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#46509 12/24/04 01:52 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,391
I
iwire Offline OP
Moderator
Yesterday, Thur 12/23 was supposed to be an easy day.

Myself and about 10 others make up the service dept. of a large EC we do other things too, but we are the fix it guys.

So we all go to work and get out early and meet for a Xmas party at a local restaurant, all good so far, I get home about 4PM.

I see a "Breaking News" story about a local mall without power I tell my wife it must be a slow news day.

I should have remembered one of our customers has a 90,000 sq ft grocery store there. About 5 PM my work phone is ringing, the power will be out till 5 AM and a generator is on the way I need to get to the store and hook up it up. This is not a small deal, the service is 1,600 amps at 480.

My first call is to a member here, "Capt Al" he says he can come and help me. Did I mention it was a virtual monsoon out, high winds and rain coming down in buckets?

I also call other service guys, some can not come to work they are a 'little ruff' from the Xmas party. [Linked Image]

I get 3 more guys on the road and call the customer back, for reasons I won't go into, the customer has another EC to connect the generator. All they want from us is to make sure it is done right and to be there to restart all the stores systems.

So now I tell everyone to go back home except for Capt Al, he and I go to the store and do what we can.

Now about 9 PM my work phone goes off again, this time a very large furniture store has a 225 amp panel and breaker melting down. They need it back on line by morning.

I call Bill, one of the service guys that had already come out and gone back home and ask him to head for the furniture store.

He finds the panel and breaker unsalvageable.

We usually can get into supply houses at night but of course not tonight for some reason.

So by this time it is midnight, Bill gets our truck driver to open the shop and luckily Bill and the driver find an identical interior and breaker in our shop, used but in good shape. [Linked Image]

In the mean time Capt Al and I finish at the grocery store and drive to the furniture store. Once there we rip out the bad parts just before Bill arrives with the new / used parts.

By a little after 2 AM the furniture store is back on line.

All I can say is I am lucky to work with a good team of men, [Linked Image] the only one that was obligated to respond was myself, it is my week 'on call' But those that could and where asked came out in bad weather on the start of a 3 day weekend.

I am 'on call' for 3 more hours, I hope it stays quite.

Thanks for listening, Bob


Bob Badger
Construction & Maintenance Electrician
Massachusetts
#46510 12/24/04 02:06 PM
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 206
C
Member
So do I!!! Also Merry Christmas Bob.

Al

#46511 12/24/04 02:14 PM
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 28
K
Member
iwire,

im sure all the contractor wish they had guys like you and "your crew". when a call comes in u go and when u need help you can always count on quality back up from your guys. i myself dont work for as large a contractor as u but the guys in my shop we all stick together and help each other out whenever the need arrises. its great to no help is only a phone call away...even the boss will drop everything if we need him without question. I hope your superiors know and appreciate the quality team they have on there hands and let you and the others know you are appreciated. My boss let us know yesterday with our yearly bonus. as the $ are nice the pats on the back thruought the year go a long way as well.

Happy holidays hope the rest of your call was quiet.

Kelley
Mass electrician

#46512 12/24/04 02:48 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,391
I
iwire Offline OP
Moderator
Thanks Kelley.

I just want to be clear these guys are my equals, I am not the boss, the only reason I was in charge was the fact that it was my on call week.

The 'boss' (the service manger) just left for the company to go out on his own, right now we are 'boss-less' however I did Nextel a VP to let him know what was going on and while he would not come and help us with tools he would help me get as much labor and materials as I needed. [Linked Image]

The company does take excellent care of us, they do let us know that part of the companies success comes from our treatment of the customers.

When you have customers standing to lose thousands in product or sales a fast and professional response lets them relax.

It also keeps them calling us.

Merry Christmas to all. [Linked Image]

Bob


Bob Badger
Construction & Maintenance Electrician
Massachusetts
#46513 12/24/04 02:56 PM
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,457
E
Member
Bob, did you wear a Santa suit? Nice job. I saw the story on the news last night. They said customers were not being allowed to take home items, they would have to come back and pick their stuff up today. I was waiting for the next breaking news..."Blackout Mall riots". [Linked Image]

#46514 12/24/04 09:37 PM
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,876
E
e57 Offline
Member
Hey Bob,

I too have been simular situations....

As the on-call guy...
Almost the same...
Grocery store due to Tranny explosion right after I walked in to find the neutral melted, (They stacked pallets on top of it, and all around it.) really lucky I wasn't standing there as I was off telling the manager he had to shut down the store at 7PM. Had to pull guys back from all over the place and work all night. We were the first there of 5 EC's they called, as they called EVERYONE!

On the Boss-less thing too...
PM passed on suddenly, and it took a year to find a suitable replacement. It was like circus for some time. Everyone had to pull thier on wieght, unfortunatley, at times in opposite directions. But it worked out...

Anyway, hang in there, and Merry X-mas,
Mark


Mark Heller
"Well - I oughta....." -Jackie Gleason

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