QUIT LICKING THE DAMN STOVE....... JOE

WELCOME BACK GUYS AND GALS, THIS IS A LITTLE OFF THE WALL PODCAST LOTS OF STORIES ANOTHER ONE ABOUT THE RECENT APPRENTICSHIP COMPETITION AND WE LEARN ALOT MORE ABOUT HOW THE COMPETITION WENT. THANKS FOR LISTENING AND WE HOPE YOU CAN GET A KICK OUT OF THIS EPISODE AS MUCH AS WE DID. KEEP IT LIGHT AND DON'T TAKE THINGS TO SERIOUSLY. 

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Transcript

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You can't. Here's the deal. Okay. Kev went to that. What did you place? I mid, I was in like the mid twenties. So you're, you're talking to a fucking professional over here. Alright. Don't give him any bigger head than these already got No, I did. I did right in the middle and I was pretty surprised that was a lot harder than I thought. Sitting there drunk the whole time again. No, I wasn't drunk. Quit drinking milk at the bar and start drinking extra beverage. Yeah. Okay. Welcome back, the Iron Worker Podcast. We got a great episode today he was our superstar apprentice. That was a fizzled out star we'll say that gives you into how it went. But we're excited to have him here with us, Joe. Tell us about yourself, Joe. Where'd you grow up? Grew up in Georgia, little town called Byron. I think it's Jones County. Lived there 13 years and then moved up to South Carolina, lived there the next eight. Picked up welding in high school. Fell in love with it. Graduated from there. Went out to. Get my foot in the door somewhere. I didn't care. I just wanted a welding job. So I started that small mom and pop pad shop, painted stuff loaded trucks. Cut this. A bunch of steel with this guy named Jack. He had a up hand, like you've movie too. Butler. His hand looked just like that. Grab my good kills of his good. I dt know he was a cool guy. Just the is, he almost got us killed. Cause we had, steel sliding on rollers that were bolted into the. And we had this winch from a Jeep mounted on top of it. We hooked the end of the beam and winch it in. I guess we thought it was a good idea to put this really heavy beam onto the, something that could barely hold it. So when that winch was trying to Naturally, Yeah, when the winch was trying to pull it across, it was moving the rollers. Side to side on the concrete and winch snapped and flew right past our faces, and we just looked at each other and he starts laughing like it's just a normal day of job and I'm fresh outta high school. Like he's holy shit that, yeah, like first time. Yeah, first guy, the first time I come along. Almost killed you. Yeah. Stay on the job. Next week we see more Then I started doing some TIG aluminum. After that, I got sick of that place. It just got slow. I was sweeping for eight hour days, seven days a week, and I just said the fuck this. And I just walked off on the middle of my shift and I didn't tell anyone. I quit. I just left. The old two day notice. Got it in your The right outta my mouth. Do anything I hated. That's where the iron worker began. Yeah. Started to say aluminum for a bit. It was alright. Didn't really pay what I thought it should have, but. More than my first job. Where were you at? Were you still in Georgia at this time? In the, This is all South Carolina. Okay. I started doing a whole weld of things yeah, I was there. There was like no overtime on that job, which I hated cause I had nothing but pass the time. So told my boss, I was like, Hey, can you gimme, like pay raise or something? Cause we had a. Production of a piece count a day we needed to make. And I was doing over that almost double every single day. And I was like, Can you gimme like more hours? Can I come in Saturdays? Can you gimme a pay raise? And they're like, Yeah. So I was like, Okay, cool. I'm gonna quit and go to this steel shop. So I ended up at this. So there's W two, number two. Yeah. I stayed there for about a year, but, and money wasn't there, so I was like, yeah, I learned how to take, aluminum. And it's, This was in a non-union shop? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Everywhere I worked at till now has been non-union. Then I ended up at the steel shop I was out in their shop c whatever you wanna call it, just a tin roof that had holes in it rained in there every day. And I started crank working conditions. Yeah, it's rained indoor. It's cool. It's so many little holes in. I worked with the fitter, Mr. Fanning taught me a little bit how to read blueprints, and that's how I started getting into that. And I started moments that was out here? No, that still South Carolina. Okay. Yeah. So I was there. Owen Steel. Owen Steel. Yeah. Ok. Okay, I was there for about a year and a half. Started out outside. They liked me because I followed the rules when doing welding procedures. You got a certain thickness of steel, you gotta beat it up a certain temperature. A lot of guys do that. They just go ahead and start weld on it. They just feeds. And then I'd have to go and fix their stuff. They fired one guy cause he, we had a pour some. For one of the moments we were doing and he just decided to just throw it all in there and weld over it, call it good. So when the UT guy came up to check it sees this massive reject in there and the ceramic was inside it, ceramic, the bar, whatever. It just, Yeah, that looks good. Wow. Just welded over. How do you even leave it in there? Cause it's like a backup load. Yeah. Wow. So he took it out and put it in the be Yeah. And weld. Inside? Yes. Oh wow. And you just left it there I think that was