4.30 Get out of the pit, grab a coffee, daily ablutions, make sarnies. 5.20 Set off in the car, switch on radio, listen to the usual inxs, midnight oil, men at work on the radio or spoof interviews with polotitians made from sound grabs (every station does the same joke), listen the the ad breaks where the man with the helium voice reads the terms and conditions Then the traffic news: some mullet haired truckie has come together with a hoon in his V8 and the world slows down to take a look. 6.15 Arrive on the job to see the usual brown nosers already there unwrapping their lines and eagerly awaiting some "mud" (although we don't officially start until 6.30), sit in the car for 10 mins and get glared at like some trouble making pariah. 6.25 Join the other robots who have already made start, I make an attempt at basic communication: "mornin'" ... sometimes you may get a grunting sound in return or on a realy good day you may even get " 'ows it going?" but there is rarely any eye contact as this would be classed as insubordination and talking on the line is generally frowned upon. 9.55 The labourers are still loading me up with mud with 5 mins to smoko.
10.00 Should be sitting down having a sandwich but still using the mud.
10.10 sit down for smoko and try to make another attempt at social interaction but my attempts at humour are greeted like a fart in a lift. The forman says something remotely funny (work related of course) and oh how we all roll about holding our sides with laughter. 9.25 The usual teachers pets are looking nervious and pack up there eskies to make sure they are back on duty before the stroke of 9.30 9.30 (sharp) Back on the slab and jump on a trestle scaffold and dare to question why we only have 3 scaffold boards on the trestles (which are designed for 5) when there is a pile of boards a mile high just a few feet away, the reply "thats how we do it in Australia, if you don't like it...." We are all back in full swing. I have a little sing out load and tell the apprentice about how when I was his age i was out fighting, getting, drunk and shagging anything with a pulse and how he should be doing the same. This just get the foreman's back up even more and I am reprimanded for being a bad influence. 10.00 - 2.20 blocks, mud, blocks, mud blocks, mud, blocks, mud blocks, mud, blocks, mud blocks, mud, blocks, mud blocks, mud, blocks, mud blocks, mud, blocks, mud blocks, mud, blocks, mud blocks, mud, blocks, mud, flush ender, 7/8, 3/4, bump up, grind down ......... 2.25 winding down, tell labourer to stop bringing mud, he looks at me as if i'm mad, pack up tools.
2.30 (official end of working day) walk of to car and turn to see grown med quivering and wishing they had the balls dare to leave their posts without direction from a superior. 2.35 Start drive home listen to more inxs, midnight oil, men at work on the radio. The only thing that got me through the day was looking forward to "get This" on "mmm" now thats been pulled!
4.00 get home, showered, have dinner watch Nick Jr for a couple of hours (i got the full works sky package and all i seem to watch is bl00dy kids TV!) then asleep before the kids!
Next Day see above (if not rained off)
Living the dream
Hi Aldo,
I'm not even gonna let my hubby read your post, because it's a certain fact that he will seriously reconsider going to oz. He starts a brickie course in July 2008, but if that's what he's got to look forward to then he'll be gutted.
He's a foreman at the moment on ground works, (he can lay bricks, just does'nt have the papers) and has good crack at work, the no talking and no banter will definitly not be for him eventhough he's not a chatterbox he still likes to have the crack.
Aldo, is this your only job as a Brickie in Queensland? cos i hope there not all like that. Also do you know if builders over there hire brickies trainee brickies or brickies labourers for 20 hrs per week? I guess you're gonna laugh at that question, i think i already know the answer, only hubby will only beable to work a max. of 20 hrs per week, do you think this is possible? Sorry to bombard you with questions, but i think the truest information can only come from the people that are actually out there alreadt doing it.
