March 15, 2005

Just stuff.

Well, we finally finished up our "cable-job" this afternoon. Jebus Tits that was a lot of pushing and pulling and finagling and hitting stuff with hammers. One of the Old Salts of the elevator bidness described it as "A good job o' work." Nice turn of phrase ain't it? I'll be adding it to my repertoire. Anyway, I have been completely wiped out from this job. The stress level was incedibly high, and the hours were long. Also, we changed shifts (Start and End time of work) four times over the course of seven work day's. Also, there were only three people on this job (myself included) that were there every day of it. The other three floated in and floated out, thereby adding to the stress levels.

My primary job on this deal was ensuring that everything went well with the counterwieght. This was a big responsibility for me, as none of the "lead" mechanics ever even came down to the pit. If you'll recall the (pitifully drawn) picture from this post, this machine was roped "2 to 1". How we do this type of job, is we run the elevator all the way up until the counterweight is sitting on its buffer stands (Or up on jack stands like we did these). The counterweight is heavier than the car, so it makes sense to set it on something solid (if you set the lighter car there, if something went wrong, then theweight would come down, and the car would be propelled through the top of the hoistway). Since the "weight" is so heavy, and has to take up so little room in the hoistway, it is quite tall. Let's see, sitting on eight foot jack stands, plus the 16 feet of counterweight, (carry the four) and you find yourself a "goodly" ways up a ladder in order to get to the shieve.

Since w are pulling the cable up through the top of the hoistway, The only thing that is holding it up is a couple of cable grips. If one of those failed, I would get anywhere from 100 to 400 feet of wire rope coming down on my head.. while standing on a ladder 20+ feet from the floor. I should have stuck a piece of coal in my ass, because after one was moving through there, I could have shit a diamond. Times twelve. (six ropes per car, two cars re-roped.) If crunching numbers was this exciting, I'd still be doing it.

There were only a few {exciting moments) on this gig, but the few there were, was at least once a day. I've come home so stressed/tired that I could only stare at the wall (and drink) until sleep overcame me.

The strangest part is: I still like this job.

Posted by Johnny - Oh at March 15, 2005 11:53 PM
Comments

At the end of every job, you get to look at something that wasn't there before and say to yourself "I did that".

Service jobs can NEVER match that level of satisfaction.

Posted by: Harvey at March 16, 2005 02:16 PM

Ummm, I guess that dumb-looking hard-hat you wear (with the rainbow sticker) didn't give you any sense of security?

Posted by: _Jon at March 17, 2005 10:20 AM

Johnny-Oh does NOT have a rainbow sticker on his hard hat...it's clearly a Hello Kitty sticker! ;)

Posted by: neonangel at March 17, 2005 09:02 PM

This actually was a service job a real big service job though. And a pain from the dispatcher (that's me) to the guy in the pit. Big Hospital, lots of elevators, lots of pressure to get done quickly and safely. Three in one bank of elevators. There are over 50 in this hospital. Way to much coordinating and uncoordinating. Heavy sigh! I am so glad that is behind all of us. Back to the boring regular maintenance now.

Posted by: me at March 17, 2005 09:05 PM

Whew! Glad that's over for you! Enjoy your weekend...relax a bit and get some damned sleep. Remember....we aren't 18 any more! ;-)

Posted by: Tammi at March 17, 2005 09:36 PM

Well _Jon, At least I don't have to have a "safety toupee"! (I'm sorry God!)

Neon, Although I dig a Rainbow, I just don't want to "Taste one" if you take my meaning.

Yeah, ME. (No not me, but ME...This is confusing, erm.) I can honestly say that this is a good one to have in the rear view mirror. At least I can always count on more of them...whenever construction gets slack. :^)

Tammi, I'll sleep, if you will! I'd bet you still feel guilty about being asleep, that morning that I awoke before you did. Neener, Neener! But then again, you've got a cooler dog than I have, so it's even.

Posted by: Johnny - Oh at March 17, 2005 09:52 PM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?