his two notice too. Yeah. gotta really try to do that. That's not, You fucked up. Like it sounds like you when it out, Oops. Yeah, that came out to me. It the CWI from Port Authority up in New York. Cause he was over that job. So we had in-house inspectors that would quality check our stuff. They were hired by Port Authority for that job to give the final say so, and double check our qc. He comes out. Is that, So you guys would do a YouTube in that shop also, but he would do it out in the field also? No. No. So it was all in shop? Yeah. Oh, okay. The shop, Yeah, He'd double check it, make sure that our guys are doing what they're supposed to be doing and. I was just out there doing my thing and all of a sudden the CWI comes up to me with my boss and goes, Hey, we got something for you. And I was like, What? Come here kid. Yeah. Good at gouging. They showed this picture, kind started gouging it out and he started going into the base material on both sides top. And he's and heer like we know's not supposed to do. Yeah. And it's do you wanna to fix this? And I was looking at it and I was like, How the fuck, how do you this I'm like not really. I told him like, Yeah, I can I'll give it and I'll try to it and I'm gonna, you, it look good. This is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna make a, wherever he stopped at the highest point in that base material, I'm gonna gouge up into that point and make this double bigger than it needs to be just to make sure I get all this trash. And I'll rew weld it. They're like, Okay, we're gonna have to write an ncr. I was like, Do whatever you have to do, but that's what I'm gonna do to fix it. I get in there, send it out, took me all day. Got it. First drive, so they fab a shop. It was C low, C, B, and then a and a. They did bridge graders. And it was around that time where they started teaching me how to subar weld and do all that. Which was fun, but really boring. Yeah, it was a great place to be in the winter sucks in the summer cause you're sitting next to 300 degrees all day. But the foreman and Fab a Billy Wooler, he caught wind of my feet. Of fixing that. So he is we Somebody with that same last name. Woo. Wooer. Yeah. Iron No, I know Billy. No, Wooer. That sounds familiar. Terry on? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. He he heard of what I did and they pulled me from Fab C all the way to Fab Bay and I was loving bridge Gs boxes for bridges, all the big stuff. That was the money making fab shop. So you get a big raise when you switch shots. I got dollar. Oh, okay. So not a big one, but definitely a race. Yeah. And I was working 70 hours a week there, which I liked. And then I started talking to the CWIs out there cuz they traveled, they went with steel. So whatever fab shop their steel ended up at, that's where they went to make sure it was up the snow. I started talking to them. I was like, I get tired of this. Is this like my ceiling, my limit? Where can I go from here? And They're like travel. So I just started calling unions, popped into my head, started talking to some guys. They, you get mixed reactions when you start talking about unions. Some people hate it. I love them. But what brought up the union thought? Cause he'd worked god union this whole up until this whole point. So what, how'd you hear that flip the switch? I guess what made you pursue the union side of the trade? But just talking to the CWIs I just I kinda just brought it up and I was like, what about a union? Cause it just kinda popped into my head one day and you. Yeah, you can travel and makes a difference stuff. And I was like, Okay, then that's probably what I'll do. So I ended up calling Local 40 up in New York all the way across to four 16 and California. In between no one was hiring cuz of the whole Covid thing. So I called Local 4 33 and they ended up sending me here to 27. And said that they had a lot of work going on and they needed guys. So I showed up and I called Levi. I was trying to like time it, cause there was a time zone difference being in South Carolina to Utah. I was trying to not catch him on a lunch break cause I didn't know what schedule and I called him and he eventually told me this, I got the competition. He was like, he didn't think I was serious. I'm calling all the way from South Carolina and he is This kid's not gonna show up. I said, I'll be there in a week. Told my mom about it. She was real supportive and Flew out here with her and came down and I walked in and was like, Hey, I'm looking for this guy named Levi. He's sitting there at his desk downstairs and he sees this tall, skinny kid come in and he's Who are you? I'm like I'm Joe. I called you about a week ago to get on with the union. He's He didn't think I'm serious. He's Holy shit, this guy's here. I was like, Yeah. So got all my stuff done in the week for welding papers. Find the car and a place to rent and kinda been here ever since. Pretty neat. No, that is that's, it's quite a story. So you were talking with the CWIs and they're the ones that kind of recommended coming Union. A few of them. Yeah, there was a couple we had when I was working there at the time. But yeah they said Unions aren't a bad thing. And I looked into it, went that route. Nice. So then you get into the apprenticeship and on your first job. And you were at the u I believe, right? Yeah. Yeah. So what was your first impressions of being. Being in the union or being in a union environment? Welding, or you weren't welding, were you? At first I was doing a little bit