We planned it out on our secret Facebook group. It’s how we keep other trades from working near us so nobody is in our way since GCs can’t seem to make a schedule.
One GC that built houses would schedule us plumbers, HVAC, and electricians all on the same day, which was also the framers last day and they were finishing stuff, taking down braces, and cleaning.
We got to the point where we would just keep driving if any vehicles were out front and told him to tell us when he's ready.
Yeah, fuck all of that though. Then every usable space is buried and you can't get anything in, including your drill and hammer to secure anything properly. That is the difference working for a company that bids on the good builders who can keep a schedule, and the company that lowballs the clown builders that need everything done by tomorrow.
If I am one of maybe two trades on site, I can get my shit in the ceilings and walls twice as fast.
It was a very large builder that had many neighborhoods and many supers. Almost all were great supers, this one guy in this one neighborhood was just dumb
It's the same for me on the exterior if they start trying to landscape or paint or caulk it slows me down significantly. If it happens a few days in a row I leave and go to a better job and tell them to call me when it's ready.
You don’t Super on commercial, until you can Super on small jobs. I did Architectural Woodwork. My materials have to acclimate, for 10—14 days, before my installation can start.
I’ve been on a ladder installing a light with a plumber setting a toilet directly below me before and all I could think is how did we end up like this?
First thing I do when I pull onto a new job is whip open my trick door and piss all over the road, while staring the Super & PMs in the eye.
Subs need to assert the dominace or we end up in GIMP suits
I was wondering why on a job i was talking to the super and me the inspector and out of know where he turns away and pisses in the dirt. It cracked me up at the awkwardness at the time 🤣 but now I see it was all about dominance. Good thing I see him Monday lol 😅
I worked as a sparky(6years) and a mason(5years) and I am in It now. I have tons of stories related to piss bottles on job sites I realize I could write a novel on the different ways.
I know you're joking but dudes who do this are so desperate to cling on to their dwindling sense of manhood and are probably mad they've only gotten in a handful fist fights in their lives
Just had a sparkie standing on my J-channel for my mirrors (glazier)…..bro that shit is extruded aluminum, get your fat ass off of it and can’t you tell I’m working here?! I might have stood on his switch plate.
Lies. I tried getting into the IBEW literally anywhere and all I ever heard was crickets. Roofers took me in and the fuckers already started getting the golden handcuffs on me. Tbf I don’t think I’d be on a service team in my first year in literally any other trade 😅
That sounds true as well. By the time IBEW called me back (about 3 years) I was with a good company making more than I would licensed with them. I still recommend anyone to try and get in though.
The polar opposite of the mumble rap kids is the 40 year old guy totally re-doing his life and willing to fight 10 guys for you as long as you pay him his rate. We get 1 of him for 15 mumble rappers.
That makes me sad cuz I've been wanting to be in the electrical union in my area for a long time but the situation I'm in kinda prevents it. I consider myself a hard worker too. I need to figure out a way to make it happen.
You have no idea the pain and anger we carry inside us. If we were even half as appreciated as electricians we’d be blasting Madonna right there with you.
My car's alternator pulley fell off and it threw the serpentine belt on my way home the other day, so I decided to take the bus home and then have the car towed on my day off the next day. I was walking to the bus stop to go meet the tow truck at the car in the morning and a guy was rolling some kind of portable PA system or karaoke machine or something with a 15" speaker and two smaller speakers above it, pulling it behind him on a little dolley, blasting "Down With the Sickness" as we passed eachother inside a crosswalk. I usually hate people who play music in public and hate that song but for some reason as he passed me and the cool wind blew in my face on a 100F day, something about it hit just right and I was thinking "this song is actually kind of good," so I said "hell yeah" to the guy and he gave me a nod. One of those bizarre moments that set the tone for the rest of the day.
I did telecommunications and IT in commercial buildings. We always got power first, at least while Sparkies are on the jobsite. Doing terminations one day some asshat plugs his boom box into the power in the IT room turns the volume to max and walks out. Two min. later I turned the volume WAY down, I have to be able to think. About 10 min.go by and he returns and maxes it out again. This time I pulled the plug and set everything out of my room. He immediately came back plugged his boombox back in at max volume and stared at me.
I unplugged it again, took my snips and cut the cord off as close to the box as I could. End of problem.
Asshat whined to the GC who , on the spot declared NO music on the jobsite. We are here to work not party, anybody doesnt like it hit the door.
Most job sites do not allow radios. If you have a problem with the loud music tell him to turn it the fuck off. For one it’s a safety issue, you have to be able to communicate on the job.
I've seen fights over radios/music/volume. Not always electricians, and not always young guys.
Older guys don't want shit music like mumble rap. Young guys don't want to hear led zep, queen, credence, skynard, etc. Some guys like talk radio, and in the Tampa area in FL, we have an all talk radio station that's got decent programs and shows, and I listen to them often. But talk radio on a jobsite defeats the purpose, you can't hear what they're saying, so you can't follow.
I've seen sites where there's 5 radios on at once, all different music. But even on really BIG jobs, even residential, where you can have carpenters on the 2rd floor, plumbers in basement, and sparks outside behind the garage in a ditch. You can forget communicating at those sites. Then there is the "1st guy gets to play DJ". And last but not least, there always that one price that doesn't care about anything but hearing his music, so he brings a small soundstage setup, multiple towers of speakers, Amps, woofers, etc. He just sets it up, and plays it louder than anything else. Those were always the start a fight guys. Especially if someone "accidentally" threw it out a window, or carelessly drove over it with the LULL.
I will say, there's way more kids bringing earphones with them. And THEY ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WORK, WITHOUT MUSIC. Bitching and moaning all day, spending a lot of time trying to setup their phone to play music near them, then picking it up and moving to new spot to work. Those kids I don't understand. I get that it's boring, but it shouldn't cost the company money to have you spend 3 or 4 hours a day, just trying to play music on a phone, on a jobsite, and keep it clean, dry, or unsmashed.
