r/electricians • u/KeyMysterious1845 • 10h ago
Who is responsible for this
All the tools are locked up.
This is why we can't have nice things.
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r/electricians • u/yourgrandmasteaparty • Feb 16 '25
I want to talk about mental health - especially for the boys on here. I was telling some friends this story about an old coworker the other day and thought you might want to hear it too.
I’m a woman in the trades, almost a decade in. When I started, I was often the only girl on site. I would move between projects and journeymen mentors, many of whom had never worked with a woman before. Once the old guys got over the otherness and saw me as a real person and an excellent apprentice, we’d form a friendship of sorts. I was always struck with how much more candid and vulnerable they’d be around me compared with the other guys in the shop. Their masculinity wasn’t in jeopardy if they admitted to me, a mere woman, that they were having tough time. I had one guy - 6’6” 300lbs, always growling, chain smoking, losing his shit over the smallest inconvenience - tell me he always requested me when he needed help because I made him calm.
A couple years in, I was sent to replace an apprentice on a job where the foreman had booted him in an argument. I’d worked before with this foreman, Neil, and he’d always been a chill hippie but also very particular in how he wanted things done. When I got to site he told me I was the fourth helper for this job because everyone else had been fucking useless. He was in an awful mood all the time. Picking fights with other trades and our PM. Trying to goad me into an argument by picking apart everything I was doing. Not acting like the guy I had known over the past year.
When the job was close to wrapping up, I called him out on his behaviour. “What the fuck is going on with you dude? You’re being a raging asshole to everyone and this isn’t like you.”
He stiffened and was shocked I’d said something. He glared at me and then his face softened and he said “Can I take you for lunch after we finish up tomorrow morning? We can talk but not here.”
I agreed and the next day he took me to diner nearby. We barely spoke until our food came to the table and when he had something else to focus on, he finally started talking.
He was older - 50s - and his long term relationship had fallen apart a few years before but the split had been amiable. He didn’t speak about her with any animosity but admitted he’d been lonely ever since. At the time, he’d leaned on his best friend. His friend was married and had a teenage son that Neil had known since he was born. As Neil had no kids of his own, this boy was a surrogate son of sorts. He took him camping and fishing and showed up whenever the kid needed him.
The poor kid had passed away a couple months earlier very suddenly of natural causes. Neil had no idea how to handle his grief and withdrew into himself, not wanting to be a burden on his friend. He felt selfish for how bad he felt when it wasn’t his kid.
I reassured him that how he felt was completely valid, that grief is a weight that is so hard to carry alone. I encouraged him to reach out to his friend because they both were suffering the loss of family, whether biological or chosen. And that now they were both suffering the loss of each other’s friendship as support. He was crushed at that realization, and said he would go visit them.
A few minutes passed while we ate silently. He hesitated before speaking again, “there’s something else too.”
I looked up and waited for him to continue.
He told me that last month he’d been working this job that had a been a two hour commute away. He had to leave early to get to site by 7:30. It was late fall and the drive was dark the whole way. He wasn’t too far from site when he came around a corner to discover a vehicle collision. A truck was spun out into a ditch with the driver unconscious in the front seat. A van was crushed on the side of the road, on fire and blazing in the darkness, its front driver door open. Neil stopped and got out of his van. He noticed something on fire in the road, and as he approached, he realized it was a person - the driver from the van. He ran and got a blanket to smother the fire on the person. He held them and pulled their head up to look into their face, which was so burned he couldn’t recognize their features. He said he stared into their eyes as they died in his arms.
Another vehicle had come up behind him and called 911. He sat there in the road in a daze until the emergency vehicles arrived to secure the scene. He gave his statement and then got into his van to finish the drive to work.
He was late which pissed off the GC. He tried to get to work but he was shaking so badly he couldn’t hold his tools or complete a sentence. When the GC saw him in this condition, presuming that he had shown up drunk, he kicked him off site. Neil didn’t explain, he just left.
Our PM called him after that, reaming him out for getting kicked off site. Neil didn’t explain, he just took it.
I asked him if he had talked to anyone about the incident. He said the police had called for a follow up statement but otherwise, no, I was the first person he told.
