You child labor success stories....

Thread Starter

KL7AJ

Joined Nov 4, 2008
2,229
One of the nice things about child labor in the ham shack is that kids get a free education while doing lots of onerous tasks around the facility without realizing it. For the past few weeks, High Quality Eskimo has been sorting my 40+ year collection of electronics parts, putting them in to bins and labeling said bins....IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER even!

"Our" next project will be spackling and painting the garage, which was never finished. I shall be sipping mint juleps whilst reposing in a hammock suspended between the walls of the garage.

After that, I will need another 240 VAC outlet installed in the ham shack. Hmmmmm...should I pay an electrician $110/hour to put in a plug or have High Quality Eskimo do it for a couple of Big Macs? Decisions, decisions.......

Stay tuned.
 

KJ6EAD

Joined Apr 30, 2011
1,581
Be sure to submit a BIA form 4432 for that. ;)

By the way, hammocks have very high convective and conductive heat loss on the bottom side. This makes them ideal for tropical climates but mostly useless in Alaska.
 

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
On the subject of child labor, when I was a teenager, I worked as a maintenance man at my apartment building and I learned how to perform basic plumbing and electrical jobs.

I even learned how to diagnose (but not actually fix) problems with the elevator which was a 3 stop hydraulic type. The mechanic was surprised when I told him that the door was jamming because the up thrust rollers needed tightening and the acceleration was jerky because the bypass valve was not opening.
 

Thread Starter

KL7AJ

Joined Nov 4, 2008
2,229
I'm quite gratified that trade schools are coming up in status again. We need people who can actually DO stuff.
 

gerty

Joined Aug 30, 2007
1,305
My first job was working as a mason tender for my grandpa. It was the summer when I was in between the 7th and 8th grade. My duties included, but not limited to, mixing mortar, carrying bricks/blocks to him, move the scaffold just in time for him to step over to it.
By the end of the first week my hands were raw, and yes I wore gloves. By the end of the summer I decided I needed to learn how to do something else because this job really sucks o_O
 

Thread Starter

KL7AJ

Joined Nov 4, 2008
2,229
Everyone needs one sucky job in their youth. Mine was working in a car wash. My NEXT job was working in a chemical R&D lab....probably the best job I ever had...before running my own business. :)
 

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
Everyone needs one sucky job in their youth. Mine was working in a car wash. My NEXT job was working in a chemical R&D lab....probably the best job I ever had...before running my own business. :)
Speaking of sucky jobs, when I was a handyman at my apartment building, people would call me because their garbage disposal was jammed.

The problem was always caused by foreign objects (the "S" means a plural of objects) that I had to pull out with needle nose pliers.

The worst case was when the disposal hadn't been turned on after they put stuff in it and the acidic corrosion from the rotting garbage caused the rotor to rust completely through. The only thing that would spin was the hub around the motor shaft.
 

tracecom

Joined Apr 16, 2010
3,944
My childhood and teen years were filled with financial ups and downs, so early on I learned the benefits of earning my own money. For example, my parents bought a motor scooter for me when I was 12 (an "up" time,) but it wasn't long until money got tight again. We lived in a very small town on the banks of the Tennessee river, and I discovered that many returnable soft drink bottles were left in the picnic and boat launch areas. I collected enough bottles and returned them (at 2-3 cents each) to keep gas in my scooter and snacks in my stomach. Since that time, I have always been able to find ways to make extra money.

But the question was about the worst job I ever had, which for me was working as a maintenance man in two public housing projects. My duties ranged from mundane to disgusting, and most involved cleaning and repairing the units after they were thoroughly trashed by the residents and often abandoned in the middle of the night while owing months of unpaid rent. Sometimes the mess was just benign neglect, but often it was intentional and vindictive. The worst apartment cleanup involved a huge dead fish that had been left in the sink for quite a while and an infestation of cockroaches that required actual hosing down the ceilings and walls.

One of the projects had a "lift" station for the sewage and the pump impeller was regularly clogged with sanitary napkins, which required it to be pulled up with a back hoe and disassembled from the bottom, at which time the disassembler (me) was showered with its contents. And despite all that, I was very grateful for the job, the proceeds of which went a long way toward paying for my college costs. No student loan debt for me; I paid as I went.
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
My worst job was taking inventory in a dusty, blazing hot, warehouse in the summer. I'd have to scramble up and down 10-12 foot shelving. I'd come out looking grey with a layer of dust and sweat. I'd then ride my bicycle home for 5 miles and take a looong shower.
 

Sinus23

Joined Sep 7, 2013
248
The best child labor story in our field of electronics that I've heard of is that one of my teachers actually used his grandson which was 9 at the time to label every wire (excluding the mains) in a water distribution "center/plant/system"? That serviced just about over 20 thousand people. He also got to wire a number of PLCs and then some.

I've met his grandson and I must say that at the age of 11 he had more knowledge and experience with schematics and wiring diagrams than most of us guys on our second semester at school:D

Sometimes it helps when your granddad is an expert in his field and spends a lot of time with you plus loving to teach.

He was not the kind of teacher that the saying "those who can't do, teach" applied to.
 

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
My childhood and teen years were filled with financial ups and downs, so early on I learned the benefits of earning my own money. For example, my parents bought a motor scooter for me when I was 12 (an "up" time,) but it wasn't long until money got tight again. We lived in a very small town on the banks of the Tennessee river, and I discovered that many returnable soft drink bottles were left in the picnic and boat launch areas. I collected enough bottles and returned them (at 2-3 cents each) to keep gas in my scooter and snacks in my stomach. Since that time, I have always been able to find ways to make extra money.

But the question was about the worst job I ever had, which for me was working as a maintenance man in two public housing projects. My duties ranged from mundane to disgusting, and most involved cleaning and repairing the units after they were thoroughly trashed by the residents and often abandoned in the middle of the night while owing months of unpaid rent. Sometimes the mess was just benign neglect, but often it was intentional and vindictive. The worst apartment cleanup involved a huge dead fish that had been left in the sink for quite a while and an infestation of cockroaches that required actual hosing down the ceilings and walls.

One of the projects had a "lift" station for the sewage and the pump impeller was regularly clogged with sanitary napkins, which required it to be pulled up with a back hoe and disassembled from the bottom, at which time the disassembler (me) was showered with its contents. And despite all that, I was very grateful for the job, the proceeds of which went a long way toward paying for my college costs. No student loan debt for me; I paid as I went.
Your story about cleaning the pumps in a sewage pit reminded me of a plumbing business Philippines called Malabanan Pozo Negro service that specializes in pumping out septic tanks.

Metro Manila has a population of over 12 million and 90% of the buildings use a septic tank instead of being connected to a sewer system. Malabanan hires young men from impoverished neighborhoods to dive into the tanks wearing just a swim suit.


A prime example of "Disposable Labor".
 

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
I contacted one of the Malabanan companies and asked how they get all those workers who dive into the tanks.

They replied that the Manila is full of poor neighborhoods with unemployed teenagers and young men so there is an ample supply of them. They are picked up at hiring centers around the city much like day laborers here in California. An article on the subject featured an interview with one worker who said he had been doing the job for over 18 years.
 
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