End of the road

[cool hand fluke]

Evening all,
How many engineers out there are board
and fed up of "life of a fridge engineer"

I was just wondering what other engineers do/did
if they want to get out of the trade?
Such as plumbing, sparking, Jesus anything but this.

After about 7 years on the road I am simply fed up of
"On you way home can you just pop here", being overlooked
for promotion for a mate of manager who well that's another story.

I think I just wanted a moan, also has anyone seen the news about
Overtime/holidays.

I have checked my payslips and done 527 hours overtime in
the last 12 months. Hoping I get a little pay off but I Doubt it!

Thanks for listening agony uncles.

Bryan

[monkey spanners]

Think the early sunsets and cold weather don't help this time of year.

[cadwaladr]

Ah that on your way home I used to hear that a lot,normally to put right other tecs mistakes! So I said bye bye in words that you would not say to your mum.

[Rob White]

.

Most fridge guys tend to stay within the industry,
they just move around inside it. Maybe consider
sales, or design or if you are in commercial fridge
consider doing industrial (or visa versa).

You could even look for promotion as a supervisor,
manager or something and then as a last resort if
you don't enjoy your job, look elsewhere.

Lots of companies looking for good men.

I have always worked to one simple rule.

If I wake up in the morning and I hate the thought of going
into work, it is time to start looking for a new job.

Rob

.

[jonjon]

.

Most fridge guys tend to stay within the industry,
they just move around inside it. Maybe consider
sales, or design or if you are in commercial fridge
consider doing industrial (or visa versa).

You could even look for promotion as a supervisor,
manager or something and then as a last resort if
you don't enjoy your job, look elsewhere.

Lots of companies looking for good men.

I have always worked to one simple rule.

If I wake up in the morning and I hate the thought of going
into work, it is time to start looking for a new job.

Rob

.

True rob but it's appears same sh&£ different badge now

[glenn1340]

I was on the road for over thirty years and saw it go from a job that I enjoyed to one of stress, grief and plain hard graft with little thanks for the extra effort put in to get things going.
At one time being a service engineer was a two way street: You could wangle the odd bit of O/T, get home a tad early some days or pull into a layby for a few mins before going onto the next job. In return you`d have to work your nuts off on a site where the factory maintenance guys were taking things easy, put up with snotty customers who were pissed off with your office for sending you on the wrong day or time and when you phone them they just told you to get on with it. Having salesmen tell the customer anything, so he can hit his targets, which usually involves you having to go cut corners to get him out of a mess. Oh and let`s not forget trackers, strange how the managers and salesmen don`t have them isn`t it? All in all I`m glad I`m out of it and in FM; three twelve hour shifts then three off, nice and clean with no stress. And what`s more no more punching around the M25 after a long day`s hard labour.

[Grizzly]

I was on the road for over thirty years and saw it go from a job that I enjoyed to one of stress, grief and plain hard graft with little thanks for the extra effort put in to get things going.
At one time being a service engineer was a two way street: You could wangle the odd bit of O/T, get home a tad early some days or pull into a layby for a few mins before going onto the next job. In return you`d have to work your nuts off on a site where the factory maintenance guys were taking things easy, put up with snotty customers who were pissed off with your office for sending you on the wrong day or time and when you phone them they just told you to get on with it. Having salesmen tell the customer anything, so he can hit his targets, which usually involves you having to go cut corners to get him out of a mess. Oh and let`s not forget trackers, strange how the managers and salesmen don`t have them isn`t it? All in all I`m glad I`m out of it and in FM; three twelve hour shifts then three off, nice and clean with no stress. And what`s more no more punching around the M25 after a long day`s hard labour.
Thanks for being so honest glenn!
My friend and colleague was on a site very recently that wants everything done for nothing!
But immaculately done by the book, with full hand produced risk assessment's (not generic).
So when our contracts manager who was present was asked why He was not named upon the risk assessment when the engineer who was to carry out said work was?
His reply "Well I wear a tie!!!"
Management dissolved of all responsibility and Engineer to answer to every body when it goes wrong!