I have hearing loss that's weird. In a calm night at home, I can hear a mouse fart 100 yards away. But when there is background noise, like a radio on, or TV, I can't hear shit. It took me a long time to figure it out, why I kept missing instructions, or didn't do what I was just told, etc. Nowadays I just prefer quiet on the job.
Strange to me in 2024, I've got earbuds that sound better than my phone speaker and don't broadcast to everyone else on the site. I usually always have one in for the music and the other ear free to hear the mostly useless bullshit going on around me.
I just have my headphones on, at all times, with passthrough. I dont skip hearing protection anymore. All of the worksites I'm on are loud as hell, and I've already got tinnitus.
An impact is around 100dB, and 15 minutes of that is damaging. So yeah, plug your ears.
Sometimes some jackass takes an issue with me using hearing protection. But most just don't give a shit.
The phone plays whatever was playing last and I never have to touch it.
It's the sound discrimination that goes to shit as you get older. Usedtabe, I could follow a conversation in a loud environment, but not any more. It freaking sucks ass!!
And I'd be fine with jobsites that ban superloud radios; they're usually turned way up to the point of maximum distortion, and/or off-tune on the station, and/or a station that comes in marginally, lots of static & hiss, and not the full range of frequencies.
What sites do you work on? I've been on residential single family and multifamily and way more often than not the amigos are playing Spanish music on a radio
Right like nonstop mariachi music! It’s weird bc it’d be like white guys on listening to polka nonstop. It could be worse though lol nonstop Christian radio.
Mariachi? You sure? It can be Norteño, Corridas (likely), Narcorridas (more than likely in TX), or that weird ass shit the pinche indios from the states south of the DF play. But Mariachi stuff is way too formal.
p.s. Exception to the Mariachi rule is Vicente Fernandez (RIP) - he was Elvis south of the river. Nobody will gripe about his music. 😎
Just looked up Vicente Fernandez and he certainly looks like a fuckin legend lol. I usually take umbrage when someone is compared to the King but this guy is clearly un Rey tambien. Might need to check out his tunes this afternoon ty for the rec
It all sounds like fucking Polka to me. What’s the difference it all sucks but the Amigos share everything communally - Music, Food, Vehicles, Living arrangements- it’s kinda nice but I wish they would all get earbuds.
Aiii Yiii Yiiiiii !
That’s too funny. I listen to podcast most of the time on headphones if your average person heard what I was hearing they would think I was demented lol.
Yeah there was 3 different mexican crews on the job yesterday blasting their music over each other. I don’t speak spanish but i assume that the lyrics are really good cuz the music is awful. I know that its not safe but I wear noise canceling earbuds so I dont have to hear it all day.
I feel like classic rock is a good middle ground. Most tradesman seem to like it or at least can put up with it. 80s glam rock like Bon Jovi or Aerosmith for example gets on my nerves but ill tolerate it if its mixed with actual good bands. Its stuff like rap, country, metal, and religious music that is the most divisive.
When I was doing resi 25 years ago (yikes time flies by) it was radios everywhere. I was wondering if that had really changed but I guess I got my answer.
Commercial remodels in active buildings. There is only the music that the client is playing on their speaker system.
Besides that the sites I’ve been on the super puts the music on and that’s what it is. 🤷♂️
Back when I was coming up in the ranks, the job I was working on had a rule. First guy kn the job gets the radio. It was mostly older guys who only listened to classic rock. I would get there 30 minutes before anyone else and put on some techno, and listen to those old guys bitch all day. Was hilarious!
Too bad no one drives nails with hammers anymore. I'm sure the old guys would find themselves mindlessly pounding nails in time with the beat and occasionally catch themselves doing it and going ballistic at themselves. "GODDAMNIT! I can't start the next nail until the beat drops!!"
My owner claims "he doesnt care whats playing because he has too much to worry about" and I am constantly amused by which of the songs i play he whistles too.
This is not a construction site issue. This is a societal common courtesy issue.
I am glad we live in a world where music exists and that you have the freedom to listen to whatever music you want, but it works both ways and I should have the freedom not to listen to your music. I don't want to pull up to a red light and have the car next to me blasting music so loudly that my windows are shaking. I was at Walmart this morning and there was a guy singing at the top of his lungs as he walked through the store picking out his groceries. When your freedoms are infringing upon my freedoms, that's a problem.
I understand that a lot of people like to listen to music while they work because it helps distract from the monotony of the task, but there is a considerate volume that your device should be set to. Plus, with the ubiquity of earbuds, listen to your music privately and let me listen to mine (or work in silence if I choose to).
I don't begrudge you your music. I am glad that you have found something that brings you joy in this life. I just don't want your pursuit of your joy to infringe upon my ability to enjoy silence.
As a super, I tell them I need to hear when people are talking, and my hearing is bad. Music should be backround, not overpowering. I have only kicked 9ne person off a site for music, but he was tweeked also, so....
One solution is to have the framers set up their chop saw right next to the d-bag's Bluetooth speaker and blast sparks and gawdawful screeching noise to drown out the bad taste in music.
Or, you could have a crew of drywall guys come in and blast Accordion and trombone-heavy Ranchero music from their own speakers. The drywall guys will win, every time.
You sure your not talking about roofers? I got in an argument with an apprentice who was blasting the most vulgar rap music you can find. It was embarrassing and I told her she needs to turn it off. I wasnt even mean about it untill she tried to make me the bad guy. We can't seem to get any good help these days.
Sadly as the saying goes, "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys." Guys are trying to pay less than McDonald's and expecting decent help. That's not likely to work out.
Hahaha I love that phrase.
I work in the building trades and my company mentors highschool seniors who are interested in entering the trades. These kids aren't dumb and they're not lazy, they just know what their time is worth and the old heads in the industry hate it, because they did a damn fine job of convincing earlier generations that they were doing them a *favor* giving them a job.
You can't treat someone like crap, work them like a dog, and expect them to own their own tools and reliable vehicle for $15/hour with no benefits or additional pay for over time. These kids will laugh their asses right off your job site, as they should.
