A funny story
- Thread starter treemandan
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slinger
ArboristSite Guru
Are you going to top it
:jawdrop:
:jawdrop:
oldirty
Addicted to ArboristSite
i see the break.
how funny is this story?
how funny is this story?
Blakesmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
You can probably glue it back together, Dano. You gonna tell the story or what?
treemandan
Tree Freak
Well really its not funny at all.
I did this job last winter for this guy I was subbing for, all we had to do was get the broken piece out. It was stone dead ( the tree wasn't just the one broken part) and as you can see wedged up there over a slate roof on the garage.
Per request of the guy who hired me I went to check it out before the crew was sent down. I looked at it and thought it wouldn't be to bad but care had to be taken of course.
So we all get down there, dead of winter, and start. I used the limb on the right for everything, TIP, lowering line and support rope.
The limb on the right was the only one high enough to do anything. I went up there and set everything up and also tied the broken limb down in the crotch that is was held up in.
I used a zip-line to get the tips out towards the front and then just swung the wood towards the back. I had Jesse and John working both ropes; the actaull rigging line and the support rope. We kept having to move the support rope further out as I climbed to the tip of the broken branch. Things were brittle with little room for error. Jesse and John were kept rather occupied.
Everything was going real good despite teh fact that the owner of the company kept walking the HO under the tree and telling the boys to go out back and do something. He even started talking to me about some job a neighbor had come over and ask us to do. Little pieces of tree were falling everytime I moved, they were not big enough to hurt the roof or anything but you wouldn't want to get hit by the stuff. I told the company owner that we were pretty tied up with what we had going on here, that it would only be a few more minutes til we were done and to hold on. But he kept bugging us and walking around down there with the Ho in tow. Poor HO, he was dumb enough to keep following the company owner under the tree like 3 or four times.
I really needed Jesse and John to do what they were to and pay attention and after so many disruptions I started to get mad and told the company owner to shut up, put the Ho back in the house and just go to his AA meeting allready. I was really getting hot.
I had just untied the rope holding the big wood in the crotch and had a rope around it when the company owner comes back with the Ho and walks under the tree. A little piece came off and hit the HO. Didn't hurt him but it disturbed me and I yelled again to clear the area pay attention. During that time I lost my grip and swung back off the lead I was on. No big deal I just moved back where I was but I had forgot to set a strap that would tied two broken piece together and secure them as I cut and lowered them.
That's were it gets not funny anymore. See, the place I was cutting had a piece of wood and a little limb that I had to cut at the same time and need a beener and a strap to secure the load. Well, I was getting pretty pissed and lost my train of thought and forgot to place the beener and strap. SO when i slipped off my positione I got a little madder and jumped back to my position and just cut it. OOOPPS. The piece of wood slipped out of the lowering line and smashed into the slate roof. Not only did it bust up a bunch of shingles but it was enough to crack 2 or 3 rafters underneath.
If I was mad before that I was enraged by now and I think everybody in a 2 block radius could tell. Basically I just explained about how if anybody thought they or me would be calling my insurance company about this they were quite wrong at the top of my lungs. I was pretty pissed and if it truly was my fault I would have taken care of it. Just wanted to share.
I did this job last winter for this guy I was subbing for, all we had to do was get the broken piece out. It was stone dead ( the tree wasn't just the one broken part) and as you can see wedged up there over a slate roof on the garage.
Per request of the guy who hired me I went to check it out before the crew was sent down. I looked at it and thought it wouldn't be to bad but care had to be taken of course.
So we all get down there, dead of winter, and start. I used the limb on the right for everything, TIP, lowering line and support rope.
The limb on the right was the only one high enough to do anything. I went up there and set everything up and also tied the broken limb down in the crotch that is was held up in.
I used a zip-line to get the tips out towards the front and then just swung the wood towards the back. I had Jesse and John working both ropes; the actaull rigging line and the support rope. We kept having to move the support rope further out as I climbed to the tip of the broken branch. Things were brittle with little room for error. Jesse and John were kept rather occupied.
