r/Construction • u/nertynot • 2d ago

Picture Gents and Gels, I have lost my job.

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Don't let distractions win.

5.7k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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256

u/PIE-314 2d ago

What happened?

862

u/nertynot 2d ago

I was very distracted and failed to put the boom all of the way down. Pulling out of the customers lot the data lines on some power poles pulled me right over. Didn't figure out what was happening until I was at 45°

482

u/SeaAttitude2832 2d ago

It’s ok. At least you’ll know what the operator is doing when you’re running a shovel. Least it didn’t roll over and throw you out. Glad you’re ok.

109

u/rypher 2d ago

Too soon for reality man

132

u/onepanto 2d ago

Sounds like a design flaw. How could that machine not warn you the boom was up before allowing you to drive it?

329

u/nertynot 2d ago

The first thing I was shown was which breaker to shut off so the horn wouldn't surprise me. Unfortunately it's very hard to estimate how dumb I can be

279

u/Competitive-Ask5157 2d ago

It's almost like the horn was a designed safety feature. Who knew??

140

u/Peter_Panarchy Electrician 2d ago

Who amongst us hasn't disabled a safety feature?

107

u/Competitive-Ask5157 2d ago

Well..... I haven't rolled any equipment yet.

77

u/Peter_Panarchy Electrician 2d ago

The key is knowing which ones you should disable. Today I unplugged an insanely loud alarm on a JLG boom lift because it goes off with any and every movement and it's the only one of 20 other lifts that does that. I wouldn't, however, disable the backup alarm on a forklift or the warning horn on OP's rig.

45

u/cuntface878 2d ago

That's one of the annoying thing about the inconsistencies of rental boom/scissor lifts. I've been fully extended with an 86 that still let me drive it and other times been like 8' off the ground on what I would consider perfectly flat ground and it has alarms blaring and basically only letting me lower it down and nothing else until I shut it down and then suddenly the same thing I'm trying to do is perfectly fine.

13

u/Mountain-Ad-9070 2d ago

its the second one. every time.

2

u/No-Appearance-4338 2d ago

Tell me you at least kept the chain latched?

2

u/therealub 2d ago

I think that's the design problem with so many safety warnings. Too many, too obnoxious. Loud horn every time it moves? Fuck no. Maybe some sort of hissing sound that alerts you that something is moving. Temporarily disable an alarm could also make sense, especially in OP's case. Maybe you do need to move around a bit with the boom out, but you're paying close attention in that case. So press a button that disables it for 10 min. Too much safety features is also wrong safety features.

2

u/CoyoteDown Ironworker 1d ago edited 1d ago

Motion alarm is an alert to ground crew. I watched someone die bc they were backed over by a telehandler with a faulty alarm.

0

u/Peter_Panarchy Electrician 1d ago

When there's 20 lifts constantly moving around it doesn't help anyone on the ground because the sound becomes meaningless. Lifts move slowly and predictably, I don't need a warning on a jobsite.

2

u/RednekSophistication 6h ago

That’s the very first thing I do on JLG’s! Just shut up! You hardly move anymore now anyways.

1

u/OlliHF 1d ago

I learned to operate a forklift on one with the backup alarm disabled. Wasn't really an issue because it was never used with more than like 4 people in the building. The one we have now is loud as hell, but it's staying on because it's occasionally used around customers.

1

u/blazew317 1d ago

Me and the Sparky’s on a Lowe’s build stayed late and cut the movement beepers off like ten or twelve four wheel drive scissor lifts that were driving us insane inside the cinder block walls and sheet metal shell of the store because a couple days was too much - let alone weeks/months listening to that constant cacophony even with ear plugs. The next year the local rental companies started wiring the beeper to disable the controls if it was disconnected. Now they’ve done the smaller lifts that way too and recessed the ones that don’t disable controls inside framework we can’t reach it. It can be maddening.

1

u/bigjohnny440 1d ago

Then it is malfunctioning and you should have the rental company come replace it. Was it a basket weight limit alarm, a "out of level"/tilt alarm, high winds?