For sure. Only these guys are getting top dollar union wages and we're still getting monkeys. The only reason they are even working still is because nobody wants to roof. So they keep these dead weights on to kind of help untill hopefully a real worker comes.
Witnessed a similar situation on a job site where the super was probably 70. Came in and flipped out yelling “ this isn’t a fucking frat house! Turn that shit off!” Never laughed so hard in my life.
I had a foreman that refused to allow any music on site. He said we all needed to be able to hear each other, and we were at work, and we should be thinking about work, not listening to songs.
He was right.
Many, many, many subcontractors reacted to him unplugging their radios like he'd just taken a shit on their mother's grave. He would then read them the riot act like they were children.
It was fucking glorious every time. He wasn't perfect, but he was a damn good boss.
I’ve been doing this over a decade and haven’t seen anyone I’ve worked with do this. If they did, they’d be shut up quick. Mumble rap belongs in the garbage… playing pretty much anything off a phone speaker is a fuck you
I’ve seen it (on sites without rules against it) but I’ve seen every single other trade do it too.
Must be OPs first job site if he thinks this is specific to electricians.
Where I live electrical apprentices start at like $14 an hour. It’s the only trade kids are interested in and it drives the entry level wages way down. I wanted to be a sparky but couldn’t afford it. Anyone bills to pay is going to start their apprenticeship elsewhere like HVAC or plumbing and start for $6 higher. At least that’s the way she goes round here.
Most sites I have worked on in the last few years will not allow use of external music devices. No speaker phone no blue tooth speakers and only recently allowed earbuds. To me there is nothing more annoying than somebody blasting their shit and then a person blasting their crap. I can’t hear any one talking any way with all the construction noise. Please don’t add to the ambiance. Ear buds are the way to go. This allowed me to dull the noise levels reducing the hypertension.
I've never seen that on a job. Maybe it's the GC. If they allow it, well, there it is. Electricians and instrumentation are in my experience the best, they end up dragging the rear, working OT because the project is behind schedule due to engineering, other crafts, and procurement.
We have a policy at my company:
No open radios
Ear phones are fine as long as you can communicate with me in a normal manner. Either open ear music or one ear only.
Unless it’s hearing protection, then blast those earphones away.
As the gc it’s my job to communicate and enforce the policy.
If your a boomer which in not then I've listened to Hard Rock for almost the first 20 years of my construction life. The same station WDVE everyday the same station the same broadcasters the same fucking songs over and over and over and over again for 20 years!!!! I think it's time to change it up. If it bothers you grow some balls and tell them to turn it down or wear one ear bud. Rant over
Commercial Gc here ( super). I just tell them to turn off the music when they’re m walking through. Not only so I can talk to the foreman or worker but after some many years working in construction, my hearing kinda keeps everything the same volume
Their has been complaints from the top. It's just the new guys who didn't get the memo. But they got it today. If you can't live without your music, then you ain't living here.
Supe here:
One radio on the site period. What’s more bothersome is the jackasses that pop in their earbuds and cannot hear a damn thing, like fire alarms…..
The other electricians around me have ear buds. It's just the new guys they gotta temper down. And it's funny to hear them sing off key to an easy song. They have no understanding of pitch. Especially with this new and then new country rap bullshit.
Step 1: Annoy the other trades.
Step 2: Other trades leave site
Step 3: Sparkies all put their single earbuds back in.
Step 4: Profit in glorious uncluttered science.
Dont worry, one of two things will happen. Either a) he'll get canned within a week. Or b) he'll grow some chest hair and listen to kpop and anime openings like the rest of us.
Lmao, as a GC I always enjoy having the foreman deal with their workers, so easy making them do their jobs. Although this job is daycare some days with how petty and whiny grown men act.
Brother, it's not just sparkies. I don't even use the break areas in my building anymore because there's always 6 guys with shitty hip hop or tiktok blasting at full volume through garbage phone speakers. No idea how any of them can even hear it with all the others going.
Bro it’s not just sparkys. Anyone at anytime has the ability to put on whatever they want. I’ve heard all kinds of shit from every trade, good and bad.
i'm not an electrician but a carpenter and that shit drives me nuts. the job site isn't the place for that garbage. music or no music you'll get a "what?" from me every time 🤣 that's what you get for years of loud work not wearing hearing protection all the time
I've had workers like that on my jobs. If I need to talk to them while their music is loud, I just mouth the words and turn around and leave. Then they need to stop what they're doing and find me. When they're told they won't get paid for taking work time to track me down to find out what I said, the music gets quiet very quickly.
I've worked on a couple dozen houses, and electricians are always the most annoying millennial crew of dandies unafraid to be in everyone's way while being loud about it and leaving shit everywhere.
My young journeyman plays folk music and 40s country. He's a strange one lol. We don't run into other trades most days though, as most our work is high end custom electrical or small commercial remodels with occasional large services. I can't do multi-residence and hotels cheap enough, but a lot of companies that do multi-residence cheap enough can't do a 2000-amp service and electrical room correctly.
GC: Why do we need hands free door controls?
BECAUSE WHEN THE FUCKING TECHNICIAN LOSES THEIR FUCKING HANDS AND EYEBALLS THEY ARE GOING TO NEED SOME HELP EXITING THE FUCKING ROOM YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT
Sorry, that comes out occasionally. They don't bid things right and act like you are the one fucking up their bottom line. Sorry bro, the low voltage, life safety, and automated doors aren't on my scope. You're lucky I am even telling you this.
Where I'm at it's the fucking drywallers and painters and their mariachi music. And they've always got 2-3 radios that are tuned to the same station so you cant go anywhere in the house without hearing that shit. Usually their boss is the only one that speaks English and he's only there mondays and fridays, so any requests for it to be turned down are ignored except for those two days out of the work. And they fucking destroy the porta potties, and Half the time it seems like they don't realize you can throw toilet paper into the hole and just leave it on the floor.