of everything, like labor stuff for some of the old timers who were out there. Okay. About your age. So I wouldn't say the old timers. No. That was your first job site you've been on, right? Yeah. To this point you were always working in a shop. Yeah. So this is your first field setting, right? Yeah. So I didn't know anything and to be honest I I didn't try it. I just laid back and let a lot of the other guys do stuff for me. I had talked with Chris Brady and his I can't remember how the conversation goes, but that probably wasn't a very good chat. No. He really opened my eyes. Who's Chris Brady? He's actually rooming with, Yeah. My roommate. Oh, fuck him on. I remember the conversation we had. I'm not gonna really get into it, but mainly what he told me is he saw right through me where he was. I know you're better than this. Like you're playing. And I was like, Shit, how's, see? How does he know? Cause I kinda was, and it was like my first job, I didn't really know anything, so I just, I knew well that's it. I was like, I need to, He basically just told me step up and so I started doing that, just helping the guys break stuff and not learning how to do crane signals and all that. I don't know it all yet, but I've connected a little bit here and there, which is fun. Smashed my hand. First time connecting in 10 seconds. That was cool. Yeah, those words really stuck with me, that conversation we had and trying to live up for that. So that's cool. Yeah. Good. You got a nickname about that, right? I've got nickname now. Bob Stovetop. Yeah, Stovetop. That one sounds better than Bob. I know, that's what I'm saying. Let's stok top. Let's say that one. So when I was a little boy, I was dumber than I am. But I wanted to lick the stove. I was like six or eight. Somewhere in there we had one of those stoves that had the heated coils on top of it. You realize this is like a lot of people listen to this, right? Yeah. Hey, you know I got in shame. It's, Yeah, it's a question. I just answering it. So I would. I would try to lick it, and I'd hover over it and I'd stick my tongue out and I, and my parents would stop me and Mo mainly my dad. And thank God for parents Eventually he got sick of it, so he like it, let him go lick it. So I, in the hood and Id, I'm like, found the title of a fucking podcast. He's really gonna let me do it. And so I said I'm already here, so I fucking put my tongue on that burner. A good chunk of my tongue off and now I can't taste it's smell. What the fuck? But what the fuck, dog? Yeah. I'm a weird one. Interesting character. I'm sure. The part that gets me is there's multiple attempts to lick the Yeah it's not even the stove, it's the burner. Yeah. That's. It's you're on the job with an apprentice. You keep telling'em to do something. Finally, you get fed up and you just let go do well. It's kinda like that, it's no. There you go. Yeah. Okay. Top from being there. Did you learn your lesson? Tried, Have you tried to like lick welds in the past or I've looked and stuff, but so mainly does any ironworker know about this? Yeah. Yeah. That's how I got the name. So you know Ben Fit know? Yeah. I told him that story when we were in school and he was like, I'm just gonna call you Stovetop, and we lost it. He's I love that name. Okay. So I. It's better than Bob. Bob, you just had Yeah. Better than Bob. That one was a better, or that one was a, that one was a pretty gay story. The Bob one? Yeah. No, that was that means it's, that's like my nickname. My nickname came from, I was a kid too. I did stupid shit. I never, but put a bucket on my head and of my house and stuff, I thought the story was bucket got stuck on your fucking head. It did get stuck. Five gallon bucket stuck on a two-year-olds sand. A five gallon bucket. It was a little Oh, I bet There's no story. You tell it you want that's stuck with you for thirty's. A 32 years you're be stovetop forever, dog. That's fine. I'll answer to it. So you can't taste anything very well? I can taste, it's just not that great as it used to be. Just certain parts of the tongue or all of it, I dunno. It's that's what eating sucks. It's like everything kind tastes the same. Oh shit. You burn your tongue. Yeah. So it's like eating the flavors kinda, It affected the smell. Yeah. Cause your taste buds and your sense of smell are related to one another, so I can't really smell. And you're deaf in the ear. Yeah, I'm definitely You're in one ear. Yeah. Jesus Christ. You're just a walking mis person. Yeah. No, I got a twin. We were deaf in the same ear. Really? Yeah. We'll par deaf, I could still hear out of it, but it's kinda handy cuz if there's something real loud, I'll just take my right arm and. Plug my Good Ear and something loud goes off. I can't really hear it too well, so it's all good. Oh man, that's awesome. Cataract 30. The more I learn about you, bro, the more I like you. I think I'm just like, Oh that's I had that effect on people. Let's let's jump into, let's get off this topic. All right? Yeah. It's something more important, but so obviously you. You get into low 27 here, Salt Lake, and you start getting a little more in depth after you've had that chat with Brady. Chris Brady. Yeah. Yeah. And so then that leads you to what, wanting to see where you can go with it or, what happens after that? Yeah, so I wanted to step up and then actually what's the word? Partake and just show effort, cause I don't wanna be a suck ass cuz I've listened to some of your other podcasts and I'm listening to these other stories. I'm