35 year old tech w/ 40 years experience

[kid ice]

I am noticing a strange trend in my area or at least with guys coming and going from my company. They all seem to claim to have way more esperience than is either possible or likely from what they end up displaying. Now I personally , dont and wont for some time claim to know even a fair amount as regards to refrigeration and commercial HVAC, but these guys here will tell you that they developed the very first package unit in Vietnam made that used rice wine for refrigerant. Case in point, the new guy at our company who claims to have 15+ years experience in everything from ice-makers to walk in freezers to rack systems, afterwhich he openely admitted he had never even seen a rack . The part the makes it so bad is these guys seem so adamant about convincing everyone of their so called years of wisdom that they only dig themselves into a deeper whole than when they only lied on their application, because now they've alienated their new work mates. I dunno just my venting year. Does anyone else come across this type, how do you deal with them?

[r404a]

Kid Ice,
Your observation is very good. Have no fear; HVAC/R is the great Humbler of all Men. Pay attention to the good techs, pay more attention to the bad ones, as to avoid their mistakes. You are on the right track. Good luck.

r404a

[shaka]

Theres a lot of those guys everywhere. They usually build themself up so high that they are afraid to ask any questions.

If you want to know how good they are? Just ask them then they will tell you.
Sometimes I think maybe they are Hylanders and lived for 200- 300 years doing HVACR. Thats a lot of expereince. I wonder if I can cut their heads off and gain those knowledge?.

[Senior Tech]

There lying to ya...I know because I invented that rice wine thingy...

[shaka]

I told you there are Hylanders everywhere He he he he..

[hvac3901]

Just ignore it, and laugh to yourself when you hear things like "we use to shoot r-12 from squirt guns" (i said it right, someone actually claimed that once and yes i know what they meant to say). It happens all the time. You have a pretty good nose for BS, you should do well in the industry i would think.

[ice cuber]

I came into this bussiness and was straight up with the owner. I told him i didnt know that much about it but he could find no one who will work harder than me. I think honesty is the best policy

[kid ice]

yeh I hear ya guys , it does tend to get funny. The other day I almost fell down laughing when I heard the new guy who has seen and done everything went to a call, walk in cooler not cooling, and he's told by my boss to install low ambient controls, which he claims he's done 1000 times, only he puts them on and doesnt know how to set them up so he then "jumps" out the brand new controls , dumps some R-404 in and leaves after 8 hours. Then the next day goes to a walk in freezer where the evap coil is froze up, manually defrosts it, changes the temperature control and low pressure swith, never wonders why the compressor never shuts off no matter what he does, and leaves not even giving a thought to looking at the absurdly welded contactor after about 6 hours on that call. 2 re-calls in 2 days and alot of money credited back to severely angry customers....wonders never cease

[barty]

There was a survey a while back from a head hunter type agency who only dealt in the top 1% of jobs IE- 'IBM Chairman/CEO/Director' stuff.

They found roughly 75% of all those interviewed lied on their application form.

Lying about experience goes right to the top!!

Cheers

Richard

[rayr]

Originally posted by hvac3901
It happens all the time. You have a pretty good nose for BS, you should do well in the industry i would think.

LOL (Flashback) One time a know it all Newbie was in the shop at quitting time as I came in with a new D-Tek in my hand and the newbie asked if it was a new leak detector. I said "No, it is a BS detector" . I walked over to him and put the tip right next to him and it screamed real loud. The guys all laughed when I said, "See it works well" (I had enough refrig. oil saturated in r-12 on my hand to set it off as I grabbed the tip when I put it near him. He got real quiet.

[flange]

around here guys get set up to do certain types of work by their employer and end up doing this for years. example...package rooftop units. when they need a change and contractor b is looking for a ..... mechanic, the only way to get a shot is to lie. the larger guys with the big checkbooks just hire you, then set you up to test your knowledge, while us small guys have to network and do checks with each other. i may not know all the guys in the business, but in about thre or four phone calls i can find out if you are worth your salt.

[ruud-man]

Have you ever ran across the "tech" that has 20 years experience only to discover that in reality they repeated the first year's experience 19 times?

I see that once in a while.

Merry Christmas.

Best regards...

[aprophet]

a diff perspective i meet alot of a/c guys who pull a 8 hr shift and go home. since 1974 in one form or another i,ve worked on ac/h/refr sometimes on cars and tractor trailers thats where i started or on blast freezers/secondary coolant systems do alot of that of late somtimes home owner , mom and pop buisness some times sams bj,s super k,s beer distributors etc but since 1982 i,hav worked alot of 80-100hr weeks i have gotten twice the experiance that most get in a 40 hr week this is not bragging this is what has happened to me.not sure that this has happened to anyone else or not just my experiance later y,all . i gotta get to work :)

aprophet aka david

[rscamaro]

Originally posted by aprophet
Not sure that this has happened to anyone else or not just my experiance later y,all . i gotta get to work :)

aprophet aka david

There are others out there that have been in the same boat. I used to be there. I did it for 13 years or so with the first HVAC company I worked for. 12 days on and 2 days off for years. Finally got sick of low pay and high work loads and found my dream job. Things are good, if you know what I mean.

...Ron

[jeep6275]

theres a couple of companys in my area that advertise "100 yrs experience." lol neither company has enough guys with enough age to add up to 100. i suppose it helps but it has to make them look bad when my company gets the call to fix it after they said it could not be fixed.

jeep-over and out!

[frozensolid]

Originally posted by jeep6275
theres a couple of companys in my area that advertise "100 yrs experience." lol neither company has enough guys with enough age to add up to 100. i suppose it helps but it has to make them look bad when my company gets the call to fix it after they said it could not be fixed.

jeep-over and out!

Maybe they meant their experience is good for working on 100 year old stuff. They know how to light a fireplace.