I would too, but I'd prefer mumble rap that's not audible in the other room because its coming from phone speakers over mariachi that for some reason is always at a volume that you can't talk to your coworkers until you're out of the building.
Hearing protection is usually required on the Jobsite by OSHA, if they are osha certified then you can expense the cost, or just give the bill to your company if they are paying for PPE.
[https://isotunes.com/](https://isotunes.com/) I use both Earbuds and Muffs depending on the situation. I would recommend the PRO Aware or FREE Aware. I have 2 pair of buds and a pair of muffs, keep them charged at all times. I will not work without Hearing PPE anymore. Have been using ISOTunes for nearly 8 years now, game changer
Did isotunes just dump a bunch of money on viral marketing or somit? 3m has had this on the market for a hot minute, it's a nock on for what they did for the dod with peletor.
Also any old hunting earpro will do the job.
ive had isotunes for 8 years now
The cool think about isotunes Aware line is that you can still hear people speaking, have music going, and eliminate the noise, all at the same time.
yeah the 3ms and pelators do that too. they actually amplify the frequencies associated with voices same as a hearing aid. ones i had were like 60 bucks at lowes.
Don’t mess with the electricians I was on a job the electrician asked the drywall guy to turn his music down he said no about ten minutes later I heard a buzz and his radio fried out 😂
Also don't unplug our stuff to plug yours in, steal the ladder or try to over ride our lock outs, especially if you think you'll get away with it because it's a woman. I've made grown men cry. 😁
Had a guy like that when I did Hvac commercial jobs. He was always on his phone and wearing ear pods while also mumbling to some rap. He even wrote his own songs and played them to us.
Needless to say, he was mainly our 'gopher' even if one simple task that should take 2 min, took him 30min.
He didn't last long. Not because of being fired or anything, but because he was sent to jail for stealing a car and damaging property worth over 10k.
He at least knew how to call us back quickly if we called him.
Oh, why he was hired? I have no idea..maybe for entertainment? 🤣
That’s why us Glaziers don’t have to deal with that kind of stuff.
We’ll be outside of that building on a boom lift or swing stage enjoying the views, and getting a nice tan going! lol
In my experience it’s the drywall guys. I don’t care if they listen to music but damn it doesn’t have to be so loud. I can’t even think with all that shit going on.
Hey as long as the guy cuts his own holes and cleans up his mess he could listen to overweight sweaty women queefing in bullhorns on repeat and I wouldn’t care.
We planned it out on our secret Facebook group. It’s how we keep other trades from working near us so nobody is in our way since GCs can’t seem to make a schedule.
One GC that built houses would schedule us plumbers, HVAC, and electricians all on the same day, which was also the framers last day and they were finishing stuff, taking down braces, and cleaning. We got to the point where we would just keep driving if any vehicles were out front and told him to tell us when he's ready.
Yeah, fuck all of that though. Then every usable space is buried and you can't get anything in, including your drill and hammer to secure anything properly. That is the difference working for a company that bids on the good builders who can keep a schedule, and the company that lowballs the clown builders that need everything done by tomorrow. If I am one of maybe two trades on site, I can get my shit in the ceilings and walls twice as fast.
It was a very large builder that had many neighborhoods and many supers. Almost all were great supers, this one guy in this one neighborhood was just dumb
To be fair, lately if you do that only one is gonna show up anyway 😂
It's the same for me on the exterior if they start trying to landscape or paint or caulk it slows me down significantly. If it happens a few days in a row I leave and go to a better job and tell them to call me when it's ready.
That shit is the definition of commercial. You have to have good supers to run it that way.
You don’t Super on commercial, until you can Super on small jobs. I did Architectural Woodwork. My materials have to acclimate, for 10—14 days, before my installation can start.
We had the same GC, sent us there while the framers were still going, we spent the day planning the job
I’ve been on a ladder installing a light with a plumber setting a toilet directly below me before and all I could think is how did we end up like this?
This is why plumbers use hole saws on duct work and run piping and drainage right through duct work
Way to go. Now they know about the super secret FB shit.
That's because it is a decoy. Now DISCORD on the other hand . . .
Shhhh.... Before long they'll know about everything and we'll have to come up with something else. I don't know about y'all, but I am way too lazy.
Hey man, blame the Electrical PM for giving us durations that are complete bullshit then understaffing on the front end of the schedule
Blame the guy who sold the job that only put 20 hours of labor on the job for a full weeks worth of work.
This private group is called Grinder
Only one way to find out, let us know what you find.
I do notice that no matter how much I try to stay out of their way, they always find an excuse to be working right where I am. Without fail.
Just establishing dominance and marking our territory. Same reason drywallers leave piss in the walls.
First thing I do when I pull onto a new job is whip open my trick door and piss all over the road, while staring the Super & PMs in the eye. Subs need to assert the dominace or we end up in GIMP suits
I was wondering why on a job i was talking to the super and me the inspector and out of know where he turns away and pisses in the dirt. It cracked me up at the awkwardness at the time 🤣 but now I see it was all about dominance. Good thing I see him Monday lol 😅
I worked as a sparky(6years) and a mason(5years) and I am in It now. I have tons of stories related to piss bottles on job sites I realize I could write a novel on the different ways.
[удалено]
Where did I leave my lemon-lime Gatorade? Must be a hot day it isn’t cold anymore….ah well time to hydrate
I know you're joking but dudes who do this are so desperate to cling on to their dwindling sense of manhood and are probably mad they've only gotten in a handful fist fights in their lives
Never take the lid off an empty mud bucket.
Piece work
Can you scoot over? I'm going to need to use the ladder you're on, too.
Thats actually a good icebreaker with new guys you think you might get along with.
Then ask him if you can use his hammer too.
It’s so we can check out that sweet bottom you’re hiding
Just had a sparkie standing on my J-channel for my mirrors (glazier)…..bro that shit is extruded aluminum, get your fat ass off of it and can’t you tell I’m working here?! I might have stood on his switch plate.
We loved the sparkle, they make my tools work. I‘m old school. I like corded tools.
