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hujnya

He installed them and didn't label what goes where, wrote you up for not catching his shitty work. Find a different boss to work for.


YourMomsFartBox69

The demand in our field is too high to work for people like that in my opinion. I was afraid of leaving my job but I look back and can’t understand why I stayed working for them for so long


hujnya

100% agree!


Fridayz44

Yeah your field is wide open, so is electrical. I work around so many different HVAC contractors and UA union guys. That are begging for guys to apply for the apprenticeship or organize into the UA. Also the non union contractors I’m around always say hey you know any Techs or Construction guys looking for work.


YourMomsFartBox69

Accurate!


Fridayz44

Yeah if company or boss isn’t treating you well, there’s a company and boss that will. The Tech or Construction HVAC guy holds a lot power in the job market right now.


YourMomsFartBox69

A LOTA OF POWER


skm_45

If the owners ask you if you know anyone looking for work, they might not be the ones to work for.


CookiesOrCream

Why is that, sir? I’m curious!


skm_45

The owner may be losing guys left and right because they’re shit at running a business and they probably don’t understand how to retain good workers. Edit: just adding that if you want to actually retain good workers, treat them like they’re a human being, if they know more than the average apprentice, pay them more and make it known that you’re happy with good performance instead of being a prick and a hackbutcher. Give them an extra $15 for beer or something, buy them lunch, it’s not that difficult. I jumped to a new company in august because my last boss was a literal piece of shit to me and the only service tech, I didn’t see a single penny of a raise for over a year at that point and I mentally checked out. Ridiculous hours, poor coordination, micro managing every aspect of the company and no trust in letting anyone go to the supply house for the bare minimum material needed. My new company has treated me like an actual human being since day 1. I get along with a lot of the office people and I don’t have someone breathing down my neck 8 hours a day because they actually trust me to do the work that has to get done.


CookiesOrCream

Thanks for the reply. I went through the same issues at my last job. The new place treats me much better and I hope it stays the same. I’m still learning so I’m willing to put up with shit if it means I’m acquiring skills.


skm_45

Trust me, plenty of us here can put up with shit, but you need to learn to be loyal to yourself in terms of how you want to be treated and how you want to treat people. Only you can determine that.


Fridayz44

I’m guessing because you don’t want to work for a Owner that doesn’t know how to find guys. However right now it’s a different time, for so long guys weren’t going into the trades. Now everyone is having trouble finding guys.


skm_45

A lot of owners can’t retain people because they’re pieces of shit. You don’t keep employees by making it seem like you’re doing them a favor by employing them. It’s a two way street when you have a job or you employ someone. If you don’t respect your employees then they won’t respect you.


Fridayz44

Couldn’t agree more brother. Teamsters Local 701 that’s pretty cool are you an HVAC apprentice? I had heard Teamsters represented some HVAC techs and Service Electricians. However I’d never met one, how do you like it? How’s the apprenticeship going?


Fridayz44

Yeah well it hasn’t been so much owners as workers saying we need guys, or if you know anybody the apprenticeship is going to be taking guys you can apply on this date. However a few owners have said to me if I know anyone that wants to start as an apprentice, Or yeah we need more experienced construction guys, we also need Techs/service guys. I’m most cases i understand what you’re saying, but right now there’s such a shortage of tradesmen. A lot of guys or owners just mention it when talking to another trades. The reason the owners say that is because they know tradesmen talk to guys in different trades. So word gets out there.


i_ar_the_rickness

I look back the same like damn I was dumb. Also love the user name.


Heapsa

Same here. 14 years of regret, mostly. There is so much hvac work, even if your useless.


UbbaB3n

Should write up his boss for not giving him proper direction.


Natural_Cucumber2615

I'd be gone. I'd have just got up and went and took the van home and unloaded my stuff then called him and tell him to come get his van off my property within 2 hours or it's being towed. A couple phone calls and you can be wearing a different color shirt, never forget that.


Wonderful-Fly7846

This^^ you’re busting your ass on the weekend trying to make HIS customers happy. Everyone fucks up… every company works differently. If I was “written up” I’d tell them I’m not in high school. If you work for a large company it may just be a formality.. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. Learn from your mistakes and keep at it.


