Diary of a tradeswoman(uncensored): work smarter not harder

What's buzzin Hive

Naturally everyone's age old question, how can a 120 girl do the work a 200 lb man does and already think is hard work? Well, we can't show up there and say give me a job because "equality" and then say, oh, I can't do this or I can't do that...Many do but it doesn't look good overall especially with credibility. It's not most women either. Sure we all have limitations and ours are much lower, like it or not. Most foreman are smart enough to divide the manpower appropriately, there is always a need for smaller statured people but better not be claustrophobic... With boilermakers, you are either doing bull work or stuck in an awkward position in a hard to access tight spots. For the bull work, there is enough mechanical means available, with a little ingenuity can be used to move large pieces of steel into place fast, we are certified to make our own tools so we do to accommodate and get the job done faster and more accurately especially for repetitive tasks. If anything our lack of muscle power was turned into brain power to do the job faster, less costly , safer and with less effort minimizing the risk of muscle strain and injury and once they see it and know about it, it becomes "the trick of the trade". There is no such thing as I can't. Women joining the trades has changed many aspects for the better for many workers.

With nothing but my tiny arm power on an a specialized hand air pump, I could now move 70 feet long of wall sections in awkward to access corners to line them up to be welded with next to no strength required. Just 3 steel plates, a nut and a handful of massively strong welds to handle the pressure it would be subjected to with the porta-power, then the bracket welded to the wall (the nut welded just to tie it off in case the welds burst so it doesn't take off like a rocked and go thru someone's skull my own included since my face is the closest to it. don't worry I use my own Frankenstein tools just in case something bad does happen, it will happen to me but I have faith in my welds, they should be able to withstand minimum 70 000 psi (certified trained minimum requirements to pass school). Another trick of the trade, leaving the slag normally isn't proper practice to monitor the quality of the weld underneath. In this case if you are confident in your weld's soundness, leave it on , let it cool and when the weld is about to break under pressure, the cold slag will pop off. That means it's time to stop ,clean it up and build another stronger weld.

The alternative, beating it with a 10 pound hammer all day one section at a time until they can be joined together (it also takes days). Sorry no thanks, I like my way better. Yes you do need to be strong for my job but there is obviously ways around it. For the most part it requires stamina, endurance and to be cool as a cucumber. It's easy to lose your temper but it really doesn't change much, the steel will win anyway...be smarter than the steel, be stronger than the steel. Everything is at heights or in confine spaces, nothing is ever really comfortable or convenient to get to. Requires a lot of climbing stairs and ladders. Many jobs are all day repetitive motion. After a while you learn how steel moves solid or liquid and many tricks to make the more stubborn stuff come free with minimal physical force required. Working in refineries where flammable fumes may be present , we can't always use processes that create sparks to cut things that are stuck(the easy way).

If you are a welder, expect to be upside down, inside out, stinger taped to a broomstick for extra reach, full of gear and still finding a way to move and weld thru all of this while the safety glasses are fogging up before you can even strike an arc. When you hear welder, you probably picture someone standing comfortably in the shop...Nah...Ladybug is a field welder, means I weld everything into place where it is where it goes no matter how shitty of a spot or rotten the parent metal is because we are working on equipment that's been overheated and cooled several times for 50 years. Heck half the time I can't even see what I'm welding, I have to go by feel and sound only because I can't stick my head and my arm in the same space. Somehow we are supposed to make it look like a god darn brand new Ferrari when we are done. Depending on the chosen field, there is plenty of work for tiny less strong people. Big burley dudes are definitely not cut out for this sort of thing.

Just a couple random work pictures from a long time age. We are not supposed to take any so I don't have any good photos for you.

I think once they figured out tiny bodies were available to go in means they don't have to so it helped with female acceptance at work, saved them from being in a spot they probably didn't want to be in. Don't get me wrong it's still pretty uncomfortable and challenging for us too but we just fit better. When you use heat to manipulate metal, you don't really need muscle power. As they saw more and more advantages, the more accommodating they become over time and even came to appreciate our presence a little more. In our industry, most females are welders because it's less aggressive or physical.

