black

Mine:
1. Not a hard worker. This leaves me in the awkward position of trying to find crap to do while he stands there with his thumb in his behind. It also results in my learning less. A telltale sign of this is that they spend a lot of time "training" you in how to look busy, how to make bad work look passable, etc.
2. Blames his mistakes on me. Nice. And yes, I will tell the whole story if my behind is on the line.
3. Unable to give clear instructions. I find this comes from a lack of clarity about his own job/goal/purpose. Frustrating.
4. Creates conflict among coworkers. Work much, speak little.

Chris1971

Suck it up and learn as much as you can. Someday an apprentice will be complaining about you.

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dronai

This story is not good unless you include all names, and addresses

user4818

I basically can't work with any journeymen or apprentices, so I'm self employed.

CanadianSparky

Or better yet what annoys you about your apprentices?

Chris1971

An apprentice who knows it all and complains about the journeyman.

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CanadianSparky

Kaboler? lol

Big John

Actually, OP, those four characteristics just piss me off, period. I don't care who they're coming from.

-John

adroga

I don't mind a lazy electrician, while I do the work..

I DONT appreciate being blamed for something I didn't do, but what I hate the most is being told I think too much, just install pipe and don't ask questions only to find out near the end if the job that we are missing wires and the pipe is too small....

: (

NWsparky

I am not a cub, but what still pisses me off about some JW's is:
Lack of accountability

Timeliness - getting to work or task at hand

Thinking they are above certain tasks

Lack of teaching apprentices/helpers and treating them like day laborers

Promoting themselves as the greatest in a certain field and not even knowing how to pull wire for a three way switch in a commercial setting

Not knowing how to read the drawings correctly

Not all JW's are encompassing these traits, but I have dealt with enough that hit a few of these on the head

*also, treating company tools like crap and then saying "this company makes sooo much money they will never know if it breaks - what is $200 to them?!". That one makes me freak the F out on them

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Work is my crutch

TooFarFromFenway

Let's start off by saying my current journeyman is great. He goes out of his way to teach me anything new, or re-train anything i've already been taught, etc.

But, I do have one complaint, and it's not a major one, but one that bothers me sometimes.

I am not an incompetent fool. When it comes to working with my hands and construction, that is what I know.

If you tell me to build a box to mount our service, you do not have to tell me to make sure it's square. I know. You also don't have to tell me to use tapcons. I know.
You also don't need to tell me every time I build these things, to put PT wood between the wall and the enclosure. I know.

I'm not an idiot. I am actually well educated, and can figure things out if I need to.

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Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field? ~Jim Bouton, 1988

Bbsound

If you work with him everyday that's different, but I have seen lots of apps that do need to be told everything. Just when I think they understand something they figure out a new way to screw it up.
So from the electricians standpoint it is easier to say everything I am thinking when I explain something then it is for me to wonder what this particular app knows.

And, what is PT wood?

TattooMan

First two months of me working with my current jman were great. He was teaching me a lot and **** was getting done. Then all of a sudden he flipped. Started talking **** in front of other people and other trades, felt the need to nitpick everything from how I cleaned my tools on my own time to how I climbed a ladder. I had to remind him that even though he's almost twice my age he only has 8 years experience on me in the construction field. I've been doing construction jobs for 11 years and 6 of those were my own company. Last thursday it actually blew up because he didn't like the cart that I took
To do my work. In front of everyone he was yelling about how I don't respect him as a foreman so I told him I don't give a fu c k who you are, respect is earned. I'll work for you...I'll do what I am asked to do as that is my job, but I won't respect you for being a douche. Miraculously he changed and everything is good again.

/end rant

aDudeInPhx

Pressure Treated?

brian john

Every negative about your JW, should make you all that much better of an apprentice, take advantage of the situation.

When I was a helper on a large job there was a group of JW's that road the helpers hard and constantly, called us stupid, said we would never become JW's.

Drove me to read as much as I could, figure stuff out on my own and got my license with 2.5 years, none of them had a license.

They were dumb founded, when I flashed my license, while they laughed at me, I got the raise and since I work for money, not fun, I laughed back.

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Brian John
Leesburg, VA

CraigV

Every incompetent, lazy, backstabbing, excuse-making employee is simply an opportunity for you to shine. I admit that they make it very hard to learn, but their lack of teaching means you have to fgure things out for yourself. That'll come in handy later when you're the one being tasked with doing the job yourself. The best teachers don't convey a lot of information; they teach you how to find it.

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Was born in HACKensack, NJ

brian john

And in todays market, you can hit this site for all your questions, BUT you are better served hitting the NEC first, then asking here for clairifications. Back in the day, we had to work for our answers.

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Brian John
Leesburg, VA

Bbsound

CraigV

We also had no arms or legs back then, and had to mine coal, and suck lint off carpets. We were lint-sucking, coal-mining stumps. But we were glad for what we had!!!









*Apologies to the late Richard Jeni...this was one of his standup acts. Hilarious guy.

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Was born in HACKensack, NJ

ElectroBrian

wow someone opened a can of worms with this thread..

Listen it's NOT journeymen vs apprentice we are in the same trade. It's probably more of a case of two people not getting along...


So lets all bring it in for a Group Hug

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"Electricity is really just organized lightning." George Carlin