HATES FIRST !!!!!
1. It still craps me of how when there is a major blackout everyone is a expert and you cannot trust much that people tell you as generally it is incorrect and just wastes your time!!
2. It craps me how when the whole town is in darkness how someone will still pull you over to tell you they have no supply at their home.
3. When you have mains down there is always some idiot that wont stand clear or walks right past you into a dangerous situation ignoring your requests to stand clear.
4. You attend someones house and they need major repairs on their wiring or equipment and they always know someone high up in your company and expect you to wave your magic wand to fix a $1000 repair in 5 minutes for nothing..
5. I can still never walk into a electrocution scene make it safe and assist police with the details without going home and dreaming or thinking about it later on.
6. When city people move to the country and expect to have no blackouts or power fluctuations when they live 35miles on the end of a radial line with numerous reclosers and trees near the mains.
7. The expert in all matters that argues with you after he calls you out to check on his installation with no real knowledge on what he is talking about.
8. The customer that expects you to drive 20 miles at 3am in the morning to replace a power fuse supplying less than half their house.
9. The poor state of mains and equipment in the field while the company wastes money on whatever is the lastest craze in management techniques
10. Linecrews that complain that you didnt call them out on a particular fault but expect you to cover for them at other times when it doesnt suit them to leave their warm family homes after hours.
11. Bosses that spend hours looking into how you made a mistake while switching a fault during a storm or major event when you had to make a instant decision under difficult conditions .
12. Customers that wont let you touch any trees and expect everyone else to pay for their undergrounding or insulated aerial conductors then complain of blackouts etc.
1. It still gives me a great sense of power and importance to drive into the mayhem of a blacked out town with traffic and people in total dismay ,go to the local substation . Clear the fault reset protection and restore supply to the muffled cheers of the people in the distance as supply goes back on.
2. To drive into a particularly beautiful valley on a spring morning the sun streaming through the trees doing a line patrol or just attending a customer complaint.
3. To attend a old man or ladies house who are worried sick about some minor power problem and put their minds to rest that their house is ok .
4. Stop and have a meal break with a line crew parked on a jobsite somewhere ,share a few jokes and some company gossip before heading out on your own again.
5. Spend hours on a difficult urd fault locate it and restore power to a large number of customers using your own reasoning skills and job experience.
6. Keep up your skills and prove them on complex protection systems being able to read and interpret what has happened from what you read into the flags and readouts from the equipment.
7. Have the occasional win against work dispatchers and system operators who think they are GOD..
8. Being able to sleep in some mornings when you are on afternoon shift ..read the paper or play a round or golf in the morning before you start your shift.
9. Meeting good people that are a pleasure to deal with and help with their power problems.
10. Work in with a crew from your company or somewhere else to get supply restored pooling your combined experience from numerous trades after a storm or disaster.
Of course their are many other good and bad parts of the job but I would not want to do anything else for my living !!!!!