Little confession, I hate welding with a passion. I love the knowledge and metallurgy aspect of it but I hate the task. It's hard on the eyes, it's hot, out of position welders often get burned to shreds all the time since most of our welding is overhead and being in a tight spot, you don't really have anywhere to go but under your own red rain...I have so many burn scars. Luckily I heal well and you can barely see any of them except my full on brand on the ass (we might come back to that later if I think of it). All the other wonky uncomfortable stuff doesn't really bother me too much but the burning...grrr. It's hard on the respiratory system too, we wear respirator and filters to help but lets be honest, all they do is help depending on the type of metal being welded. All the special filters for alloys are not always available on every site and sometimes you just have to make do within reason, obviously some alloys and coatings contain highly toxic elements so a downgrade would be out of the question.

Why did I become a welder if I hate it? I initially got indentured thru the boilermakers union and since it's very niche skill, only one college in the province that teaches it and class space is limited so the yearly intake is small unlike welding that have various program lengths/qualification level available at just about any college. Out of any program, redseal is the best and will get you further especially if you move territory or country. It's recognized just about anywhere in the world. It's also a bit harder and has more tests but don't waste your time on lower grade classes you will do yourself a favor in the long run. With all of my desired apprenticeship handed out for the year, it was wait until the next year to take the welding apprenticeship and get started much sooner so I went with it. I didn't really know what I was expecting either way, I came from a more socialite background up to that point.

The good news for me, everything boilermakers weld is pressure parts so additional qualifications are required to weld and more complicated processes are required especially with alloys (they can only be obtained after graduating) so as an apprentice, I didn't get to weld much. The bad news I have to get my hand skills up to par enough to pass school requirements on my own time, not a big deal but it's challenging passing school when your work and school don't match like doing half of 2 programs at once. They are somewhat related yet different skill and knowledge required completely. I went out to power generating stations first for about 10 years.

Obviously at that time, I was getting treated pretty badly women were hated, I had no credibility, nobody knew who the fuck I was and trust me it's all about reputation or who your dad is in this well connected mini-world...I was 1st gen...I really didn't have much going in my favor. Some guys were more progressive and wanted to see more females in the trades, others, I reminded them of their daughters and thought it was brave what I was doing and took me under their wing. They requested me as their apprentice so they could teach me things. Such gentlemen. The drawback, when I should have been mentored by welders, they were the ones being douchebags. My requesters were fitters for the boilermaker(mechanical) aspect of things so I was being mentored for the wrong skills in the right kinda way since that's what I wanted to learn from the beginning...The universe works in mysterious ways... lol. I do have dumb luck like that.

Overtime I learned so much about that boiler because the word spread, all they knew, this new girl keeps getting requested all the time...why? That's kind of unusual and than certain foreman began to request me as a partner rather than a helper because it kept certain welders or fitters happy and productive as they were the ones who taught me over the years, next best thing right, I knew what they liked!?! The more difficult the job, the more freedom the mentor has one of the perks is choosing their helper and/or partner rather than being assigned one and the more critical the jobs I got to see and help.

I think being a female, at any time, now or then... good or bad, we are like a site tourist attraction. Some have us under scrutiny looking and waiting to pounce the minute we mess up or do something dumb to get rid of us, others just think it's hot and want to watch the cute girl work, others just watching to watch...people that matter, the quiet ones you don't see watching from a dark corner on a balcony somewhere like a creepy stalker. You probably guessed it by now. Super intendants, plant managers, project coordinators...you get my drift by now. At that time the guys didn't like us much but the outside public pressure was on to be more inclusive in the workplace and higher management was still forming their opinion if it was in their best interest or not.

I still was often treated like I wasn't good enough by many unless I did twice as much as a guy would be expected, I even lost jobs over it at times. It sucked but it thought me good work ethic and a good reputation fast in the long run. Direct supervision wasn't always kind but when you are liked by the plant managers and job coordinators for the client, they have a bit more say in the matters. I remember a job where I was given a critical task as a fitter way above my class or pay grade as a second year apprentice that required finesse and they didn't trust many people to do it so I was requested by the plant to do it and it's a task I was very familiar with. The foreman didn't know he was just told by his supervisor to put me on not the why.

We knew each other for years and we didn't get along at all during any of that time. I had him as a mentor and he used to send me on fool's errands rather than teach me anything, just because I hated him and didn't want to spend time with him, I would disappear and visit someone o go for a cool down, anywhere but there. Come back an half our, an hour later...who cares, I didn't. I would even walk up 20 flights of stairs instead of taking the elevator back just to take longer., especially if I was running a tool he actually needed and was waiting for. Take that fucker. All this time this clown thinks he got me good. Ok buddy.