Picture my scenario - Last week I had a run in with the boss as I had clocked up 20 hours O/T over the previous 2 weeks trying to get the work completed, which at the time - the boss was happy for me to do. Payday comes, and the O/T is rounded down to 8 hours O/T. The boss also says there is no more O/T unless authorised by the Director (posh name for the boss) as the cost cannot be passed onto the customer - I am told to finish at 4.30pm. Cometh 4.15pm Friday arvo - and the boss phones me to go on a big job....... Righty mate! I am going to call yer bluff 'ere mate! "But it's 4.15pm Friday Arvo and my kids are playing soccer (footie to you and me) at 4.30pm and I also need your permisssion to work overtime". "Right, I'll get my tools out and do it myself, bye". "O.K then boss, see yer Monday!" LOL. I got the impression that he thought I was going to give my services free!! Talk about have one's cake and eating it too!!
Gazzer
I bet your boss won't be too happy There's every chance that he did the job without pay himself mainly because he'd be on a salary. This is the way it is. I don't like it either its abused terribly but "When in Rome".
I ran a factory in Sydney some years ago. I told my boss "OK if you want me to get back on the tools in OT then you'll pay for the hours" (I was already doing around 50/wk). He was really really pissed off with me. It spelled the end of our working relationship... I got out before he got me.
I'm not even gonna let my hubby read your post, because it's a certain fact that he will seriously reconsider going to oz. He starts a brickie course in July 2008, but if that's what he's got to look forward to then he'll be gutted.
He's a foreman at the moment on ground works, (he can lay bricks, just does'nt have the papers) and has good crack at work, the no talking and no banter will definitly not be for him eventhough he's not a chatterbox he still likes to have the crack.
Aldo, is this your only job as a Brickie in Queensland? cos i hope there not all like that. Also do you know if builders over there hire brickies trainee brickies or brickies labourers for 20 hrs per week? I guess you're gonna laugh at that question, i think i already know the answer, only hubby will only beable to work a max. of 20 hrs per week, do you think this is possible? Sorry to bombard you with questions, but i think the truest information can only come from the people that are actually out there alreadt doing it.
I've worked for 3 subbies and and walked off 2 other jobs at smoko and only one of those was any good. Its possible that a subbie might want a part time brickie/labrador, it may suit a small builder who doesn't do enough brickwork to warrant a full time brickie but you would need to find out for sure.
An example of what its like on site here: I went to a different site today and bumped into a labourer that i worked with before. he had his finger in a strap thingy, so i asked him what happened and he told me that he droped some blocks on it. The forman made him work for 2 days until he nearly fainted with the pain and went to hospital. After xrays he was told that it was a twisty fracture (cant remember technical name) and it had reset bent so he had to have it re broke and reset. This was on the friday and he was back at work Monday popping pain killers down his neck like lunatic . While we are on about drugs, its common here for brickies to take amphetamines just so they can get through the day. Now dont get me wrong, i've been partial to the od disco biscuit or a little of the old Peruvian marching powder in my time, but its a sad state of affairs when you have to take drugs to do your job .
Hang on... i do... I take anti-inflammatories for tennis elbo and tendinitis (one in each arm) never had them until i worked here.
Oh how I need a big breasted barmaid to comfort me right now..
hi aldo , my hubby read your thread he thought it was very well put also your replies you had , he,s a joiner on the sc (he gets on with his w/mates ) but he reckons the ozzies are acting like that cos the more pommies that are arriving we will be the ones in charge
One thing you forgot is the time you spend wafting off sand fly's! Im a spark working in Cairns and currently working on the biggest development here. New build houses on the edge of mangroves. Every house we go in is alive with sand flys. We are talking thousends of the little buggers.
Chin up mate plenty more jobs out there!
I'm a bricklayer in the uk and looking to come over at the end of January on a 1 year holiday visa. I'm not very good at working with arseholes, every site I've worked on, I've always believed in enjoying work and having a laugh. Working in the sun, singing along to the music and listening to the noise of clinging trowels.
Is it that bad for brickies everywhere down the gold coarse?
Then the traffic news: some mullet haired truckie has come together with a hoon in his V8 and the world slows down to take a look.
There's every chance that he did the job without pay himself mainly because he'd be on a salary. This is the way it is. I don't like it either its abused terribly but "When in Rome".
in my time, but its a sad state of affairs when you have to take drugs to do your job 
.
