Bucket babies:Are they all slackers?

[userdude]

I know that you have tried to re-word your initial thread by saying that their are some operators that are educated and ambitious, but didn't you honestly think that you were going to get jumped on by people.
I initially took offense to your stereotype.

No re-wording going on here. This thread states 'bucket babies', not climbers who sometimes run a bucket. If you re-read you will understand MY definition of a bucket baby. If you fit this criteria then .

 

[Dadatwins]

My only comments to this thread will be that having climbed and run a bunch of buckets over the past 20+ years, a bucket truck will spoil the he!! out of you very quickly. Sort of like spending a day doing a tricky climbing rope removal with lots of fancy rigging one day and the next day bring a 60 ton crane in and make 6-8 cuts to put the tree on the ground.
I will say the better bucket operator is someone that has climbed before, better judgement and 'feel' for the tree, similiar to a climber being a better groundman than someone who has never been up a tree.

 

[userdude]

I will say the better bucket operator is someone that has climbed before, better judgement and 'feel' for the tree, similiar to a climber being a better groundman than someone who has never been up a tree.

I think this guy is on to something.
Well said

 

[jmack]

victim

It's not the employer's fault that you don't have a CDL. If you can't legally transport the truck to the job, then how can you call the employer 'cheap'? Go get your CDL. It isn't your employer's responsibility or fault that you aren't properly licensed.

oh h#ll yeah!!!! gitrdun son

 

[Climb020]

It's not the employer's fault that you don't have a CDL. If you can't legally transport the truck to the job, then how can you call the employer 'cheap'? Go get your CDL. It isn't your employer's responsibility or fault that you aren't properly licensed.

First I can get my CDL but I choose not to being I am 21 and a damn good climber, no need to put me in a bucket, though I have and can operate it. There are others I work with that have CDL's and 10 years experience and a new guy comes in and takes it over . THat I feel is just wrong. That is why I say cheap. Why use a guy that can't handle the work load all the time and break things when u have other guys or can hire another guy to do the job.

Also I don't put up with these "bucket babies." I'll tell them to get out of the bucket throw on a saddle and help me in the tree to cable.

ALSO FOR ALL THE BUCKET BABIES READING THIS PLEASE LEARN ONE OF THESE TWO PHRASE OR I AM GONNA CUT THE POWER TO YOUR BUCKET THE NEXT TIME SOMETHING ALMOST HITS ME AND LEAVE YOU STRANDED 50 FEET IN THE AIR. THEY ARE
HEADACHE OR
STAND CLEAR.

 

[clearance]

I always have a 120ft. climbing rope when I fly a bucket. It comes in handy for climbing out of the bucket.........or rapping to the ground to give someone their walking papers!

Funny, there is a story here of an abusive bucket guy who was very nasty to groundsmen, he was trimming a three phase in the middle of nowhere, rural, deadend road, screaming at his groundsman. The young guy had enough and shut the truck off, took the keys out of the ignition, showed them to the moron in the bucket and threw them into the bush, gave the guy the finger and walked. The guy stayed in the boom for hours and hours as it crept down to the three phase it was over. Finally when he hadn't returned to the yard they went looking and found him, had to get someone to hotwire or start the truck, it was well after dark by this time. Treeco, you sound like the kind of guy who uses that rope, good thing you don't have to rappel around three phases.

 

[clearance]

Clearance are you saying that a line clearance guy died at the hands of another line clearance guy?

I know you clearance guys are a twisted lot but please explain the funny part?

Dan, read it again, the boom was over the three phase, the guy was not "over", even if the boom had "drifted" down onto the three phase, it is dielectically tested. Showing your lack of utility knowledge and comprehension of the english language.

 

[Dadatwins]

Dan, read it again, the boom was over the three phase, the guy was not "over", even if the boom had "drifted" down onto the three phase, it is dielectically tested. Showing your lack of utility knowledge and comprehension of the english language.

Actually a dielectric test does not guarantee a boom is safe, saw dust, dirt and oil along a boom can compromise the dielectric properties and make the boom unsafe. Sounds like the guy in the air was left at a considerable risk, abusive or not, this was not the way to handle that issue and not very funny in my opinion. A throw line, or climbing line is a good idea to keep in a bucket, it is a crappy feeling when the engine shuts off and you are 60+ feet in the air.

 

[clearance]

Actually a dielectric test does not guarantee a boom is safe, saw dust, dirt and oil along a boom can compromise the dielectric properties and make the boom unsafe. Sounds like the guy in the air was left at a considerable risk, abusive or not, this was not the way to handle that issue and not very funny in my opinion. A throw line, or climbing line is a good idea to keep in a bucket, it is a crappy feeling when the engine shuts off and you are 60+ feet in the air.