Now he was my supervisor...great. He didn't listen because it was too good of a task for me and got me doing the cruddiest job he had for the crew instead. Someone important walked by and noticed somebody they didn't know working on the task they requested me for. All hell broke loose in the office and someone got reamed a new one. I came back after coffee break to my shit task location and the general foreman was now my foreman for the night and gave me the task I was requested for. The foreman got sent to the crud of areas with all the worker discards that nobody ever wants on their crew that generally involves tasks that require minimal skills. You know you are getting punished when.

I was confused at first, I never experienced that before at that time, not quite sure what's happening yet. He comes back later at break, gives me an apology than walks away saying I have powerful friends. I still don't know who was responsible for that but anyone who treated me like shit just kinda started vanishing into nothingness and loosing their jobs. Since it happened every job no matter who the supervision was, it's someone from the plant for sure because this applied to anyone working for any company. I would even get requested to borrow me from the contractor to work for them directly for certain tasks. Over the years I came to find out a bit more info that I impressed someone high up that had a bad opinion of women and he was sold, totally sold and always made sue I was coached well and groomed to work there since I had come to know quite a bit already. I think at that point is when harassment started to get taken more seriously and as guys started to lose their jobs or position for harassing women, the culture changed significantly and fast. To this day, they are still one of the most progressive company I have worked for. I got an update form others that went to work there recently that the place is full of women now of all qualifications...BOO YAAAH. During most of my time we were mostly 3 divided between 2 shifts until much later. I'm proud of them boys for completely changing their mindset. Or at lest give a girl a chance before judging.

After a few years of that, everyone came to know me as a boilermaker rather than welder. Some knew and tried but there is a plethora of welders available but not always enough experienced fitters so I would end up being used as a boilermaker as much as they had promised me welding time and it just continued on for eternity, even on the manpower list sometimes even on my paycheck (I always welcome those pay bump typos). I don't know, it became a trend they forgot what I was actually qualified for and I just kept my mouth shut cause I was getting good work and everyone was none the wisest most of the time. Especially if they didn't really know me, they went with the wrong information filled out on their morning paperwork by their supervisor. Those are always entertaining moments when trying to assign tasks on some days. It was someone I was on the fence if I liked him or not, we had some interesting ego run-ins at the beginning so I had no problems letting him spin a while ...maybe Ill get to that later because it's kinda funny.

Assigning task one at a time and explaining the work to be done. I knew what was going down and exactly how to do it because I had done it for him the previous time her was my supervisor in the same really bad location in a different boiler and the crew he had doing it while I was elsewhere butchered the task and got him in trouble so he didn't trust anyone on it anymore...at least not welders doing a boilermaker job. Trying to be polite, he said, I wont bother my welders with this because I want to make sure it's done problem free so only experienced fitters qualified to do can touch it. Points at me and assigns me the job claiming he doesn't trust anyone else cutting and prepping that joint for rewelding the new part. Points at my mentor and gives him a different job welding and begins looking for his welding apprentice on the crew. I could tell he was a little annoyed looking for some dumbass somewhere that got lost going to tool box. This guy had such an go and so arrogant to (he was really young). The GF reassures him that his welding apprentice is present at tool box but no name on who it is.

I look at who was supposed to be my welding mentor that had requested me to work with him and we were good buddies having worked together a lot over the years so we could talk to each other with a look almost telepathically and we are both silly AF. Often with all our gear we can't talk to each other so we learn other means of communication. We both burst out laughing like morons because we both knew what was going on, this irritated young dude with little man syndrome took that as a sign of disrespect and started giving me shit in front of everyone to embarrass me (try to at least) like he claims I did to him by laughing. I let him rant or whatever then I informed him that that little moron apprentice that can't even find toolbox talk he didn't have time to run around after was me. Oppsy....lol so I asked him, so what do you want me to do, weld or cut-outs? I'm only one person. He looked like an ass on his own on that one. Sometimes patience pays off rather than being reactive to everything. I still ended up on the original cut-out task. I liked letting him embarrass himself. It was a hobby of mine.