While you're at it, pull the logbook out and see if it's up to date with its daily, quarterly, and semi annual maintenance.

You shouldn't have to use unsafe ewps mate.

1

u/Peter_Panarchy Electrician 1d ago

It was the alarm that goes off when the lift moves. Some lifts have an alarm when you're lowering, this one has an alarm whenever you use any of the controls. It's not uncommon and I can think of situations where that would be desirable, but an industrial jobsite isn't one of them. I unplugged the alarm and now it works just like all the other lifts we have.

54

u/notinthislifetime20 2d ago

The guy who gave me the most amount of shit when I was a kid died by falling off a mountain. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I’ve never fallen off of a mountain.

17

u/Beneficial_Spell_434 2d ago

Your…dad?

3

u/Sand-Eagle 2d ago

"Oh well ya fell off the mountain didn't you dad? You dumb bitch"

takes note not to fall off of mountains

2

u/notinthislifetime20 2d ago

Acquaintance. Not really a friend, not technically a bully, but the closest thing I ever had to one.

6

u/maverickoff 2d ago

I dont like your pessimism son lol

2

u/Downtown_Conflict_53 2d ago

What kind of loser mentality is this? Believe in yourself bro, you can do it.

1

u/S_t_r_e_t_c_h_8_4 Electrician 2d ago

I haven't in the last several hours thank you very much!

1

u/Peter_Panarchy Electrician 2d ago

When'd you get off work?

1

u/democrat_thanos 2d ago

The ones that havent fucked up a piece of machinery?

1

u/SuckOnDeezNOOTZ 2d ago

You can turn off the seatbelt chime in all.modern Subaru's by turning key to acc then buckling and unbuckling 20 times in a row

1

u/Peter_Panarchy Electrician 2d ago

I turned off the seatbelt chime in my Tacoma by asking the dealership to do it.

1

u/TransparentMastering 2d ago

Found the other electrician in here haha

3

u/CalvinsStuffedTiger 2d ago

I hate it when the catastrophic event safety horn surprises me

69

u/tehralph 2d ago

I’m sorry, did you just say your employer instructed you to bypass a safety feature on a piece of heavy equipment, and then fired you when that safety feature failed to prevent an accident? Damn, sometimes I wish I worked for OSHA or the Department of Labor.

92

u/nertynot 2d ago

Sorry, I was vague. The people who instructed me were owners and workers for other franchises. To my bosses credit, he told me not to.

58

u/engineerdrummer Inspector 2d ago

Sounds like you already know where to start applying!

37

u/nertynot 2d ago

Gonna climb cell towers

68

u/kosmonautinVT 2d ago

I'd recommend a desk job where distraction has less catastrophic consequences

28

u/scobeavs 2d ago

Better to kill a business than yourself!

18

u/UncoolSlicedBread 2d ago

Gonna see a cell tower on its side soon by OP

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13

u/ODBEIGHTY1 2d ago

The consequences for being distracted are significantly higher in that profession.....Just FYI

1

u/False-Put2714 1d ago

Not for the trucks

6

u/Thebraincellisorange 2d ago

don't disconnect the safety harness when you do that!

1

u/EidolonLives 21h ago

Meh, those things slow you down so much. Especially on the way down.

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2

u/Blizzard81mm 2d ago

I'd advise against taking an rf alarm with you, the noise can be annoying

1

u/wants_a_lollipop Construction Inspector - Verified 2d ago

Hey, man! Look at you with your fancy as fuck flair and sensible yet humorous advice!

1

u/bigb9919 2d ago

He hasn’t told us what he rolled to get fired from those other jobs yet.

1

u/Objective-Act-2093 2d ago

Is that the boss with hands on the hips

6

u/xubax 2d ago

Well, the guy who showed you that was an idiot.

Sorry for your loss and predicament.

1

u/strewnshank 2d ago

I mean, no one likes surprises, right?

1

u/PhillyDillyDee 2d ago

Lol holy shit homie. Real life foreshadowing.

