Dude, I Just Work Here – Days 8 - 10

The following is a recap of my adventures and experiences while out on business continuity assignment for my employer. In brief summary, there is currently a work stoppage on the part of union employees in the Northeast region. As a result, I’ve been assigned to travel to the upstate New York and perform some of the duties of the striking employees.
My goal is to make this a running blog and post as often as possible.

(August 15-17, 2011)

Thanks, Partner
With the arrival of the additional non-union employees, my work partner and I knew things were going to change. Fortunately for us, only two of the five scheduled escorts were there and ready for work on the morning of Day 8. This meant my partner and I got to roll in our van together one last time.

It was somewhat of a bittersweet workday for us. To summarize what I’ve said before, no one has any idea why we’re being asked to go out with ‘escorts’ that have zero training in the work we’re doing, but since that is an issue we cannot remedy, we simply have to make the most of it. With that in mind, my partner and I kicked butt and took names with our job, and we closed out all the trouble issues assigned to us that day.

The Freshmen
Although we’d been there a whopping nine days, there was a funny feeling the morning of Day 9 between us and the new escorts that arrived. We felt like college Seniors giving incoming Freshmen their orientation. “This is what you’re gonna’ want to do. This is what you’re NOT gonna’ want to do. And under any circumstances, don’t you dare ”

It’s not that we’re any kind of subject matter experts or anything like that, but it is true to say the previous week felt like several months, and we all felt we had a plethora of knowledge and insight we had to transfer to our new team members. A couple of them looked at us in disbelief as we retold stories of things that happened the week before, and it seemed that every other sentence ended with the phrase, “Just be thankful you’re here in Kingston and not in the city.”

New Beginnings
With my work partner and I being split up, Day 9 saw me roll out not only with a new partner, but also in a new truck. Gone was the nice van I’d been driving, the one my previous partner and I called Milagro because it was a miracle we were assigned to a location like Kingston. Instead, my new partner and I rolled out in an old, GMC bucket truck (the work trucks with the extending arms in the back which is attached to a bucket). I decided I would name the truck Gerry … as in geriatric … as in the truck handles like a tank with Parkinson’s. Not to mention no air conditioning in our new ride. This is not a problem when it’s 80 degrees outside, but it is a problem when it starts to rain.

My first experience with the bucket truck took my new partner and me out to a remote area outside of Kingston. The terminal I needed to look was on a pole that sat about fifteen feet from the edge of street. The advantage of the bucket truck is you don’t have to use the ladder to get up the pole. This saves time and energy and makes getting to the terminal a million times easier. The problem with the truck is you need to make sure the truck is on an even surface. In the theoretical, if you extend the arm of the truck out in the same direction of the slope on which the truck is parked, the entire vehicle can flip. Given the truck was at a slant beyond the acceptable limits, I was not at all about to test out that theory

I ended up moving the truck to the center of the road (on the double yellow line) while my partner stood and waved traffic through. This is a bit of a misnomer given the area at which we were working was very remote, and if we saw more than ten cars go by in the ninety minutes we were there, that number would have been a lot. The problem with having moved truck to the middle of the road was the arm now did not reach to the pole. This meant I would have to climb the pole. Luckily, however, the pole had step climbers, and this prevented me from having to take down the ladder, carry it, secure it, etc. Still, climbing up that pole was a little more challenging than I had imagined, and since some of the steps were missing as I got to the top of the pole. This meant shifting my weight and getting comfortable in my safety belt was a lot more difficult and cumbersome that it had been in training.

The moral of the story is no matter how you think you’re going to approach resolving a problem, you always need to be prepared to tackle it from a different angle. Such is the life a telephone repair man.

Serious R&R
Day 10 brought me my first day off since this work stoppage began. My former partner and I planned to take in as tourists many of the sites and locations we’d only been able to see driving to and from various job sites. God must have really been looking out for us on Day 10. Whereas the previous days were filled with grey skies and rain, Day 10 was a picture-perfect.

We started off by driving to Woodstock, walking around the town, take some pictures, and doing some shopping. We coincidentally met up with a team of our peers that was out there working on an issue, and we all grabbed lunch together. From there, my former partner and I proceeded to the small town of Phoenicia. There we were able to check out the rapids of the creek that runs through the town, as well as take some more pictures.

More importantly, it was a great mental break from the rigors of the work assignment. For one beautiful, sunshine-filled day, we did not have to worry about work orders, cross boxes, twisted pairs, dial tone, ladders, poles, or NID’s. For one day, we could just relax and breathe and enjoy the reprieve.