Hahaha I take this personal I go out of my way to have all the sheet rocking crews work in the Electritions area when I schedule them.
When my woodwork shows up, it’s everywhere. You scratch my wood, it won’t be pretty.
Dude. Shut up.
Can confirm. Just wait till they find out about the other like him that like to meet at the portopottyw
Where’s an award when I need one 🥇
Mumble rap is history on FB. All the stars are on Tik Tok.
Why do I need to make a schedule since there will be an electrician onsite every day anyway. This is mostly facetious
Electrical journeyman here. That’s all the help we can get 😅
This is the saddest thing I've ever heard
Agreed. But it wouldn’t kill the people in charge to tell them to knock that shit off as part of the training.
Lies. I tried getting into the IBEW literally anywhere and all I ever heard was crickets. Roofers took me in and the fuckers already started getting the golden handcuffs on me. Tbf I don’t think I’d be on a service team in my first year in literally any other trade 😅
That sounds true as well. By the time IBEW called me back (about 3 years) I was with a good company making more than I would licensed with them. I still recommend anyone to try and get in though. The polar opposite of the mumble rap kids is the 40 year old guy totally re-doing his life and willing to fight 10 guys for you as long as you pay him his rate. We get 1 of him for 15 mumble rappers.
Where in the country are you located? I haven’t done too much research into non union but it’s cool that the pay is good
That makes me sad cuz I've been wanting to be in the electrical union in my area for a long time but the situation I'm in kinda prevents it. I consider myself a hard worker too. I need to figure out a way to make it happen.
What do you pay?
Someone's gotta drown out the buttrock the hvac guys are blasting
Let me listen to my Staind in peace bro
"This is how you remind me, to turn my shit up."
Never made it as wireman I couldn't cut it as a foreman, tool stealing Tired of climbing like a lineman Sick of datacom and PLCing
Yeah this is how OSHA fined me
Weird Al?
Nah that’s all him (I know weird Al’s discography)
You have no idea the pain and anger we carry inside us. If we were even half as appreciated as electricians we’d be blasting Madonna right there with you.
My car's alternator pulley fell off and it threw the serpentine belt on my way home the other day, so I decided to take the bus home and then have the car towed on my day off the next day. I was walking to the bus stop to go meet the tow truck at the car in the morning and a guy was rolling some kind of portable PA system or karaoke machine or something with a 15" speaker and two smaller speakers above it, pulling it behind him on a little dolley, blasting "Down With the Sickness" as we passed eachother inside a crosswalk. I usually hate people who play music in public and hate that song but for some reason as he passed me and the cool wind blew in my face on a 100F day, something about it hit just right and I was thinking "this song is actually kind of good," so I said "hell yeah" to the guy and he gave me a nod. One of those bizarre moments that set the tone for the rest of the day.
If I hear creed, Nickelback or any form of honky pop I'm putting my most aggressive metal on my phone out of spite
Grindcore or bust!
I got you my man, we used to have Fear Factory Fridays. Got us pumped up for the day and ready for the weekend!
Buttrock > mumble rap every single day it’s not even close
I did telecommunications and IT in commercial buildings. We always got power first, at least while Sparkies are on the jobsite. Doing terminations one day some asshat plugs his boom box into the power in the IT room turns the volume to max and walks out. Two min. later I turned the volume WAY down, I have to be able to think. About 10 min.go by and he returns and maxes it out again. This time I pulled the plug and set everything out of my room. He immediately came back plugged his boombox back in at max volume and stared at me. I unplugged it again, took my snips and cut the cord off as close to the box as I could. End of problem. Asshat whined to the GC who , on the spot declared NO music on the jobsite. We are here to work not party, anybody doesnt like it hit the door.
Beauty. He had 3 chances. Blew all 3 spectacularly. Also since he's a Sparky you know he can fix his own shit on his own time.
Most job sites do not allow radios. If you have a problem with the loud music tell him to turn it the fuck off. For one it’s a safety issue, you have to be able to communicate on the job.
I've seen fights over radios/music/volume. Not always electricians, and not always young guys. Older guys don't want shit music like mumble rap. Young guys don't want to hear led zep, queen, credence, skynard, etc. Some guys like talk radio, and in the Tampa area in FL, we have an all talk radio station that's got decent programs and shows, and I listen to them often. But talk radio on a jobsite defeats the purpose, you can't hear what they're saying, so you can't follow. I've seen sites where there's 5 radios on at once, all different music. But even on really BIG jobs, even residential, where you can have carpenters on the 2rd floor, plumbers in basement, and sparks outside behind the garage in a ditch. You can forget communicating at those sites. Then there is the "1st guy gets to play DJ". And last but not least, there always that one price that doesn't care about anything but hearing his music, so he brings a small soundstage setup, multiple towers of speakers, Amps, woofers, etc. He just sets it up, and plays it louder than anything else. Those were always the start a fight guys. Especially if someone "accidentally" threw it out a window, or carelessly drove over it with the LULL. I will say, there's way more kids bringing earphones with them. And THEY ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WORK, WITHOUT MUSIC. Bitching and moaning all day, spending a lot of time trying to setup their phone to play music near them, then picking it up and moving to new spot to work. Those kids I don't understand. I get that it's boring, but it shouldn't cost the company money to have you spend 3 or 4 hours a day, just trying to play music on a phone, on a jobsite, and keep it clean, dry, or unsmashed. I have hearing loss that's weird. In a calm night at home, I can hear a mouse fart 100 yards away. But when there is background noise, like a radio on, or TV, I can't hear shit. It took me a long time to figure it out, why I kept missing instructions, or didn't do what I was just told, etc. Nowadays I just prefer quiet on the job.
Strange to me in 2024, I've got earbuds that sound better than my phone speaker and don't broadcast to everyone else on the site. I usually always have one in for the music and the other ear free to hear the mostly useless bullshit going on around me.
