Annoying contractors

[kp88]

Don't suck up it doesn't pay in the end.  Do your job, do whats asked for, ask questions, but don't become annoying, following instructions from your supervision.  ALWAYS be on time for work, stay until the end of the day and the end of the outage, stay away from the bar scene, and watch your tone with everybody.  Act like a professional and don't be stupid.  Don't be afraid of any job that you are asked to do, but use common sense.

Excellent advice.  Does anyone have any advice on how to tell supplemental/contractor personnel that they're becoming annoying?

[vikingfan]

Excellent advice.  Does anyone have any advice on how to tell supplemental/contractor personnel that they're becoming annoying?

and do you expect to complete your outage(s) in a timely manner without them ?

[Motown homey]

Based on my experience, tell them the same thing I was told when I became annoying - DFR!  Believe it or not, there were times that I was so over whelmed by house tech dumbs--t that I couldn't help but whine about it.  The worst part of that is that I hate whiners - so I took the first lay-off and got myself out of the situation - and it never kept me from being asked back.

[Smart People]

Get used to it, Smart People.
When you are 4 cubicles away from me, I will rub off on you.
Either that or walk down there and beat your %^@#!$%!!!

Bring it on!!

[RAD-GHOST]

Excellent advice.  Does anyone have any advice on how to tell supplemental/contractor personnel that they're becoming annoying?

YEP,

Constantly remind them that your House and their not!

Inform them how smart you are because your a House Tech.

Ban them from area's of the plant because they're a Contractor.

Ask them to leave a meeting because they're a Contractor.

Ridicule them for their lack of Tribel Knowledge at your facility.
(Disk smears are taken with the right hand, LAS are with the left....Silly Contractor)

Inform them that there is only one way to complete a task, even though they've seen it successfully completed a dozen different ways!

Last, but not least, inform them that contractors cause all Industry Events, OE's!


Hope this helps....RG!   

[Dave Warren]

Last, but not least, inform them that contractors cause all Industry Events, OE's!
Hope this helps....RG!   

Don't you know that House Techs are groomed from the time they are born?
They don't go on the road and never go outside of a 100-mile radius of their home.
These people were meant to be in the position they are in.
The contractor hating techniques are etched in their brain, normally within 2-3 weeks upon getting hired.
The best way to get to them is to leave your pay stubs laying around and steal the snacks off their desk.....

[Already Gone]

Certainly not.  I need these people.  I just want to know how to explain to them that I don't care how things worked at "their" plant.

Having been on both sides, I can tell you that it does get annoying when some techs simply argue all day long that you don't do things as well as they do at Catawba, or DC Cook, or wherever.

On the other hand, you might learn a few things from them.  It is probably written in the Bartlett and Atlantic handbooks somewhere that the techs are not allowed to share information that they learn while working for a customer with that customer's competitors.  But who cares?  You are getting some free industrial espionage.  Take the good ideas, and toss the rest.

On the third hand (?), contractors aren't the only ones who do this.  Shared resource techs who work for the same company will do it too.  The contractors love this, because you tell us to shut up about how they do things at the plant down the road.  Meanwhile we know damned well that your plant and that plant are at least claiming to be using the exact same procedure while one of you must be reading it upside-down.  After working at enough Entergy, Exelon, NMC, Duke, and FPL plants, we can tell you that you are all full of s#!t.  There are no two sites, identical procedures or not, that do things the same way.  You think you do, you say you do, but you don't.  And we get to hear from BOTH of you that the other guys are f*@ked up.

Annoying?  Try working at six different sites in one year and having to learn six different ways to do the exact same job with the exact same instruments.  That is annoying!

[nowhereman]

you need advice on how to tell us that we are becoming annoying?  Just tell us what site your having trouble with and we won't go there and you can do the outage  6 hours in the drywell and 5 1/2 hours at the desk briefing workers...oops thats what we already do at Peach....

[Smart People]

I like reminding house techs who have problems with contractors "You're just upset that when the outage is over, WE get to leave!!"

I tell house techs who have problems with per diem "If it wasn't for per diem you would have never had the joy of meeting ME!! 