like, I don't wanna be remembered for just being that guy who just sits around and twiddles the thumb in the corner I wanna get out it. So that's what I started doing. And get more hands on with things. Trying not to get hurt while I do it. We were at the Lehigh Hospital and I, we were sucking in a stairwell. Dropped it on my foot, right behind the steel toe, of course. And that was great. Yeah, no, it's fun. I like it. I got to do a lot of other stuff through his a be jerk. He wanted me to, I never walked iron before and he he's Go ahead and tie this choker around this column. I'm like, you want me to go out there and walk that and put it around? He's Yeah, I gonna do it. He started getting Sleeper bar, got the point in, and he started sticking me the side with these I never had the friends to around. This is fine. Who was that? B he's not, I don't think he's in the local anymore. BJ. His initials. Braden Jones. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. He was out there, He was running he was running stairs at the high rise ski part of the stair gang. Oh, that Braden? Yeah, they call him beard or something. Yeah. I dunno why they're of different, They're thinking of Sorenson's kid. No. I'm thinking of, No, I'm thinking of Brad. Jones here on with D. Yeah. He got out. Yeah, I heard last I heard he went to the railroad. I don't know. That's just what I heard. That's twice in one Sunday that we've heard that really. Yeah, Rock. Rock was just talking about doing the railroad. was just sitting here, Yeah, I was, That's right. Yeah. That info came through, through the guess got of that conversation right over there, trying to process everything. So anyway, ask guys, you step up, you start going, and you. They announced the apprenticeship court competition. How did you, what did you think when you heard about that? What were your thoughts? Oh man. I was I was real excited to go and do it cause we did our local competition first. And I was real excited to, to do it. Cause I wasn't sure if we were gonna do it this year. Cause I heard previously the year before when they were gonna do it, I hope it shut it down. I was like, Oh man, are they gonna cancel it this year? I didn't know. But eventually, They said, Yeah, they're going through with it. And I was like sign me up. I wanna join. So I did it. I ended up winning which was cool. And I went to the international and just all kinda started to fall apart for me So you won the locals competition, but you didn't do so hot in the international competition? I didn't do great at all in the international. Do you think it was just cuz you were nervous? A lot of it was for the test for some reason. Yeah. I was really nervous on the test and I one ever really get stressed out, but I had this huge knot in my stomach and the first question I got when we opened up that test booklet was, What is a curve? I don't know if you guys know where that is, but I looked it up after I left that like test session. You guys know what it is? Yeah. Oh I just feel who is, It's the curve is the little, is like the, basically the SL or whatever from the torch? Pretty sure. Oh, I did not know that. It was called the. It's the, when you cut, it's the loss of materials coming outta the porch. So that material being yeah. Yeah, I didn't know that. So like when you cut with the saw that eighth of material that you cut with the saw, that's. It's basically the cut. I didn't know that. So I opened up the test book, but, and that was the first question. I'm like I'm in for it now. So here's your first question and it's, what is a, And you're like, Oh, shit, I didn't, that wasn't in any of things. I studied. I this has gone to a great start. Yeah. And then I think I had an hour and a half to do it. The whole test, we all sit in a room, no phones real quiet. And I'm like no, no big deal. I got this, didn't happen. Started doing the test, I think I got down to an hour and I'm like halfway in. So I'm like, okay, I have like realistically a minute to answer every question now. And so I answer some of my flag through and then the others it get stopped up on. I'm like having to think about it. And then the announcer started pissing me off cause we got down to 30 minutes and be really loud, like 30 minutes left. Even though we've got this jumbotron that has time on it. Yeah, it was like, I can see that. So then he'd go 25 minutes. 20 and all the way in five minute increments all the way down to zero. And I'm over here stressing cause I've got 20 more questions left to go and I've got 20 minutes. So I was sitting there answering here and there and looking at these drawings cuz then I was telling you we got these deck drawings in the. Test for the blueprint section. And I've never seen deck drawings before, so I was like I kinda figured this one out. This one, I have no idea what they're talking about. And then I get to the end of it. We leave, we're talking to some of the guys out there and I'm like, Okay, how do you think you did? A lot of the guys, we never said. How we did on anything it was, which surprised me. We always talked about, Oh man, I totally bought this, or I didn't know what this was. And then one kid was like, Yeah, we had 20 minutes left and I had 30 questions. I just started filling every, you didn't know. I was like, Oh, cool. Maybe I got this. So I didn't do that great on the test, I don't think. I think the cutting and welding portion, I think I did. All right. On what did they have to. So we had just a beam and on the top of it we had a coat