As Day 10 came to a close, the memories of the day off became bittersweet as I knew it would be another month-long week (at least) before I’d be able to enjoy that again. Here’s hoping that time flies regardless of whether or not I’m having fun.

Gerry

Damn. I make this look easy.

Dude, I Just Work Here – Days 6 - 7

The following is a recap of my adventures and experiences while out on business continuity assignment for my employer. In brief summary, there is currently a work stoppage on the part of union employees in the Northeast region. As a result, I’ve been assigned to travel to the upstate New York and perform some of the duties of the striking employees.
My goal is to make this a running blog and post as often as possible.

(August 13-14, 2011)

50/50 Day
Day 6 proved to be both a good and bad day. From a work perspective, my partner and I resolved every issue assigned to us. Achieving a 100% closure rate was very satisfying, especially when one of the fixes meant having to venture to the Central Office and resolve the issue there. It was literally an on-the-job training experience, and I admit it was as much luck as it was skill to fix the issue. Still, the end result from the eyes of the customer is the same.

Having had such great success with our efforts, my partner and I were eager to get out there on Day 7 and tackle some more trouble reports. The excitement of the moment was lost, however, when we returned back to the garage on Day 6 and were given the news additional non-union employees will be joining us this upcoming week. This was not received well by us since we’ve already established a rapport with our respective partners, and having to change all that up in the next couple of days will be quite disruptive.

Like communism, I guess I understand the concept on paper. If you take the number of teams going out to the customers and double them, the keystone being that no one can go out to a job site alone, then productivity should increase. However, to have other management employees accompany us – none of which are trained at all for installation and maintenance – will only serve to decrease productivity. It’s been a challenge for us this past week, as two-person teams, both trained in copper installation and maintenance, to figure out some of the problems we’ve been assigned. To ask us to tackle those same issues with someone who is there literally to just sit with us, I don’t see how that is designed to help our customers.

So whereas before the conflict us employees on assignment faced was with picketing union members, now it feels like we’re getting slammed from the other side by our executive management. I’ve always wondered about the force field that surrounds our headquarters in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. It’s a shield through which every day common sense does not penetrate. I guess this happens often in all large corporations, but it seems that rather than reach out to the garages and sample what’s actually happening, a decision is made unilaterally and applied as a one-size-fits-all solution to help.

I know the company is trying. I know they’re looking to help and protect those employees in the big cities having to deal with hellish behavior on a daily basis. I understand the intent is good. But speaking specifically for the garage to which I’m assigned, it’s going to suck. Not to mention that not everyone currently here is trained the same. My partner is not certified to work aloft (carry large ladders, climb a pole, etc.). Us being team together is perfect because I get to do that work while she’s either interfacing with the customer or communicating our information back to our dispatch center. Now that we’re being split up, I have no idea how that’s going to work.

Niagara Falls
From Kingston, New York, it’s about four and a half to five hours to Niagara Falls. On the evening of Day 6, I had Niagara on my face. For the first time since I’ve been here, being away from my family really got to me. Depressed, sad, lonely, angry, confused, anxious; it was a multitude of feelings that was overwhelming me all at once.

I’ve been away from my wife and my kids for a week before, but the circumstances surrounding this time apart are so very different. Before, there was a known end date. We all knew that come a certain date we’d see each other again. With this work stoppage assignment, there is no known end date. There is no telling if I’ll be here for a couple more days, for several weeks, or even for months.

I think it was the buildup of that great unknown that finally made me breakdown on Day 6. Come next week I will be missing soccer games as well as the back to school period for my kids. I will most social likely miss events to which I had originally committed to attend. It’s the not knowing how this is going to play out that just hit like a ton of bricks.

Learning from a Pro
On Day 7, It came to my attention the only thing worse than having to deal with an irate customer is trying to fix the problem of a former employee who used to do the work I am attempting to do now. It’s not an anger or attitude issue. Rather, it’s a matter of knowing if you do something wrong, that person will immediately know you’re doing something wrong. That was the situation that Sunday morning.

Our customer was a former engineer with Verizon who happened to work as a copper wire installer and repair person during the last strike, and I am sure he’s forgotten more about telephone support than I’ll ever know. During his time as a replacement worker, this customer reported to the same person who is now my current works stoppage supervisor. Armed with this information, we knew the problem was NOT going to be at the customer’s premise.