[Brett LaVigne]

I think I am offended. If you don't like the contractors, try completeing the outage without us. Of course you are going to have contractors that are annoying, and there are plenty of house people that are annoying...that's just life in any business. You should try to listen to how it is done in other plants, no matter how annoying it may be to YOU. Your missing the point that with contractors working your outages, you have a wealth of information available to you about how things are done at different facilities. If the advice doesn't fit your plant, forget it, big deal. Ever heard of "benchmarking"? It is very similar but you don't have to travel to another plant. Just climb down from your pedestal and listen a bit. Or...just believe that "annoying" contractors do not have any value added information for your facility, continue doing things the way that you always have, and never be able to keep up with the rest of the industry.

You might also want to mention what facility you represent so we can be informed in the future when deciding what outages we would like to take part in and which ones to avoid.

I can't believe that I took the time to read this post let alone respond. What an arrogant view.

[Cathy]

I saw the title and thought "someone finally started a thread about me!". Seriously, after several years in this industry I have started a rule for myself that I try to stick with (I am not always successful but I try). I tell a house person once, and only once my idea, experience etc.. If they don't listen, that is their loss or maybe their plant is different. I will stand my ground if it is illegal, against clear procedures (for that particular plant) or the issue would cause me to take a unplanned shower at work. 

[SloGlo]

yinz wanna tell a contractor that (s)he's annoying?  yews yer mouth, 'n fourm da werds...'yer annoying'... most contractors will shut uop 'n leaf ya alone.
'n when dey git two da next plant, there fav storys will be bout da igneramuses thay jist left.  butt datall bee oh kay, cause dey kant annoy yinz any moor.   

[retired nuke]

OK, I've been on both sides of the road. And I remember trying to tell house folks all my great ideas that I just saw at my last plant. And getting frustrated when they didn't care.
Now I'm the house guy....and I do care for the ideas.....but
our outage schedule started 16 months (or more) ago. Outage planning, getting materials, fitting in all the pieces so we can get back online in 20 days....many boring meetings, outage packages, walkdowns with safety, maintenance, etc have taken place.
And you want me to change boats, in midstream, at the last minute, and the conversation started off with "how come you idiots don't do it the way that plant X does it?"

I can't incorporate major changes in outage / work methods at the last minute. Well, actually I can, but I'm saving that stress for the crap I'm gonna have to change quickly, because something screwed up....I wanna keep that which I can control, under control, for as long as I have control.....

Now, If I can sit down during a quiet period, after everything is going smooth, and listen to what you have to say, I try to put it in the lessons learned list for next outage. I really do...

And if I get the budget, and the support, and I can convince the 3 people above me that this is worth it....when (and if) you come back as a returnee, I can show you what I did, and thank you for your idea. I have been able to do this on occasion. It feels nice when I can. But I can't always put it together, and sometimes I forget, or lose the idea.

So, I really will try to listen. And if you come back, I will thank you for the improvement if I manage to make it work.

I know I can't do the outage without you....heck, some days I would rather just go on vacation for 3 weeks and turn it over to you....I really hate outages nowadays. They interrupt my kids life...and that isn't good.

So keep being annoying, and tell us the ideas. Sometimes we listen.

And I don't keep many snacks on my desk anymore....just cheap cigars. Figure if I'm only gonna get 1 smoke break a day, I might just as well enjoy it.....

Peace

[Imaginos]

Excellent advice.  Does anyone have any advice on how to tell supplemental/contractor personnel that they're becoming annoying?

and do you expect to complete your outage(s) in a timely manner without them ?

I don't know many who are so fragile that they'd depart early or not show up in the future because their feelings were hurt. 

Edited to clarify, "Not many, but at least a few.." 