Another one who cannot comprehend the English language, look at my post describing this incident. "Funny,......." Funny comma, get it Dadatwins?

 

[BigJohn]

I had a lazy nasty buckey forman. This guy would spit and blow his nose out of the bucket trying to hit you. He come down not quite to the ground and throw the saw at you and tell you to fill it up. He would take a match lite it and throw it on the floor of the truck where all his coffee cups and news papers lay and say burn the trash. This guy was a piece of work. Our boss wouldn't even come out to pay us, he would leave our checks in our vehicles just to avoid talking to the guy.

That was a make you or break you kind of crew. If you could stick around and take that abuse for a few weeks they knew you would stick through anything. This guy was ex marine who was pissed he couldn't get back in because he got too fat and was shaped like a pear.

 

[Dadatwins]

Another one who cannot comprehend the English language, look at my post describing this incident. "Funny,......." Funny comma, get it Dadatwins?

Thanks for pointing out that comma, you are so correct, I did not think it was funny until I re-read it with the comma, and then I laughed so hard I almost fell off my chair, fortunately I didn't fall off the chair, because the comma held me up, get it ,,, Hahahaha, the comma held me up, somebody stop me Is this off topic???

 

[clearance]

Leaving someone in the boom over powerlines isn't really funny because something bad could have happened to the guy, potentially. That being said the guy really brought it on himself, I think thats obvious. Bucket guys have no monopoly on being dorks, dorks are everywhere, just like good guys.

 

[Graeme]

Many trees can be climbed. however some cannot.
Buckets can be used to access some trees, but not all.
Some contracts are completed more efficiently with a bucket, others by climbing.
Some good bucket operators don't climb. Climbers, have a choice if they decide to use a bucket or not.

Having the luxury of choice, doesn't determine if you are a slacker.

 

[jmack]

so

Funny, there is a story here of an abusive bucket guy who was very nasty to groundsmen, he was trimming a three phase in the middle of nowhere, rural, deadend road, screaming at his groundsman. The young guy had enough and shut the truck off, took the keys out of the ignition, showed them to the moron in the bucket and threw them into the bush, gave the guy the finger and walked. The guy stayed in the boom for hours and hours as it crept down to the three phase it was over. Finally when he hadn't returned to the yard they went looking and found him, had to get someone to hotwire or start the truck, it was well after dark by this time. Treeco, you sound like the kind of guy who uses that rope, good thing you don't have to rappel around three phases.

what happen when the two of them met up again? , or did the ground guy leave totally?

 

[clearance]

what happen when the two of them met up again? , or did the ground guy leave totally?

Don't know, didn't know the groundsman only met the bucket guy years later, I understand that he changed his ways somewhat. I would imagine the groundsman just bailed totally, don't you, after that? People can beak off all they want, I have trimmed utility after thinking it was easy to be a "bucket slug", it really is not that easy, to go down road, set after set, having to be alert around the powerline and watch for cars, groundsmen, homeowner morons, etc,etc.....

 

[oldugly]

bucket vs climbers

After years of trimming only by climbing, 8 years of power lines, several more for private contractors, and still more for my own company, I am back into the power lines. This time as a subcontractor working on my own as a bucket operator, and climber. The general in this contract pretty much leaves me alone, gives me a map, and asks what's been done on occasion. We are working in an area now that was previously trimmed by another company...interesting enough all the lines accessible by the bucket are not too bad, but all the cross country taps are burning, with huge overhangs, and well over 5 years past the normal trim cycle.
There are definitely bucket babies out there, and there are definitely overtly arrogant climbers, but speaking from someone who has had to clean up the mess left by both....and has been on both sides of this especially in the last few months....I'd say both sides here need to show more character than the flying insults, and weak defensive posturing. Although amusing to read, show some backbone. If people want to call me an arrogant climber...great, I've been doing this for a long time, still got all my limbs, some of my hair, and I still do the "impossible" on a regular basis. If someone wants to call me a bucket baby...I'm okay with that too. I've paid my dues and earned the right to take the elevator to the top once in awhile, and their opinion of my using a bucket doesn't hurt me in the slightest way. The bantering is humorous, but even more so is the spineless way some have taken offense at this. Get a backbone, and a life....and if you're working with ignorant lazy a$$es get a different job, or develop an intergrity of your own accord that is not dependant upon others work habits, or their acceptance of your "superiority".
Just the opinion of an uneducated, and unrefined old timer who has survived long enough to be arrogant, but is smart enough to know he's been very lucky also.

 

[userdude]

I think maybe a couple of you guys misunderstood me.
I realize buckets have there place and am thankful for them at times.
I am referring to the guys who ONLY run a bucket. The guys who can't step out of their bucket, into the tree, and go up another few feet to get that overhang. Or, the bucket man who only knows how to tie a bowline.

I feel this needs reiterating.