An Electrical Trick

My blog entry yesterday triggered me to think about my own craft.  As an electrician, I am part of a collection of folks known for being somewhat persnickety.  Most electricians register on a on a scale of behavior that starts at finicky and ranges up (maybe that is down) to extremely difficult.  One of the electricians that I worked for during my time as an apprentice, a certain Mr. X, had peaked at the top of the difficult scale.  The question often asked about him by people from other trades who were trying to cooperatively work with him was this: “So, does someone kick him in the nuts the minute he gets out of bed every morning or what?”

No, I did not think so.

He was a very capable electrician.  Everyone concede that.

One particular behavior, if exhibited by coworkers or customers, annoyed Mr. X more than all other infractions combined.  He did not tolerate a know-it-all looking over his shoulders and telling him how he might wish to perform a given task.  

“Really,” he might say as someone suggested he should try this or that.  At this point, if Mr. X happened to be working on a live outlet or perhaps a live switch, he would perform a very interesting electrical trick.  He purposely shorted-out the wires.

KAZUT!

Mr. X thought this a pretty good trick.  “They will usually stop bothering me after that,” he suggested.

Yes, we all imagined that did stop them.

At other times, Mr. X simply stopped his work, handed over his tools, and said: “Here.  You do this.  You obviously don’t need me.”

Such behavior clearly does not work well in our newer business models and within our safety-conscious workplaces.  Actually, it was not a great fit then, either.  On more than one occasion, customers called into our shop insisting that someone other than Mr. X be sent out if they ever called for service again.  Naturally, that pleased Mr. X.

Later I will tell you about a neat driving trick Mr. X negotiated in our shop trucks and how he sometimes forgot that the shops name and phone number was painted on the side of the truck.

--Mitchell Hegman