My first outage...Any advice?

[JassenB]

I've decided to try hitting the outage trail this fall. I got into Catawba as a deconner.

Any advice/tips/tricks/hints for what to bring, how to travel, and how to live so I can maximize the per diem that stays in the bank?

Thanks!
-Jassen

[Camella Black]

Ok all you old timers don't miss your chance to give someone some advice. Lets help Jassen out and give him some pointers, ok?

Although I am just a nukewife, I have been traveling for almost 30 years with the nuclear business. If you live within a days drive, leave it unless you really need it.

Driving is the prefered travel, and as far as living arrangements you may want to check out the poll section, I believe there are some answers there. Some people use campers, others rent apartments or stay in hotels. I will check with my husband and give you some names. You may also want to check out the lodging info for Catawba.

Check with your site coord to see if anyone needs a room mate.
Good luck. My son just started his first job issuing resp. at CY this summer, its good to see the next generation come along.

[RAD-GHOST]

Don't roll into town with $0.00 in your pocket!

Don't eat out of Dumpsters!

Make sure, whoever takes you under their wing, is wearing deodorent!

Don't drink, play pool, or play cards with techs who go by two initials!

$8.00/hr at Mc Donalds near the house, is better than $8.00/hr and $80.00 a day on the road!

Be loyal..................to your next job!

You are a commodity, use them and loose them!  Always remember this one!

[Atomic_Punk]

!




Don't drink, play pool, or play cards with techs who go by two initials!

That advice is priceless. 

[RRhoads]

i'll second that one!
And don't fall for, "come here kid, we'll teach ya how to play!"
you'll be out your diem in no time!

[doctormoo]

GO BACK HOME AND GO TO SCHOOL.
LEAVE THE DECON TO THE LOCALS.
I WAS ON THE ROAD FOR ALMOST 10 YEARS AND  I WOULD TRADE THOSE DAYS FOR AN EDUCATION
IF I HAD BEEN SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER
ANYWAY WITH 25 YEARS NUCLEAR EXPERIENCE
1.PACK YOUR LUNCH,(spent a fortune eating out all the timefind a refridgerator)
2. STAY OUT OF BARS,( again a fortune spent DWI's dont go over well in this business)
3.LEAVE THE LOCAL GIRLS ALONE( i wish i had done this more than twice)
4. LIVE ON YOUR PERDIEM ( see above)
5.SEND YOUR CHECK HOME
6.LISTEN CLOSELY TO THE EXPERIENCED( learned alot of stuff fast)
7.DON'T ALWAYS VOLUNTEER ( (28 REM lifetime)
8.ALWAYS BE BUSY(makes time fly on those 12's)
9. FIRST ONE TO WORK /LAST ONE TO LEAVE
10.SAVE YOUR MONEY OUTAGES ARE  GETTING SHORTER AND SHORTER
11. HANG WITH THE HP'S ASK QUESTIONS BE A PAIN IN THE ASS
12.READ THE STUFF HERE TAKE THE PRACTICE TESTS
13.BECOME A JUNIOR AS SOON AS YOU CAN DOCUMENT YOUR HOURS DOING HP WORK GET REFERENCES FOR YOUR NEXT JOB
14.SAY YES SIR AND NO SIR TO YOUR SUPERVISORS (show respectto your elders they the ones picking and choosing DUKE has 9 plants)
15.FOLLOW ALL PREVIOUS POSTS AND ALL THE OTHERS TO FOLLOW

16. DONT MARRY THE RECRUITER, DONT MARRY THE RECRUITER or anyone else in the home office!!!!!!! Those who know me aint it so!!! lmao!!! after all those 13 years)

[IPREGEN]

Don't lend money
Do not drink the night before your first job and breath test
Do not do drugs, if you do them now quit today and get clean.
If the folks you work with are lazy, do not let it affect your work ethic.
Minimize talking about other people.
Never say, " I don't care when I get laid off" You'll be first.

[lonelylady]

Don't try to drive all night to get there, and walk in looking like a zombie.
Don't loan money, just think whoever is asking is making the same as you or more.
Watch out for the honey hunters, once they find out you work nuclear, they see     DOLLAR signs, and most have a significant other, somewhere.
Make sure you CAN pass the Drug screen.