Our customer could not have been more cordial and friendly. From the moment we met him, he took charge in explaining the issue, where he thought the issue might be, and how we should go about fixing it. He even told us the location of the cross box that served the vicinity. After a couple of minutes of pleasantries, my partner and I made our way down to the cross box. We quickly found the customer’s line, but due to a mistake I was making in interpreting the information - I was reversing in my head the flow of service - we ended up troubleshooting the problem incorrectly and did not make any progress.

After about 45 minutes, our customer showed up at the cross box and once again took over the scene. I explained what we were trying to do, and he explained where it was I had erred in my analysis. We identified possible solutions and spelled out a game plan to get him back into service. We returned to his premise as the solution required me to climb the pole in front of his house and make some changes to the terminal. Once again our customer took over, helping me set up my ladder and giving me pointers on how to work with that specific terminal, etc.

Unfortunately, we were unable to resolve his issue that day. Per safety procedure, we’re required to check every pole we climb for the presence of high voltage. There’s a special tool we use to do that, and if the light goes red, we’re to climb down and report the issue to our supervisor. I desperately wanted to resolve this customer’s issue, and I knew we could do it given our game plan, but you don’t mess around with high voltage. My partner and I are keeping this order in our queue until the power company can clear the voltage issue on that pole. Once they do, we will be back out to the site to restore service for that customer.

Two Different Worlds
I spoke to a good friend of mine from Tampa who is also assigned to business continuity work. We exchanged stories about our experience with picketers, and it was clear to see our experiences are completely different. Whereas the union folks here have, for the most part, left us alone to do our jobs, the non-union employees in and around the major, metropolitan area continue to be berated and verbally assault. My friend told me horror story after horror story, and apparently the union is supposed to ‘step it up’ on Day 8 of the strike. Add the scent of the fresh meat that is the escorts and I am sure the morning of Day 8 is going to be interesting.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Dude, I Just Work Here - Days 4 - 5

The following is a recap of my adventures and experiences while out on business continuity assignment for my employer. In brief summary, there is currently a work stoppage on the part of union employees in the Northeast region. As a result, I’ve been assigned to travel to the upstate New York and perform some of the duties of the striking employees.
My goal is to make this a running blog and post as often as possible.

(August 11 - 12, 2011)

Change of Pace
What a difference 72 hours makes. Whereas the general attitude on Day 1 amongst the non-union employees assigned work stoppage duty was one of concern and fear, Day 4 for us was calm and cool. For the first time this week, we were not followed by any union workers. Having had a positive experience with our ‘fan club’ on Day 3, I wasn’t overly concerned about being followed on Day 4. Still, there was a giant sense of relief – almost a sense of normalcy – to be able to drive out to our job site without having to worry about a trail car.

It’s About the Customers
There are many cons and very few pros about this assignment. I really hate being away from my kids. I miss my wife greatly. There’s also the fun, silly and ridiculous little things I’m missing, too. I’d been working for weeks to get my pool at home back to perfect in terms of water clarity. I spent part of the Saturday before I left treating the pool, cleaning the filter, etc. My wife tells me it’s now crystal clear, and I’m all the way up here unable to enjoy it. Also, my mother-in-law lives with us, and it’s truly a blessing to have her around. Yet, it does result in the hindrance to ‘spontaneous romantic moments’ between my wife and me. My mother-in-law is going out of town for a couple of days. In a million ways, having to be on work stoppage duty really sucks.

Still, there are moments when being here is truly rewarding. On Day 4, we drove out to a customer site. The trouble ticket read the customer did not have dial tone, was an elderly customer, and it was also flagged as being a critical issue given the customer’s age and their inability to dial 911 in the event of an emergency. When we arrived to the customer’s site, we were greeted by a handsome, elderly gentleman who was very happy to see us. The look on his face was one of joyous relief.

I couldn’t help but gravitate towards the man. He was well dressed (unfortunately on his way to a funeral), elegant, and had a ‘Burt Lancaster in Field of Dreams’ type of appeal to him. I explained how we were prepared to troubleshoot his service, and I pledged to myself at that moment I was going to get his service restored. My partner and I worked our way from the premise back to the box that connects the customers’ lines to the Verizon central office (cross box). Along the way we noticed the aerial terminal for our customer was just dangling from the span. We set up the ladder, climbed up, cleared up the branches and debris that cluttered the terminal, and re-hung it from the span. Unfortunately, the problem was not there. What was cool is that our customer passed us on the way out, and his wife lowered her window, thanked us for looking into the problem, and said, “I hope this strike ends soon.” She was so loving in her delivery and it made us both feel deeply appreciated.