for the top fla, it went in a quarter inch. So you really just take top flan off and it had a rounded edge for the coat. Three holes that you laid out, cut torch. And then that was it really for the cutting, just to make sure your overall dimension was where it needed to be. And then you had. Pieces, the angle that went on each side of the web and a certain way. When after you cut, you went to the welding boots and then you welded on up in position, you weren't allowed to flip the piece over. It's once you set it down on that table how you wanted it, that's how everything had to be welded. So it was like two flats in an overhead and a couple ver, so it wasn't difficult. That was the welding portion. Yeah. Yeah. I was fine. I was chilling in that part. I had a little can coke. So to just clarifying then my booth is sitting there like welding some coke. I can't imagine. Have a can sitting there buddy. Yeah. I don't think I know anybody's but coconut a can before I here. Yeah, no I think I did all right on the cutting, but I think the most amount points came from that test, and I've never been test take my life. So tests are hard. They, the way that they word a lot of stuff is really confusing or can be, Yeah. What else did you do at the competition? I kicked myself for this one cuz I was sitting over with Wes and we went over 27 different. And I learned all of them. And I ended up goofing too. So there was eight knots to do on the rigging portion of the test. They draw'em out of a hat or yeah. So it was a little cup and we had like little strings of paper that had, whatever, not you tie. And the first one I get was on a bite and I mistaken it and I tied a running bull instead. And the judge is like, Alright. Is that the knot you're going with? Like double checking? I'm like yeah, I got this. I was sitting in my hotel room that morning tying different knots. It's yeah this is the one. I go into the cup the next time and I get running bowling and then I look at the guy and I'm like can I go back and ret, tie that knot? I realize my mistake now. He's Nope. So I tied. Four just fine. I get to another one. I forget what it was, but same deal happened where I tied the wrong knot. He's That the knot you're going with. And I was like yeah, that's what I'm going with. And he ended up saying grab the next knot. I tied. Same thing again. I don't remember what it was. I don't remember the other one. I just remember the first one was pulling on a I So you tied all of the nights, the knots, right? Just you mixed them up or whatever. Sounds like you were just nervous. Yeah. I left my brain in the hotel room or something. Just, yeah, that was not good. And then even the block, I'm pretty sure I got that right. We would do it one way properly. So did that. And then we had a window, so you can do it a lot of ways improperly. Yeah, you could you screw it up in a hurry, Yeah. What did you do at the, with the window? So they had it taken all apart for us. And then basically just a blueprint. Got the part number, make sure you putting it in the right. Make sure your we holes are at the bottom and not the top and you just assemble it and you have 15 minutes to do it. And I had time to spare on that one, so I didn't have any leftover pieces, thankfully when I was putting it together, which is you don't silver trash. And they time you on that one. Yeah. No, they didn't time you. I don't, I think it was just based on accuracy. But you had a 15 minute time. To put it all together. It wasn't based on if you got a gun for two minutes or once or anything. Yeah. It's either you pass fail. Yeah. So that one was easy. I don't think anyone really messed that one up. Pretty simple. Now is all of this in one day? This, Are you telling us all of this in the order that you did it while you were at the competition? I am telling you in the order that we did it, Yeah. Took a written test right on the bat, huh? Yeah, that was the first time. Damn, that's a really good way to fuck up everybody's momentum It sure did. Yeah. Do you feel like you bombed that test and, I feel like that was like one of the, one of the last things we did, or it was towards like the end. I wanna, I don't really remember, but. I don't think it was first. Interesting. Yeah. No, we did. We did it first. And I could see how that could fucka fell up. Get your morale fucked off right at the very beginning. For sure. Oh, yeah. Was asking, How'd you do? And I was I don't know. I still don't know my scores to this day. They never gave me my scores for anything. And obviously it can't be that great, but I think you'd be surprised. Cause they don't grade you just on that test. They grade you overall, your performance. Yeah. Surprised I be You do pretty well. I I busted out on the rods. I was just the guy next to me. I told you. Yeah. The, so I go over to the training center to help him one day with the calm and the rebar, whatever. And I'm no good at fucking rebar. But I tell him, I says, Look, first of all, you're not gonna win the column. Okay? So let's not even focus on that. I just saw you that column. Forget about winning the column. It's really not even worth that many points anyway. Don't sweat that. And then I said in the rebar, I said, You're fucking wasting your time with that too. You're not gonna win that. I said, You know who's gonna win the fucking the call plant? People that fucking climb columns a lot, they'll probably win that. I said, You know who's probably gonna win the fucking rebar? The fucking road Buster Center there? They'll