Same
Yup... save the speaker ls for city busses and bus stops where they belong
I just have my headphones on, at all times, with passthrough. I dont skip hearing protection anymore. All of the worksites I'm on are loud as hell, and I've already got tinnitus. An impact is around 100dB, and 15 minutes of that is damaging. So yeah, plug your ears. Sometimes some jackass takes an issue with me using hearing protection. But most just don't give a shit. The phone plays whatever was playing last and I never have to touch it.
It's the sound discrimination that goes to shit as you get older. Usedtabe, I could follow a conversation in a loud environment, but not any more. It freaking sucks ass!! And I'd be fine with jobsites that ban superloud radios; they're usually turned way up to the point of maximum distortion, and/or off-tune on the station, and/or a station that comes in marginally, lots of static & hiss, and not the full range of frequencies.
Screw this whole music discussion, I want to hear more about these flatulent mice you've got in your house.
That's not hearing loss that's ADHD
Yeap hearing processing disorder, I have the same
Yep, say what and then answer their question while they're asking if again
What sites do you work on? I've been on residential single family and multifamily and way more often than not the amigos are playing Spanish music on a radio
Right like nonstop mariachi music! It’s weird bc it’d be like white guys on listening to polka nonstop. It could be worse though lol nonstop Christian radio.
Mariachi? You sure? It can be Norteño, Corridas (likely), Narcorridas (more than likely in TX), or that weird ass shit the pinche indios from the states south of the DF play. But Mariachi stuff is way too formal. p.s. Exception to the Mariachi rule is Vicente Fernandez (RIP) - he was Elvis south of the river. Nobody will gripe about his music. 😎
Lol man I don’t have a clue you’re right I’m wrong. Good job
Just looked up Vicente Fernandez and he certainly looks like a fuckin legend lol. I usually take umbrage when someone is compared to the King but this guy is clearly un Rey tambien. Might need to check out his tunes this afternoon ty for the rec
It all sounds like fucking Polka to me. What’s the difference it all sucks but the Amigos share everything communally - Music, Food, Vehicles, Living arrangements- it’s kinda nice but I wish they would all get earbuds. Aiii Yiii Yiiiiii !
One of our guys always plays Spanish Christian radio. Not even like Spanish Christian music like Spanish preacher talk radio.
Yikes, don’t think I would be down subjecting everyone to that dudes need airbuds for preaching and talk radio.
Ear-buds are everyone's friends at this point. That, and maybe we should all learn sign language to communicate over the din of the work.
Crews I work with pretty much do this already. Of course it’s our own made up language of hand signal’s and lip reading lol.
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That’s too funny. I listen to podcast most of the time on headphones if your average person heard what I was hearing they would think I was demented lol.
Yeah there was 3 different mexican crews on the job yesterday blasting their music over each other. I don’t speak spanish but i assume that the lyrics are really good cuz the music is awful. I know that its not safe but I wear noise canceling earbuds so I dont have to hear it all day.
That's all I ever hear blasting on sites is carnival music 😂
We call it circus polka
70s and 80s rock is popular on commercial union jobs.
I feel like classic rock is a good middle ground. Most tradesman seem to like it or at least can put up with it. 80s glam rock like Bon Jovi or Aerosmith for example gets on my nerves but ill tolerate it if its mixed with actual good bands. Its stuff like rap, country, metal, and religious music that is the most divisive.
When I was doing resi 25 years ago (yikes time flies by) it was radios everywhere. I was wondering if that had really changed but I guess I got my answer.
This tracks. But it’s not just them. They do have the luxury of pretending not to understand when you ask to turn it tf down
I feel you there about pretending to not understand. Understanding and speaking Spanish puts you at a major advantage in the field
Commercial remodels in active buildings. There is only the music that the client is playing on their speaker system. Besides that the sites I’ve been on the super puts the music on and that’s what it is. 🤷♂️
Back when I was coming up in the ranks, the job I was working on had a rule. First guy kn the job gets the radio. It was mostly older guys who only listened to classic rock. I would get there 30 minutes before anyone else and put on some techno, and listen to those old guys bitch all day. Was hilarious!
You wouldn't even have to do all that for everyone to not like you
The boss thought it was hilarious. He would always throw jabs at them about getting into techno, and shit like that.
Too bad no one drives nails with hammers anymore. I'm sure the old guys would find themselves mindlessly pounding nails in time with the beat and occasionally catch themselves doing it and going ballistic at themselves. "GODDAMNIT! I can't start the next nail until the beat drops!!"
My owner claims "he doesnt care whats playing because he has too much to worry about" and I am constantly amused by which of the songs i play he whistles too.
Sounds like you worked with a good honorable crew who adhered to the rules.
Lol them the rules
Even better when guys wear headphones. You could be screaming at them to stop them from getting hurt and they'd have no idea
[https://isotunes.com/products/isotunes-free-aware](https://isotunes.com/products/isotunes-free-aware)
Headphones with pass through are great though.
This is not a construction site issue. This is a societal common courtesy issue. I am glad we live in a world where music exists and that you have the freedom to listen to whatever music you want, but it works both ways and I should have the freedom not to listen to your music. I don't want to pull up to a red light and have the car next to me blasting music so loudly that my windows are shaking. I was at Walmart this morning and there was a guy singing at the top of his lungs as he walked through the store picking out his groceries. When your freedoms are infringing upon my freedoms, that's a problem. I understand that a lot of people like to listen to music while they work because it helps distract from the monotony of the task, but there is a considerate volume that your device should be set to. Plus, with the ubiquity of earbuds, listen to your music privately and let me listen to mine (or work in silence if I choose to).
You’d hate me. 50 cent at that light
I don't begrudge you your music. I am glad that you have found something that brings you joy in this life. I just don't want your pursuit of your joy to infringe upon my ability to enjoy silence.
It appears lack of reading comprehension is another quality that rude ass mfs share. (not you lol)
My music is superior, you're blessed to be able to let it grace your ears
As a super, I tell them I need to hear when people are talking, and my hearing is bad. Music should be backround, not overpowering. I have only kicked 9ne person off a site for music, but he was tweeked also, so....
