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[QUOTE]Originally posted by R12rules [B]The only trouble is, every outfit in the area works their men into the ground with night calls. It's the only thing I hate about markets. This is why I changed jobs about a week ago. I loved market refrigeration, but I've worked 90+ hours since the end of March and I just couldn't do it anymore..It's not even really hot out yet. Prolly gave up my one shot a being in a market, but its just not worth it, I'll just work commercial again. R-12 good luck, definetely look for a new company, they're out there, but hard to get in the door with less than a year in a market. Everywhere around said 2 years, so I'm back on the streets.. Shawn
Herer is what I am gonna tell you. Number one, with your prior refrigeration work experience, it should not take you all that long to get up to speed in supermarket work. But. You still need the experience of supermarket work, so that you can find a good job doing supermarket work. I would say put up with it for another 6 months. Grin and Bear it. Then, Go to another market company in your area and plead for a job. It disgusts me hearing about the company your working for. And on average they are absolute opposite to most commercial supermarket contractors. Most have to pay thru the nose and with mucho bennies to attract the talent it requires.
Originally posted by R12rules Is Edison Source still operating out of Anaheim? I visited their plant a few years ago. (1)Yeah goin' strong ( E.S Anaheim ) I used to work out of that branch (2)Bob is my boss now....great guy , bad reputation , I hear about it on a weekly basis ....
Is Edison Source still operating out of Anaheim? I visited their plant a few years ago.
Originally posted by NedFlanders Hey 2479, Did you know Ross Cook? (southern Cal.) I remember when Tyler closed up there, I know a couple Tyler techs down here that were real nervous. What a drag. I never met any of the mechanics from down south. I did know some of the office people like John Ed (main computer guy) and Bob Oaks, who is now running the Hill branch here in the bay area. The L.A Branch took a beating twice. First with Edison Source, and then when Carrier bought Tyler. Too bad they were a class operation.
You guys don't have a mating season! I'm with you R-12, leave the snow up north, where it belongs. I can see the positive though. When the customer calls at ten P.M. and says "my ice cream is melting". Just tell them to turn off the store heat we'll be there in the morning. When I see what your earning R-12, and how hard your working. I get very "bummed out". If you can hang on for a year or two in markets, you will be glad you did. You are learning very well. As far as your feminine side goes. Your not really a sixteen year old girl from greenland or something, are you? Or is Dave just pulling your leg.
Originally posted by condenseddave Originally posted by R12rules I can do the paperwork. LOL. Then you are HIRED. You're probably the only one that can do this part of the job. Too bad you're so feminine about weather. To me, a "white out" condition is when your alone at home with your wife and you pull the sheets over your head! A white out is NOT something you drive to work in. A white out is NOT something you hear about on the news and then decide it may not be a wise move to go do that one last call of the night. I can drive on "black ice". I can drive thru that kind of fog that you can cut with a knife, if you have one Big Enough for the job. I can handle severe earth quakes. I can deal with Texas rain storms. And I admit, though reluctantly, I am even getting used to this awful humidity. And it's not like I cant handle the four seasons of this area. We have four very distinct seasons here which everyone recognises. Dear Season Duck Season Dove Season & Turkey Season And every other year, we have open season on Goats. So dont give me none of this; "Your too fragile to work here!" Heck, I've worked near Death Valley! If that aint hot enough for ya ... I've worked in Lost Angeles during the riots! And believe you me, that was plenty hot!!! Specially since I'm a white man!!! Of course I can do the paperwork! Nobody gets paid unless the paperwork is in order. Many employees never understand that one small factoid!
Originally posted by R12rules I can do the paperwork. LOL. Then you are HIRED. You're probably the only one that can do this part of the job. Too bad you're so feminine about weather.
Hey 2479, Did you know Ross Cook? (southern Cal.) I remember when Tyler closed up there, I know a couple Tyler techs down here that were real nervous. What a drag.
Originally posted by Freezeking2000 R-12 I think if you moved to Connecticut you would find good wages and bennies here! I can do racks. I can work 480 live. ..and live. I can wash my van. I can do the paperwork. I can find obscure locations of oput of town markets. I even do windows. But I dont do snow drifts. And I dont do ice storms. And I dont do snow shovels. Dont get me wrong... I like snow. I like to DRIVE to where the snow is and then play all day long in it! But then I like to drive AWAY and return HOME where there is little if any of the white fluffy substance. I dont have a problem with ZERO degrees CELCIUS! But I do have a problem with ZERO degrees FARENHEIGHT!!! That's WAAAYYY too cold for my blood! But thanks for the tip.
I also miss the markets after a month, but the no nights and still being able to work on refrigeration and process chillers keeps me technically challenged enough. R-12 I think if you moved to Connecticut you would find good wages and bennies here!
Refr Dude, thanks for the kind words of encouragement. But danged ... dont write such long posts ...... D4 and I are trying to get the record established. And your makin us look shabby!