Everything was going real good despite teh fact that the owner of the company kept walking the HO under the tree and telling the boys to go out back and do something. He even started talking to me about some job a neighbor had come over and ask us to do. Little pieces of tree were falling everytime I moved, they were not big enough to hurt the roof or anything but you wouldn't want to get hit by the stuff. I told the company owner that we were pretty tied up with what we had going on here, that it would only be a few more minutes til we were done and to hold on. But he kept bugging us and walking around down there with the Ho in tow. Poor HO, he was dumb enough to keep following the company owner under the tree like 3 or four times.
I really needed Jesse and John to do what they were to and pay attention and after so many disruptions I started to get mad and told the company owner to shut up, put the Ho back in the house and just go to his AA meeting allready. I was really getting hot.
I had just untied the rope holding the big wood in the crotch and had a rope around it when the company owner comes back with the Ho and walks under the tree. A little piece came off and hit the HO. Didn't hurt him but it disturbed me and I yelled again to clear the area pay attention. During that time I lost my grip and swung back off the lead I was on. No big deal I just moved back where I was but I had forgot to set a strap that would tied two broken piece together and secure them as I cut and lowered them.
That's were it gets not funny anymore. See, the place I was cutting had a piece of wood and a little limb that I had to cut at the same time and need a beener and a strap to secure the load. Well, I was getting pretty pissed and lost my train of thought and forgot to place the beener and strap. SO when i slipped off my positione I got a little madder and jumped back to my position and just cut it. OOOPPS. The piece of wood slipped out of the lowering line and smashed into the slate roof. Not only did it bust up a bunch of shingles but it was enough to crack 2 or 3 rafters underneath.
If I was mad before that I was enraged by now and I think everybody in a 2 block radius could tell. Basically I just explained about how if anybody thought they or me would be calling my insurance company about this they were quite wrong at the top of my lungs. I was pretty pissed and if it truly was my fault I would have taken care of it. Just wanted to share.
Last edited:
Blakesmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
I see it too....I wonder if its the smoke break though thats holden up the story
I'm betting the yahoos he works with begged him to come back 'cause they couldn't figure this one out on their own.
treemandan
Tree Freak
LOL!
It's that short term memory thing again!
This guy has been doing this longer than you but it don't show not one bit. I am not one to leave a guy holding my bag. Yes, I know it was me who forgot the strap but being the kind of guy I am I have to ask why.
Man, everything was going like clockwork. It may be my downfall that I can only take so much side chatter before I go loopy and loose it but I sure as hell ain't gonna be eating that one.
Really, John had to loosen and re-tighten the support rope every few minutes and Jesse was busy with a zip-line AND a lowering line. We were busy, engaged if you will. I wonder if some doctor getting sued for malpractice ever said " Well, I was just about to do the aorta when some dip#### runs in and starts bothering me."
treemandan
Tree Freak
There is no way the three of them could tackle anything that hasn't allready fallen down. John does some climbing and I fear for him.He doesn't really want to though. Jesse will go up in the bucket and I fear for him to cause the owner of the company knows that bucket belongs in the scrap yard. I went up in it once or twice... I set a top rope first.
Blakesmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
Like I said yesterday chief, #### 'em. 
treemandan
Tree Freak
Like I said yesterday chief, #### 'em.
i gave them the rope and they hung themselves with it.
Saw Dust Smoken
ArboristSite Operative
mad
It seems you have a lot of problems keeping work area secure? Maybe it just the drama your after. Being able to yell at everybody makes you feel in charge? You wont deal with this crap if you are the top man on job site! You are just the sub! Maybe use police tape to keep people out of the work site for starters. You invite to much headache to a job site. Well no hard hats on your groundies? Show people whos in charge before leaving the ground and not latter! How many years do you have under your belt?