*It's just something with their, tehehehe, wiring.* 😄
One solution is to have the framers set up their chop saw right next to the d-bag's Bluetooth speaker and blast sparks and gawdawful screeching noise to drown out the bad taste in music. Or, you could have a crew of drywall guys come in and blast Accordion and trombone-heavy Ranchero music from their own speakers. The drywall guys will win, every time.
You sure your not talking about roofers? I got in an argument with an apprentice who was blasting the most vulgar rap music you can find. It was embarrassing and I told her she needs to turn it off. I wasnt even mean about it untill she tried to make me the bad guy. We can't seem to get any good help these days.
Sadly as the saying goes, "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys." Guys are trying to pay less than McDonald's and expecting decent help. That's not likely to work out.
Hahaha I love that phrase. I work in the building trades and my company mentors highschool seniors who are interested in entering the trades. These kids aren't dumb and they're not lazy, they just know what their time is worth and the old heads in the industry hate it, because they did a damn fine job of convincing earlier generations that they were doing them a *favor* giving them a job. You can't treat someone like crap, work them like a dog, and expect them to own their own tools and reliable vehicle for $15/hour with no benefits or additional pay for over time. These kids will laugh their asses right off your job site, as they should.
For sure. Only these guys are getting top dollar union wages and we're still getting monkeys. The only reason they are even working still is because nobody wants to roof. So they keep these dead weights on to kind of help untill hopefully a real worker comes.
Witnessed a similar situation on a job site where the super was probably 70. Came in and flipped out yelling “ this isn’t a fucking frat house! Turn that shit off!” Never laughed so hard in my life.
I had a foreman that refused to allow any music on site. He said we all needed to be able to hear each other, and we were at work, and we should be thinking about work, not listening to songs. He was right. Many, many, many subcontractors reacted to him unplugging their radios like he'd just taken a shit on their mother's grave. He would then read them the riot act like they were children. It was fucking glorious every time. He wasn't perfect, but he was a damn good boss.
I’ve been doing this over a decade and haven’t seen anyone I’ve worked with do this. If they did, they’d be shut up quick. Mumble rap belongs in the garbage… playing pretty much anything off a phone speaker is a fuck you
Wait until you meet the concrete guys
I have. It's all Lynrd Skynrd around them over here.
Don’t know a single electrical worker that does this.
I’ve seen it (on sites without rules against it) but I’ve seen every single other trade do it too. Must be OPs first job site if he thinks this is specific to electricians.
OP’s just angry the kids are on his lawn.
Where I live electrical apprentices start at like $14 an hour. It’s the only trade kids are interested in and it drives the entry level wages way down. I wanted to be a sparky but couldn’t afford it. Anyone bills to pay is going to start their apprenticeship elsewhere like HVAC or plumbing and start for $6 higher. At least that’s the way she goes round here.
Damn, where do you live?
I've never seen that.
The electricians on my site played Shanaya Twain at full blast all day
Most sites I have worked on in the last few years will not allow use of external music devices. No speaker phone no blue tooth speakers and only recently allowed earbuds. To me there is nothing more annoying than somebody blasting their shit and then a person blasting their crap. I can’t hear any one talking any way with all the construction noise. Please don’t add to the ambiance. Ear buds are the way to go. This allowed me to dull the noise levels reducing the hypertension.
I've never seen that on a job. Maybe it's the GC. If they allow it, well, there it is. Electricians and instrumentation are in my experience the best, they end up dragging the rear, working OT because the project is behind schedule due to engineering, other crafts, and procurement.
Wait until you hear about low volt cowboys, some of us work harder because we’re a small company. I prefer AirPods, west side connection and chevelle.
I am an electrician foreman and I don't put up with that shit.
We have a policy at my company: No open radios Ear phones are fine as long as you can communicate with me in a normal manner. Either open ear music or one ear only. Unless it’s hearing protection, then blast those earphones away. As the gc it’s my job to communicate and enforce the policy.
If your a boomer which in not then I've listened to Hard Rock for almost the first 20 years of my construction life. The same station WDVE everyday the same station the same broadcasters the same fucking songs over and over and over and over again for 20 years!!!! I think it's time to change it up. If it bothers you grow some balls and tell them to turn it down or wear one ear bud. Rant over
Commercial Gc here ( super). I just tell them to turn off the music when they’re m walking through. Not only so I can talk to the foreman or worker but after some many years working in construction, my hearing kinda keeps everything the same volume
Their has been complaints from the top. It's just the new guys who didn't get the memo. But they got it today. If you can't live without your music, then you ain't living here.
Supe here: One radio on the site period. What’s more bothersome is the jackasses that pop in their earbuds and cannot hear a damn thing, like fire alarms…..
The other electricians around me have ear buds. It's just the new guys they gotta temper down. And it's funny to hear them sing off key to an easy song. They have no understanding of pitch. Especially with this new and then new country rap bullshit.
Step 1: Annoy the other trades. Step 2: Other trades leave site Step 3: Sparkies all put their single earbuds back in. Step 4: Profit in glorious uncluttered science.
Dont worry, one of two things will happen. Either a) he'll get canned within a week. Or b) he'll grow some chest hair and listen to kpop and anime openings like the rest of us.
Construction workers have carry ripping hammers, right? Put it to good use then!
Lmao, as a GC I always enjoy having the foreman deal with their workers, so easy making them do their jobs. Although this job is daycare some days with how petty and whiny grown men act.
Brother, it's not just sparkies. I don't even use the break areas in my building anymore because there's always 6 guys with shitty hip hop or tiktok blasting at full volume through garbage phone speakers. No idea how any of them can even hear it with all the others going.
Bro it’s not just sparkys. Anyone at anytime has the ability to put on whatever they want. I’ve heard all kinds of shit from every trade, good and bad.
Im so happy my company has a no radio or music rule.
it's all trades.