Once we were done with the aerial terminal, we headed to the cross box. Turns out the simple piece of copper wire that connects one end of the phone circuit to the other was disconnected. We connected the line to the respective posts in the cross box and confirmed dial tone on the line. We doubled back to the customer’s house and confirmed dial tone there as well. We even called the customer’s number and could hear the phone ringing in the house.

The sense of satisfaction is hard to describe. There’s just something very cool about being able to resolve a customer’s issue. It’s just one of those things where someone asks you for help and you’re able to deliver. It’s so much more than a company helping a paying customer. It’s creating goodness with your time and skills for another person. It’s awesomeness.

I Don’t Get It
On Day 5 my partner and I had another similar experience with a customer. She was reporting a bad hum on her line. The problem was with the drop wire coming from the telephone pole to her property. It had fallen and come undone from her two-story house. My partner and I re-attached the line, made sure it was not only correctly connected but also aesthetically pleasing, and finished the job which resulted in another satisfied customer.

In both of the cases above, the root cause of the issue has me baffled. Customer lines don’t simply become disconnected at a cross box. In the case of the drop wire, what I thought was caused by a fallen limb, etc. seemed to be a result of manual intervention. Both cases left me deeply suspicious that they were a result of a deliberate attempt to disrupt service to our customers, and the more jobs I work, the more it seems there’s a weird pattern to the issues being reported.

Let me be clear. I am not making accusations. My suspicion could simply be a matter of me not having done this type of work before, and it’s possible these things happen with more frequency than I am aware. Still, when you read news reports of deliberate sabotage on the part of the union and you couple that with the open hostility that’s been displayed in the large cities by striking employees, it’s only natural to think many of these issues to which we’re responding are an elaborate way for the union to simply fuck with us.

Assuming that is the case, I just don’t get it. These are people who make a living in providing service to customers. So the solution to resolve a dispute between them and their employer is to disrupt the very customers they’ve been servicing for years? If anything, one would assume it would be the opposite. Why bite the hand that feeds you? Why try to anger your customer base to a point where they’d no longer want to be your customer and leave for a competitor? If that were to happen, what job would be left once all the customers are gone? It’s the antithesis of self preservation, and I just don’t get it at all.

Praying
I pray every day this dispute is resolved quickly. As I’ve said before, this is not my fight, yet for some reason I’m here caught in the middle of it. I’m missing my daughter’s soccer matches. I miss playing video games with my son. I’m missing waking up each morning with my wife. I miss being able to hang out with my friends and neighbors at home. I’d like to say the resolve of the union is waning (it sure feels like it is here at my location). In fact, the only time I was called a scab on Day 5 was by one of the managers in our garage. He was doing it in jest as he happened to be standing outside the garage as we were pulling into the building. It was funny and I think even the two or three union people who were still there got a chuckle out of it. Unfortunately, things aren’t quite as chipper in places like New York City, New Jersey, and Boston. My peers in those cities are the ones that really need this whole fiasco to come to a speedy conclusion. And from what I’ve been hearing, they need a stiff drink, too. Here’s hoping we all get to go home very soon.

Dude, I Just Work Here - Day 3

The following is a recap of my adventures and experiences while out on business continuity assignment for my employer. In brief summary, there is currently a work stoppage on the part of union employees in the Northeast region. As a result, I’ve been assigned to travel to the upstate New York and perform some of the duties of the striking employees.
My goal is to make this a running blog and post as often as possible.

(August 10, 2011)

That’s So Yesterday
As Day 3 began, it did so with my resolve burning. No longer was I going to allow these union employees to intimidate me and make me feel uncomfortable. My partner and I decided that instead of taking the trail cars for a ride - all the while wasting our time and preventing us from providing service to our customers - we were going to go directly to the site of the job we did not get to finish the day before. The plan was not so much a matter of me growing a pair overnight as it was knowing the location was up in the mountain, required a fairly lengthy drive to get there, and we would be protected by the 45 feet of driveway onto the customer’s property. The union picketers can follow us to our site and picket our work, but they cannot do so on the customer’s private property. Going directly to the site was a calculated move on our part.

CWA = Creepy Worker Association?
I will say there was a sense of “bring it on” as we left the garage to our work site. This was a result of the union sending their workers to our respective hotels in order to follow us and, I assume, intimidate us from the very beginning of the day. This was just unacceptable as far as we were concerned. It’s one thing to bother us once we’re on the clock and actually working for the company they’re fighting against, but to harass us at our hotel is just bad form.

