Careful who you make redundant .

[Evans Electric]

I posted this before but its worth airing  I think.      I did a few months with a large local contractor who tended to treat their staff like shytte .   

This was the story I heard . 

At the end of a new build supermarket project  one of the sparks  gets redundancy   just after handover .  

As the following  year progressed  the supermarket kept having a couple of rows of  flush fluorescent  lighting go out at different times .  The firm kept sending guys back but the lights would  usually be back on by the time they turned up .  

They spent the whole installation  guarantee year  sending guys back , costing a  small fortune .       There was no logic to the  lights going out  or coming back on ,  supermarket not happy. 

It was finally discovered that someone had wired in a time switch ,hidden  in the false ceiling ,  the drive  of which was connected to the switch wire of a store cupboard light  ...obviously  turned on & off all the time   so it turned randomly   and  was switching  the  feeds  to the two rows of lighting .     

Before anyone dives in ...no it wasn't me . 

 

[Sharpend]

Beautiful craftsmanship, a spark that knew what he was doing, must of been an old school spark! 

 

[ProDave]

I presume he fitted this in the few days between being handed his marching orders and actually finishing?

 

[Andy™]

one of the reasons why many get garden leave

 

[Evans Electric]

must of been an old school spark! 

I believe he was. 

I presume he fitted this in the few days between being handed his marching orders and actually finishing?

Yes,    its usual to leave the site immediately  but not in this  case.

one of the reasons why many get garden leave

Yes I think thats the usual thing .  

 

[phil d]

I worked for a firm doing a strip out and refit of a plant for a well known curry manufacturer, they'd had a new plant built and it was only after it was up and running that a serious flaw was discovered, all the internal walls were spec'd as plastic coated steel cladding, suitable to be jetwashed but not combustible. This was due to the high temperatures in the  manufacturing process, however the builder had actually used plastic cladding, so out came all the machinary and it was set up on temp feeds while the work was done.

I had been on this site continuously for about 8 weeks, 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, mostly working alone, I was knackered! I worked Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday, my wife insisted I have the Monday off and have a trip out. I  turned off my mobile and off we went, on our return my stepdaughter told me that our MD had been round kicking off, how dare I not turn in for work (which was actually overtime) and even worse, who did I think I was turning my mobile off(my own btw), he had made a few threats and then left. I went into work the following morning and as soon as I got onto the shop floor he started having a go, "If you weren't so important I'd sack you after having yesterday off" he ranted, "the only reason I don't is because there's only you knows how the plant goes back together".

That was good enough for me, I walked down to the maintenance shop and loaded all my tools onto a trolley, dragged it to the loading bay and then went and got my van off the car park. The MD came out and asked what I was doing so I told him, going home, he started to rant on again about how I couldn't just go home when I felt like, so I told him that as an ex- employee, I could do what I wanted.

All of a sudden the penny dropped, now it was my turn to rant and rave, I believe it took them a fortnight before they found someone else who knew how to put all the machinery back in and the curry firm were less than impressed. I had no sympathy for the guy, he should have kept his mouth shut and not wound me up. lol

 

[Sidney]

My old employer was bought out, I was the QS and also an auditor. They moved me across under TUPE then realised they didn't have a QS and the NIC weren't happy.

I had to reapply for my old job and jump through the hoops of numerous interviews before being told I had been successful and would be the new electrical supervisor.

I had pretty much set everything up from scratch so I knew all the processes and policies well.

I then asked how much I would be paid, turns out it was £8K lower than the national average.

You should have seen their faces when I said no and walked out of the door.

Best thing I ever did.

 

[Evans Electric]

Phil's post reminded me of working in Cardiff at the Frieghtliner Depot by the docks  .     We were installing huge lighting columns  .   The Gaffa  phoned to say we  are needed back to start first fix  at a new build school  Monday .  

So we worked  Friday  till late ....Saturday till late ,  hardly any sleep  ...   all day Sunday ,    loaded vans , set off for Brum  about  2300 hrs . Totally knackered.

Struggled to get up Monday morning , set off for this school site  ,  got there about an hour late I think  ,  only one other spark had made it .     

The big thing was ...the Gaffa was there ,  glaring at his watch & said "What time do you call this "?          

I was ,  to say the least ...not happy .....   and it changed my attitude  to working for some uncaring tosser forever .