It seems you have a lot of problems keeping work area secure? Maybe it just the drama your after. Being able to yell at everybody makes you feel in charge? You wont deal with this crap if you are the top man on job site! You are just the sub! Maybe use police tape to keep people out of the work site for starters. You invite to much headache to a job site. Well no hard hats on your groundies? Show people whos in charge before leaving the ground and not latter! How many years do you have under your belt?
treesquirrel
ArboristSite Guru
From his story I think he mad it pretty clear he wanted the interruptions to cease.
treemandan
Tree Freak
Nah, I don't get off on the drama not one bit. You can ask those who have worked with me how serious I am on the job. But its not like I lost my cool, I just put it aside for a sec while I educated some people on who was paying for that roof.
I do seem to have trouble at times expressing the need for safety compliance to some people. Though I do talk they do not chose to listen. Jesse and John are not my employess but I did work with them. I was just about to buy them some nice hardhats. Jesse wanted a full brim style and John just wanted something like mine. In all honesty they would have used them for a few days then they would have not.
Its true thier attitude comes as no surprise to me and I have been chasing my hardhat around since 1991.
Saw Dust Smoken
ArboristSite Operative
Oh I see
Well if you dont wear ppe. The help only follows the leader! Dont get yourself or help seriously hurt before following ppe. Be safe out there or will see you in the other forums. My help will wear hard hats. Those who wish not to work for a free day. Money talk bs walks! Keep it safe. At the end of the days work you family likes to see ya.
Well if you dont wear ppe. The help only follows the leader! Dont get yourself or help seriously hurt before following ppe. Be safe out there or will see you in the other forums. My help will wear hard hats. Those who wish not to work for a free day. Money talk bs walks! Keep it safe. At the end of the days work you family likes to see ya.
Behemoth Jim
ArboristSite Lurker
And then we could have the discussion as to whether PPE actually makes you safer or not. . . piece by piece. . . . . I always wear my hard hat and safety glasses when under my climber, but I could do without the hat-- it's mostly to ward off evil spirits. I mean OSHA inspectors. I could do without the glasses a lot of times, too-- having to take them off and wipe the fog off every 30 seconds. I wear ear plugs-- NOT muffs-- when I'm within about thirty feet of a chainsaw or forty feet of a chipper. The muffs give me a headache and are always slipping. The plugs, to me, are a much better solution. I use the individual ear plugs, not connected buds-- those would also put pressure on my ears and neck, also causing headaches. (yes I'm very prone to headaches). I have a pair of chaps and I have not worn them for a long time. The only close call I had with the saw getting too close to my leg-- chaps wouldn't have stopped it-- it got too close to the backside of my leg down at the boot.
What we do is dangerous. We each have to take responsibility for our own safety, and the safety of those around us. I close with a little tidbit from my foreman ten years ago, working for Asplundh. He was lamenting casually to his brother, who was also his supervisor, "I nicked my new chaps already." The same sort of tone of voice a person might use if they said, "I spilled my Pepsi (or other beverage) today" -- just a little disgusted, bringing it up casually as small talk on smoke break. My stinking foot, people! If you nicked your chaps so easily and thought so little of it, there are a thousand other ways you can hurt or kill yourself doing tree work!
Use your PPE wisely. It can save your life. But don't let it garner a false sense of security. There is nothing safe, nothing secure about what we do, from the minute we buckle our seat belts and drive down the road, to the minute we walk (or crawl) back through the door at night.
Sorry for the rant. Your account is so like some of my experiences.
TreeW?rx
ArboristSite Member
If this is another horror story from the company that you were talking about the other day then it is a really good thing that you left. I have read a couple of you tales about them. There is no reason that you should get high blood pressure worrying about the idiots that arent smart enough to take care of them selves. Sounds like you would be wiping their butts and shaking for them here soon. I would hate to read about you having a coronary while climbing and falling out of the tree cause these morons couldnt find their own arse with both hands and a road map. Chuck it in the experience bag and go some where else for work. Your blood pressure will thank you.