One of my teammates, who is unfortunately staying at a separate hotel - by herself - was followed in to work by union employees. I can only imagine what this woman must have been thinking and feeling as two strangers were, in effect, stalking her on her way to work. I would have been terrified and pissed beyond belief. Let’s put it this way, if I were home and my wife were on a work stoppage assignment , and she called me with a story like that, I’d be on the next plane and the situation would end with me going to jail and the union guys going to the hospital. Again, totally unacceptable.

We didn’t have that problem. There’s a group of us staying in the same hotel and we’re all carpooling into work. On Tuesday, one of my peers drove and we went in the RAM 1500 my other peer had rented. Later that day, we all agreed we’d take my rental car on Wednesday. After having run to grab dinner late Tuesday evening, I came back to find the parking lot of my hotel full, and I ended up having to park on the other side of the building. On Wednesday morning, the union guys, whom we had no idea would be there, were waiting by the pickup truck. As it turns out, we all exited the other side of the hotel, piled into my rental, and left. As we were leaving, we noticed the guys in the red shirts. “Those aren’t union guys, are they?” We weren’t sure but it quickly dawned on us that if they were, they were waiting for us to come out to the truck. Through our laughter, I could hear my peer saying, “So long, suckers!”

Putting It Into Practice
I can honestly say Day 3 was a good day. We got some work done and managed to close out three of our orders (which is a good number given the circumstances of what we’re dealing with). We’re not entirely efficient, but with every day there’s a greater sense of familiarity and understanding of what to look for, how to troubleshoot it, and how to eventually resolve it. What also made the day great is that I actually go to put into practice the things I was taught in training over six weeks ago, specifically climbing a telephone pole using a ladder. Completing this task under normal circumstances is an effort unto itself. There’s a procedure to removing the ladder from the van. There’s a procedure for carrying the ladder. There’s a procedure for setting, raising, and securing the ladder. All these procedures exist for safety reasons, and they all take time. Add on the facts A) I was trying to recall so much of it from memory, B) the pole on which I’d be working was located one hundred feet into a wooded area full of shrubs, vines, and tall grass, and C) there was the added pressure or the picketing union employees watching my every move, what should have taken twenty or so minutes took about an hour.

Thankfully there was a moment of comic reprieve. My partner is Cuban and I am Cuban-American. In order to clear out the shrubbery and brush, we had to use a machete - yes, I said machete - that was in the van. As I’m whacking away at the foliage, I said to my teammate, “Two Cubans with a machete in the woods. How *bleeping* cliché is this?”

Once everything was set up, it was almost exhilarating to climb up the ladder and work on the aerial terminal the fed the customer’s home. I did my testing and trouble shooting, and I felt so comfortable up there, I had forgotten I was over twenty five feet off the ground.

Redemption?
I find my outlook and perspective towards the striking union workers having shifted. This is due largely to the fact that as I was setting up my ladder, one of the union employees suggested I set my ladder a little further back for safety reasons. He stated my ladder was too steep and I needed more incline. He also later provided additional instructions regarding the securing of the ladder to the pole.

I was shocked by his willingness to give me pointers, as well as what appeared to me to be genuine concern for my well being. Once I finished my work and returned my ladder and tools to my van, I walked over to the gentleman and thanked him in person. We shared a brief conversation and he was very cordial in his tone and demeanor. This was not the same tone and demeanor we’d seen just a couple of hours earlier as we left the garage. Gone was the venom in his words. Absent was the vitriol in the language he used. Instead, he was clear to state that he did not like nor appreciate the fact we were there doing the work, yet he understood the situation we’re in, and the last thing he wanted is for one of us to get hurt on a job. In return, I, too, empathized with the position they were in, and I explained I’d much rather be at home with my family than performing business continuity work.

The best way to describe the exchange was professional and filled with mutual respect. I do like to think, however, that his watching me setup the ladder, climb the pole, and work on the terminal allowed me to earn a measure of respect in his eyes. Rather than wimping out, I went out and got the job done.

Playing the Part
It turns out I have a lot more in common with the union employees than I had thought. Speaking specifically about the group protesting outside our garage, it’s become apparent the majority of them share the same sentiment as the gentleman with whom I conversed. They don’t necessarily want to be out in the sun or rain walking around in circles, blowing their whistles, and holding signs. Still, they have to in order to be paid by the union. They also have to play the part of irate union person in order to stay in the good graces of the union higher-ups.