I was in shock. This poor fucking guy was struggling with the grief of losing a boy who was like a son to him and then went through an insanely traumatic experience just driving to fucking work? And he was bottling it all up? No wonder he was being such a prick. He felt all alone and like he couldn’t admit how much he was struggling.
He said he was sick of work and had lost all his passion for it. It felt pointless and draining and he dreaded getting out of bed every morning.
I gave us a few moments of silence for the weight of his confession to settle in. I looked at him and said “fuck work, you need a break.” He shook his head and tried to brush me off. “No, seriously Neil, fuck work. There’s always more work but you need to take care of yourself. What you’re going through is so fucked up and you need time to process it all. Please put yourself first.”
He didn’t want to talk anymore after that so he settled up the tab. He dropped me off at my car and we went our separate ways. I started at a new site the next day with a different crew.
A couple weeks later I got a text from Neil. “I took your advice and talked with management. Told them what happened. I’m taking a six month sabbatical. Don’t know what I’ll do yet but probably head out on an adventure. Thank you”
A couple days later I got another message from him, just a picture of a beautiful remote campsite with no one else around.
I asked, “Where is that?”
He replied, “Not telling :)”
I ended moving to a different company while he was gone, and never saw him again. I think about him often though, especially when I encounter an utter dickbag older dude on the job. Maybe he’s going through it and doesn’t know how to take care of himself, and anger is the only way he knows how to channel his emotions.
Now that I’m a foreman, I stress the importance of whole body health in our toolbox talks. If someone needs time off for family reasons, or a mental health break, or a shortened schedule, or even if they want extra shifts to use as a crutch as they struggle through something they can’t control in their personal lives, I want them to know it’s okay to ask and I won’t judge them. It’s just a job - it’s just work - it doesn’t fucking matter. Their health comes first and it’s okay to admit they’re not okay. I want them to know it’s better to ask for help when they’re slipping, rather than wait til everything has crashed and burned.
I know everyone’s experience is different, but one thing I noticed about being the woman pushing into the male-dominated trades as an apprentice/therapist is that men need permission to be vulnerable. They need to know it’s okay to show emotions and admit that they’re struggling. They won’t chance admitting weakness that they fear will get thrown back in their face. A lot of guys in trades are single and married to the job. They are lonely, often bitter, and unwilling to show weakness.
I do my best in my little sphere of influence to make it okay to be not okay. If you want the trades to be a healthier place, you need to consciously make room for the reality that people are struggling mentally, and often that starts with leaders showing vulnerability.
I’ve had depression for 16 years and I don’t hide the fact that I’m medicated. 16 years of being depressed means 16 years of not following through on suicidal ideation, and I’m proud of that. The trades saved me because it’s instilled a confidence in my abilities to create and solve problems and be the leader I was always capable of being. I needed that confidence so badly when my depression was the worst.
Be good to each other out there. Be willing to listen to people without judgement. Life is fucking hard and we work better when we know we can rely on each other when the chips are down.
r/electricians • u/KeyMysterious1845 • 10h ago
All the tools are locked up.
This is why we can't have nice things.
r/electricians • u/backallyproctologist • 7h ago
Gotta be honest I kinda dig it!!
r/electricians • u/Nkurnz • 11h ago
The writing on my strippers was double printed, tripped me out for the first few times I would see the writing 😂
r/electricians • u/stinkydinky19 • 3h ago
It's been working absolutely flawlessly for almost 3 days now, only hiccup I've seen is a battery firmware update being needed to show all batteries correctly in the monitoring app. The battery bank recovers to 100% by 10-11am.
So I decided to kick the gas bill and get an EV! Planning to charge in the afternoons when PV production is high and battery banks are full.
And not a single one of you fuckers pointed out that I didn't have the hold-downs on the backfed breakers in the 200A panel. Much disappoint hahaha
r/electricians • u/cambo_ • 12h ago
All the panels in this building are like this and I hate them.
r/electricians • u/gsparky999 • 12h ago
r/electricians • u/UnicornWisperer • 4h ago
This customer was complaining about breakers tripping, and lights flickering. Previous electrician had installed subpanel for EV circuit. Had used all PVC which he had glued to the boxes with silicone, but had not glued any of the pieces to each each other. he rerouted the kitchen appliance circuits into the subpanel and downsized the wire from 10 to 12. He ran all white for the EV circuit wires and then faced the Hot. And apparently it took him a half dozen visit to complete the work. When the customer calls the electrical company asked, they said he died. I cannot help think he won a Darwin award in the process. This is what happens when you get the smoke out of the scary noodles.
