My apprentice called me at 11pm last night from a job in Boulder because he got his brush stuck in a tricky offset

I had to drive 45 minutes to show him how to feed a cable through from the top instead of fighting it from below, and then he slipped on the roof and spilled a whole bucket of creosote down my back, has anyone else had to rescue a rookie from a simple flue before?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona_lane15d ago

My cousin used to tell me I was too harsh on new guys... then last month I had a helper take 20 minutes trying to open a damper with a screwdriver instead of just pushing the handle. That 45 minute drive sounds rough but honestly I get it now, sometimes they just need to see it done once.

nathan_hill6015d ago

Agree with you completely @fiona_lane. I had a new guy once spend ten minutes trying to start a chainsaw that didn't have any fuel in it. Just kept pulling the cord over and over, getting mad at the saw. I finally walked over, pointed at the empty tank, and he turned red as a tomato. Another time I watched a trainee try to force a stuck window open by shoving a crowbar through the glass instead of just checking the latch first. You can explain stuff a hundred times in training but until they mess it up on a real call, it doesn't stick. I think that's just how some people learn, you know? They gotta feel stupid once before it clicks.