This reveals to me that the loud, obnoxious, and rude protestors are really the vocal minority of the organization. Not everyone in a red shirt ‘hates me’, but rather they greatly dislike what I represent in terms of the company’s solution to the work stoppage. They also admitted - through surreptitious back channels, of course - they have no intention of causing any harm to anyone.

This really made me feel a lot better and a lot safer than I did just 48 hours earlier. It’s a shame that a select few force all others on strike to be so adversarial and uncompromising. Assholes will be assholes, I guess. The good news is going forward I will not feel the level of anxiety I did on Days 1 and 2, and less anxiety is always a good thing.

Dude, I Just Work Here - Day 2

The following is a recap of my adventures and experiences while out on business continuity assignment for my employer. In brief summary, there is currently a work stoppage on the part of union employees in the Northeast region. As a result, I’ve been assigned to travel to the upstate New York and perform some of the duties of the striking employees.
My goal is to make this a running blog and post as often as possible.

(August 9, 2011)

Not This Again
Day 2 of my work stoppage assignment was not unlike Day 1. We were greeted at the garage by a collection of picketing union workers, and we were once again delayed from actually entering the garage by picketers walking very casually and slowly in the middle of the street.

Once we were inside, we received our jobs for the day and headed out. Once again we started being tailed by union guys in a car. Once again we decide to employ our ‘drive for miles’ tactic. The resolve of our shadow team, however, did not falter. My partner and I drove for over 120 miles with no avail. These guys would just not quit. I can, however, say that downtown Albany - yes, Albany - is actually quite nice, and the architecture there is stunning.

Resigned to the fact there was no way to lose our tail, my partner and I decided enough was enough and we set the GPS to our customer’s location. Immediately the butterflies from Monday morning were back. The idea of leading a group of loud and visible protestors to a customer’s house made me sick. My anxiety shot through the roof, and I was feeling queasy as we exited the interstate. It’s bad enough to have to deal with the verbal abuse, the taunts, and the glares from the union people, but to take that crap to the customer’s doorstep is, in my opinion, out of bounds.

Mysterious Ways
The GPS was trying to locate our position as we exited the interstate, which just so happens to exit traffic into a rotunda. Not knowing exactly which way to go, I stayed with the easier flow and went right. It was at that moment the GPS kicked in and advised us we should have gone left. “Dammit!” I thought. “This whole situation is going from bad to worse.”

I pulled into an open parking lot and did a casual loop to turn around and get back to the main road, this time heading in the correct direction. As I circled around our trail car also had to do the same. Serendipitously, there was a third car leaving the parking lot at the same time, and it happened to find its way between our van and the trail car. As I looked up, I noticed the light for us was green. “No way! Really?” I said out loud. With about 20 feet to the intersection, the light turned yellow. My partner sat up in her seat. “Go! Go! Go!” she exclaimed. I punched the accelerator and sure enough we made the light while our shadow was left in waiting.

The feelings of nausea and anxiety were immediately replaced with those of relief and celebration. We lost them! After two and a half hours of crazy, monotonous driving, we were finally free. Not five minutes earlier I had made a commented we had won Day 1 of this game the union was choosing to play, and it seemed Day 2 would go to the team dressed in red. Losing our tail at the light was akin to Flutie’s Hail Mary pass from 1984. It was miraculous, last second win.

I also have to mention that as we exited the interstate, I said a little prayer asking God to please, please, please show us a way out of the mess I felt we were heading towards. It turns out the mix up with the GPS and going the wrong way actually ended up being the right way after all. He really does work in mysterious ways, and His grace can only be described as awesome.

A Little Better
Once we were able to carry on with our work, my partner and I found we were able to do it a little better than we did on Day 1. There were still challenges we had to face, not to mention delays as a result of the torrential rain the passed over the Kingston area, but as with all things, we felt our confidence increase as we went from job to job. We know this will continue to trend in the positive, and assuming we’re still here next week, there’s no doubt in my mind the daily tasks will feel very commonplace for us.

Getting back to the worksite was also much better than it was on Day 1. Thanks to the aforementioned downpour, many of the picketers had dispersed by the time we made it back to the garage. The few union folk that remained seemed almost indifferent to us and they somewhat solemnly moved out of the way so we could pull in.

In speaking with non-union workers who work with those that are currently on strike, it turns out the majority of them really prefer not to have to go out and picket. In many ways, they’re in the same situation I’m in of having to go do a job out of requirement. I can only imagine the repercussions they’d face if they did not show up to picket and protest, and if there’s any empathy from me to them, it’s to the union employees that would much rather be back at work than losing a paycheck and standing out there in the rain for hours upon hours.

