I Was Used and Abused My First Day On the Job, and I Liked It...
When I first got into teaching in 2005 I still thought of myself as a self-employed plumber. I'd been in business for 18 years and it was a difficult decision, going from plumber to plumbing instructor. I was hired by the superintendent of the local vocational high school to be the third teacher in the plumbing shop and the outside guy. I did jobs at the school and outside the school, with the kids. I was more of a working instructor than a classroom teacher. It's out in the field doing hands-on stuff, where the kids learn the most, and I was happy to be a part of that process.
There was an administration building on campus that was being student-built and running way behind schedule, and not months, years. The superintendent's office had been temporarily located off-campus while the building was under construction, and he, more than anybody else, wanted it done. My job was to work with the seniors to get the plumbing and sprinkler finished ASAP.
The other two plumbing instructors each had their chance but hadn't made enough progress. My hiring reflected on their failure and as a result, they were both reluctant to help me or give me any kind of heads-up and I found myself on my own and shooting from the hip beginning day one.
The first day on the job, I took eight seniors over to the building and the first thing we had to do was cut in a trap primer to service two floor drains, one in each bathroom, men's and women's, both handicap accessible. It should've been done before the sheetrock was finished and painted, but it was overlooked at the time. I explained that since the traps serving the floor drains were only occasionally used, they needed trap primers to prevent the trap seal from evaporating, which would allow sewer gas to enter the building, and then I went over the installation. I had a plastic snap-in access panel that was perfect for what we were doing. Once I located the 1" copper water pipe supplying the urinal that we'd be using to feed the trap primer, I marked out the location of the access box. I traced it as per the instructions (yes, I read instructions) and carefully cut the finished sheetrock with a jab saw. Once the hole was cut and the 1" copper pipe was in full view, it was time to cut the pipe so we could solder in a tee and complete the piping to the trap primer we'd be installing in the basement.
The easiest way to cut the 1" copper pipe given where it was and the limited clearance, was with a reciprocating saw and we had a Milwaukee Sawzall for the job. I asked the kids if the water piping had been tested, inspected, and if it was full of water. They said no, the system was dry and never tested or inspected. I asked if anyone wanted to cut the pipe and they were all tentative, so I told them I'd do it.
I put a brand new metal cutting blade in the Sawzall and as I got ready to cut I had all the kids put their safety glasses on and stand back. One kid wandered off and I told him to come back over and put on a pair of glasses, but he told me he wasn't a plumber, he was an electrician. I didn't know the kids yet and there were electricians working in the building, so I apologized and then refocussed on the job.
As I started the Sawzall I noticed the kids backing up and I just figured they were being wussies. As my blade started to make its way into the copper pipe I held it level and steady, wanting to make a perfectly straight cut to impress my students. Once the blade went through the wall of the pipe, water started spraying everywhere. The water piping was full and under pressure! I was shocked and when I turned towards the kids, they turned and bolted, laughing as they ran away. I immediately ran downstairs to the basement and shut the water main. The building was unfinished so nothing got damaged, but I was fucking pissed!
It was a good-sized building with a lot of hiding places and I couldn't see or hear them, it was like they disappeared. I was wondering how I was going to explain that… Then, I saw that the pull-down stairs to the walk-up attic were open and so I went up and flipped on the lights. There were no sounds as I walked down the plywood catwalk looking for them. I didn't see anything at first, but then I noticed bumps in the foil-wrapped insulation. I went over to the first bump and gave it a kick, a good kick, and the kid hiding under it gave out a yell. I went to each bump and kicked the hell out of 'em. They all got up and I instructed them to go back downstairs to the men's bathroom immediately!
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I let them have it the way a plumber would let his apprentice have it, using f-bombs, not yet realizing that a teacher could be fired for using that kind of language. After they quieted down and I thought I had restored some order, I asked them who wanted to drill a hole, and one kid, the son of a local plumber I knew, volunteered to do it. Tom probably didn't want me to call his father.
By the time we had the tee and a ball valve soldered on (Tom did that too) and the pipe dropped into the basement, it was already time to head back to the shop and clean up for lunch. On the walk back I laughed a little, maybe a lot, they did to me what they would've done to any new teacher his first day on the job. I knew if I had been a student I would've been in on it too.
When I got back to the shop the kid who said he was an electrician was at the sink washing his hands. I asked him what he was doing in the plumbing shop and he paused and said "I lied Mr. LeVine. I'm really a plumber, but I wanted to be a Mason like my father, but the school dropped the program." I gave him a hard-ass look and a verbal warning, "I'm gonna get ya-"
Looking back it was a very memorable first day on the job, a memory I'll always treasure. Those kids are in their mid-thirties now and a lot of them are licensed plumbers, with families, and doing well. The kid who said he was an electrician? I bumped into John in a supply house a few years ago and I asked him, "What are you doing here?" not expecting he would ever become a plumber. He said he was a licensed Journeyman Plumber, and I checked, he wasn't lying!
During my career as a high school teacher, I never forgot what it was like to be a high school student. I wasn't a good student, I fucked around a lot, but teachers never hung me out to dry and I got a lot of second and third chances. I turned out okay and when my time came to become the teacher I never wanted to hang any of my students out to dry either, knowing they would eventually turn out okay too…
She turned out okay too, don't you think?