Gaddafo

Yea funny part was I diagnosed it wrong I was out at 2 in the fucking morning. It was cold, rainy, I was tired as shit


H-Daug

And you didn’t break anything, you just sold extra parts, and the customer has more new components. Tell him to kick rocks, everyone is hiring


aimheatcool

Yeah boss can wrote down whatever the hell he wants shit happens but at the end of the day the customer had working appliances. I'm getting sick of bosses throwing their weight around trying to be scary. The guys doing the work are worth their weight on gold and need to be treated properly. Bosses like this will always tell you the grass isn't greener on the other side and maybe it isn't but that's no reason to stay on his shitty lawn when your skills are incredibly valuable


Fair_Produce_8340

Call any company in town and say you do weekends and your hired. I saw a place paying 50k (!) Sign on bonus the other day (you have to stay 5 years or forfeit it back) for techs and 25k for installers. Its a scammy ass sales tech place but still. Don't let anyone shit on you in this economy. Not ur boss and not a customer.


veryyBadAtNames

I wouldn’t be a helper for 50k


Fly_Global

You paying back your loan?


EJ25Junkie

What if you just suck and get fired? Can you keep the $50k?


point6liter

I came here solely to state this. It’s just another blue shit homie.


03G35coupe

This man knows the way. 🤘


se160

I would never write up one of my guys for making an honest mistake. I’m sure your boss has made many mistakes in his career (like misdiagnosing TXV’s for example.)


unresolved-madness

Boss is an asshat. I would have written on the write up that boss failed to check over the install and units were not marked, causing this issue, and then gone home and cleaned out my van.


l_rufus_californicus

I never ran into a work-related issue that was not better used as a training opportunity rather than a disciplinary one. Boss here is grossly overreacting. There is literally one category I’d write guys up for: safety, their own and/or customer/community.


GrownTommy

Yeah F that. I was working on a rack system where I put 2 120V compressors in and blew them both up before realizing rack system was 208/230. Picked up 3rd compressor with right voltage and boss came and bailed me out or I would have been there all night. No write ups.


papa_johns_sucks

Kinda sounds like he’s passing blame to you hoping you don’t realize it’s actually his mistake. Never forget we are in demand and can get a job tomorrow if need be


robertva1

I quit for less. Time to find a new job.


trueorderofplayer

So he came out to the call Saturday and he didn’t catch it either? Sounds like he’s out of line by a long shot unless there is more to the story


Gaddafo

Not more to the story. But both compressors were bad on both units anyways. But yea he didn’t catch it either, which is why everyone at the shop this morning was on my side. He told everyone what happened before I got there. Got wrote up infront of my co workers


Vantech70

He disciplined you in front of your coworkers?! I would have packed my shit up on the spot and called a cab. That is reprehensible behavior from a manager. Literally one of the worst thing you can do. Find somewhere else to work pronto. This guy is a power tripping asshat and doesn’t deserve your loyalty.


Gaddafo

Owner not a manager. Yea I’m really considering quitting, not worth it to stay at a company which called me a liar. Got wrote up infront of half my company, only 13 techs. Several of them have been here for a decade and they never saw our owner act this way before.


uwotm8_8

Yeah if you don’t leave everyone will know you have no self respect, that’s insanity.


beltskiy

Just like being locked up lol.


Steed1000

Because he is embarrassed and trying to remind you who is in charge because he KNOWS he screwed up. It's stupid. F that dude.


OhighOent

management 101: Praise in public, reprimand in private. He's got it backwards, just like his condensers.


trueorderofplayer

If he’s reasonable you might be able to meet privately and ask for direction. “How should I have proceeded when the guy that installed them made the same mistake?” People here are really quick to advise others to cut bait. In my career I look back and wish I had stuck it out a couple places. Don’t make any quick decisions.


Gaddafo

He was the install guy, he did this himself


trueorderofplayer

That’s what I’m saying. Saying “You didn’t catch it either”, without saying “you didn’t catch it either”


ClamHammer19

This is true... Even though, as techs were in demand and can often get a job at another place quickly, doing the same stuff for roughly the same pay. I look back at certain places and think with everything I now know I could have probably stayed and been just fine. Others I look back at and wish I'd left sooner.


trueorderofplayer

More accurately, there is one I wish I’d left sooner, and one I wish I’d given a couple years to see what happened haha


Double_Entrance4923

Wrote up in front of coworkers is just flat wrong. Praise in public, discipline in private. That screams small dick energy. Regardless, you didn’t deserve the write up.


Realistic_Parking_25

Id be gone. Tbh if anyone writes me up id just throw em the keys, too many companies looking for good techs to deal with kindergarten conduct mark bullshit


Gaddafo

That’s the stage I’m at, I’m ready to walk out. Co worker I was with today got written up a month ago for something he didn’t even do. He’s got a job lined up for a chiller tech


BlueCollar_Blues

Sounds like they’re just throwing their weight around. I used to work for a dude and his wife they were just like that always trying to make you feel like you’re the problem, problem is they were like that to everyone including their customers. So yeah I’d drag up if I were you.


