"Bert Robbins" wrote in message
...


This reminds me of the time I went down to Ft. Lauderdale to record some
datacom lines at an major credit card company's data center. When I
arrived I asked where the power outlet was to plug in my data line
recorder. I was told that we can lift the floor tile but, we can not plug
in the equipment without a union electrician. So, the network engineer
called the electricians shop and asked for an electricain. An hour and
forty-five minutes later the electrician showed up and plugged my
equipment into the standard electric socket. Before, the electrician left
he said to give him a call when I was ready to have the equipment
unplugged. I responded "ok". Once the door shut the network engineer said
that the electrical plug to my equipment would probably get accidentally
kicked out of the electrical socket and that we would need to call the
electricians shop to get a union electrician to unplug the equipment from
the electrical outlet.

The plug was accidentally kicked out and I went back to the airport to
catch the next flight back to DC.



Years ago, my company designed and built a large, custom system for
McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis. The system took almost a year to engineer,
design, build, test and ship. After being installed at the McAir facility I
visited to witness the commissioning of the system. I noticed during it's
initial operation that a minor "set point" adjustment was not correct and
pulled a small, 3-inch "tweaker" screwdriver out of my pocket and approached
the system to make the minor adjustment. The McAir engineer was horrified
and grabbed my arm to stop me. He explained he had to call a union
electrical technician, who, following my instructions, would turn the tiny
little potentiometer to make the adjustment. I said, "you gotta be
kidding". He was not. He explained that if I were seen making the
adjustment a "grievance" would likely be filed by any other union employee
who witnessed my action, be he or her an electrician, painter, carpenter or
whatever. So, we stood there for almost an hour waiting for the call to be
made, the work order to be written and the technician to show up. When he
finally did and I politely explained what had to be done, he asked me if I
would mind doing it because he didn't know anything about the equipment.

RCE