Heavy Trousers: Tales from an Electrical Apprenticeship

Two weeks ago, I noticed a new pain and tightness running down the center of my lower back. The low back pain was freaking me out because I couldn't pinpoint what was causing it. Last year, when I was seriously contemplating this career move, physical agility was - and still is - the forefront of my concerns. My body is now my most valuable tool and I can't afford to injure it or mistreat it! I love working for an electrical shop who places a high priority on our morning stretch and flex routines. Yet I have let my personal maintenance slide. Our 10 hour work days have pulled me away from my typical gym and swimming routines: I'm simply too worn out by the end of the day to be as attentive as I was when working our standard eight hour days, and each day does not necessarily bring the exercise my body needs. I'm still getting about an hour's worth of cardio and stretching work out (outside of work) three times a week. This back pain is a warning sign I will not ignore.

A couple days ago, while placing my favorite tools into my pants pockets, I had an "aha!" muscle twinge. The culprit seemed to be heavy trousers! The weight of the tools plus the weight of my belt and heavy canvas pants don't amount to much: maybe six to nine pounds. But the way my pants land around my waist, compounded by the long days and long weeks, turns out to be a cumulative problem for my back. Both this electrical contractor and the one I worked with before are "no tool belt" kinds of shops. We each get our own cart and use these as our work stations. Most of the electricians (and even the other trades around us) are adamant about wearing suspenders with their tool belts - if they use tool belts at all. And now I'm understanding the consequences of having weight around the waist with no secondary support. I'm guessing seasoned/frequent scuba divers, who wear their weight belts around their waists, might have similar issues despite the buoyancy and support they get in the water.

I've invested in my first pair of overalls and until the back pain resolves itself, I'm carrying NO tools in my pockets. So far, this seems to be doing the trick. My crew thinks it's funny to make kangaroo and farm-girl jokes at me now: and it's all in the spirit of camaraderie. I love these new overalls so far and I'm especially grateful at how the wardrobe requirements of this new career are much more practical (and less expensive) than the typical office job.

I am carving out the time to get back to a physical workout routine, despite the long days. This Pocket Yoga App helps me work through my inner excuse dialogue. And on the days where I don't need to be somewhere directly after work, I pack my gym bag and hit my closest gym: this helps me avoid the gnarly traffic, too. I admit: I'm ashamed when I catch myself having harsh judgemental thoughts when I see my extremely out of shape brothers in the field. How on earth do these guys do it? They can't touch their toes and they pack around an extra 30%-50% body weight. Several times now, I have been "the only one to fit" in tight work spaces. My newly revived actions to stay in shape is both carrot AND stick - the stick portion being, "Please do not let me turn out to be like THEM!" I have the feeling I will be setting up a completely different routine (and moments of appreciation) when I can be assigned to an ONLY eight-hour work day!

Heavy Trousers was originally published on My Electric Avenue by Jeanne Slate.

The Stand Down: Tales from an Electrical Apprenticeship

The intense 10-hour days are wearing me down. I'm constantly exhausted: by the time I slog through the afternoon traffic (about 60 to 90 minutes to cover 21 miles), I have only a couple hours to myself before collapsing into bed. Time is the scarce commodity right now and I am greedy for more me time!

Today, we were sent home from the job site at 1:30pm. Since we start our days at 6:00am, it was only an eight hour day. Whooo-hoooo! An afternoon all to myself! I could barely contain my glee. Yet there was a dismal group vibe in the air. Over 300 of us were being walked off the site due to an accumulation of incidents. We were in "stand down" mode: a punishment from the general contractor who was basically saying to us, "No more work (or money) for you!" Politics and intensified stress have wormed into the scene: schedules and completion dates are tight. The drive to get it done is coming directly into conflict with safe practices.

The attitude of work-as-reward makes me angry. We're experiencing a modified nuance of the "You're lucky to have a job" attitude. To be fair, if safety is suffering, a collective reset and refocus is definitely in order. We've been told that our first priority tomorrow is to skip stretch and flex and report to an auditorium. Ah - here it comes! A group experience of being talked to like a child when, in fact, the bickering is happening amongst the upper management. What I suspect is happening is a nonsensical loop that goes something like this:

1. You need to get this task done.
2. But wait! You can't do it like that!
3. No, it's fine because that has been approved and signed off. We're going to go ahead and get it done now.
4. Stop what you're doing! Who approved this?
5. Why haven't you gotten the task done?

Being in a skilled trade, especially on such a large project, does not mean we are exempt from the basic management bullshit that tends to crop up in any organization. And that's too bad. As further punishment (or reset/refocus, if you want to call it that), our scheduled Saturday shift was canceled at the last minute. Saturdays are automatic time-and-a-half shifts and I know many of my co-workers have arranged their financial lives to where they depend on the 10 hour days and the 60/60/50 weekly hour rotations. Even though it didn't affect me personally, yanking this day away did not seem like it was in the spirit of getting some rest and realigning safety priorities. It's an ice-cold reminder of the importance of budgeting in such an ebb-and-flow career. Also, knowing that no project lasts forever is a comfort to me right now. I want to remind myself to not cling to security and predictability so hard that I fear change. Being in this craft requires a lot of trust in the universe and go-with-the-flow mentality: the next project will come!

This threat of, "If you don't behave exactly correctly, you'll be removed" is enhanced in our basic electrician training and it seems to flow as a continuation from our mainstream education system. It is an intimidation method: a variation on the theme of, "You're lucky just to have a job." It feels like mild brainwashing and it awakens my inner rebel. It makes me grit my teeth and fuel my desires to be a kick-ass electrician. Because when it comes down to the bare bones: being a skilled craftswoman and being united with other skilled craftswomen/men will trump management bluster. I am grateful to my foreman and general foreman who have demonstrated cool heads and suave interpersonal skills in this heated situation. They have shown an excellent example. And I'm grateful to my crew, who works really safely. I think once the project is completed, the customer will see that despite their own efforts to thwart and confuse, the end product was done well.

The Stand Down was originally posted on My Electric Avenue by Jeanne Slate.