In my experience, a good journeyman benefits from an apprentice as much as an apprentice benefit from his journeyman. This might be common sense but after so many years of being in the trade, some guys forget where they started. During your apprenticeship you will receive a good education in class and on the job. In order to master the trade, you must be ready to teach it. Luckily, by the time I met Adam, I had some experience under my belt. My foreman had told me that Adam was a good apprentice but needed a push.

“This is my material cart now!” I said sternly as I threw his Dip spit bottle across the building. Asserting my dominance, I never broke eye contact with him as I waited for a reaction. I could tell that I rattled him by the puzzled look on Adam’s face.

“Okay Bro, it’s your cart now, but I still need a spit bottle.

I wasn’t going to keep this tough guy charade going forever and so I decided to turn it down a couple of notches. “That’s fine,” I shrugged, “You can keep it. I just don’t want to see it.”

So, we introduced ourselves. Adam told me which contractors he worked for, what side of town he lived on and how ready he was to finish his apprenticeship, the usual stuff. I told him that I had been in the trade for twelve years and I bragged about some of the places I traveled to when work got slow in our local, typical young journeyman stuff. After that I quickly switched gears and started showing Adam what our foreman asked us to do. We had to build a rack of thirty 3/4 conduits and drop two of them off at each patient room of the hospital. There were fifteen patient rooms and were supplying power from a life safety panel and one normal power panel. We started looking through the prints to see where one room ended and another began. We talked about where to set a box in each room and Adam hesitated, then he asked where the ductwork would hit. Through our planning, I realized how sharp this apprentice was and maybe it was just a confidence boost he needed. I remembered when I was about ready to top out and how unsure I was. You start thinking that when you finish school, you’ll have no one to lean on and that is true to a certain extent. We sometimes forget that we are part of a brotherhood and that we are here for each other.

It was lunch time and I got to meet the rest of the crew. Although I was very confident with my work, at that point in my career, I wasn’t very confident speaking in front of large groups. I started to introduce myself and Adam interrupted, “This is Jimbo…. Jimbo Splice, he’s an MMA fighter. Don’t Mess with him or he’ll break your neck!” There was silence for a moment as they stared. I put my head down to keep from laughing and that of course gave it away.

It was during our breaks that I discovered Adam was very confident person, just a little unsure when it came to work. That’s when I decided to take a step back and have Adam take the reign. It was difficult not butting in at first, but I soon only offered my opinion when he asked for it. After a short time, we fell into a groove, and we learned to work well together. At one point the owner of the shop came out and told us how professional our conduit looked. Our foreman had us run all the conduit in the electric rooms as well. As an electrician, the electric room is where we showcase our work the best. All the conduit in electric rooms are exposed and should look pristine once installed.

When I met Adam, he would remind me he was an apprentice and now I was reminding him. I was glad Adam was stepping up. The hall had just come out to appoint me as the Job Steward. If I was going to have to answer guys questions about the contract, it was good to be working with someone I could trust. The union steward is responsible for enforcing the contract, advocating for members and acting as the liaison between workers and management. It was a proud day when the hall appointed me steward. I was gaining respect for my work as a craftsman and now I would have a direct line to the hall. Things were looking up!

Adam and I did some really great work together, but after 6 months, our foreman split us up. The job was at full capacity now and I was busy listening to people’s complaints and concerns. You must know that electricians love to complain and I’ve done my fair share, but I never had to listen to everyone else’s gripes. I kept a notebook and wrote everything down when people came to me with their concerns. Not all the complaints were legitimate, but I did address the ones that were valid. Throughout the job, one guy’s name was brought up time and time again. If this guy was a chicken who thought he was a chicken hawk, then I was Foghorn Leghorn. After hearing numerous complaints about the chicken hawk, I thought it was time to take care of it. I pulled him aside one day and had a little chat, but I only bruised his ego. When that didn’t work, I spoke to the foreman and suggested he should be transferred to another job.

I would like to say this story ends well, but as the old adage goes: Experience is a hard teacher, it gives you the test first and the lesson later. I picked a battle that I couldn’t win. It turned out the guy that half the job was having trouble with was a third generation to work for this company. The foreman asked me to give him the names of the guys complaining about the chicken hawk, but I refused. In the end, I was the one who got transferred and as for the chicken hawk, karma took care of him.

I’ll see you on the next one.

top right corner is Adam