win it. I promise. So when I went, that's exactly how it was. That's probably how it was for you. Tell me how it was for you. Oh man. So I was tying them. Until I got to the figure eight, I just, I couldn't figure how to type figure eight, save my life when I got to it. But the guy next to me was from four 16 and they were just level, and I'm like looking at him. This is big dude. And he is tie some saddles. I think I got 12 or 15 saddle ties. And the guy next to me, he's got like 48 of them. Yeah. And I'm like looking at him like, Dude, How, And then I got the figure eights and I. Just, Oh, sorry. I was just fucking em up. Yeah. I will give those road busters credit, but it is pretty mesmerizing when you watch a guy type R that's been doing it for a while. Yeah, they can, Their little wrists in their hands are just flying, dude, they, It's like another joint in there or something. Yeah. They gotta figure out. That's an impressive skill. Rob Busters are pretty badass dudes. Ray bar's tough and then just, The muscle memory of all of that's pretty hard to do. It's just impressive to watch em. I know they get nobody wants to do rebar because it's hard. I wish we had a stronger rebar in our local. I've all over it. It's actually pretty, it's interesting to watch. It's, I wish we had, I would packed a little bar. Yeah, I wish it was set up so that if you were an apprentice and we had our rebar, you go there for six months and this way itll weed out people who wanna be there and don't. I thinks hard. You leave the rebar for six's. The of Rebar. Rebar, But yeah, no, I wish we had that. But yeah, I was sweating. Bullet rather do dick guy Yeah, that's how it's, man. So when I was, dude mine sending it out the corner of my eye, I'm, I can fucking see this asshole just, but his hands look like fucking zippers fucking running up and down this fucking mat that they have and I'm just fucking, fucking everything out. It's like my thumbs won't fucking work anymore, and I'm just like fucking trying. Tell myself every step, and that Did they make you wear glove? Yes. I dunno if they made you for me. They made you wear a glove on your less dominant hands, whatever hand you were using to hold PLIs with. You've had to wear a glove on the other hand. So you didn't have to wear a glove when you were Yeah, it was, it's probably something like that. Oh, I was better up third-hand. I think I just moved my, I can't anything it, Yeah. And then after that, it was the climb. I got halfway up at Tuckered out. Oh, I wanted, I was so pissed off, out for you. Was pissed. Thought I had, it was slick towards the middle. It seemed like more people were getting up cause they had two columns side by side. Yeah. And the one on the left it everyone got up it, no problem. It was still a little slick, but I tried to get in there and like I, my inner leg was starting to bleed cause I was trying to grab onto it. And I just, I couldn't get through that, but I got a little over half the middle and just couldn't. And I just slid down. What was, what were the times that everybody was getting I dunno. I walked off Cause you and watch No, I Knots and stuff. Knots. So I was so mad. I would never get mad, but I just walked off. I just didn't wanna be seen. Felt defeated. I just it's intimidating. There's a lot of, That's like the highlight of the competition, so everybody's fucking watching. That too, and it's like the column climb is it's not a lot of points in it. It's like a glory thing. Yeah. It's like I couldn't do it. I had that same experience one time on the job. Kevin had to pull me up. Kevin's 50 pound What? No more. Oh, at that? Probably There's nothing more a for each time. Grab as to ass and you up on I'll tell you right now, I cry at night. did. You're sitting there looking at, he's You gonna keep mouthing all smart ass sitting on the beam right there above and you just wanna sell like you wanna reach and him right in his little red can, you can't get there. Do thing the of your harness and pull you the rest of the way up in your life. That is even more embarrassing, Meanwhile, you got the whole Raisin game. You just talk shit too down there making fun of you. Plus you got the redheaded le lunch for the planted on there, as tight as he could possibly get it. So think he probably jumped on the Crescent to tighten that thing on their. No, Johnny put it on, so there you go. Jumped on it. He's got the strongest man life. So I would, all I would say is just, take it with a grain of salt. Cause I think you did great. We will give you shit about it. Yeah. But that's part of being an iron worker and, that's part of the trade. You're, where you need to improve So that's the main thing. And it was it a fun experience? Oh yeah. What did you guys do outside of the competition? Cause it, when I went, there was a lot of, there was a lot of shit going on, more than just the competition. That was, it was a lot of fun. Like what you guys go to like bars or something? Yeah. You went with the fellows places the international took you to dinners and, Yeah. There was open bars and shit. Like what? Tell us about it. We had the international for our jurisdiction. I think it was like five of us, five other locals. So we all sit there, to look somewhat decent. I walked in there with cowboy boots, blue jeans, and a panel, and that was Sunday Best. Yeah, that was, Everyone's in there in like suit and tie. I'm like, oh shit. The dinners were great. I liked that nobody told you. I don't own a suit and I don't like wearing collared