Luke (Sorry should of said Brian!) I commend you for actually admitting how most feel. Thankfully not all the time!
When asked about how I felt about my job a while back, I replied "It depends what day you ask me, on a good day I love my job. On others not!"
I have to accept that as I grow older I become less tolerant, but I do think you younger guys surely have to receive some credit at some stage.
Keep hanging in there guys!
Grizzly

[Magoo]

Well stated Grizzly.
Fortunately or un fortunately my job is a rather well paid hobby, actually. In fact a passion for detailed design and efficiency, bugger. Lost on a lot of people who just turn up for work and moan a lot about getting out of their comfort zone.
magoo

[cool hand fluke]

Thanks for all the replays guys.
Reading them is like looking into a mirror, I have found even the customers
are just as grumpy these days. Can't remember the last time I got a thanks from site or even a cupa.

Probably like you said glen, the office give them the bull and we get the flake on site .
I think my biggest moan is I'm used to doing around 5 /6 jobs a day, not much mileage and a happy customer. Then relocated about 8 months ago, doing about 250 miles a day an one or two jobs.
My own fault I guess. Oh I miss the hussle of the midlands. Also I think your are right about the
getting older and the tolerance getting shorter grizzly.

Bryan

[Brian_UK]

My feelings at the moment are that "I'm too old for this sh1t."

Was aiming to retire in March next year when I'm 67 but am struggling to see if I can make it to the end of next January.

I feel for you Bryan but would suggest that you don't rush into anything. There's nothing worse that finding that the grass hasn't even been cut never mind what colour it is.

[chillerman2006]

I notice all the youngsters replied :) and agreed
Well me being me thought the same one day and took a desk job
Now I luv being back on the tools and don't grumble any more on sundays
I do get most sundays off btw

[cadwaladr]

the majority of my customers thank me for what I do for them,the ones that dont usually get fired off pronto ,when I get good service be it anywhere I always say thanks treat others how you would like to be treated thats my motto,and if I make one person smile everyday then its a good day.

[Grizzly]

I notice all the youngsters replied :) and agreed
Well me being me thought the same one day and took a desk job
Now I luv being back on the tools and don't grumble any more on sundays
I do get most sundays off btw

As they say "A change is as good as a rest eh!"

Good positives there Cad, It is all frame of mind in the end
An interesting and thoughtful post coolhand.
Thanks Grizzly.

[chillerman2006]

As they say "A change is as good as a rest eh!"
.

In all honesty, it was horrific Grizzly
It takes a certain type of person to polish a desk
And those I met that were also ex tools
Were to be polite better suited to polishing 'something' than me
Engineers are a different breed and if your not b*tching over the job at some point
Then you don't fully make the grade :)

[redroge]

Get out now Brian you won,t regret it. I did an extra fifteen months and I thought I would miss the job and maybe be missed ,but firms muddle bye, they will send some other engineer who might take longer to sort out the problem but hey the customer is paying for his time.
You will miss the satisfaction of sorting out some tricky breakdown but not the cold winters spent on some freezing roof (why are so many chillers on roofs).You will have to get by on less money but on that cold dark morning when all the lemmings are crawling to work you can have another cup of tea.
In summer instead of racing round to one call after another you can sit back and enjoy the sun.
redroge

[r.bartlett]

may have a nice little job coming up for someone near brum, 500 bits of kit all indoors in a conditioned factory. full time wandering around 'machine minding' suit an old boy or a young'en

[joe-ice]

i Have to agree with glenn i enjoyed it at the start ,was good and worked for a very decent crowd but now things have become vicious its no longer about learning .In the trade now its about profit and deadlines . The government on every side of these isle need to stop apprenticeships being used and abused and fed in and spit out like cannon fodder by big companies

[Rob White]

.

Many years ago after a run in with a store manager and
after a day of scrabbling around in all the dirt, on my hands
and knees, on the top of a cold room, I said to my wife I
don't want to do this in my fifties.

