u/very-okay

IBEW apprentice here! I’m here after a complete career 180; I’m in my 30s, have an M.A., used to work office jobs and/or teach at the college level. I had some, but not a lot, of experience with handy-work.

1: My job is super cool and I feel incredibly privileged as the only woman on the site. We’re doing a retrofit job with indoor plumbing so I have my own bathroom!! Which is especially great because I’ve heard the men’s rooms are trashed and the GC is threatening to oust them to portajohns. The retrofit component has been a great learning experience so far as far as problem solving and piecing together how electrical stuff works.

2: The foreman and (most of) my fellow workers treat me with respect. I had one incident with a coworker of mine who doesn’t seem to like me in which he put me in harms way. But the foreman got word of it, approached me, and reassured me that I wouldn’t be placed to work side-by-side with that guy again. I don’t give him the cold shoulder but we stay distant from each other. Fine by me.

3: the jws and foreman didn’t seem to know what to do with me at first. I could tell that they didn’t want to give me any different treatment, but as a result I was given several tasks that were physically very difficult for a petite person. I appreciate that mentality but I found it irritating in the moment to be expected to lug around 4” pvc from point a to b without help. I’ve since explained the difference in leverage between my body and theirs - which I don’t think they considered before - and now things are more manageable and I get more unprompted team-lifts for heavy or cumbersome things.

4: my hands HURT!! Stretching is really important and if I skip it, I notice it.

5: there are a lot of contractors onsite simultaneously. The tinners and sheet-rockers mostly spoke Spanish, and I do too, so they became almost like uncles for me, looked out for me and were always friendly. They finished up so they’re gone now and I miss them! The HVAC dudes on the other hand kinda suck. I feel like they gawk at me a lot and it can be distracting.

All-in-all it’s a great job. It’s interesting and I’m involved in a lot of tasks so i’m learning a lot here. No regrets as of now!

I’m finally at my first job in the IBEW apprenticeship and I’m loving it so far. It’s leaps and bounds better than the admin-type jobs I was trapped in prior to starting.

The only little gripe I have is that it’s 4-10s (6:00 - 4:30) and an hour’s drive from my house. Monday through Thursday, I’m up at 4:00 and home at 5:30 after working hard in toasty conditions. By the time I’m home I’m so spent that I just want to shower, eat, and sleep.

Luckily my husband has been very supportive, even though he definitely seems to miss having me around during the week. But I’m going into my 4th week and I’m starting to feel anxious about being mentally absent 4 days a week. We do try to spend quality time together on my days off, but still….

Also, I’m not participating in any of my hobbies as of now. I used to go to a creative writing club at my local library, dance classes about once a week, and work on crafts in my spare time.

I’m wondering if I should just accept that this is the new norm? How do you all juggle all of the responsibilities

VERY TLDR: my first day was weird, anticlimactic, and not what I expected at all.

I just did the orientation last week and I got my first assignment. I live in a state with a local that covers a large area, and my job is an hour from where I live. It’s one of those “it is what it is” situations geographically, but I’ve been really excited to start and I had all my tools and stuff packed up and ready to go for my first day yesterday.

I showed up at the contractor’s office, where they wanted to meet. They greeted me and promptly sent me out for a drug screening. I just got tested a couple weeks ago maybe, right before orientation at the JATC, but of course I complied. I told them straight up that I take medication that pings on drug tests but I have a doctors note. No big deal according to them, just needed to give the note to the clinic they were sending me to.

I drove across town to the clinic and waited for a bit to be seen. I gave the staff member the note when I was called back and she took a look and said: “are your employers ok with these medications?” I felt taken aback instantly because while, yes the meds ping on drug tests, they are prescribed to me for medical reasons. I was all in my head about it, wondering if they would turn me down, or if I’d have to explain myself beyond the doctors note.

Meanwhile I missed a call from the contractors office like literally as I was about to pee in the cup so I sent it to vm. I finished up with the clinic and they told me the results could be expected within 24-48 hours.

I called the contractor guy back and he just wanted to see if things were ok with the drug test, etc. I said yeah actually I just finished up and i’m in my car now. He said, “ok cool then we’ll get those tests back soon and then we’ll square up with the paperwork.” I told him about the 24-48 hours and he said “hmm well if that’s the case, we’ll probably have to wait until they do come in. I’ll let you know.” …which I interpreted as “I’ll call you back shortly.” I waited about 30 min in the parking lot…no call. So I was like ok i’m going to drive back to the office to make sure I know what’s going on. I don’t want to blow it!

So I pulled up to the office and by chance caught the guy walking through the parking lot there. I asked him what he wanted me to do now and he said that he’d let me know when the drug test results come in and then I can come back.

So basically I drove an hour with all of the adrenaline and excitement in the world, only to take a drug test and promptly be sent home 😭 I called the JATC to ask if this is normal and they said yes it does happen. But I definitely didn’t expect it to be like this.

No call today. I was worried they didn’t know I live far away and that maybe they’d expect me immediately… but radio silence for today at least.

Sorry this is LONG but I wanted to rant 🥴😭.