shirts. I like wearing flannels color shirt right now. Yeah. I like flannels shirt. I nobody said, Hey, I possibly bring it's gonna be like more of a white collar type dinner. That to me is my idea of, Okay, that's fine. I get you. I don't think I was bad. No. Okay. And weirdly enough, like I'm more of a beer guy, I don't know. For some reason I had like this hanker for wine, so I drank like a whole bottle of wine at that dinner and I woke up. No hangover. That was awesome. Next day you go to the competition. You didn't do what I gotta do. No hangover. I was so happy about that. I didn't get a hangover since I was there. It was, yeah, drinking milk and wine. Don't, I wouldn't think that You get fucking hangover and everybody You're like a walking like contradiction dude. Cowboy hat. Big old glass of Merl fucking Yeahs right around your couple boots. Switching up a little bit. We went, it was after the test. Me, Levi, and Davey went to the lobby bar for. A beer or something. And I'm sitting there and I ordered a milk. Levi, I ordered, Levi ordered a Red Bull and David ordered like a vodka Sprite or something. I dunno. And they gave it to me two cartons. Yeah. And then he added on I'm sitting here with a bunch of children. Get a beer or something, sit here with milk rep, the local godammit, a glass of milk dog. I didn't get glasses, cartons like I was in middle school. That's worse than just being dog. Don't drink. I don't. And then beat you? Yeah. 1%. 2%. At least they got you to get stuff. Gotta strengthen them bones for the column. Blind boy. Shit. Asked for vitamin D then Levis Let me buy you a shot. And I'm like, Queasy. Cause my stomach was a knot. I drank milk. I was like, What kind of shot are you gonna get? I'm gonna get you a ass. And so he gave me like a triple shot of Yager and a Red Bull, and I'm thinking to myself, Milker Red Bull, that ain't gonna mix. I feel like I already drank milk. What shot? Because throw up, I didn't think he'd get, Cause that was a lot of liquid dude. He car bomb or something. That's what the milk hands down favorite thing. But I didn't get one of those. He just did. I didn't get pig. He just said, be a big boy, drink it. And I'm sitting there looking at it, just focusing on not trying to throw up and just focusing on breathing as he get, as he orders a red bull. Be a big boy, drink it. So I drank it and then I looked at Levi and I was like, I said, I'm up, I'm gonna now. So I walked the, I threw up all day. You threw up on no, I've been in my beds, Oh dude, I would've paid for that story. I would say that. And what is that end We went to another bar called Coyote Peterson or something. Something along those lines. Or Coyote Ugly, That's what it was. We dated one of the food, so we go there. Whatever. Yeah, whatever. Fun. We get in there and it's like a titty bar. Gotta talk about him like he's realty, bro. there's like these girls in like skimpy cowgirl outfits dancing on top of the bar and I'm like, Cool. You movie Coyote. I live under Rock. We go there and. Davey was upset. There was no food, and I'm like just kinda staring at the women. I'm like this is kinda cool. I'm not the kinda girl I take home CH on, but whatever. Then they start asking me all these questions like, When were you born? I'm like, August and I'm like, Oh, August I never was born in August. This is gone. She's What's sign? I'm like, DT know My warn me Sagittarian. Was this in Vegas? No, this is Denver. Is that right? In Colorado. For the conversation. Oh my God. They're after your wallet, dog. They're not. I know. I just, How old are you? I was born in August. You're said that look of roll's, milks, lip But the last night oh God, you're funny, kidding. I'm a word. Last night, this is when I hung out with some of the guys from the competition. Yeah, I think I made friends with everybody there. It was cool. We nickname, I nickname this one guy cause he like used his foot as a beam softener and beam fell over, crushed his foot. So he is on like one of those wheelchairs that competition. Yeah, he competed. Yeah, he's doing great. Who, what was he from? I'm not sure. I hope he's okay. No, he's fine. In fact, he wanted to the column and we all wanted him to do it cause he was up to do it. He was just put his on the face of it and go up. But so it was me and Levi and I think it was like one of Levi's friends from another local and they wanted to meet up in Rural Park. So we get there. Levi. So he was like I'm just gonna go back to the room. So I ended up going with these guys. We rented scooters and we drove workers on scooters. Always a good thing. We we ended up driving to this nightclub on scooters. It was really far away. I just follow dui, I'm sure I'm, you can screw up on. Luckily I didn't we get there and they fired me a couple shots and were talking. We go upstairs and I'm like, Hey, you're young. Go flirt with these girls. And I'm like, I don't care here for a week. What am I gonna do? That's, I go to talk to. Girls. I had nothing in common with Levi's friend died. So I just end up just leaving. Okay. And I end up walking back to the coyote and I get there and it's packed. So I'm like, Alright, tons of people in here. And I'm like, it's quiet. You, I would think, I don't wanna to, to him. And I sit next to this like old lady and she's trying to butter me up and whatnot. That's cool. I'm not complaining, but I order a beer and the bartender grabs it, sticks it in my mouth and spins it around while I was trying to grab it. And I, I had down the whole thing