So I looked for a way out and apart from fridge I did not know
much else. I knew I could not work in an office (or so I thought then)
and I knew I was not an intellectual, so I needed something inside
the fridge industry, that would not require me being on my knees,
in really tight spaces.

That that was twelve years ago and I am now doing something that I
would never have imagined then. Making the decision to change is the hard
bit, if you have a family and dependants then your choices affect them also.

You need to plan for the future and you need to qualified and trained to do
something different.

I took me five years of night school to get re-qualified and I had to do that while
holding down a full time job including standby and a young (ish) family.

If you are happy to plod on in life as you are, then things will come and go and
your direction will go where ever it goes. If you want to do something different
then you have to make an active decision to do something different.

Sometimes for some people the right thing happens at the right time and sometimes
sh1£ happens to people, but if you want to actively change, you do have to actively
make the decision to do something about it.

If you just bumble on with life, don't be surprised if you look back at the last few years
and you aren't where you want to be in life.

I have been in this industry for over 30 years now and I have seen all the changes
that have been discussed by all the others and if I'm honest, it is not as good now
as it was fifteen years ago, but I might be looking through rose tinted glasses.

I don't want to become one of those old timers who just moan about the Yoooof
of today and how "in my day we used to do it this way". The industry has changed
and like it or not we are not going back to five and half day trading, when we were
welcomed into the store with a smile and a cup of tea. When we finished and left
we would have a joint of meat under our arm and we were the hero of the day.

Now we are an inconvenience and they only want us after hours. Refrigeration has
always been an antisocial job but now that we can't get on the shop floor to work
it is even harder.

I know that is the case with every industry and if we want to continue we have to
adapt and change.

Rob

.

[hyperion]

Good comments there Rob.
I have been supposedly off the tools and driving the desk for the last 19 years. That took a while to adjust to.
Fortunately I did not have to do commercial fridge full time as most of our work has been AC, so managed to escape some of the mentioned problems like getting a joint of meat!
AC is going the same way though with clients expecting out of hours repairs and refits and also expecting engineers to be just waiting around the corner to respond to their call out instantly.
Clients seem to forget that whilst distance is no real problem, the time it takes to drive 150 miles on a call out is objected to.
The industry has changed, probably for generally for the better when you think of some of the accepted practices of 40 years ago.
When I decide that chasing the elusive profit line is no longer of interest, I am not sure what I would want to do as a new job as AC is all that I have known for 45 years.
End of moan!

[cool hand fluke]

Just a little update, so after 5 years in the same company I plucked up the currage and decided a change was needed. I start my new job on Monday, really looking forward to it. It is still a reactive service roll but a smaller company where we are not just a number.
Thanks for all the replys.
Bryan

[hookster]

Good luck Bryan and enjoy.
Personally after doing all sorts of sizes of companies I find the smaller are the better for me.

[Brian_UK]

Best of luck in the new role Bryan.

[mikeref]

Rob White Quote. Post #18.
"The industry has changed
and like it or not we are not going back to five and half day trading, when we were
welcomed into the store with a smile and a cup of tea. When we finished and left
we would have a joint of meat under our arm and we were the hero of the day."
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Guess i'm lucky to be where this social appreciation still exists.
Refrigeration down time is a priority. Most other activities, from domestic to Industrial revolve around functioning refrigeration, so a timely response and repair is sometimes rewarded with a bonus added, after my Invoice....Bananas/ Meat/ Potatoes/ Avocado's etc, and....The occasional "Home made" Rum.:off topic:

Congrats to Bryan. A change is as good as a holiday.:)

[abp32]

i remember the horrors of starting at 5am and finishing at 11pm and doing the same thing the next day , whilst been screamed at down the phone to hurry up because someones ac did not work it was awful but now i have a great job its 9 till five more or less , i have my life back and i can make sure my work is mint , there is nothing wrong with being a fridge bloke there is something wrong with the companies that hammer us into the ground till we burn out and then get the next engineer in