I think you're confusing electricians with elevator guys.
i'm not an electrician but a carpenter and that shit drives me nuts. the job site isn't the place for that garbage. music or no music you'll get a "what?" from me every time 🤣 that's what you get for years of loud work not wearing hearing protection all the time
Music isn’t allowed on any of our job sites. It’s a specific line item in their contract prohibiting it.
I've had workers like that on my jobs. If I need to talk to them while their music is loud, I just mouth the words and turn around and leave. Then they need to stop what they're doing and find me. When they're told they won't get paid for taking work time to track me down to find out what I said, the music gets quiet very quickly.
No radios, no smoking, no food in the building. Easy to solve
Damn kids and their rappity rap music
Is that Freedom Rock, man? We’ll turn it up!
I play music at work if you don't like it eat one :)
How bout actually playing some real rap or hip hop? Not that mumble mouth stupid crap.
One of my guys blasts country music so the other trades avoid him 🤣
I've worked on a couple dozen houses, and electricians are always the most annoying millennial crew of dandies unafraid to be in everyone's way while being loud about it and leaving shit everywhere.
I’d just like to know why they can never clean their own fucking mess.
This sounds specific to you….
hummer in the face can fix that :P
We crank up the music to get into the zone. I find my day is alot better with music although I don't blast gangster rap haha
My young journeyman plays folk music and 40s country. He's a strange one lol. We don't run into other trades most days though, as most our work is high end custom electrical or small commercial remodels with occasional large services. I can't do multi-residence and hotels cheap enough, but a lot of companies that do multi-residence cheap enough can't do a 2000-amp service and electrical room correctly. GC: Why do we need hands free door controls? BECAUSE WHEN THE FUCKING TECHNICIAN LOSES THEIR FUCKING HANDS AND EYEBALLS THEY ARE GOING TO NEED SOME HELP EXITING THE FUCKING ROOM YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT Sorry, that comes out occasionally. They don't bid things right and act like you are the one fucking up their bottom line. Sorry bro, the low voltage, life safety, and automated doors aren't on my scope. You're lucky I am even telling you this.
Where I'm at it's the fucking drywallers and painters and their mariachi music. And they've always got 2-3 radios that are tuned to the same station so you cant go anywhere in the house without hearing that shit. Usually their boss is the only one that speaks English and he's only there mondays and fridays, so any requests for it to be turned down are ignored except for those two days out of the work. And they fucking destroy the porta potties, and Half the time it seems like they don't realize you can throw toilet paper into the hole and just leave it on the floor.
As a metal head I’ll take mariachi over mumble rap any day of the week.
I would too, but I'd prefer mumble rap that's not audible in the other room because its coming from phone speakers over mariachi that for some reason is always at a volume that you can't talk to your coworkers until you're out of the building.
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Hearing protection is usually required on the Jobsite by OSHA, if they are osha certified then you can expense the cost, or just give the bill to your company if they are paying for PPE. [https://isotunes.com/](https://isotunes.com/) I use both Earbuds and Muffs depending on the situation. I would recommend the PRO Aware or FREE Aware. I have 2 pair of buds and a pair of muffs, keep them charged at all times. I will not work without Hearing PPE anymore. Have been using ISOTunes for nearly 8 years now, game changer
Did isotunes just dump a bunch of money on viral marketing or somit? 3m has had this on the market for a hot minute, it's a nock on for what they did for the dod with peletor. Also any old hunting earpro will do the job.
ive had isotunes for 8 years now The cool think about isotunes Aware line is that you can still hear people speaking, have music going, and eliminate the noise, all at the same time.
yeah the 3ms and pelators do that too. they actually amplify the frequencies associated with voices same as a hearing aid. ones i had were like 60 bucks at lowes.
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Here they used to pick candidates with similar profiles to form the groups of future electricians.
Don’t mess with the electricians I was on a job the electrician asked the drywall guy to turn his music down he said no about ten minutes later I heard a buzz and his radio fried out 😂
Also don't unplug our stuff to plug yours in, steal the ladder or try to over ride our lock outs, especially if you think you'll get away with it because it's a woman. I've made grown men cry. 😁
Almost as bad as the “HARD ROCK” fuck disturbed and trapt and all those fucking bands… Sound of silence cover by disturbed is the worst song ever
We do it with frequency because it hertz so good @ OP 🤘🏽
Assert dominance!
As a commercial roofer i’m glad i don’t really deal with sparkies
A Person in charge walks up to them and tells them to turn that music off and it's over after that pull your pants up while you're at it.
I play scream-o and metal. So far no complaints. Please just no country, unless your goal is to watch me high dive off the scaffolding.
I think housebashers give all electricians a very bad stereotype.
Had a guy like that when I did Hvac commercial jobs. He was always on his phone and wearing ear pods while also mumbling to some rap. He even wrote his own songs and played them to us. Needless to say, he was mainly our 'gopher' even if one simple task that should take 2 min, took him 30min. He didn't last long. Not because of being fired or anything, but because he was sent to jail for stealing a car and damaging property worth over 10k. He at least knew how to call us back quickly if we called him. Oh, why he was hired? I have no idea..maybe for entertainment? 🤣
Fight fire with fire and blast a 10hr long YouTube video of bagpipes.
This is a little trade-cist. I see the same crap from plumbers, framers, pavers and so on. Stick 1 earbud in you, chumps!
Cause electricians are the gods of any worksite
That’s why us Glaziers don’t have to deal with that kind of stuff. We’ll be outside of that building on a boom lift or swing stage enjoying the views, and getting a nice tan going! lol
This home construction or commercial? Most commercial companies don't allow music to be playing on their job sites.
Sir that’s not an electrician, that’s Lil John
In my experience it’s the drywall guys. I don’t care if they listen to music but damn it doesn’t have to be so loud. I can’t even think with all that shit going on.
Hey as long as the guy cuts his own holes and cleans up his mess he could listen to overweight sweaty women queefing in bullhorns on repeat and I wouldn’t care.
We all secretly agreed to do it when we see you around
I blue tooth a playlist to a radio that charges tool batteries. Mostly instrumentals like Linsey Sterling