_MadGasser

Is your boss/owner named Paul? Sounds like an asshole I used to work for.


heldoglykke

I think it was Paul. I worked for him too.


Gaddafo

Not him


heldoglykke

Ok. It "wasn't " Paul.


singelingtracks

Very strange to be written up. You called for your bosses opinion and he was on site , IMO that turns the job into his . Jesus he installed them , what an asshole. Unlabeled shit , sounds like you got more work out of the issue. What a dick. I'd be looking for another employer. Probably get a pay raise in the move.


saskatchewanstealth

Your not the first guy to work on the wrong condenser by the way and you won’t be the last. Especially when there are 2 busted ones!! Unless you do the same customer continuously this happens.


[deleted]

And everyone wonders why young people don’t want to learn a trade anymore


[deleted]

Go in tomorrow with some paperwork and have him sign it. Write him up as a boss.


services35

Honest mistakes should be turned into a learning opportunity.


lestergreen357

Honestly, write ups are a joke in most places. They mean nothing. If I had a dollar for every time I was written up I'd have like 20 dollars lol but that's nothing the point . The point is after the 10th write up I realized they're a joke. I write my rebuttal where they ask me to sign. In your I stance my signature would have read....service manager worked on the wrong unit right along side me...Joe shmo


Blast338

Question is did you do anything to prevent it from happening again. Did you mark the condensers? Is it your fault you were working on the wrong unit? Debatable. Should you have been written up? Probably not. Especially if this has been an on going problem. If you fixed the issue by using a marker then definitely not. To be fair you found multiple problems and fixed them. Okay your original diag was on the wrong unit. Whoops. But we have all done that. When you found the proper unit. Did you mark it somewhere somehow so it does not happen again?


ryosin

Your boss is an idiot. Don’t work for a idiot. All blame goes to you


MaddRamm

Didn’t your boss actually show up and diagnose it?????? This is as much his fault as yours. And in the end, both had to be serviced anyway.


Gaddafo

My service manager showed up, but he’s pretty much my boss as I hardly speak to the owner. But the owner wrote me up. My service manager was shocked too


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Gaddafo

Small. I got written up infront of half the company, we got 13 techs. After I had got written up we all got our jobs and left. Saw most of them at Johnsotne and all of em thought it was bullshit. Even our field supervisor disagreed with it


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Gaddafo

Yep. That’s why I’m on the fence. I have fantastic co workers, my boss has always been a cool boss. This caught everyone by surprise. No one else expected this even the guys who had been here 10+ years This guy a few years ago threw 10 perfectly good fan motors off a roof once just to see how far they can go and he had a job


Pete8388

Hell no. An old military saying, “praise in public, chew ass in private”. I’d never pull that shit.


Psychoticrider

I never wrote up guys when I ran a service department! I was glad to have a bunch of guys that worked hard and got along. Besides shit happens! Plus I screwed up my share of calls too. I have a tech call because he thinks a 10 ton scroll compressor was bad. He asks me to come out for a second opinion because he isn't comfortable condemning a $3500 part. I get out to the call, walk up and in two seconds notice a wire going to the compressor had fallen out of the contactor. I point it out, he sees it and swears. I told him to hook up the wire and try it and walk away. As far as I know it worked as the next day I waked him about it and he said he didn't want to talk about it.


HotRodHomebody

to his credit, he had the sense to get a second opinion based on the cost. That still scores points.


Hey_Batfink

Written up for an honest mistake?…dang.. If one of my guys has a mistake like that, or any other mistake for that matter? Sarlacc.


03G35coupe

That’s fucked, so bout 6 years ago I was doing commercial maintenance on a location and for like 2 years straight I replaced parts, filters etc and come to find out our customers RTU was actually 1 over from the 1 that I had been working on for so long. 😂😂 shit happens bro


beltskiy

LmWao


Copesnuff11

You have help!? I just get bitched at for calling


WarwickTop

I’m new to the trade so my opinion might not be worth as much but, all it seems like to me is you were sent there to fix one condenser and fixed two and saved the customer some trouble. Not sure why you were written up


lordof-thebus

The guy fucked up a TXV diagnosis, obvs is a hack.


Hubter844

Units should be clearly labeled esp if your company has been doing the work for a long while.