R-12, I feel your pain. I moved from Cal in 1995 to Idaho where I thought the wife and kids and I could improve the time we had together. You know rural living and less time at work. I found the same thing you are talking about. The wages were s**t compared to what I was making in Cal, no bennies to speak of, and the traveling was unbearable. I was at the other end of the weather extreme. Summers were nice but way too short. Winter was way too cold and about 8 months. I found that I was actually away from home more in my new setting than I was in Cal. The company covered an area that was about 6 hours in any direction from my house, and most of those accounts were in small towns that had no wholesale houses, so if you needed something that was not on the truck you turned around and went to get it. Lots of nights spent living in hotels at my own expense because it did not make sense to get in the truck and drive home after finishing the job. I only lasted 1.5 years there, and the rest of the job market in that part of the country was pretty depressed. 6-10 bucks/hr max. I got lucky and was able to get my old job back at Tyler Refrigeration and with much argument from my better half we moved back. It is hard to beat the wages work and weather in the bay area. I have gotten out of the market work (about June 2000) cuz Tyler was purchased by Carrier Co. and things were sliding downhill fast. I jumped ship before the bow breached water. Tyler branch was closed and sold to a company in Seatle, Key Mechanical. They are doing a good job of comming back, and I know some people there. Who knows might get the opportunity to return to my passion. I am doing high end A/C (clean rooms and process) but I still long for doing market, and for that fact, any refrigeration. A/C is not as challenging but it is paying the bills. You sound like a pretty knowlegeable tech, so just cuz you have not work specifically in markets don't sell yourself short on your ability. Shop arround and sell yourself as a fast learner and a responsible mechanic and you should be able to hook up with a better paying job at a place that treats you better. Ask at the wholesale houses about the other companies in the area, and talk it up with mechanics at other companies. Good luck you have come a long way in a short time.
The only trouble is, every outfit in the area works their men into the ground with night calls. It's the only thing I hate about markets. Well not just markets, but the industry in general. When I get home at night ... be it five or be it nine PM ... I am NOT the man you want to call up and ask to send out on a night call! I am so spent by the time I get home ... I just wanna be with my family and that's it. Maybe if I lost some weight I'd like to be more active. Maybe if the weather in this part of the country didnt suck, BIG TIME ... I would be more interested in outdoor activities. Prior to moving here to Texas, I lived in the mountains at high elevations. I camped out regularly. Regularly I would set up a cot and sleep out under the stars at night. I would regularly go hiking in the mountains or drive ninety miles and go to the beach. I am just not climatized to this humid weather here. In reality, I am not the same person I was when I lived and worked in California. In same ways...most I guess. I am better here. I am happy with my family. It's just that in California ... the weather only got hot, but not unbearable. For me to get out on a roof and work, I have to grin and bear it. And so by the time I get home at night... I have already given my all. I have no energy left to go running around doing "make-work" calls. Like this afternoon. On the way home I was cleared to leave Austin and head for the barn. Part of the way home I get called asked if I want to go fifty miles NORTH of town to handle a meat line down or stay in town and handle some sweating cases. I stayed in town. Those cases have had a problem for many weeks. This is NOT a new issue. But here they go; calling for emergency service on a Friday late afternoon! My favorite was that Memorial Day weekend call for "fans making too much noise in produce case". Fans hitting the high water mark is what was wrong. Took all of ten minutes to clear off the top of the drain screen and let the water flow downhill into the drains... And for this ... I left my family. I am getting addicted to this market work. I LIKE IT!!! However, the night calls, the weekend calls ...no thanks. Yet everyone here in Central Texas expects you to work forty and forty. 40 during the week and 40 on the weekends. Bennies, medical insurance, uniforms, properly equiped service vehicles, appropriate wages/ compensation, expediant use of modern technology to keep track of calls and such ...this would be nice too. But there's NO bennies. No medical to speak of. And nobody speaks of it. It is actually a very sore subject. Pay so low ... it makes me question WHY the guys I work with stay there. Do they all have criminal records or something? And this attitude of; "it's my way or the highway"... that really stinks. I may be new to markets, but I'm making it. However ... I am NOT new to refrigeration service work. I got a lota years behind me. (and believe you me, IT SHOWS). I would simply like toput it to good use somewhere it would be appreciated and compensated. And not be put under the stress of the aforementioned circumstances. Being on call every other weekend is just a bit much ... in my book. Yet this is what is expected here. I no longer make sugestions. I dont give my opinions. I just try to keep my big mouth shut and do the very best job I can.
Remember, you are always supposed to come home with all your fingers and toes. This is your responsibility. When work like is this is done right, it is hazardous. Done wrong it is life threatening. R-12 find a market company that is not run by Abbott and Costello. There has got to be one in your area.
It's fortunate that the only fatality of the day was a jug of green juice. R12........I know that being the new kid on the team doesn't allow you to give much direction in situations like this, so just try to stay out of harm's way when you see it coming. As for the B-belts thing, I agree with you and would stick with the chains. Belts aren't made for lifting, chains are. Don't get sucked in by these yahoos and their stupidity......do it right, man.
The more I hear about that outfit you are working for 12........well........I dunno..........
Pulled a cap off the king valve of a 325 ton carrier and it dumped the whole charge I was new and I was trying to shut it before anyone saw. I did not realize the valve was bad until after the whole charge dumped and an older tech looked at it. I laugh about it now, but it almost cost me a good pair of pants.
Originally posted by R12rules Originally posted by airmax What's a direct drive compressor? (personally, I like belt driven myself. In the bigger units) When I first got in the trade most of the stuff I worked on was belt drive. Techumseh, Brunner, Carrier, Yorks. The belts and sheaves were a pain to keep up. Some of the real old ones had condenser fan bolted to the drive sheave on the motor. As time went on wholesale houses quit carrying these types of sheaves. The boss had an Atlas lathe and we used to recut the belt grooves to get some more life out of the unit before the enevitable. One good thing about the belt drives is that they turned so slow they lasted for ever, unless you overtightened the belts. Ah the good old days..........
Originally posted by airmax What's a direct drive compressor? A coupled drive compressor has a separate drive motor which is coupled to the compressor. So if either one goes out, only the failed component needs rebuilding or replacement, and NOT the entire affair. (personally, I like belt driven myself. In the bigger units)
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