That's how I made up for being treated bad over the years. I didn't want to be the one always complaining of harassment or whatever so I solved the problem by subtle revenge just letting them sink themselves or messing with them in some way I couldn't get in trouble for. I got used to not having a voice over the first few years, I developed alternate ways to cope with the work abuse when it arose. When I met the foreman above, I was probably 7 years into my career yet still an apprentice because I was getting good work and often times the fully certified pay rate anyway so it didn't change too much and I lingered. I also kept delaying because I mostly learned a different skill than what I was studying entirely and wasn't confident enough in my welding experience/hand skills. I eventually got it done just the same tho...I only had the school portion and provincial exams both written and shop left to do.

Having relatives in high places he had a shoe in and found himself getting a foreman position right after graduation without much work experience work, life or otherwise. Nobody really took him seriously (wonder why) so he acted like a jerk and a bully to intimidate people he didn't know or thought were beneath him. He usually worked crossed shift from me so we never met in the year he worked there and assumed I was a newbie. My qualifications still being apprentice and the fact that I look a decade younger than my age, he assumed I was just a little girl fresh out of high school and kept treating me like a nobody.

The boys had noticed. Nobody said anything, most of the rest of the crew knew me and they give me the opportunity to stand up for myself before stepping in, they both know I can take care of myself and enjoy the show when the fireworks happen. Given I was one of the untouchables in the later years, I took liberty in saying what was on my mind if I was getting bullied because I knew I probably would get away with it and I did or at least got a minimal slap on the wrist. At the end of the day I was just standing my ground, solved my own problems without involving too much paperwork or any official statements. I don't like getting guys fired even when they totally deserve it.

My assigned task for the day was to set up a series of toolboxes for certain jobs to be started in the near future. Still being arrogant he orders me to ask a senior fitter to instruct me on how to set up tools for each task, a job I have done for 7 years and everyone knew it. Well of course I take nothing too seriously and burst out laughing and the rest of the crew follows because by now we are as thick as thieves and the foreman is the new guy to us and there are many details he was missing about the delicate balance of our nutball shift(night shift and we all always worked night shift, very clicky out there). He really took offence to that lmfao. The guy charged with mansplaining me how to set up a tool box for a job I have been doing for so long was also an untouchable but he made several attempts to get me fired for no reason and got in trouble for it. So the deal was, they liked us both, I deserved better and he wasn't going to change so the unwritten rule was we are not even to be put on the same crew. just completely separate parts of the plant and he gets to keep his job as long as he leaves me alone. I guess mr. young guns didn't quite get the memo. Everyone else knew it tho. Both details made it pretty funny to most of us.

Nobody said anything, we went to our assigned tasks and I never got in touch with the supposed mentor and neither did he. We really didn't want to work together, he just disappeared to hide out of sight, I was perfectly ok with that even if it meant doing his share of the work...good riddance... Modern problems require modern solutions. I'm at the tool crib setting up the 10 toolboxes required to set up the entire job area for 10 pairs of workers doing 2 different tasks and in one lump it looks like a lot of tools and when I set up I get all the tools I will need for the task so I don't ever have to go to the tool crib plus certain tools disappear quick if you don't get them on the first couple hours you won't find any until the end of the job, they set up the crib once.

He approaches me, already bitter from getting laughed at by everyone at toolbox talk, and starts berating me for not getting in touch with my assigned mentor and walking around like I'm king shit of turd island (which I kinda did with him because of the way he treated me) and that I'm nothing but nobody by the tools I'm loading criticizing a helpful tool we use (that he didn't know about because if his lack of experience) I probably never did this job before ...he had a nice long speech. I looked at him and said I was doing this before you were in high school (and I was to, I just look young) , eat a bag of dicks and walked away, went back to what I was doing. lol I knew I was in shit and ready to own it too.

Part of my job was to forcibly separate and secure these panels 3 levels high to get access to the work on the very ends on the return bends and the extra set behind that can't be seen. I used to climb up and down like a spider and do the work required. After each is complete, it's closed and the process is repeated with every row of elements. Sometimes it can be up to 150 times. Being both welder and fitter, it saves on climbing and I just do all the work. Paired up with another dually trained worker, we hot change every coffee and each get half the day of work/ half as a helper and a lot less climbing back and forth saves a lot of time, 2 people don't fit in there at once.

