Day 4 Thread 4 - scared stiff as an apprentice Discussion ThreadDay 4 Thread 4 - scared stiff as an apprentice Electrical Advice
When I was a 16 year old apprentice in 2008 there were two situations that scared me stiff that I’ll never forget and I thought I’d share and see if anyone else has any stories from their apprenticeship days.
1) I was tasked with changing the lamps in floodlights that shone on a hotels name, the floodlights were sat on top of bay windows either side of the main entrance. I climbed the triple ladder and climbed on to the “roof” of the bay window to replace the lamps. The job was no problem at all, lamps replaced in quick time. The problem came when I had to try and climb off of the roof and back on to the ladder, I couldn’t grab the ladder and turn my body to get back on, I was too scared as I was looking down now rather than looking up. 25 minutes I stood up there trying to build the courage to get down with my boss shouting you’ll be fine, come on. Luckily for me I got to foot the ladder for the next bay window floodlights! I got sweaty palms writing that, awful memory haha.
Nowadays I would be using a cherry picker and have a suitable harness!
2) We were doing work in a care home and I was tasked with replacing a light in a downstairs toilet. I was a couple of rungs up the steps when a resident grabbed my trouser leg and started pulling on it really hard and shouting Frank!! Frank!! is that you Frank!! As a 16 year old I didn’t know what to do, I froze in panic. Thankfully it didn’t take too long for a care worker to come and save me. I later found out from the care worker that Frank was the residents late husband. Funny to look back on now but also very sad as obviously the resident wasn’t very well at all.
You can guess what my nickname became for the next couple of weeks!
Anyone else have any stories to share? Would love to read them.
Day 4 Thread 4 - scared stiff as an apprentice for the original thread on Electricians Forums
When I was a 16 year old apprentice in 2008 there were two situations that scared me stiff that I’ll never forget and I thought I’d share and see if anyone else has any stories from their apprenticeship days.
1) I was tasked with changing the lamps in floodlights that shone on a hotels name, the floodlights were sat on top of bay windows either side of the main entrance. I climbed the triple ladder and climbed on to the “roof” of the bay window to replace the lamps. The job was no problem at all, lamps replaced in quick time. The problem came when I had to try and climb off of the roof and back on to the ladder, I couldn’t grab the ladder and turn my body to get back on, I was too scared as I was looking down now rather than looking up. 25 minutes I stood up there trying to build the courage to get down with my boss shouting you’ll be fine, come on. Luckily for me I got to foot the ladder for the next bay window floodlights! I got sweaty palms writing that, awful memory haha.
Nowadays I would be using a cherry picker and have a suitable harness!
2) We were doing work in a care home and I was tasked with replacing a light in a downstairs toilet. I was a couple of rungs up the steps when a resident grabbed my trouser leg and started pulling on it really hard and shouting Frank!! Frank!! is that you Frank!! As a 16 year old I didn’t know what to do, I froze in panic. Thankfully it didn’t take too long for a care worker to come and save me. I later found out from the care worker that Frank was the residents late husband. Funny to look back on now but also very sad as obviously the resident wasn’t very well at all.
You can guess what my nickname became for the next couple of weeks!
Anyone else have any stories to share? Would love to read them.
Day 4 Thread 4 - scared stiff as an apprentice for the original thread on Electricians Forums