there cause she didn't let go. So I had to finish the whole beer at once And I'm feeling pretty good at this point and I'm about to leave Hold on. Lemme, somebody catches in the middle of this. You passed up on the girls from cow ugly Cause you weren't there. You passed up on the girls from the nightclub. Cause you were only there for a week. But you sit down next to this old lady and then you start pounding beers. Yeah. Yeah. And you're feeling pretty good. I'm feeling great. Wait. So I got lost a little bit there. Did the old lady put it in your mouth or did the bartender No. Yeah. Was she cute? Yeah, it didn't matter. He was sitting next to the old lady that he was all right with. Yeah. That was by him. Cause she was him up. Yeah. And that was fine by him. I on the on grandmother's. How old was she'll? Check your All right. So then I'm about to leave. Cause I'm like I'm gonna get too fucked up. I'm hotel room. I get a tablet with my shoulder. It's one of the dudes from Canada that I met with at the competition, he's, Hey bud. I'm like, Hey man, what's what's up? I'm like, You here by yourself? I'm, you sit at our table with the other guys. I'm like, Do you mean most Canadians are tough? Yeah, it was awesome. There was like three Canadians, I think, like one dude from Alabama, I think. And wheels was there. Wheels pulls up in a scooter. I go, wheels and everyone starts cheering. We're drinking beers, having a good time. It was great. We're talking about it was the end of the competition. We're all congratulating each other and having it was like an honor to be against everybody. And it was, I really the guys who won it, they're the best of the best that they deserved it. They kicked ass. Yeah, I'm sitting there, we're talking drinking beers and night guys out. We all start kinda going home and I don't remember getting back to my hotel room. I just remember Levi pounding my door saying that we gotta get on the plane and I was still sleeping. So it was great. It was good experience. I, it's good. Sounds like a great story, but she didn't, at least she didn't wake up next to grandma. That would've been a good, That's been great story. Well right on. Sound. You good? You had good time yet, I'm sure. It was a little stressful and it was a little for lack of a better word, a little shameful. To be honest, I don't think you have anything to be shameful about. It sounds like you needed Downest and that's all what 27 can ask for. We're glad that we, I'm glad we set. Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad that you did, but you did. It's a good experience. It's a lot of fun. I'm glad you were able to represent 27, so that's cool man. Yeah, thanks for doing that. Thanks for, stepping up to the challenge cause I. The commitment that it must have taken on your part to get ready for that. It's not something you just show up every, show up to a competition and do, There's a lot of before. Yeah, I know. That's the thing. I feel like everybody always says, Oh, I wanted to do that, or, I wish I would've done that. But, it's like anything else. I don't think very many people are really willing to put in the work to really do things or put themselves out there to really do. I think it takes somebody else to actually really do it, put themselves out there and try Yeah. I too, But yeah. Thanks for coming on, buddy. Yeah. Not problem. Hearing my weird stories. I like it. It's enjoyable to hear yourself. Yeah. It was a good time. You fit in, you've roll real well with us and the iron workers and it's good to hear. Your story from where you came and where you're at and how everything's going. So we're grateful here to have you 27. I know that you're a good kid and get ahead on your shoulders for the most part. So yeah, we appreciate you coming on the podcast and with us and sharing your stories and us laugh and sharing stories for every fly. Yeah, that's what it's all about. Tanya, you got anything else? No, sir. Appreciate you coming on, man. Yeah, no. Okay. No, I'm good. Thanks buddy. One clock, the last question I have for you is, if the prices out there for the future that are thinking about doing this and their locals that listen what's some advice after going through what you've, excuse me, after what you've experienced, what do you think their, your advice would be for them if they're preparing or if it's something that they'd like to do in the. One, where are your tools? I see a lot of apprentices that don't are their tools and it kinda drives me nuts cause they ask me for my tools and I'm like, No. But show up to work every day. Put in more effort. Don't be like I did when I was starting out, just sitting back on the bench, just watching everybody else do the thing. Get, ask questions, be hands on. Don't be afraid to look dumb cuz you're gonna look dumb no matter what you do, Especially as an apprentice. Like I was, I still messed up, up even today, I get yelled at a couple times. I probably drive Brad Brooks nuts here and. But we get along, we yell at each other while we're up there, and that's what to happen. Just do your best. Yeah. Don't be afraid to fail. Yeah. Perfect. Thank you for coming on. Thanks with us. See you buddy. Yes, sir. We are great for everybody listens and if there's ever anything we can do, let us know. If you're interested in coming on the podcast, reach out to us on Instagram page with the podcast and let us know. We're excited to hear this new season. We're excited to hear about everybody, so everybody's story. Yeah. Thanks y'all. Yep. 10.