Tuesday, April 14, 2015

L is for Lineman



My father was a lineman for the electric company.  He spent his entire career climbing poles and working with high voltage wire, and it was a job that suited him well. He loved being outdoors and physical work. In fact, when he was offered managerial positions, he declined because he didn't want to be inside all day. His mother should have known that this might be the career he would chose when she saw him as a boy jumping from tree to tree playing tree tag.

However, there were parts of the job that were difficult and that's what I remember most. Daddy had to go out anytime day or night in the worst weather because that was when there was usually a power outage. Severe thunderstorms with lots of rain. My father was out. Ice storms. My father was out. Deep snow. My father was out. Sometimes for days. One time he worked 54 hours straight without a break. Luckily since then, there is a rule that you can't work that long at any one time. But linemen still work very long hours in very difficult situations.

Which brings me to one of my pet peeves--people complaining about how long it takes to get their electricity back on after a storm. When it takes more than a few hours, the complaining starts. News reporters go out and get man-on-the-street comments about how bad the electric company is and how things should be fixed by now. No one seems to think about what might be involved to get the electricity working again. It takes a lot of hard physical work usually done in severe weather conditions.

Enough lecturing. But you know, we all have buttons that can be pushed and you just learned one of mine.

The picture is of an amazing cross-stitch done by Aunt Martha. The man on the pole looks much like my father did including the blue jeans and work shirt he is wearing.





16 comments:

  1. We had a horrible ice storm in Michigan over a year ago and many linemen from different states came to help restore power to those without power, due to the vast nature of the outages. One was interviewed on tv--his comment was that while he missed spending Christmas with his family, they were safe and warm and playing X-box while so many in Michigan were sitting in the cold and dark and he was glad to help them out. A not-so-random act of kindness ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How nice that they interviewed the lineman on the news. I have never seen that around here. The news just seems to go for the negative.

      Delete
  2. My grandfather worked for the phone company back in the day of landlines and used to have to climb poles to repair telephone wires. My grandmother had a decorative plate with an image REALLY similar to this one - thanks for the visit down memory lane!

    I've never complained about the wait to get power back on. Granted, it's usually 12 hours or less... but I love having a break from seeing the digital clocks, having the TV or computer on, etc. It's a great reason to just relax, or even go outside (if the weather's nice!) and enjoy a few simple hours.

    - Allison
    www.allisonwrites.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is something to be said about a forced break from electronics. What we miss here is the water. Since we have a well on a pump, we have no water when the electric goes off. However, since we got low flush toilets and store water for both drinking and flushing, it's not so bad anymore.

      Delete
  3. I have griped about getting the power back on, but never fussed at or about the linemen. They are always working hard. We have had numerous protracted long outages over the years from various weather incidents. (Tornados, freezing rain, hurricanes) and my gripe is with the grids. I live in a neighborhood with 7 different grids. The people beside and across the street from us will be back on immediately and we stay off for up to 7 days (our longest).
    As an aside, in my little neighborhood whenever the linemen come after an extended outage people flock to them with coffee and hot Krispy Kremes. We love the linemen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That would be very frustrating to see your neighbors get their power back while yours remains off. I have never had that problem with my electricity, but I have with my cable. We are on a very small "grid" so even though we may have been off longer, they fix bigger "grids" that have more customers. We have been put off again and again.

      I'm sure the lineman very much appreciated the coffee and warm donuts. There is a lot of kindness out there.

      Delete
    2. Sorry the above comment is mine, I forgot I was on my real email account

      Delete
  4. As a person who is afraid of both heights and electricity, I have the utmost admiration for your father's work!

    And I have done my fair share of complaining... but it's generally about the phone company, not the power company. and my complaint is not about how long it takes to get service, it's that the company is too cheap to replace the old and failing equipment because they don't think this neighborhood is profitable enough... which really drives me crazy, them being a public utility and all.

    But I digress... anyone willing to risk their life to bring conveniences to the rest of us is a much better person than I'll ever be! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I too am afraid of heights and electricity. I think that comes from my mother's side of the family and not my father's.

      Delete
  5. This is great! we need more stories like this out there. I personally didn't realize how vital the lineman are to our lives.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure that are others out there like linemen who make my life better than I'm not aware of. We live in very complex world and it hard to know how it all works.

      Delete
  6. Your father had a tough job and I tip my hat to him it's not a job I would ever want. I'm not afraid of heights but instead it would be the weather conditions that get to me.

    I don't much mind being without power, unless it's winter and I need to figure out how to stay warm. The longest I've been without power in recent years was three days. There was work being done at an intersection and the workers cut the lines. It was determined not to fix the lines until the work was done on the roads. Being summer it wasn't too big of an inconvenience except the fact that we had well water so needed electricity to pump it. We all took showers at friends' homes and carried jugs of water to drink and flush. One thing I loved was the silence over those three days.

    People seem to think that instant streaming and other things readily available at the touch of their fingertips means everything should work that way. They need to wake up and realize a downed line takes more than flipping a switch to restore it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You've mentioned another one of my pet peeves. How many have gotten use to having many things work instantly and expect everything to work that way.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That cross-stitch design by your aunt is amazing. What a great thing to have!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is amazing. I only have a paper copy of it. My mother has the actual x-stitch, but I still like my paper copy.

      Delete

What do you think?