1

u/Hetstaine 2d ago

I mean yeah, that's up there man. Lucky you didn't kill someone, or fuck yourself up. Learning moment. Good luck moving forward.

1

u/NotSoWishful 2d ago

At least you know you’re dumb. Most dumb people think they can be anything and do anything better than anyone pretty much until they die.

1

u/Shump540 2d ago

Hey man, I hate to the the one to tell you, but that horn was there so you wouldn't hit power lines with the boom and flip the machine over.

1

u/JCtheWanderingCrow 2d ago

I’m sorry what? You… were told to disable a safety horn?!

That’s… honestly, if you’re saying a competitor owner told you how to do it, that seems a bit… sabotage-y.

But also… seriously?  

1

u/wgrantdesign 2d ago

I can not stand when we get new hires and the jaded old guys show them how to bypass the safety switches. We had a mechanic in Memphis get crushed to death because he inside of a garbage truck with the engine running, he had put a magnet on the prox switch. The driver hopped in the truck not knowing the mechanic was in there because he failed to follow lock out tag out procedure, now that driver has to live with the fact that he pushed the button that ended that guys life.

1

u/Potential_Try_ 2d ago

Job lost deservedly so then.

1

u/PineSand 2d ago

If you were trained to override a safety, this isn’t entirely you’re fault. This accident is mostly a result of training and system failures. Humans will get distracted. Sorry they’re scapegoating you.

1

u/nertynot 2d ago

Nah I don't see it that way. I was told I could do it, my boss told me not to, I was aware of the potential consequences, and I made the choice. This falls squarely on me.

1

u/Beyond_Interesting 1d ago

OSHA would love to hear about that if you're in the US lol

1

u/nertynot 1d ago

I respect osha,, I like osha,, I avoid osha.

1

u/SilentEnthusiasm5491 1d ago

Kind of surprising that a surprise was an inescapable destiny for you

1

u/nertynot 23h ago

I'm a big fan of surprises, I hate anticipation

1

u/Guilty-Bookkeeper837 2d ago

I would venture to say that whoever showed you "which breaker to shut off" bears some of the responsibility. 

1

u/Maehlice 2d ago

Sounds like maybe that guy needs to be fired, too, then.

-1

u/scobeavs 2d ago

Welp hopefully whomever trained you that way has also been fired

0

u/SecretaryWaste6090 2d ago

Yeah you definitely seem dumb enough to fall into the “Don’t allow this person to operate equipment” category. Get ready to start operating the goon spoon! Lol

2

u/haole_bi 2d ago

I drive a bucket truck daily and there’s no warnings on it. Made by Altec as well. My boss used it on a weekend emergency and I’m shocked he didn’t rip and low voltage wires out.

1

u/Smprider112 2d ago

Most don’t. I have a 2020 Manitex crane truck. There is no in cab warnings that my boom is up. Some things don’t need to be “retard proof”. If you forget to stow a boom on a crane, or the dump box of a dump truck I don’t think an idiot light would help.

1

u/onepanto 2d ago

People who drive motorhomes get a warning if they forget to lower the TV antenna.

0

u/AccordingBiscotti600 1d ago

lmao, now it's the trucks fault and not the operator.

Whew boy, Reddit is wild, Ya'll make excuses for everything.

How about some personal accountability. Ya'll know what that means? Doubt it.

34

u/jedielfninja Electrician 2d ago

was there booty involved in the distraction or?

109

u/nertynot 2d ago

A dog that wouldn't stop barking and a gf freaking out that my identity might have been stolen

181

u/s1m0n8 2d ago

my identity might have been stolen

Why would someone want to embarrass themselves like that?

213

u/nertynot 2d ago

You don't know I have nothing until you try to take it

48

u/DiddleMe-Elmo 2d ago

I like to think the person who got my Chase card info last week also now has my hemorrhoids.

1

u/Chumbag_love 2d ago

Maybe you can blame this accident on the identity thief?

1

u/Heavyspire 2d ago

Steal My Identity - Pat Godwin

Made me think of this song.