[Laundry Man]

Speaking of not taking suggestions from annoying contractors (I was one for 27 + years), who was there for the famous (name removed by Moderator) "We welcome your ideas but we aren't going to change a "gosh darn thing" (words changed a little) speech at the Latches Theater in Brattleboro?
LM

[nowhereman]

As a HP contractor greater than 90 % of our work is picking up the pieces (work packages)that the house techs did not brief on/walkdown/ oops the operatoroids drained the system too fast and..........many times there are valve breach's with mrad smears and no way to drain the system...etc etc....  and we end up working with  maintenance guys that came over from the fossil side only because this is a low profile job

or,   I don't see many house techs  go up to help the turbine deck to frisk out gang boxes of tools after  spending 4 or 5 hours in the drywell..... I know two things, the first one  I know that's why we are getting paid...1. its our job 2. sometimes we get a little frustrated...............

BUT...more often than not its the house techs who bad mouth us in front of your maintenace workers after the outage,  which makes our job exponetionally harder.....just remember that fact
AND I just love to have the house techs in front of us sitting down and denigrating/putting down other contractors behind there backs,  all I get out of that is , what is going to said after I leave the room?

[retired nuke]

It seems that EVERYONE has missed the double meaning that I intended when I named this thread.

You juss too smaht fo ya own good Troy....

[Cathy]

Annoying Contractors --- annoying is a gerund (verb) in this sense.  "What do house HP's enjoy doing more than anything?"  "Annoying contractors."

Okay, I'll bite.
House techs annoying contractors:
My personal favorite is when I am waiting in a group to get OJT and watching the house tech train the male HPs. When my turn comes, I get the up and down once over and the house tech's language skills go down to the level of a three year old while he explains whatever he is training me on. Since I am a female, he needs to talk slower, use little words and explain in excruciating detail. I just roll my eyes, tolerate the ridiculous effort and go on about my business.
Another thing that annoys me is the ever changing schedule. You know the one, it changes every day for no apparent reason. One day you are first in and the next day you are second in and invariably you are second in on your Friday and your relief is late because he/she is getting a brief or long turnover from a house tech at the desk.
But my very favorite is regailing house people with my tales of three months off at a time, fishing in my own backyard, taking a week to get home from an outage because I am free to roam about the country and not understanding why they get annoyed with me 

[grantime]

I'll grant you that  the house side has at least its share of annoying people if we can all agree that a there are at least as few  annoying contract folks.  That doesn't mean that we aren't glad that you come in but for a very few people, it means we are glad when you leave too

[justatech]

Doesn't matter who they are - I can annoy them both if I'm in the mood.........................   Everyone has their pet peeves...

Speaking of such.....I remember one JR house tech that had specific rules "you're not allowed to take a picture of tech (wicca something or other) could not set a techs desk - period - not even to eat your lunch, use techs chair etc.................everything was to be left alone on techs desk" - even the house people knew this........................night shift is a funny thing - you know..............someone really enjoyed moving the stapler, tape dispenser, papers around just enough.................and cookie crumbs 

[xobxdoc]

There was this annoying supv at ANO that kept pet tarantulas at work. He came in one day to find his tarantulas impaled with pencils. This could have been an urban legend but it was a good story and he deserved it.

[justatech]

Thanks for the laugh xobxdoc    karma to you

Then there are the stories of the annoying coworkers who eat others lunches...............I can't say to much as we are on in the general area - suffice it to say - they either went home early or spit their stolen food out!

[stownsend]

There was this annoying supv at ANO that kept pet tarantulas at work. He came in one day to find his tarantulas impaled with pencils. This could have been an urban legend but it was a good story and he deserved it.

It was impaled with a pin through the eraser of the pencil.

[beermug]

   Oyster Creek has the most annoying House WHINNERS    Hope they shut it down and see what they will do!!!!

[Laundry Man]

Oyster Creek does have some of what you describe but they also have some best Techs that I have met in my 30+ years working in this field.  Oyster isn't an easy place to work even  on the best days, but I certainly could depend on those technicians when I required assistance or knowledge of a room or area where I needed to plan work.  Knowledge and experience abounds in the Oyster Tech ranks.  I only wish them the best and your remarks about closing the Station to teach the technicians a lesson, sounds a little short sighted to me.  The north east really doesn't need to lose another plant (4 so far), and while you may not like the site, it is a good paying source of employment for many and supports the community. 
Regards,
LM