Look Up

[Doug Rose]

When I first started in the biz, I was greener than green. I was punching down 100+ Pair cables in a Huge Telephone room for a Key System that did the whole building. Man, did your hands hurt at the end of the day. It was massive. I went to Move a ladder and got screamed at. What? Read the sign. I looked up and there were cables...that I would have hit.

He turned out to be my mentor, trained me and got me a good foundation in Telephony.  Cost me two beers after work to get on his good side.

Those days are gone as we are now digital are rarely go into the MDF, which is much smaller for a lot more floors. Global. Lordy!

The good old days! Fridays turning in all the excess copper for Beers and Pizza for all.

These were the signs that were on the ladder.

[RB]

good sign.
a lot of closets were recipients of sloppy installers.
there was always something hanging overhead, or draped across the room.
I guess they used the assumption "if no one sees me do it, I will do it the quickest, and sloppiest way possible".
and get out before anybody asks questions.
I always tried to do the cleanest job I could.
assuming anyway, that if I was the next poor slob that needed to be in there, I wanted things to be right.
Some of those installations were down right dangerous.
I never liked goin in after someone else crapped in the room.
it seemed it took the same amount of time to do it right.
After 17 years of installing, I still enjoyed it...until my back gave out.

[AL_as_needed]

That sign is  representative of a universal truth within the other trades.... people leave tools everywhere, and getting hit in the head with a screwdriver is never fun..... Look Up! 

[Doug Rose]

I left more tools in ceilings and closets. Even though I checked my B Box before I left the site, I still left them. How did I leave them when I checked.      Life of a Tech on the Road....Doug

[AL_as_needed]

I left more tools in ceilings and closets. Even though I checked my B Box before I left the site, I still left them. How did I leave them when I checked.      Life of a Tech on the Road....Doug

Reminds me of a story of mine. I was on a small remodel crew renovating an apartment of a two floor, multi unit building. While making the final connection to a bathroom vent to its corresponding ducting Thump, my screwdriver fell into the wall.....gone forever....

Eight years later, the apt above caught fire. The damage was bad enough the whole end of the building had to be re-framed and guess who was there blowing a whole in the wall to get his screwdriver back.... Leave no tool behind! 

[AE_Collector]

We worked at a hospital converting the PBX from a big SxS to an even bigger SL-1. Had dozens of guys there for a year. One cable pair in a closet had a toner on a pair of a set run from somewhere....just the tone, not the actual toner. No one knew anything about it, where the set run went to or where the toner was. It ran for months and months and months. I never did hear that anyone found it.

Terry

[rdelius]

I had moved a radio station to a new studio and discovered later that the telephone tech left his Dracon ts 21 butt set connected to the demark  on the outside of the buildind. It sat there for a month or so and I adopted it.Still have it

[Doug Rose]

In an old building, above the drop ceiling was a can that was used for a small IDF for a section of the floor. I had lost my wand so I used the butt set to find the tone on the pair. I terminated the pair and terminated my butt set by leaving it in the ceiling. It was in another state so I left it. Probably still there. My original set. I had it for a long time  . I still have my B Box with all my tools, although I have been in House for over 30 years....Doug