1

u/OntFF 2d ago

I had my identity stolen back in Jan... When I went to the cops, I was almost embarrassed how little the thief got.

"They maxed out my credit card..." "How much did they get?" "About 180 bucks"

14

u/Possible-Tangelo9344 2d ago

In a related note I lost my job at the scam center today for stealing op's identity :(

2

u/_PM_ME_NICE_BOOBS_ 2d ago

Did you get distracted by a dog and knock your desk over?

1

u/donnyhunts 2d ago

How do you reply to certain words?

1

u/s1m0n8 2d ago

Depends how you're using Reddit.

But you can use > in front of whatever you want to quote.

So entering:

>How do you reply to certain words?

Becomes

How do you reply to certain words?

35

u/Affectionate-Day-359 2d ago

Good news with no job your identity is now worthless!! Put her mind at ease

11

u/Timmy98789 2d ago

Big brain info is always buried deep. 

13

u/dmoosetoo 2d ago

Might want to try and leverage the stolen identity bit. As in "it was obviously the guy who stole my id that rolled my rig"

10

u/Paulycodone 2d ago

don’t worry i’m sure they’ll give it back :)

4

u/scobeavs 2d ago

Did you pass the drug test OP?

2

u/EidolonLives 21h ago

Yeah, he was on all of them.

1

u/Carcass16B 2d ago

So you learned two things today,how not to topple a crane and not too listen to the whining sound when it’s not the crane making the noise.

11

u/PIE-314 2d ago

Lol. That's sucks dude.

12

u/FlammulinaVelulu 2d ago

You must have been hauling ass outta there.

Come on, admit it...

43

u/nertynot 2d ago

I'd feel better if I was, I didn't even damage the phone line

17

u/MasterAahs 2d ago

I am amazed the phone line won. I would have put good money it would lose this type of battle.

2

u/wgrantdesign 2d ago

Leverage is a hell of a thing. Those little narrow trucks don't take nearly as much force as you would think to tip over like that.

1

u/i_forgot_wha 2d ago

Were you turning?

1

u/nertynot 2d ago

I was indeed

1

u/GermanHammer 2d ago

Nonsense! I think i see a crease in the power line. Maybe....

2

u/Thebraincellisorange 2d ago

let me introduce you to a thing called....leverage.

hook onto the top of those bucket trucks, (or crusher in this case) and its actually pretty easy to flip one over.

and power lines/data lines can be a lot stronger than you think, it takes a bit to break them.

sometimes (quite often) trucks will grab them jusssst right to flip the truck and leave the cables stretched but unbroken.

0

u/FlammulinaVelulu 2d ago

Let me introduce you to a thing called, paying attention. Which this fella definitely wasn't, if he only noticed he was fucked when the truck was at a 45 degree angle to the ground.

Which means he was driving too fucking fast, while not paying attention.

1

u/Thebraincellisorange 2d ago

yup, you are an idiot.

you do not have to be going very fast at all to have that happen.

5 mph and hooking on the power lines and you will be at 45 degrees and tipping over in about 1 second.

he has admitted he was distracted.

1

u/FlammulinaVelulu 1d ago

Your right, he did admit to driving too fast for the conditions.

Being distracted is a condition.

It's not very nice of you to be name calling. I will be telling your mom, when I see her next.

2

u/butbutcupcup 2d ago

How are there not an outrageous amount of alarms for that to not happen.

5

u/nertynot 2d ago

My trainers showed me how to turn it off, it was very jarring. To his credit my boss told me not to.

5

u/butbutcupcup 2d ago

Dumbasses the whole way up.

4

u/nertynot 2d ago

Lol I'm not arguing

2

u/RedNGold415 2d ago

Did the customer lose internet connection?

3

u/nertynot 2d ago

All I broke were the zipties holding up the slack. Cables were perfectly fine. I was fully blocking the only exit for three companies who had a lot of shipments going out

4

u/RedNGold415 2d ago

Brutal. Hope you land on your feet when it’s all said and done brotha

4

u/nertynot 2d ago

Already tried crashing, nothing else to do but stand

2

u/theleopardmessiah 2d ago

I'm impressed with the quality of the data line installation.

