Aw look. He's about to cry

Has he done any of it before?

Has he had stepladder safety training?

Can he make tea, or does his mummy do that for him?

Owain

Probably not until there's a socket connected up ;-)

Just stick the cable end into the water. Dont try it at home kids.

NT

Just stick the cable end into the water. Dont try it at home kids.

You say that but my old chap used to use galvanised buckets full of salt water connected to the mains and shovels connected to amdram lights. Max brightness = shovels fully submerged :)

Yes

What, any of it?

I, a completely non electrical person could do that. Was he not more whinging about being left alone than any specific jobs?

The (Italian) apprentice who did all of the 2nd fix on my home was 180° from that. The electrician walked with him around every room pointing out everything to be fixed. The apprentice started, electrician checked a couple of things. Asked him some questions (like "Like second point from the right in the living room north wall, what's that for?" to which he got an accurate answer) then he left for another job. Returned at lunch to pick up apprentice, checked some work at random and did similar in the afternoon. Apprentice worked his arse off. He knows that this is his one big chance at getting a decent career and he's not going to screw it up.

I've paid "quite a bit" for the job but I'm not disappointed. The electrician and his apprentice have been the two best workers on site.

Was the Italian apprentce 36 years old?

The one who nearly cried today was 36 years old.

Well, I think I'd stumble a bit over that. Last year I had a fancy metal chandelier to install that needed two hands more than I had available on a ceiling that I really should have used scaffolding to get to.

What on earth has he spent the last 20 years doing? Playing with his X-Box and eating his mum's food?

JGH

I was looking through a list of electrical-related causes of death in the US many years ago (actually, as part of my original Part P research during the consultation), and I still recall an average of 2 deaths/year due to ceiling fans coming down...

I'm reminded of Only Fools and Horses, followed the TMH's repeat... I'm laughing just thinking about it again now...

You're boasting.

Bill

En el artículo , scorched escribió:

eep.

Sorry a ceiling monted extractor fan. The hole was already cut. The ceiling is about 2.25m high

He lost his job a few years ago and claims to have been working as an electricians mate for the last two years while doing his electrical exams.

I cannot decide if he is lying about the electricians mate job or if he is really just plain stupid.

Last week it took him 2 hours 45 minutes to gland off and terminate a 3 core

Jeebus!

Post corrected ^^^^^

Well, if he's doing his sparky exams, shirley he's used SWA in class. I've never used conduit on a job, but we had to learn how to install it and were marked on it.

JGH

I have mentioned before that my dad had a method of soil sterilisation, when he was mixing potting compost:

He used a wooden box, probably an old packing case, inserted a metal plate at each end and filled it with soil. The plates were connected to the mains, via an ammeter. Then he added water until the soil resistance lowered, and hence the ammeter reading rose to the desired level. It was left to simmer for hours. I can smell it now.

Chris

When I've ended up managing someone like this, I'll take them off into a room for a chat. Start by assuming they have good intentions and try to discover if there's something you're unaware of which might be affecting their performance, e.g. having to deal with some critically ill family member, court case, personal illness, homeless (or threat of it), etc. In my industry, if there is something like this, companies will make resources available to help the employee cope, but I know that won't be the case everywhere.

If you have ruled out anything like that, then try and dive deeper to find out what the person wants to achieve (particularly in a training context), and go through with them what they'll need to do to meet their aspirations (in terms of activities, timescales, etc), getting them to agree, and that forms the basis for ongoing work.

You might find the person doesn't actually want to do what they've ended up doing, in which case that gives you the scope to manage them out, and possibly into something else they do want to do.

I don't know how appreticeship relationships are managed so some of this might not be appropriate you, and/or it might be more appropriate for someone else who manages their training, in which case you can liaise as appropriate. This may give the opportunity to move to a different level of training if necessary.

Anyway, some ideas, which could result in all parties ending up in a better situation if there is some change which can be made to get the parties somewhere else they'd prefer to be.

If someone is underperforming and you are looking to find some resolution to the problem, I would also suggest keeping detailed dated notes of your actions, so that if things do turn nasty and you find yourself having to answer claims of being unfair, you can refer back to the detailed actions you took to try and resolve the issues.

I can honestly say I've have never tried the diplomatic route:-)

I told him if he did not like it then he could f*ck off.

When I had my own apprentices I knew them better than I know this guy so if they did have a problem I could help them.

I cannot see how anyone who has been to college to study electrics and claims to have been an electricians mate for 2 years cannot wire up a 2 way light switch. Especially as I spent an hour explaining it to him 2 months ago (he did plenty of them in those flats after I had explained what to do) and then only to be told yesterday that he had never done them before. The same thing happened with interlinked smoke alarms.