Fark
Friday, May 18th, 2007 at 6:51 amSo the guy comes to take up the old lino in the kitchen and lay down the new, and we get to moving the stove, concerning which the guy who gave me the quote for the lino said, “Oh, it’s just plugged into the wall, our guy can move it.” Well, what do I know about the back of the stove? The front is unsavoury enough; I have never wished to know about the back. Anyway, it turns out there isn’t just a plug in the wall, there’s a thick cable that attaches to the stove in a mysterious manner. I turn the stove power off at the fuse box, but the lino guy has had an explosive experience with disconnecting a stove and mine seems able to heat up with the power off, so he doesn’t want to touch it and I don’t blame him. I have to get an electrician, which I can’t find in the yellow pages because they are now called “Electrical Contractors”. Most of them don’t answer their phones. I find one that does. I ask him how much he charges. $88 for the first half hour, and $11 for something or other. So, $99 in all to get a stove that isn’t worth five bucks disconnected. After I pick myself up off the floor I ring around and find another guy who’ll do it for $65 (which actually doesn’t seem too bad, taking into account travel time). I am putting off ringing the plumber, who has to install my brand new loo. I can guess how much that’ll be. What I’m wondering is why did our parents and teachers rant on and on about how you’ve got to go to university when becoming an electrician or plumber, or a carpenter or a mechanic, would have been a much better plan. Do a trade and by the time you’re 25, if you save your money, you’ll probably have enough to put yourself through uni. Or buy a small island - and you’ll be able to install your own stoves and toilets on it, too.
May 18th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
In the US you do have to go through school to become liscensed for any of those jobs, after you spend a few years as an apprentice, then a journeyman. So, it’s no walk in the park, no matter how you slice it.
May 18th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
In Australia you go to trade school while you’re an apprentice, for which you get paid, so here at least it’s a decent option, financially speaking.
So, in the US, trade school comes after apprenticeship?
May 19th, 2007 at 1:43 am
Here in Vegas if you join the union they pay for whatever training while you work so you get paid and learn. And work your way up from apprentice, to journeyman, and so on. So it seems similar to Australia.
My friend is a union painter for the casinos.
Though we have trade schools as well, not so sure how those work in terms of working and learning and when one would get paid.
May 20th, 2007 at 12:36 am
From what I understand - of my friend who used to be a plumber - you do get paid for doing apprentice work while going to school, however, the pay is rather slim - about what you’d make doing customer service jobs - and you still have to pay for your own schooling. It may be somewhat different if you’re a member of a union, not sure there.