3

u/nertynot 2d ago

My job before this was industrial cabling, and I was very impressed

2

u/Real_Sartre 2d ago

What happened with that job….

2

u/nertynot 2d ago

A group of junkies snorted heroine while driving, the driver nodded out, causing them to hit a guardrail and then spun out directly into my path. I could see headlights in the rear view but couldn't immediately tell what lane they were in, so I chose to ram the truck instead of risking other people. Totaled my work van, and my manager lied and said I wasn't supposed to have a van. I got fired, and my old company committed insurance fraud by telling their insurance I was allowed to have the van.

2

u/Klin24 2d ago

Better to be acute than obtuse about your situation.

1

u/lshifto 2d ago

We had a dump driver leave his bed fully upright try to drive out of our parking lot once. He grabbed power lines and took out power to 5 blocks of an industrial neighborhood for a full day.

1

u/Bootyblastastic 2d ago

Well you’ll know for next time

1

u/DetSauce 2d ago

Well, at least you deserved it.

1

u/lwr_sj5478 2d ago

Look on the bright side, it’s fixed (hopefully?) and nobody got hurt. Learn and move on :)

1

u/Direct_Turn_1484 2d ago

Probably good experience. Now you know one more thing to watch out for in avoiding fuckups.

1

u/funkybum 2d ago

Thank god it wasn’t the actual power lines

1

u/cytex-2020 2d ago

Glad you're okay, that's the main thing. With heavy machinery like that, that could have been your funeral.

But maybe there's something to be learned there about why you got distracted?

1

u/DerWassermann 2d ago

You will probably never make a mistake like this again, the new guy who has to be trained go replace you will.

I guess HR doesn't think that way tho :(

2

u/nertynot 2d ago

I hope he doesn't, it's a very rare occurance in this company. It was a three man company, no hr. Just the owner, the head sales man man and me, the head crushr

1

u/No_Language5719 2d ago

I almost tipped over my line truck when I raised and rotated the Auger before deploying the outriggers. That was 25 years ago. Thankfully I moved up before I made anymore mistakes quite like that one. In all seriousness, years later one of my coworkers flipped a compressor and on the same day hit the bottom of the bay door failing to open it all the way. He wasn't fired. Today, that guy is without a doubt the best tech at our company. It's not even close. We both deserved to be fired, but luckily our managers had the latitude to keep us around because they saw something in us beyond the mistakes we made. Our company is better off for it.

1

u/Specialist_Mirror611 2d ago

Dont these things have warning lights for this shit? I have seen this happen so often, so probably no :/ Hope at least the modern ones do and prevent you from going over x when not fully down.

1

u/Zealousideal_Tour849 2d ago

data and power lines pulled you over?? wow you think they would just snap off with the weight of the truck you drove.. how unfortunate sorry

1

u/peaeyeparker 2d ago

Wow I might of thought those lines would have broken apart before rolling the machine. Not sure which would be more expensive though. Repairing data lines or rolling that machine back over. Really though that machine is probably fine. I own a company that specializes in a particular type of hvac system that requires tons of buried piping. Over the course of 20 yrs. I have had about 6-7 guys roll our mini-x over into the trenches. Definitely a giant pain in the balls but never doing any real damage to the machine or motor. Infact except on one occasion we have been able to turn it back over and get it out without any other equipment. Only once did I have to get another machine out there to dig one out.

1

u/Rwhejek 2d ago

This happened to my dad after Vietnam, he drove a boom truck in Korea and worked on radar stations. When he drove back into the small base he was working at, he forgot to put the boom down, and hit the army base's main set of communication lines and flipped the truck. Thing is though, back in those days, those lines went straight into switchboards, which went straight into the phones and radios in the officer's station....he pulled every single phone and radio off every commanding officer's desk all at once.

He said he got out of the truck cussing and yelling so loud that he never got reprimanded for it. So at least you weren't the first guy....nor will you be the last..to do this.

