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Fleet Admiral
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2001
- Messages
- 8,217
Re: Does Your Job Stink?
Ladyfish, thank you for giving me the oportunity to vent
<br />I quit my job Friday. I am officially a bum until tomorrow at 8AM. <br /><br />I hated my job. It was inspecting fire sprinkler systems. The water that sits in those pipes stagnates over the course of 90days, and when we open the inspector's test valve (to simulate a sprinkler head opening), the odor is best desribed as malathion bug spray mixed with raw sewage... And that is another smell i know all to well, from a previous "career".<br /><br />Then, there were the frightened and irate people who came running from the building, if the building's supervisors hadn't posted the notices of alarm testing.<br /><br />I left home at dark, and got home at dark, and got 8 hours pay if i was lucky.<br /><br />Highrises were a real party. Often, the inspector's tests are in every floor's stairwells, sometimes in more than one per floor. And you would think they would install them within reach? Hail no!! Nine outta ten times, they would install them high enough to prevent "tampering" -- which meant i had to drag a ladder everywhere i went! I guess that's fine for a young guy, but i am 54.<br />Fire hoses were little more than mold-magnets that needed to be "re-racked" once a year, and removed/pressure-tested every other year.Oooo! Ah hates fire hoses!<br /><br />Testing fire pumps? That required dragging hoses and "hose monsters" and hooking them up to headers sometimes on rooftops, but more-often, hidden behind jungles.Then, running the pump full-bore while sticking a pitot gauge in the monster in ankle-deep water to test the pump's output --- then, go in and check the voltage/amperage under operational load!<br /><br />But nothing compared to hearing sirens approaching from a distance, then seeing the shiny red trucks pull up with lights going and crew fully suited-up to fight a fire!<br />That happened twice to me durring my 4-month gig, which was twice too often. I would rather have endured a root canal (without anesthesia)!<br /><br />The job had few good points.<br />Please pray this next job (utility inspector) treets me better.
Ladyfish, thank you for giving me the oportunity to vent
<br />I quit my job Friday. I am officially a bum until tomorrow at 8AM. <br /><br />I hated my job. It was inspecting fire sprinkler systems. The water that sits in those pipes stagnates over the course of 90days, and when we open the inspector's test valve (to simulate a sprinkler head opening), the odor is best desribed as malathion bug spray mixed with raw sewage... And that is another smell i know all to well, from a previous "career".<br /><br />Then, there were the frightened and irate people who came running from the building, if the building's supervisors hadn't posted the notices of alarm testing.<br /><br />I left home at dark, and got home at dark, and got 8 hours pay if i was lucky.<br /><br />Highrises were a real party. Often, the inspector's tests are in every floor's stairwells, sometimes in more than one per floor. And you would think they would install them within reach? Hail no!! Nine outta ten times, they would install them high enough to prevent "tampering" -- which meant i had to drag a ladder everywhere i went! I guess that's fine for a young guy, but i am 54.<br />Fire hoses were little more than mold-magnets that needed to be "re-racked" once a year, and removed/pressure-tested every other year.Oooo! Ah hates fire hoses!<br /><br />Testing fire pumps? That required dragging hoses and "hose monsters" and hooking them up to headers sometimes on rooftops, but more-often, hidden behind jungles.Then, running the pump full-bore while sticking a pitot gauge in the monster in ankle-deep water to test the pump's output --- then, go in and check the voltage/amperage under operational load!<br /><br />But nothing compared to hearing sirens approaching from a distance, then seeing the shiny red trucks pull up with lights going and crew fully suited-up to fight a fire!<br />That happened twice to me durring my 4-month gig, which was twice too often. I would rather have endured a root canal (without anesthesia)!<br /><br />The job had few good points.<br />Please pray this next job (utility inspector) treets me better.