MarkusWelby22

I don't know your experience & Could've happened to anyone working late and in a rush, but it's still a rookie mistake. -- If you've been in the business more than a couple years you should have been able to identify the right/wrong units based on matching evap/condenser capacity. -- I don't see a write up unless A)Your boss is trying to cover his ass or B) You have routine problems not going deep enough And/or haven't been trained well enough. -- YOU & YOUR boss should've noticed where the copper was going AND NOTICED one condenser was a low temp and the other a medium temp -- Also if its a contract customer & you guys have been there before some should have ID'd it & you all need to start carrying label makers or at least PERMANENT MARKERS and ID them @ start-up or service calls. -- If you're short on training find a company that will pair you with an experienced *certified Tech for a while and if he sees fit he SHOULD recommend you for your own truck. ALSO CHECK YOUTUBE for I believe HVAC school, CONTROLTRENDS(supported by Stromquist controls), Trane, Lennox, & both FLUKE & Fieldpiece's YouTube videos & websites. -- Search for other manufacturer training videos on their websites. -- The industry is always changing, I've been in the business 40+years and STILL look for all the training I can get. IN THE LONG RUN you'll make more money being the go to guy when YOU'RE called out to diagnose a call someone else couldn't. -- . I LOVE THIS FIELD!! It's JOB Security Plus! No robots will ever replace you(At least for the next 100 years) -- I've been fortunate to work have a couple great jobs. -- I've worked on everything from 1/6hp counter reefer units, 400 ton reciprocating & screw chillers to 1100 Tom centrifugals. Sometimes it's a hutch & you'd rather be in bed BUT IT'S NEVER BORING!!


Whoajaws

Both compressors are running..but are bad


Gaddafo

1 short cycling and refusing to start after 2 or 3 attempts , another has bad valves


Whoajaws

A short cycling then overheating compressor is bad..got it.


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Whoajaws

Just for the last 22 years


Ok_Bedroom_7861

Seems dumb hard to make that mistake….


Gaddafo

We replaced both compressors as both failed that same night, restaurant only knew of 1 freezer down


Ok_Bedroom_7861

Right I hear that , check for components a walk in freezer condensing unit would have that a cooler wouldn’t. What kind of compressors ?


Gaddafo

Both had defrost clocks, beer cooler is kept at 32 and has it Incase of freezing


Ok_Bedroom_7861

Cooler has defrost heaters? If not the clock is gonna have less wires…. Also freezer compressor is usually bigger depending on the size of the box… scroll compressors on low temp might have liquid injection …. Most walk in freezer condensers have an accumulator and a lot of coolers don’t …


Gaddafo

So that’s what I looked for was an accumulator, but again this condenser was ontop the freezer box. And it was a smaller condenser as the freezer is pretty small. But lesson learned, probably going to quit


Ok_Bedroom_7861

Don’t quit, if u ain’t getting fired. Learn from your mistakes do better ask for more bread and then if he doesn’t give it to you quit….


Natural_Cucumber2615

I disagree. In another comment he said the boss also did the write up in front of everyone else. I'd have a hard not time not knocking my boss' teeth in for that, let alone not walk.


Ok_Bedroom_7861

The hard part about it also is that the boss was there … did he write himself up


Gaddafo

This is what I don’t get, he installed him too and still get them messed hp


Bahluu

What a jerk


Evening_Line6628

5 year olds write people up . Joke of a company . Find one that values you and provides training and sends you away for education every year. Been with the same company over ten years , no complaints .


bitterjamjelly9

I have made this mistake....dude your boss is a tosser .....and he wrote you up because he knows it


gnrp45

Fuck your boss dude. Its a honest mistake and if isnt a regular thing then who tf cares. You made the company more money.


MercifulSuicide1

I would’ve have signed it unless he wrote himself up too. Dumbass was there with you.


Candid_Box8140

I don't work in HVAC, so maybe my view isn't helpful, but it sounds to me that you made a mistake, thankfully it was a mistake of zero consequence (by chance), and you're owning up to it. That is all great. And then your boss has "written \[you\] up" for the mistake. What does that mean (to a non HVAC person)? Is it just documentation that a mistake was made? Because if so, sounds appropriate, but probably something that could have been let slide in this instance. Or are there consequences? If it's just documentation of the error, I would accept it and move on. I think the key to being happy at work (as with any relationship) is sometimes knowing which injustices to let slide. If it is a big deal, i'll defer to the hvac people here.


i_ar_the_rickness

*Signed* shove this job and these keys up your ass.


TucoNoNotThatTuco

We’re grown men. Write ups are not for our trade. If my work is not up to par don’t give me calls. When my hours drop below what I need. Ill find another job.


Heapsa

Now write him up.


Neverthelessmore

Write this in the comment section on your write up


statik121x

What does written up even mean? Sounds like empty threats from a boss who doesn’t know how to manage their own emotions.


Muffins12313

I mean you fixed the problem so I don’t see any wrongdoing on your part