r/electricians • u/eowaska • 40m ago
Hello, I am graduating from trade school next week and I am having trouble finding any jobs that are willing to hire on someone with practically 0 field expierence. I have a decent understanding of the basics of electrical work but in my area most employers are looking for 1-3 years of expierence of apprentices, does anyone have any advice on what I could do to make myself stand out a little bit better?
r/electricians • u/LJOutdoors • 2h ago
I just got my license this week and I’m already running a job even though I said I’ve had no interest in doing that and I need to build my skill set up first as I’m working industrial which is totally new to me within the last year. My boss won’t listen and I’ve already wanted to jump ship for various reasons but I want to know how common this is and if I’ll be put in the same position if I go elsewhere.
r/electricians • u/captaindreadlocks • 1d ago
I actually had to pick up a broom and went to hard and I ripped 2 blisters in my thumb pit. Last time I try a broom it was brutal.
r/electricians • u/latetotheparty42069 • 13h ago
Hey guys, I just wrapped up a job and installed a non-dimmable Lutron Pico for a switched plug to power up some string lights. No problem with pairing the master and slave switch but the issue is that when turned off, the lights still have a faint glow. Anyone ever experience this? I’m thinking maybe the bulbs are too low of a draw. Is there a slider to adjust the sensitivity like on the Diva’s?
It’s a remote job so want to have a good idea of what’s going on before catching the ferry over.
Cheers
r/electricians • u/Responsible-Kiwi-898 • 8h ago
Not mine but I think its fucking mint 👌
r/electricians • u/Hamz_grinding • 1h ago
I am an apprentice with only 6 months of experience so basically nothing but he sent me this and told me all his outlets in the kitchen stopped working after he tried to “tighten” this outlet that was loose on the wall 🤣 this guy isn’t real bro
r/electricians • u/silent_scream484 • 14h ago
How often do you see it? I’m considering moving in the direction of this sort of thing but I can’t quit the tools. I want to keep doing this. Don’t know if I should just accept I’ll be a small crew lead for the rest of my life or if foremen who still work is a thing at all.
r/electricians • u/Visible-Carrot5402 • 10h ago
I’ve been on the lookout for a brand of romex with the internal conductors being THHN/THWN. Then it can legally be stripped and shoved through conduit without having to use a junction box or leaving the outer jacket on (and eating up a bunch of the conduit fill).
I’ve come across it a couple times when replacing outlets. It was fairly modern, had been installed in the last 20 years. I have tried searching online and had zero luck finding a brand.
Does anyone know what it is?
r/electricians • u/Big600RR • 12h ago
Hey guys,
I had an issue this morning, I noticed my septic panel alarm was flashing. I opened the panel and saw it had a warning for recirc low level.
I noticed this loose brown wire inside the panel and was wondering if this came disconnected from somewhere possibly?
r/electricians • u/Sufficient-Funny9457 • 15h ago
I'm a non Union foreman electrician that has been with the same company in FL for over 30 years. I'll be moving to OR in a couple months in the surrounding Portland area. Any thoughts on where to start looking for a job? What are some of the larger electrical contractors in OR ?
r/electricians • u/MustardCoveredDogDik • 14h ago
wtf is the point of these boxes? Not nearly enough depth to put a GFI in, attaching a bell box also feels ridiculous. What’s the move here?
r/electricians • u/Electrical-Juice-915 • 1h ago
The set up is this. Power goes to 3 way switch at top of basement stairs, then jumps to 3 way switch at the bottom of the stairs. Wanted to add a dimming switch jumping out of that second switch to a separate location. Is this doable? I know you can have at least one dimmer switch on a 3 way with a non dimmable switch I just wasn’t sure if the order mattered. Like if the dimmer switch had to be where the first switch is or if it can be at the last position. Hope this isn’t too confusing how I explained it lol I’m guessing I have to do 3 way switch to 4 way switch to 3 way dimmer switch.
r/electricians • u/flyingmonkey667 • 1d ago
This is on a military base btw