[garycom]

Doctormoo (and others!) have given you some excellent advice.
My advice would be to work your butt off and learn everything you can. It does get noticed, if not always by house people, at least by RP techs covering you. RP Techs respect hard working deconners over riff-raff deconners, and some will even put in a good word for you for future jobs.

Take your video game system with you. It is a good entertainment alternative to the bar scene.

Try to room with people you know. I know this isn't always possible, but it is preferrable to room with someone you know you can trust, rather than complete strangers.

[JessJen]

hey jassen I'll be at catawba as well, lets room!

[JassenB]

Wow, thanks for all the advice. I wasn't expecting such a large response; I really appreciate it.

A few of the things will be easy for me, since I don't drink, gamble, and I tend to be a hard worker. And I'm already married, so I won't be messing with the local girls or the recruiters.

hey jassen I'll be at catawba as well, lets room!

Thanks for the offer, but I've found an RV campground to crash at that has laundry and shower facilities not to far from the plant, and the nightly rate is incredible. I'll actually be living in/out of my car. It's been a couple years since I've been a car liver, but if you do it right it's not *that* bad. Yes, I'm a cheapskate, but the main reason I'm going is for the per diem (and the fact that there are no rad/nuc jobs in Colorado).

Thanks again, everyone!

-Jassen

[JessJen]

yes there are nuke jobs in colorado.......rocky flats is out there I do believe

[JassenB]

yes there are nuke jobs in colorado.......rocky flats is out there I do believe

Yeah, but they *all* require Senior status, which I don't have.
I have a B.S., current HAZWOPER, and junior time on the books, but that doesn't cut it for *any* of the companies I've tried getting in with at the Flats.

Thus, the road.

Take care!
-Jassen

[UncaBuffalo]

I'll actually be living in/out of my car. It's been a couple years since I've been a car liver, but if you do it right it's not *that* bad.

Don't let that get around the plant when you get there...there was a tech not many years ago who was notorious for "living out of his car".  He was also into dumpster diving & eating out of trash cans & ......  Anyway, he was just doing it as a big game (in MY humble opinion), but nearly the entire industry labeled him as a 'dirt-bag'.  I have run up against a LOT of nuclear people who already have their prejudices in place if you let them know you are living out of a car (or tent...something I tried one outage), so my advice is...DON'T MENTION IT!

[Jill]

Respect your fellow tech's and workers.  Don't  be an a** kisser, let your work speak for itself.  (Although you WILL see some a** kissers that move along smoothly through the business, but they have to get off their a** and work sometime!  BS can only get you so far, you'll see!)
Good luck!   

[Jill]

Don't let that get around the plant when you get there...there was a tech not many years ago who was notorious for "living out of his car".  He was also into dumpster diving & eating out of trash cans & ......  Anyway, he was just doing it as a big game (in MY humble opinion), but nearly the entire industry labeled him as a 'dirt-bag'.  I have run up against a LOT of nuclear people who already have their prejudices in place if you let them know you are living out of a car (or tent...something I tried one outage), so my advice is...DON'T MENTION IT!

If you are talking about the same person I am thinking of(he's someone you never forget!), you failed to tell him about 1 odd detail......that he's a millionaire!  Isn't that a kick in the pants! 

[RAD-GHOST]

Amen, on the Arse Kissers!  They are easier to pick out now, then ever!  But, if you do choose to pursue that end of the business, ( Arse Kisser ), remember it's for life!  It does work well for some, but the some, don't work well!

[UncaBuffalo]

If you are talking about the same person I am thinking of(he's someone you never forget!), you failed to tell him about 1 odd detail......that he's a millionaire!  Isn't that a kick in the pants! 

THAT is the funny thing about the whole story!  (...but 'they' still think he's a dirtbag...)  :/

[darkmatter]

First outage advice huh?, Its been a long time since my first outage (don't ask) but I was given some advice that worked very well for me and was quite to the point. " Come to work every day you're susposed to on time and make a reasonable effort to do your job in a pleasent manner, straight and not holding." (this was before FFD) Techs that failed to follow that advice did not last all that long in the business. (They became Managers!)

