When asked this question, a Journeyman Electrician named Steve said:

"The sharp edge of a "cable tie" after it has been trimmed with "dikes" is very sharp and can cut your hand!"

This can be avoided when using a cable tie gun or twisting with lineman pliers.

Unlabeled wires in a large j-box. Takes forever to find the one you need.

Not leaving 6"s standing wire in the box so the ec later can have something to work with when the time comes :-(

" Well I left them right here on the floor last week..... The laborers must have thrown them away."

Life's too short for me to spend that much time typing. Here is one contender- when doing an inspection, being asked by a licensed electrician "when did they change that?"

Tom

A dirty work site, and a panel that isnt labled right

FORGETTING SOMETHING or Short Term Memory loss...remembering that part after you just left the supply house! Or getting all the way out to a job and forgetting something you needed! I hate that!

-regards

Mustang

[This message has been edited by mustangelectric (edited 12-08-2004).]

People who know absolutely nothing about electrical, watching over your shoulder trying to tell you how to do your job.

Hah, I do that all the time and I am still pretty young. I hate to see what I am like when I get a few more years on me. The worst is when I walk all the way across the job site and forget what I went there to get.

This is easy! It has always driven me wild when someone loses the damn panel cover screws. Or, did you ever notice how the floor of your working environment always matches the color of what you just dropped on it to a "t"?...remarkable, eh!?

Andy

Illegiable writing on permit app's; people who don't press hard enough to get thru the carbon copies, and EC's who don't put the floor/suite number on permit app's. Darn 15 story bldg....3 outlets, NO CLUE what tenant.

As an EC, having all outside jobs on a nasty rainy day.

John

Fast-track.............

3 weeks to rock, 5 weeks of work for a crew of five you have 2, fixtures 4 weeks out, 3 changes a day, you finish as the the tapers start.

BP 210, eight hours a day, five days a week, 64 oz of coffee, and pack o'smokes!

Crawling through a roof-cavity (running a wire) in Melbourne Aust. Hacking a path in the thick cobwebs with my torch and my Poisonous Spider Identification book in my overalls pocket. Yeesh ! !

Hey mustang that reminds me ...... dern I forgot what it reminds me of.

Hey KIWI...I hope you mean FLASHLIGHT when you say TORCH!..Some friends of mine from England say the same thing!

Just joking!

-regards

Mustang

Slobs and smokers. Sorry for the redundancy.

...and wearing sweats.

Customers that want to supply their own materials to save money. Like supplying that cheap $10 motion light and expecting me to make it work properly.

Fireproofing, that stuff itches.
They spray it over the Jbox and you got to dig 2 inches of it out.

Space heaters. The county where I work has refused to adapt a policy about space heaters. So when they trip breakers over and over again I have to reset them.

People that say "I can get it cheaper at Home Depot"

Filling out permit applications, and entering the same information, on form, then folder, and at times also the construction form, Now we really don't need to enter all that information more then once, can someone simplify the permit application and process, it dosen't look like rocket science.

Low voltage alarm/phone/data etc. cables spider-webbed across the ceiling void above suspended ceilings, in every which direction, draped from conduit to duct, pulled tight as a guitar string, or just laid across the tiles and grid.

Always tightest right over the only tile accessible in a five tile radius. Sheesh.

What were we talking about?

Low voltage alarm/phone/data etc. cables spider-webbed across the ceiling void above suspended ceilings, in every which direction, draped from conduit to duct, pulled tight as a guitar string, or just laid across the tiles and grid.

Always tightest right over the only tile accessible in a five tile radius. Sheesh.

What were we talking about?

People that double post! Just kidding Dallas, I couldn't resist.

Not long enough conductor in the box to work with and two much romex jacket in the box.

I only have 1/4 inch romex cable jackets in the box maybe.maybe 3/8 That is it.

Edward

Les:
Top of the evening, my friend. Yes, you are 100% right, info written at least 3 times, on different forms, name, address, phone, block-lot, etc.

Good thing we are a part of the "paperless society" HA!

