BLURB
"Strap on your work boots and put on your hard hat. Let me take you on a sheetrock dusted journey to see what it is like to work within the construction industry. The work is hard, the environment is unforgiving, and the jobsite can be either extremely hot or cold. Almost 17 years ago, I stepped foot into a male-dominated work environment. Despite the lack of a warm embrace, I pushed my way into this world to learn the trade. I showed my many mentors that I wanted to be here and was ready to learn and work. After some grit and sweat, I worked my way out of my apprenticeship to become a journeywoman electrician. I earned a great working reputation within my trade and some aches and pains along the way. I work with guys from all backgrounds and all walks of life; and a few females that share my goal to be called journeywomen. Construction workers do not care that you do not feel up to the challenge that day. You must suck it up and get the job done! You will witness what it is like on a weekly basis to work within my industry. Every story in this book is real. The names of my co-workers have been changed to protect the innocent….or the guilty! I must warn you that this book is not for the faint of heart!"
Genre:
Self Improvement
Publisher:
Self-Published at CreateSpace
Release
Date: August 6, 2013
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leslie
is a journeywoman electrician who works within Westchester County,
New York, Fairfield County, Connecticut, and the five boroughs of New
York City. Leslie has worked within the construction industry for the
past 17 years. She is also an evening OSHA instructor/writing coach
working part time for Empire College. Leslie recently graduated and
received an MBA with honors at Iona College in New Rochelle, New
York. She lives with her two sons, Tom and Johnny, in Lake Carmel,
New York. Leslie enjoys spending quality time with her sons such as
snowboarding and visiting haunted houses throughout New England. She
also enjoys cruise ship traveling around the world, renovating her
home, and spending time lifting weights in the gym.
Excerpt
"Chapter 3- The Big Job
Construction Tales: Volume
I: A Woman’s Journey To Become An Electrician
I
was sent to work on a brand new job coming out of the ground in
Connecticut. This job would provide massive amounts of overtime and
help my living situation tremendously. I learned real quickly that
the pace on this job was very different from my last job. It was
more of a laid back, easy-going work environment. I would have never
guessed that I was about to meet a whole group of characters on this
very large job.
I
set foot on the largest construction job I had ever witnessed at this
point in my apprenticeship. By this moment in time, the country was
coming out of a recession and this massive deck job was going to
catapult many trades’ people into a good financial position. My
first day was in a giant room that was in the process of becoming the
data center for a very large trading floor. As an apprentice, my
first three hours of the day were all about getting coffee for a
third of the crew of roughly 100 electricians. There were no
elevators so two other apprentices and I had to walk up a minimum of
six (up to thirteen) flights of stairs and provide coffee for the
group of hungry and hung-over electricians each day.
The
coffee trek was a half-mile walk to the deli each morning. I placed
my order and sat there with the other apprentices until the order was
ready. I had to make sure I had proper change for each person who
ordered and double-checked all orders for accuracy. Coffee was the
most important part of the day and screwing up the order could ruin
the entire day. This was especially true when we went into overtime.
If you got the coffee order wrong, plenty of these guys would react
like spoiled children and have an actual temper tantrum. I started
to get to know two fellow apprentices, Ryan and Todd, very well while
getting our daily orders of coffee. I will never forget my
friendship with these two fellow apprentices.
Ryan
was a tall, dark-haired, and very hairy guy from a community normally
filled with rich and upper-class folk. Ryan often reeked of body
odor, cigarette smoke, or booze from the night before. He was and
probably still is clearly a fish out of water in his community, yet
he fit right in on a construction site. Ryan played in a band. He
was very rough around the edges, with plenty of piercings all over
his face. Ryan came in to work on a regular basis hung-over, often
stinking as if a keg of beer had been splashed all over him."
Thank you for hosting my book!
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