Soap Box
That being said, there still remains the small, vocal minority that thrives on times like these. As someone put it, it’s the people that are normally assholes being given the opportunity to be justified assholes. And speaking collectively, I’m completely baffled by the tactics being employed by the CWA. In addition to picketing in front of a garage where there’s very little through traffic (i.e. you picket to bring attention to your cause, and if there’s no one there to see you, it’s no different than picketing in the middle of an empty field), the union is also asking customers to boycott the company.

So let me get this straight. Employee of Company A is asking the customers of Company A to boycott the company and switch to the competitor that is Company B. They want this so they can keep as-is their current jobs with Company A. My question is, if all the customers are now with Company B, what job is there to do in Company A? Seems to me CWA should stand for ‘Currently Without Aptitude’. Their logic is simply illogical.

As for their tactic of following us to our job sights, the cloud of intimidation has lifted and I see more clearly that those guys following us don’t really care to be there either. They’re pretty much going through the motions. One of the guys on my team went so far as to tell his tail, “Listen, guys. There’s nobody out here, so if you want to take off, we won’t mention anything to the other union guys.” It’s just a game for them, one that reminds me of the old ‘Wolf and Sheepdog’ cartoons. In fact, the next time I see the picketers, which I will from now on refer to affectionately as ‘my fan club’, I think I just may look them in the eye and say, “Good morning, Ralph. Have a good day.”

Dude, I Just Work Here - Day 1

The following is a recap of my adventures and experiences while out on business continuity assignment for my employer. In brief summary, there is currently a work stoppage on the part of union employees in the Northeast region. As a result, I’ve been assigned to travel to the upstate New York and perform some of the duties of the striking employees.

My goal is to make this a running blog and post as often as possible.

(August 8, 2011)

Get ‘Em Flying In Alignment
Someone once said the trick to overcoming butterflies in your stomach is to get them to all fly in the same direction. I think the butterflies I had Monday morning were both high on crack and blind. It’s truly hard to put into words how uneasy and nerve wracking my first day of business continuity work was. There’s something very unsettling about driving to work and having complete strangers yell at you and call you names as you pull into the work location. Then, to have them do it all over again as I was heading out to my job assignment was just as bad, if not worse.

I’ve done many things in my life that I consider high-pressure, things that would cause the nerves to go into overdrive. I’ve even jumped out of a plane. Still, those were nothing compared to the nausea I was feeling at the thought of having to endure the taunts, yells, and vitriol that was eschewed by the angry mob of picketers. It was almost surreal.

Did We Lose ‘Em?
If having to creep our way through a picket line wasn’t bad enough - something we could not do if not for the local police explicitly telling the picketers to get out of the way - you can only image the flinches my bowl felt when I realized there was a car full of striking employees following me to my work assignment. “Are you F’n kidding me?” I said to myself. We had discussed the possibility of such a tactic, but to see it put into practice made an already surreal experience feel that much more incredulous. I didn’t like the idea of showing up to a customer’s location and having a car full of extremely vocal and adamant individuals yell, picket, and protest. If the tactic was designed to instill fear and intimidation on the part of the target, then mission accomplished.
Using our own ‘drive for miles’ tactic, we were finally able to lose our shadow. After all, there were four or five individuals in the car that was tailing us. Eventually one of them had to take a nature break. Still, for the rest of the day I was über-suspicious of any car that ended up behind my work van. When I’d see them turn on their blinker to pass me or turn off onto another road, my assignment partner and I would breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Damn You Larry and Sergey
Finally able to head out to our job assignments, our focus turned to the GPS function on my Android phone. What I’ve come to realize is that as awesome and enormous as Google is, their GPS navigation feature is not entirely 100% accurate. I know this because we ended up driving up a dirt/rock road that snaked its way to the top of mountain. Okay, it was probably a hill, but I’ve lived at or below sea level my entire life. To me it was a mountain.

If you’ve never driven up Eagles Nest Road in Hurley (Kingston), NY, I suggest you do yourself the favor and skip the experience. To say it was a bit creepy was an understatement, and the fact it was an uneven road filled with rocks and potholes made for a horrible experience, especially in a van full of telephone repair gear. Our ride just rattled and rattled and rattled some more. I could not tell what was more aggravating; the loudness of our van given all its rattling or the aforementioned striking employees. My partner tried to find the silver lining in our misadventure. “At least they won’t find us here,” she said, referring to the union employees that had followed us earlier in the day. “That’s what I’m afraid us,” I retorted, alluding to my hyper-active imagination and the thought of how our bodies would be easily disposed of following the ambush I was certain would take place.

