Depending on the site you are on you usually need to show a little respect. For sure to the ones that have been in the company longer then you but also to the other trades as well as the owners of whatever project you are on. They are the ones who hired you and will decide if they hire you again or refer you to any friends of theirs. A good job sometimes falls on deaf ears but a bad job or bad attitude on the job site definitely gets talked about to ones that the owner knows is looking for work. Things like swearing and rude comments are things that you want to watch out for. Sometimes things happen and you can’t stop what comes out of your mouth, but how often it happens is definitely up to you. Rude comments towards people are never a good idea. No one likes to be called names or made fun of and it doesn’t really help with anything - especially when you have to work with the person on a regular basis.

I’m back in school now. Been in for a week and a half now. I’m really excited about learning how to build stairs. I’ve never done that before and what a better way to learn then at school. Here I’ve got time to learn it properly, and I don’t have to worry about somebody not being happy with my work. If I make a mistake building stairs, then I’m the only one that would care because it affects my grade. I’ve been told by journey people that if you have gaps in the stairs, glue and sawdust are your two best friends. It’s true! On projects I’ve done in my first two levels, filling gaps has come in very handy to  get me a better mark. In real life on the job you would do something very similar to fill any small gaps you may have when doing trim work or anything else. Besides all the awesome stuff I’m learning and looking forward to learning in the weeks to come, the food here at  Red River College is pretty good, too. Just an added bonus!

The last couple weeks before you go back to school are always rough, both on the wallet and the body. Its hard when you’re going through your first few years if you don’t have money saved up or parents to help you out to buy all your books and supplies that you need for the year. It is kind of fun getting to do back to school shopping, though. If you’re like me it reminds you of being back in high school. It is a little different, though because you’re running around getting things set up, like your Record of Employment, employment insurance, your hour book, and other things needed for your trade. But if you get everything lined up and ready to go so when you step into the school on the first day  it makes things go by a lot better with less heartache for you. Plus, it’s exciting to be going back! So exciting that maybe the past couple weeks you lose motivation to work and just want to get going with your schooling. Also, count yourself lucky if you are going back during the cold months, although this year the weather hasn’t been too bad yet.

The past few days I’ve been installing new windows on a old historic house. The windows were built to match the existing windows. However, the company that built the replacement windows made them too big, so they don’t fit in the existing openings. So what we had to do was plane down the sides, top and bottom so that they would fit. It’s also difficult having to caulk around the windows because we have to caulk to brick. Let’s just say it’s been a challenge to make it look nice and clean. Filling in the gaps that we have because of the improperly-sized windows has been another nightmare. It takes a while to fill each gap several times and then to give it a final once-over to make sure it looks nice. All the complaining aside, once the job is done the house will look a lot better, and be more energy efficient to boot.

I remember being the new person on the crew, not knowing anything yet. It was really hard trying to fit in. That’s why, when new people start at my work, I do everything I can to make sure that I am nice to them. I try to just give them time to learn and soak up what is going on at the site. I don’t like the way that some of the journey people treat new apprentices.  It doesn’t really instill confidence in their apprentices if every time they do something wrong they are made fun of or even ignored for the work they do.  When I’m done school I will do everything I can to treat people with respect, even if they make mistakes.  We aren’t perfect and even people with tons of training and experience make mistakes. They hate it just as much as anyone when their mistake is brought to the forefront and constantly talked about.

It’s getting cold outside. Even though this summer wasn’t the greatest of summers, it’s coming on to wintertime pretty quick. During the summer it was easy to get by without having to watch what you wear for the day. But lately it’s been hard to know what you will need to wear to work, because the day starts off cold and then gets warmer later on.  You may tend to under dress and that isn’t very good. If you do and get cold you could chill yourself, catch a cold and end up missing work. What I find works is always making sure you wear more than enough clothing that will last you all day long. Also, it would be good to get into the habit of taking along a few extra pieces of clothing that are dry. In the fall it tends to rain and no one likes to be wet and cold. It can really make your day miserable.

This week at the site where I was working, a guy I work with hurt himself. He was doing something he wasn’t supposed to and it ended up costing him a trip to the hospital in an ambulance and a few days off work. Luckily his injuries weren’t as bad as they could have been; he didn’t break anything or paralyze himself. I’m sure we’ve all at some point done something that wasn’t the smartest move just to get a job done. I know I’m guilty of that myself. Even though you may complete a job a little faster than the next guy, you have to make sure you’re doing it safely. I myself would rather finish a job with all my bones and limbs intact then risk losing them. Life would not be very good with a missing arm or leg, or maybe a finger or two. Even not being able to move would be horrible! So when doing any work just make sure you are doing it safely and have someone with you in case anything should happen. They will be able to give whatever attention is needed in case of an emergency. Let’s face it, we aren’t perfect and accidents happen from time to time.  Even when we are working safely.

As you can tell by the title of this post, I’m in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. It’s kind of good here. There is a shift premium for working night shifts and an extra few bucks an hour for working out of town. I also got paid for the drive out here and have a hotel room paid for and a food expense account. If it’s done right, you can make a pretty good amount of coin. Plus with all the overtime you end up working it just adds to it. On the other hand, it’s not the greatest having to leave home and travel for work. You do miss your friends, but it’s only for a week. I’m not gone for too long and don’t miss too much stuff back home. It takes a bit of getting used to working at night but I think I’ve got a handle on it now. If you don’t mind working out of town, it’s a good opportunity. I don’t think I’ll be doing it too much more though.

During my tour in Yorkton I got to do a lot of different jobs that are fun and a wide range of what a carpenter does. It started with framing two walls that windows could be installed into for a pharmacy. Of course I had to take down one of the walls and re-frame it because the company that was the general contracter didn’t put the posts in the right place for the ceiling. Stuff like that happens sometimes on commercial jobs.  There is so much going on that sometimes mistakes are made. Then I got to look at the plans and figure out where walls needed to be built and doors needed to be put in and mark that stuff out. I also got to do a little prep for concrete work by forming up and leveling a couple of curbs that coolers rest on and walls get built on. I didn’t pour or finish them because I left before that happened. Finally, I was able to do some demolition work. It’s always nice to take a little anger out on something that is meant to come down anyways. I liked it in Yorkton, but the distance from home would keep me from going again unless it was absolutely necessary.

So I got my letter for school just last week. When you get it its best to get your money to the apprenticeship office as soon as possible. If you don’t there is a good chance you could lose your seat and possibly have to wait till the next class. If there is no class then you’ll have to wait till the next school year. Another possibility is that you may lose your apprenticeship. That would be a shame because of the effort that you put into it to get as far as you have. I get to go back in mid November till the end of January. It’s going to be nice because I’ll be in school for a good chunk of the cold weather. I’ll have to work in February but it won’t be too bad. It’s going to be a nice break from work for two and a half months and they have a delicious breakfast in the J building at school. Man, I’m looking forward to that!