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romaurie
12-08-2010, 04:14 PM
I have worked in Israel for 25 years having studied refrigeration with Prestcold at their [now defunct] training school in Greenford.This was after completing a 4 year Ministry of Technology course in electrical/mechanical engineering.
My Hebrew is sufficient for the normal refrigeration service work.But, I recently changed companies and this manager has a new swear word every day!When he gets "wound-up" which in 47 degree C ambient temperatures is often, he starts cursing the air conditioning unit or refrigeration plant and me with an incredible list of expletives.The most repetitive seems to be "SHUM-DUCK".Now languages have never been my strong point.My wife and son however, are very good with languages but are stumped with the new words I am hearing at work now.
I learnt that he [my boss] is of Yemen background which probably explains some of these more colourful curses.
What is gratifying, though, is his enthusiasm over small servicing details that I have acquired over the years.
When you have a leak on the suction and either due to worn valves or the liquid line solenoid will not hold, the back pressure keeps rising after pump down.If one person controls the pressure control to hold 5 inches of vacuum the other can weld and close the leak.Obviously you purge the suction and change the liquid-line filter-drier afterwards.But he was so happy to "close" this particular breakdown using this technique that he had not seen before.
It sort of makes up for when he "throws a wobbly" because he has used a new word preceded with a strange expletive that I do not immediately grasp what he is saying.
I did, however, react in the strongest possible way when I recognized on one occasion he had "grossly" abused my mother in Arabic.I politely explained in Hebrew that although my Hebrew is not strong, I do draw the line when he curses my family.So I could leave now or at the end of the month.He went silent for about 5 minutes.He then completely changed the subject.But later that day explained a cheque had "bounced" for 15000 "shmekels" and he gets very frustrated when I don't understand what he is saying.I could blame the previous company for mainly talking to me in English.Most of the service technicians had a reasonable command of English and many wanted to work overseas.So being able to converse in English or Hebrew was very good for them.Just didn't push me enough to improve my Hebrew.
Interesting that when I moved here in 1985, 2 friends with the same company in southern England decided to take a 3 year contract with "Bermuda Refrigeration/Air Conditioning.They were offering double our pay in the UK with 2 flights home a year.It transpired that service engineers in the US got 3 times our salary so it was cheaper to recruit service engineers from Canada or the UK.The last group they got were from Montreal.Within 6 weeks all were incapable of work after taking advantage of the "Happy Hour" after work.These 2 guys I worked with were Scottish.One played soccer for a local team in the UK.Within a month he had been recruited for the Bermuda soccer team to go on a tour of the US.The other loved skiing.He took his snow skis with him to Bermuda so when he got his "flight-home" he went for a skiing trip in Europe.
It would be great if Duncan Alexander or Gibson Kerr read this.I have not been in contact with them since since 1987.
Laurie Lee Duman

monkey spanners
12-08-2010, 10:35 PM
There are a lot of polish workers on dairy farms now, i get to hear some new swear words from them but i have a terrible memory so can't think of any now :D

chilliwilly
12-08-2010, 10:54 PM
Chuffin hell fire, that flippin job I did today was an absolute blinkin pig of cow to do.

romaurie
13-08-2010, 05:56 AM
When I worked in Poole, Dorset, I was living in Christchurch, Hampshire.5 miles away but "worlds-apart" .The Dorset engineers thought I was a snob because of my accent.I tried to explain that we grew up in fear of a clip round the left ear if we dropped an "H" or used "lend" instead of "borrow".
Even the interests of engineers in Bournemouth were so more diverse than the Dorset engineers I worked with it was a type of "culture-shock".
I loved scuba diving.On a visit to Eilat way back in December 1972, I started thinking how great it could be living there and having marine aquariums that I could stock from the sea.As is the way in life, the reality is not so "rose-coloured" as the idea.
I arrived on a Yamaha SR 250 SE from the UK.The company I started working for offered me a Ford Transit.I mentioned that the traffic in summer would slow me down a lot on breakdowns in the marina area.We serviced a lot of diving adventure yachts ac and refrigeration equipment for their trips to the southern Red Sea. So the manager asked what I could carry in the way of service tools on the bike.I had "Rickman" top box and panniers.I managed to "kit-it-out" with a quite respectable collection.So, I became the first refrigeration service engineer in Eilat to attend breakdowns on a motorcycle.A bit like the A.A. motorcycle service engineers of latter years.The fact that I was British was also a plus as a lot of crew on these yachts were British divers.The night life was also special back then in 1986.The Red Lion was run by a Brit Biker from Portsmouth who also fixed folk up with jobs.
Alas all that has changed since "9/11".Security and unemployment has reduced the number of European workers.I still meet quite a few people who like me weren't "just-on-holiday" but made a serious attempt to settle.

romaurie
13-08-2010, 06:59 AM
http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/60/60/3/59/12/2147359120043397812IubiVQ_th.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2147359120043397812IubiVQ)

http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/83/83/7/2/75/2836702750043397812wnHbjE_th.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2836702750043397812wnHbjE)
http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/71/171/1/43/16/2119143160043397812GMisFV_th.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2119143160043397812GMisFV)

The Yamaha from 1986.
Suzuki Van Van 2010
GMC Savanah current service vehicle[more like a mobile workshop]

Gibbo
18-08-2010, 11:11 PM
The last time i saw legs like that you were dressed up as Superman or was it Batman chatting up the girlies at a party in Bournemouth.
How you doing Laurie you old bugger its been a long time since we last met.
Whats with this swanning around Eilat on a bike pretending to be a fridge engineer. LOL
Now back in the UK in sunny Poole Coolmota is no more went out of business a good few years ago. Duncan emigrated to Perth Western Australia a few years ago and runs his own company now.
Send me a PM with your email address and i will send one back.

Gibbo

romaurie
19-08-2010, 05:18 PM
I figured you might find this post.
I'll just check how to send a PM.
"Why do you keep calling me Fred?"
Because you keep answering!
Mike Cobell after you had worked 3 months at Coolmota.
I visited the UK a few months after Coolmota closed.Spoke to the last engineer they took on as he found work with "W.L.Millers".Also closed or taken over by a multi-national.