Road Techs;

[Gonzo]

?

[kaveman32]

Who started this? Is this person one of us? And if so what are you trying to say? We come in peace

[duke99301]

Old School here been around when Weegee was still doing his thing at North Anna , you ever go to the HP parties back in 1990. there was some wild Animals then...But all in fun...

[JessJen]

I am the very model of a modern Major-General

[darkmatter]

I didn't see a catagory to vote as "Road-Cone" or "Slug" or "RoadW####" or for that matter "Supplemental Employee"

Call me what you want, just sign the paycheck!


P.S. I voted Animal, closest catagory you had.

[Gonzo]

actually, i've been house and road<whatever>...   have always been a contractor at heart...  used to watch them go at the end of an outage feeling very much like the family dog left behind as the station wagon drove off for the summer vacation...   anyway...   i hadn't started one of these before and was trying to figure out how it worked...   the question seemed like a good one...   the possiblities endless...   but i went with animal, vegatable or mineral cuz it seemed like every one of us i ever knew fit into one or more of these catagories...   animal from mid afternoon until sometime just before sunrise....    go vegatable for a few hours...   etc...

[Austria]

Hmmm...I see your point. Gotta be a bit of an animal to work outages and survive. After shift it is defintely time to be a veggie. At least for an hour or two. Don't know if I've ever qualified as a mineral though. Closest I've come is waking up feeling like dirt after one of those morning bashes after work at whatever local bar is open to cater to us night-shifters. Anyways, don't think dirt qualifies as a mineral. 

[Mike McFarlin]

Where is the "other" catagory?

[Marlin]

I haven't been on the road for a while but I think the word "adaptable" should be on the list. If you are a road tech you go to a wide variety of facilities with different philosophies of operation. I am not talking about just the change in the regulatory arena you work in, but the difference in enforcement or interpretation within the same regulatory environment. For example working Palo Verde a number of years ago, each unit operated under the same procedures but each one had "Night Orders" defining them. I worked Unit One for an outage then worked an outage at Unit Two, it felt like I was at a whole new utility under a seperate license. We all have talked about how we did it at the "Springfield Nuclear Plant" which is not a bad thing if its just a comparison and not an indictment of the current facility.

[shovelheadred]

....SUPPLEMENTAL WORKER....that is the new age description of a "roadtech"....we started out as 'RATs",,then we were "ROADWHORES"...then "CORE TECHS"....now supplemental seems to be the term used to describe: a traveling nuclear worker.....I agree ,,whatever...just start giving cash per diem again, rental cars, and pay for the partys we had in the "DAY"...prior to FFD

[Mike McFarlin]

Whatever happened to those days, Bud?

[Marlin]

....SUPPLEMENTAL WORKER....

Sounds like worker taken for an anemic staff

[shovelheadred]

...10CFR26..Spanky...10CFR26....took most of it ...Bill June and driving rental cars at the Darlington dirt track ( to quote Gary Leonard,,look at this Bill June is racing rental carsAND WINNIN)...and jumping snow drifts at Fitz..took the rental cars......but, compare the $$, we are making now, to then,,,I know alot of people are gonna jump on this,,"we arent making what we should, blah, blah, blah...."..well if you arent, then you need to pick and choose your jobs, take some courses,,,,learn shipping, safety,,,go into another field, but the $$ is there if you look for it,,,if you wait for uncle Bruce to call you to go to Oconee, well you gonna make minimum NUCLEAR wages....but where I live,,,the $$ is there....we are making in 6-8 weeks in the spring, and 6-8 weeks in the fall plus unemployment what it took 8 months in the 80's and 90's to make,,,,,,testify SPANKY,,,testify.....

[Mike McFarlin]

You're absolutely right! You have to become a specialist. If it means taking courses or picking and choosing jobs then thats what you have to do. I would rather work like we are not than working year round at minimum nuclear wages. If you don't agree then you already have too much money.

[darkmatter]

Whatever happened to those days, Bud?

1. Management got P.O. at not getting invited to the "real" outage parties.

2. The '"real" partiers got dead.

3. The CEO's felt the greater share of Utility profits was theirs.

4. The Techs that climbed the corporate ladder into a cubicle became turncoats.

5. The new Techs havn't got a clue.

6. Competition for Tech services became competition for the job, then consolidation of Contract Companies, then just fill in             a warm body for maximum profit.

7. Political correctness and Human Resources got in bed together and engendered a mutation.

8. A sense of humor is no longer an asset in the Nuclear Field.

9. Getting married with kids tended to slow down some of them.

10. FFD, NRC, INPO, IRS, and SOBs

[duke99301]

darkmatter are you #10 on your list?
So true a lot have grown up and are gone. but I can tell you some storys from the old days and about a few who thought they could get by in 1990. sad to see but change is good.
all of you have a good day..

[Surveyors_mato]

The Techs that climbed the corporate ladder into a cubicle became turncoats.

5. The new Techs havn't got a clue. ( Quote from DM)

Seen alot of this. ( Music here)........Still clueless after all these years.

Amimal..............sometimes feel like road.........kill

[SloGlo]

hadda put ina vote fer animal.  butt eye wuz reel close to going wit da vegatable, as the spilling wuz sew close to my brain.  butt, since eye remember a cupla partees phrum da 70s, a few moor ina 80s, even a cupla evenings well spent during da 90s, along wit da occasionaal soiree in dis millenium, eye guess da animal mode fits.  'n even dough eye think i'm brilliant, most udders don't consider me a gem, so mineral iz out.

[duke99301]

Slo go you ever party with John Goss at the Trap?

[SloGlo]

duke99301...  furst of all, eye wuz alwaz on good behavior at the trap, it being, like home plant 'n all, no matter what it sez ona bathroom wall.  second, john 'n i didn't seriously party there.  i tink he got mad at me fer lying to him.  butt eye didn't reely lie, what i said just didn't come true.
it was ata outage party by numbco over at da willows.  we wuz all there doing party stuff 'n john hadda go 'n sayed he'd see me at work next shift (dune da 12s, ya know),  'n i promist i'd be there.  wail, a little bit longer, maybe a lot (that was a while back ina day) things were thinning out at da partee.  me 'n anudder tech who'll remain unanimous (but wuz well known being the scion of a saps veteran) started quizing the barkeep bout how much wuz left on the tab.  see, the project sup had told the tarbender that what ever wuz left over was to be a tip.  i tink he toll us that there wuz ~$200 left.  we decided that wuz waaay too much 'n proceeded to drink down the balance.  i tink we cut it in half.  then we proceeded to his house ware i past out, got up the next morning to his wife berating him 'n beat feet home, cause there wuz no way i was going into werk!  goss gave me a ration about that fer at least a coupla daze.  'n i tink we decided it'd be fer the best iffen he 'n i only did coffee at work together.  sumthing about iffen we ever got together it'd moorenlikely be disasterus fer both.  i think.  maybe. 

[HousePuke]

I'm not quite sure at this point.  I would guess vegetable.  Did my share back in the 80's and early 90's.  If I tried that sh*&%t now it would probably kill me.
We all have to grow up some time.

[Phurst]

Vegatable - Nobody really wants us but deep down inside, they know we're good for them.

[Atomic_Punk]

Where's the choice for "mushroom"?  After all, they feed us a lot of crap, keep us in the dark, and eventially can us.

[Gonzo]

that would be vegatable mark...

[Atomic_Punk]

that would be vegatable mark...

WRONG!  A fungus. ;^)