OK. Now What?
Crash courses are called ‘crash’ for a reason. In preparation for this work stoppage, I was trained to do installation and maintenance work in five days. Yes, five days. At our first customer location (after we finally found it), we were able to evaluate the reported problem and perform our list of checks to try and isolate the problem. However, once we identified what the problem was, my partner and I were both unsure as to what the next step was. This was a unique circumstance that had not been covered in either of our training classes, and it was frustrating to not be able to resolve the customer’s issue right there on the spot. After a couple of phone calls, we were able to determine the proper step to take. Still, I’d been hoping for a successful completion of the job so that the customer would be satisfied and also so my partner and I could boost our confidence for the overall assignment. I guess that would just have to wait.

Not These Guys Again
Following the first of what will be many 12-hour work days, we pulled into our assigned work station only to be greeted once again by the yelling and screaming. This time, the belligerence level on the part of some of the union employees was even higher. Although I wasn’t rattled as much as before, it was still very difficult mentally and physically to edge my way through that small sea of individuals that were blocking my way.

Our attention quickly turned to the notion the protestors would follow us back to our respective hotels. After all, they would be seeing us pull out of the garage and could easily employ the tactic from earlier in the day. Fortunately for us, that did not happen at all. I just hope and pray they remain just as level headed for the duration of the strike with regards to not following us back ‘home’.

Was That This Morning?
As I joined some my peers for dinner following our first day, partial exhaustion kicked in. The day was so long and I was feeling so very tired. I thought back to when I met the other non-union employees on assignment with us. It had been only 13 hours earlier, but for some reason it felt like 3 days. The day had been so long and the reality set it that this was only day 1 of an assignment of unknown duration. “Holy crap,” I said. “This is going to be the longest week of my life.”

Mission Accomplished

There we were, standing in the bed of a stranger’s pickup truck, staring at a plume of smoke that reached up to the heavens. We stood there in silence and waited. We counted silently to ourselves. “Any second now,” we said softly. Any second now I repeated to myself in my mind. Then we heard it. It was a roar unlike anything I’d heard before. It vanquished the silence. It shook the earth. It rattled my soul. It was an experience full of sound and fury, and it signified everything!

Last week, Lee and I ventured to Florida’s Space Coast to witness the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the historic closing of a space exploration program that began when I was a young boy. To see Atlantis blast off into space was, for the both of us, the culmination of many recent failed attempts, as well as a culmination of a lifetime of desire.

Since 2005, Lee and I have tried on several occasions to catch a launch in person. On our first attempt, we heard the launch had been scrubbed as we were driving through Orlando. That resulted in a fun-filled afternoon in Downtown Disney.

The next time was wholly spontaneous. Lee came home from work one afternoon and said to me, “Did you know there’s a shuttle launch tonight?” I told her I was vaguely aware of that fact. “You wanna’ go?” I jokingly said, “Sure.” “Okay. Let’s go then,” she said imperatively. “Wait. You’re serious?” Next thing I know, we’re driving along I-4 trying to figure out exactly where we need to go. Given this was well before the days of smart phones, I managed to take a ninety minute detour that left us literally running from the car to a spot where we could see the launch. Huffing and puffing as we finally found a suitable viewing location, we were filled with excitement as we overheard others counting down. Then, with forty seconds left, the launch was scrubbed.

Our third attempt was very more involved and planned out. However, like the two attempts that preceded, that one too yielded a failure to launch. (You can read the details of that adventure here).

It’s safe to say that in addition to the immense feeling of awe and amazement we felt as STS-135, the final of all shuttle flights, escaped Earth’s pull as it rocketed into space, Lee and I also felt a strong sense of resolution. For us, it was definitely ‘Mission Accomplished’ and it was another page in the book of blessings we’ve been able to share together.

Unlike the vacuum of space, for Lee and me there is no frontier that is final. As we walk together on this journey of life, every adventure completed and experience shared solidifies in both of us the knowledge that our partnership is meant to be. She and I make a good team, even when we have our personal moments of failure. It’s truly a blessing to have in my life a woman who allows my dreams to orbit the earth but also keeps my feet planted firmly on the ground.


PS. God speed to the crew of the Atlantis. Wishing them all a safe return home.