OK, you fill it out 3 times, I read it, initial/date & ck a box; then do the same on the folder, then write it ALL down on a log sheet, then enter the approval in the PC, then give it to others (Fire/Bldg/Plumb) and then it goes to the "girls" who write/log/data enter & call the responsible person. NOW, after as many inspections as it takes, more writing, logs & PC entries, it all goes back to the 'girls' for a CO/CA (More forms)

Top it off with a plan review problem, generating aphone call or five, more writing, or a notice of non-compliance.

A lot of the guys here do not know the "paper" NJ system. How about the guys in LA??? Permits over the internet!! Saw it in ECN Mag this week

Happy Holidays & Be Safe

John

On of my all time pet peeves is when professional lektrishuns refer to receptacles as "plugs."

It would have to be ... A customer who is or resembles a snobish housewive with no construction knowledge and has a demanding desire for a huge castle for little or no money. Or would it be that supply house guy that puts the wrong stuff in the box? Hmmm

DIY (or is it DYI- Do Yourself In) websites that give poor and sometimes outright dangerous advice.

Finding that someone used the device terminals to rely on multiwire (Edison) circuit neutral integrity.

Cable found in metal boxes without clamp(s) to hold it (them) secure.

Surveyors who think they know something about electr... oops, I'd better shut up .

Tobacco chewing/dipping slobs that seem to go out of their way to spit a glob on my material or right where I need to work!!
KB

Now that is funny! Kinda like the episode of Seinfeld with the "holes".

[This message has been edited by GA76Apprentice (edited 12-10-2004).]

No offense inspectors - but inspectors that can't just keep a couple of protection plates in their truck...

CTwireman,
This is an International Forum here, we call "plugs" that for a reason.
As in Plug-Socket.
How does your "Tap-On" stand up?.

Clown and jerks who want to renegtiate the bill after the work is done even though the ssigned a contract.
Picky jerks who argue about very minor items as an excuse not to pay on time

Just get near finishing at a place and it's after 6pm and the H/O says, Oh while you're here......
You get a list of jobs, that they think will take you 5 minutes, instead it takes you more like 5 hours, you miss Dinner and are late home to bed and chances are, you won't even be offered a cup of tea.
I love them kind of customers, as they are the first to whinge about the bill!.

Promises, promises, and more promises!

I am still waiting!

Hmmm...let's see...people who borrow tools without asking and having to go clear across the jobsite to get them...people who have great electrical skills but the social skills of a Rock...know it alls...tec screws that stab me when I put my hand in my pouch...getting to a job and forgetting my screw gun because I was charging it last nite...uggghhhh

Rude cigarette smokers. Where's my cup of gasoline when I need it?

Journeymen who have no hammer drill or sawzall and most other tools, but don't have a problem asking me for mine.

Thieves on the job site.

Bosses who don't like to answer questions.

Bosses who don't give you the benefit of the doubt that you know how to do the work, treat you like a retard, then mismanage the labor force because they don't realize how much each man can really do.

Foremen who don't keep material on the job. I must spend 2 hours a day looking for material we don't have through piles of material scattered all over the place.

Companies that keep you for a year, then lay you off when it's paid vacation time.

Guys who are working on a ladder, see me walking by 75 feet away and ask me to go get something for them that's 30 feet from them.

Other side of the coin Joe,
I was involved in the re-wiring of a house that was badly damaged by fire.
I was sitting down and having a cup of tea with the family and I asked the little girl that was sitting on my knee what she would like the new place to have.
She said that Mum wanted a TV in her bedroom because when she came home from work it was too late to watch it in the lounge.
So the wires were run, coax and a socket were installed.
I dug out an old 20" TV set from my collection and repaired it (Faulty Fly-back Transformer) and the picture was so good I didn't want to let it go!.
There is good and bad in any trade.
Everyone was happy!.
And what a nice cup of tea!!!.

When people strip too much jacket off SO cords in cord plugs.

When people cut into conductor insulation when installing cord connectors and cord plugs.

When people replace a fuse with whatever size they can find on hand, as long as it is a higher rating than the one that opened!!!

Fuses installed with the rating label facing the back of the fuse block, making it impossible to see if all (3) are same rating, and correct.

Bosses who have no idea how long it takes to do perform tasks properly, and ask me why it took me so long to get the job done.

Panel labels that just say "receptacles"
Unlabeled panels
Wires cut by overzealous Roto-Zippers
Boxes covered by sheetrock
Customers that keep changing their mind