Overall it was a great experience. I learned a lot more in the field than the NCC training prepared me to do. I closed an average of four jobs per day while traveling three hours round trip from my assigned garage. The biggest obstacle was opening splice cases only to find all the pairs had been cut. When a customer needed a new F2 pair and none of them made it to the terminal it was very frustrating. I was always on the side of the union folks despite being called names and heckled, followed to jobs, and basically tormented for trying to keep things alfoat while allowing them to fight the company for a fair contract. I wish I hadn't seen the sabatoge that had been done to the cable or the nasty behavior to their fellow employees but it is what it is I guess. I do hope that the union members can at some point realize that we weren't scabs but rather Verizon employees that enabled them the opportunity to stand up for a good contract while ensuring some critical customers didn't lose service. Nearly 50% of my jobs were for medical needs customers in non cell service areas. We may not have been as skilled as the union craft but we were able to get customers back in service and it wasn't for the good of Verizon but rather for the importance of an elderly customer having the ability to call a family member or 911 in an emergency. So while you are all busy bashing each other try to remember what is important and why we left the garage everyday while being screamed at....
10 replies (most recent on top)
I know this is completely wasted on the EWA who posted, but what the hell. Verizon has been sabotaging the outside copper plant for the better part of the past 15 years. This in an effort to move stubborn customers onto FIOS. I'm am thrilled that you, the EWA, closed out (obviously not completed) 4 jobs in a 12 hour shift. But you are not galvo and did not do cable maintenance work. Cable maintenance requires more effort and time in order to locate failing entry points (splice cases) or to isolate failing sections of cable, than a simple I&R facility transfer. Cable (galvo) techs are given just two hours (productivity numbers must be met) to clear ticket. After attempting a simple transfer and advised by his 1st liner, the tech has to perform fault locating procedures to isolate trouble. Once he has one verify, and two isolate section in trouble he contacts again his manager. If approved, he next sets up his safety area. If the cable is in the air and after proper signage and safety set up is complete, he has to open the cable case (or cut into and drain section cable). If its pulp cable then you have to dry cable, which is 1hour minimum and with larger cables taking up to 4 hours. Next cut binders and fan out binder groups and bag and dry yet again. Once this is completed, he can tape and/or splice counts. Finally, wrap up and rebuild closure and test it. If you involve a manhole the safety and setup procedures can take longer with pumping out the manhole, purging, racking the hole, slicking it and setting up work space in the manhole. First, second and third line management rarely approves cable maintenance in the event of a cable failure unless it involves services that cannot be moved to FIOS. That's a fact. As someone has already mentioned here, cut-to clear is a management approved method. It involves cutting the bad section of cable past the customer or on a bridge tap.
Any tech doing this or any butchering of the cable in an effort to make numbers with forcing his managers to approve it via email is an idiot. So take note gents when you go back.
To the original EWA poster, you are a moron if you think you learned anything but to pass the buck to the next person. This is what Verizon promotes and boosts it fake productivity numbers on. I am positive everyone of your jobs will be revisited by a real Verizon Tech worth every penny he receives.
One final point needs to be made. My job needs me to be here in the USA in order to be performed. Yours unlikely needs you to be. I'm sure you will find that out soon.
hey sh--bag that is because the cable is failing on the out end..........and the company wants the ir to cut it to clear instead of turning it in to cable to find the real trouble numbers numbers numbers
scab-o-tage
Scab-o-tage is a phenomenon occurring during telecom labor strikes when the company employs the use of non-contract temporary workers ("scabs") who are usually incompetent and inadequately trained for their assigned work function. As a result these temps often create more troubles than they fix and disrupt service to irritated customers. Subsequently, the company declares that these outages are caused by the strikers' vandalism attempts which serves as a public relations and corporate psychological operation with the aim to negate sympathy for the strikers as well as hide the incompetence of their replacements.
Did you hear about that fiber trunk that went down yesterday and took out all of downtown? They said a union guy cut the fiber but we all know it was just scab-o-tage.
You can pay a boinktard a lot of money but at the end of it all he is still what he is.
@uxk why do guys like you always have to bring a conversation down to the lowest common denominator? This was an excellent post that was honest and open. Then you had to dump your union rhetoric all over it.
I put two and two together repeatedly.
And away we go
That wasn't sabatoge, that was someone telling you that pair was worthless. You didn't learn much except how to switch pairs according to your post. That's the problem with VZ, temporary fix and hope the customer leaves due to repeated troubles. At least now I know management cannot put 2 and 2 together. WTF do you think we have been telling you for the last 10 year? WAKE UP!
I wish there was a "like" button for this post, and for the reply above mine. Thanks to you both for adding some intelligent, honest conversation to this place.
To me management should not be considered scabs. I spent some time on the management side before coming back, I understand the need to work. My problem is with the managers that berate good employees on a day to day basis. In my area we have excellent FIOS techs, but they are beat down everyday by the supervisor. Many are hypocrites, do as I say not as I did.