]

Safety first!

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1390/5705868/11310500/305356824.jpg

Guys!

Anyone loose a goat?

 

[rosco rathbone]

my tools go in my shirt pocket

pencil and a calculator


the clip board I carry under my arm and walk smartly

This reminds me of the owner of a company I worked for last year, all Irish. He didn't know anything about the business per se-he was there for the money and the Irish mob connections. A young legbreaker, not a steel erector. He liked to pose like an ironworker, though. One day we were waiting for him to look at a job and he comes walking smartly across the parking lot with the spinning laser and the tripod under his arm, a "poppin' my collar" shirt with upturned collar, baggy shorts, loafers, an enormous chronometer that must have cost 10K covered with jewels and shit, like something puff daddy would rock, big hulk hogan handlebar mustache, and a shiny new hardhat, IW style brown fiberglass with new stickers on it, Manitowoc, Kanawaka, you know the ones. He's a pretty young guy, and rather portly. I just busted out laughing and things were never the same between he and I after that.

 

[Saint Peter]

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1390/5705868/11310500/305356824.jpg

Guys!

Anyone loose a goat?

"Was the a flagman on duty at the time of the accident?"


"Yes Sir!!"

 

[chillywilly2]

I just busted out laughing and things were never the same between he and I after that.

I have done that a couple times with young engineers that just didn't suit a hard hat

They wonder whats so funny, and I try to make something up real quick

One old English engineer wears his hat real high on his head. It looks soooo goofy. He gets mad when I tell him so. but he drinks enough beer that we it doesn't bother him. He really is a good engineer.
By good, I mean, he knows his stuff and doesn't get silly with the details.
I asked him once, can you stop using 6" wide flange for columns, the fuckers have no room to connect a beam. He said, use an 8 where ever you want.

 

[toys_em_us]

You have never lived until you do a job by a civil engineering crew. All the prints overlay perfectly. Plumbing, Structural, Electrical all overlay perfectly..... Down the same tunnel! At one Monday morning meeting i advised that i could save them tons of money if I could just change the beams to square tubes, run the wiring thru them and hook them up to the water and sewer ! OK so I didnt make any friends there.