[KevsHarley]

They are true about this story, don't tell anyone about living in your car!! The person they are taking about is here in Plum Brook Station, Sandusky Oh. and Not sure but I think is still living like that, but he owns a bunch of rentals and apartments in Chicago. He is past the Millionaire stage and heading for the muti-millionaire stage. They are all right though, don't kiss A**, work hard and keep your head up and as soon as you can get into a Jr. job, take it. I worked as a Deconner for 15 years and decided that was enough of the grunt work and made the move. Now I'm a 3.1 Sr. HP and Instrument Tech for Bartlett and Love It. Take care of you money and don't spend more than you bring in!!

K.B.

[jenna_lynn21]

""""A few of the things will be easy for me, since I don't drink, gamble, and I tend to be a hard worker. And I'm already married, so I won't be messing with the local girls or the recruiters.    """


OK - In response to this quote.....I did my first outage last October and I was 20 years old ....Anyway, you said "And I'm already married, so I won't be messing with the local girls or the recruiters"  NOW THE THING IS....I have this philosophy that NO ONE in the Nuke industry is married.  Ok, some people are, and actually ACT like it, but I met sooooooo many people (most of them guys).  Most of them either failed to MENTION that they were married, flat out denied it, or just didn't GIVE A DAMN! 

I know this sounds bad, but it seems to be the way it is. People on the road get lonely.  I know you're a guy and all, so ya might have it easier, but ya never know! 

Good thing you're planning to stay away from the bar scene, it gets kinda crazy.  I turned 21 during the outage at Dresden (yeahhhhh baby...).
 
I did 5 outages in 6 months.  I had absolutely no clue what I was getting myself into.  Guys everywhere, drinking, partying, car accidents, hotels, ah, the memories I have!

A few more things.......
Bring food with you (it's damn expensive to eat while you work long shifts)
ALWAYS have a prop (just be carrying SOMETHING, it makes you LOOK busy...haha)
If you're married, admit to it, and announce it often ()
If you do drink, make sure you have the correct number of "sober hours" before work
Stay outta high dose areas...
Be friendly, but not tooooo friendly
Don't act like you're better than anyone else (happens all the time)
Don't step on Deconner's Mops! 
Ask questions if you're unsure, most people will be happy to help newbies
Learn as much as you can, ask questions, observe, talk to people.

I better quit while I'm ahead......

Jenna

[radroller]

Good Luck, be prepared for people who expect you to know what you are doing, find a buddy.  Be prepared for craziness.  Follow the rules and try to smile.
1.  Do not develop any relationships with anyone while you are on the road.  They all lie.  They will lie about anything.  They are out there for the same reason you are to make a buck.  There are alot of humping hollys around.
2.  Be on time to work and do not hang out in the break room.  Supervisors seem to know who is always sitting around and you will be the first to leave.
3.  Avoid confrontational events with anyone
4.  Keep your mouth shut about your personal life.  Talk about the weather, the area

[radarts1967]

hmmm, i havent been on the website in a while, nor have I travelled in the nuke plant world in a while, been doing the environmental and fusrap world.   anyhow... back in the late 80s, early 90s, things could get quite crazy  (although I had one hell of a time and actually miss the nuke world and the many good friends i had made)

some advice from me:

1.  just go in and do your job and be nice while going about doing it
2.  learn all you can
3.  definitely stay out of the bars, and, stay away from parties thrown at apts, etc... trust me there... i threw many of them, they could get out of hand
4.  dont be afraid to volunteer for new tasks, etc.. it is the only way you will learn the ins and outs...
5. have fun and treat people with respect
6. i wouldnt recommend living out of your car... you need to be comfortable and fresh when you go into work

good luck

[Rennhack]

There are alot of humping hollys around.

What the heck is s humping holly?

[Fermione]

Mike,
Humping Holly may be a reference to a certain party in Willmington Vt. just prior to the start of Vermont Yankee's recirc replacement outage.  I remember something about a train in one of the spare bed rooms.  Enough said about that one!
Fermione