This was the first day by first coffee of the current job, great start of a shutdown! lmfao. The guys got a good show first thing in the morning. They knew it was coming, I can only be so patient with a person's attitude. By now his head was ready to explode when he returned to his office, I wasn't sure of the dynamics as who was running the job or anything, I never care, I just show up. In no time I get tapped on the shoulder by the jobby (our on-site union representation when we get in trouble) and said we had to go to the office but he didn't know why yet. Of course I smirk but on the inside I'm laughing hard because I knew not much would come of it no matter who was in charge. He facepalmed and shook his head, What did you do now. I replied, You'll see and chuckled. Him I have to know so I can help defend you, tell me. Me: Don't worry about it buddy, you can't...just be there I guess.

Turns out my buddy got promoted and was newly in charge for the duration of the job. He was replacing someone that got ill so it was his first night in that position ever. I'm sure he tried to talk him off the ledge and it didn't work and since yes I was insubordinate it was fair that I be written up for insubordination and get yelled at. Even with my untouchable status, I was an apprentice still and we are not supposed to talk back...especially not what I said. I owned it and was proud of it, I meant every word and I wasn't taking it back. I walk into the office for my stern talking to, my friend has his elbows on his desk and hands covering his face in embarrassment, he just wanted to disappear, he wasn't going to give me trouble but what I did was pretty bad so he just sat back and just didn't deal with it at all on either side of the equation.

Of course little man rips me a new one about respect and the whole works, he went on for like 5 minutes I sat there quietly and let be an asshole, then I ask nicely, is that all? He says yes you can go now...thinking he had won. Instead of getting up, I rip him a new one on his opinion of respect, what I think of him and maybe I wouldn't be so fucking insubordinate if he wasn't such a shitty foreman and gave him some tips on how not to be a tool. I timed his speech and gave him one of the same length. My poor friend was both crying and laughing because what I was saying was too hilarious and I was saying it in a strait face and calmly unlike him so it made it even funnier. But the stuff I was saying I really could have gotten fired 10 times over for it and lost my union status altogether. Not only was I digging a deeper hole, I had a shovel in each hand digging twice as fast. I didn't care if I got fired, it was worth it. What was he gonna do, write me up for insubordination twice? Technically that leaves me with another strike. 2 out of 3 strikes gone by the first 3 hours of the job...nice. I gave myself a pat on the back for that one!

He was such a dick, the days continued and there was this chair we had named "The Quit Chair" because everyday of the job somebody sat in that chair and hours later, they would quit. Day in and day out...never failed...the chair was cursed, most of us wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole yet even after being warned someone would sit in it anyway. We started off with 14 and mid shutdown we were down to 4 crewmembers left. He even made his friend cry...he ignored the warnings and sat in the quit chair anyway...then there was 3. They had to rebuild most of his crew before he ran out of workers.

One of the jobs assigned required some air chipping (like a small air handheld jackhammer) of a cement-like type of insulation to access the work. Still treating me like a dumbass, he asked if I needed a demo. I said yes. I had done the job, it's not rocket science, it really isn't but I thought to myself, I wonder how long I can mess with him and stretch it out long enough for him to chip it all because it's a really shitty job, nobody likes doing it. He gives me a demo but it's a tight spot so I pretend I couldn't see and needed another, he showed me again. I continued the joke for about an hour, he already thought I was an idiot...what's the harm...than he started catching on, me just sitting there smoking cigarettes watching him. By the time he caught on he was pretty much done. I can't believe it! That's awesome buddy! Thanks! He never messed with me ever ever again. He had realized this whole time for 3 weeks I had been acting like a moron because he was treating me like one. Then he also found out who I actually was over time. It was fun while it lasted.

Once he left me alone than I started giving him an honest day's work. He got a little surprised at how wrong he was and even admitted it. That was big of him. We mostly got along after that and kept requesting on his crew every job after but gee...rough first impressions, I face all kinds of characters and they change every few months but there is always one... Oddly enough some of these rough starts have turned into some solid friendships (not this guy specifically but he did improve his behavior after most of his crew quit on him, turns out I did get to him when he wrote me up). Out of it all, the biggest asset for this job, patience, a lot of patience. It's really a lot on some days, even if it works out well in the end. I still lose it from time to time I'm not perfect and I pick my moments. One would think I would be bothered by a lot of this stuff but somehow by now it's like I'm immune to most of it emotionally, I just use it to have a little dark fun.