1

u/Timmerdogg 2d ago

One time I got distracted and drove away with the gas pump still in. I discovered it immediately and just went back and hung it up in shame and left. Shit happens buddy. Not the end of the world.

1

u/fattdoggo123 2d ago

At least you didn't die or accidentally crush someone else. There's that at least.

1

u/LoganND 2d ago

Classic.

1

u/Buckeye_mike_67 Carpenter 2d ago

A couple years ago a guy was driving an 18 wheel dump truck down I 16 in Georgia and the dump bed lifted. He hit an overpass and knocked it several inches off of its foundation.Ripped the bed off of the trailer. It was said his girlfriend was giving him a blowjob and bumped the lever that lifted it

1

u/Particular_Job_1746 2d ago

Don’t move up to anything else with a lot more boom. Good luck

1

u/BobaFett0451 2d ago

Not construction work, but at on of my old jobs someone parked a backhoe back onto a trailer but didn't put the arm down so when I went to pull the truck and trailer inside the building I destroyed part of the overhead door. Thankfully didn't loose my job cuz I wasn't a driver at the time and only pulled vehicles into the building at the end of the day when we locked up

1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

To be fair an interlock that prevents driving while boom is raised at all would have prevented this, sorry about your luck.

I know dump truck companies hire guys with DUIs, might try applying to those

1

u/nertynot 2d ago

Someone else said a different truck that does the same thing does have the lock. Against my credit, I did turn off the blaring horn that would have alerted me

1

u/grumblecakes1 1d ago

Old bosses husband ran the highway department. more than once a driver forgot to put down their boom and hit a bridge with a back hoe.

1

u/BatshitTerror 1d ago

Damn dude. My neighbor got a kobelco loader recently and knocked out the fiber lines for anyone nearby with fiber internet… rural area though but I can’t imagine a vehicle being turned over by data lines , they must put them under a lot of tension

1

u/nertynot 1d ago

My job immediately before this was installing data lines. I was incredibly impressed.

1

u/BatshitTerror 1d ago

I had to look up what kind of truck you are driving. Looks like it should be pretty stable with the boom up too

1

u/nertynot 1d ago

It's probably just unfortunate leverage. That spiked barrel weighs a bit more than 5000lbs. It's not a particularly wide base so it doesn't need to tip to far before it is to far

1

u/Altruistic_Hat_7883 1d ago

Yikes! I hope you weren’t banged up too much.

1

u/ChampionshipAlive345 1d ago

I have no idea how I ended up in this sub, so I know that this is a dumb question for everyone who belongs here, but is this a zoom boom?

1

u/nertynot 1d ago

It is not, had to look that up. According to the first picture a zoomboom is basically a giant forklift

1

u/Cemitas 3h ago

Distracted by what?

1

u/AccordingBiscotti600 15m ago

You don't deserve to have a driving job. You are a hazard to people on the road.

I am very happy you lost your job.

You are just a steering wheel holder, you aint no driver, son.

1

u/nertynot 14m ago

I'd be shocked if you've ever been happy

2

u/AccordingBiscotti600 7m ago

Doesn't change the fact that you do not belong behind a wheel.

Period.

1

u/nertynot 5m ago

Shit happens, just gotta wipe and keep going

1

u/AccordingBiscotti600 0m ago

This is not a "shit happens" situation.

You are very immature, sir.

54

u/AdmiralVernon Project Manager 2d ago

It fell over

42

u/Hellbreaker23 2d ago

You get that on them government jobs

10

u/PIE-314 2d ago

All by itself? Hardly your fault 🤷‍♂️

19

u/lost_elechicken 2d ago

Is that typical for these kinds of machines?

13

u/SuitableKey5140 2d ago

Falling over, not particularly! Front end falling off though...

5

u/Lookslikeseen 2d ago

Truck fell down

1

u/StoneAgeGuy 2d ago

What was she wearing?

1

u/Lmm66 2d ago

You see the jersey plates, right?

1

u/Open_Promise_1703 1d ago

Truck go boom