Many electrical contractors will have a shop where they do repair work and assembly.  Most electricians do not like shop work.  For one thing it can get monotonous, and secondly, it usually pays less.

Sometimes the shop itself is an afterthought.  They are not very comfortable to work in.  One place where I worked had a shop that wasn’t very nice.  It was very small in size and located in the back corner was a rudimentary restroom.  It had no windows or air movement fan.  It had one stool, one basin, one light and a door.  It was a source of offensive odors that drifted slowly throughout the main shop area.  Sometimes it took hours before it cleared out.

This business had only two men working in the shop.  I was talking to one of the men when the other came walking from the back of the shop, wiping his hands with a paper towel.   The guy I was talking to, interrupted our conversation and said; “Man!  What did you do back there?”

They fellow with the towel answered; “Man!  Can’t you tell?”

One of the greatest blessings is to work out side; hot or cold or in between.

Another place I worked, one of the shop boys always wanted to get out and work in the field with us.  One day we came in to the shop after working in the field.  The shop boy cam up to us and said; “I must have gotten a raise!”

We knew he was probably getting about half as much as we were.  At the time we were getting about $5.00 an hour in the field.

We asked him why he said that.  What did the boss say?

He told us a farmer’s wife had brought in a motor to be repaired.  It was a very simple repair job so he had written on the ticket for the motor job; “1/2 hour.”

The boss came back to look at the motor.  He scratched out the “1/2 hour” and wrote $45.00.

The boy said he must have been given a raise.

It seemed like pretty high overhead.