schneefink

The journeyman I work with told me, before he left for vacation, that I was going to be in charge of the area/floor we've been working on while he was gone.

I laughed, because it sounded like a joke, but then he left and the bossman told me I was indeed in charge. Because, well, I knew what was going on and how it was supposed to be done and the bossman had been told that I was capable of being in charge.

So I was.

idk, like, I don't find it particularly hard to be in charge of two people (one of my cohort-mates and a fifth-year apprentice) (my cohort-mate kept getting pulled by the boss to do other things) who are perfectly content to listen to me since I did in fact know what's going on and have the specific subject knowledge. It takes more energy and effort and thought, sure, but it's not hard. It means fielding calls from the boss and calling him more when there are questions, and that's annoying, and it means keeping track of people and what's going on and what needs to be done next, which is... I dunno, I have a sense of that anyway? I just usually don't need to care?

Yesterday was the last day that I was in charge and we spent most of it in three different areas working alone because the boss had three things he wanted us to do. But also, like, in the afternoon I went and bothered the carpenters until they took down a sheet of drywall that they shouldn't have put up yet, put up the plenum that should've been put up earlier, and then got the carpenters to put their drywall back up with just enough time in the day to put up the vent that goes there.

And that's... dunno, it's not a thing I'm incapable of at other times, but it's not something I would've put as much effort into doing if I were not The One In Charge and therefore the one who is responsible for bothering other trades when necessary.

Yesterday I also heard like half a sentence of a conversation between my foreman and the electricians' foreman while I was heading to break, and then, after break, talked to the fifth-year apprentice who I was technically in charge of and who had been asked to fix a thing for the electricians. Told him what I'd learned from the electricians' foreman the week before when we'd talked about it and I'd gone "yeah, ask my boss about that". Flagged down the electricians' foreman, since I know him by sight now, got him to talk to the other apprentice and explain what needed to be done.

(Talked to that guy again today. He asked me how long I'd been growing my hair out, and said it was good to see more queer people on the jobsite. I signal that pretty visibly, since one of the few stickers on my hard hat is like "a queer person's place is in the union" sticker, but he's like the second person to mention it to me. Seems like a cool dude.)

just, idk.

Odd to think about how the framing of responsibility changes what I am and am not willing to do? I can enter this mindset easily once it's asked of me; I just usually don't if I don't have a need to.

There's something in there about rising to expectations but, like, it's more... It's easier to be confident when the people around you explicitly tell you that they believe in your skills and trust in your ability to do shit. The vibe of ~rising to expectations~ is different, to me. People say that more often in contexts where it feels like someone is below the standard or going above and beyond or something. This is more... "I know you are capable of this, you've proven that already, so I will continue to give you responsibilities commensurate with your demonstrated ability".

And if that comes with the bossman being amused by my willingness to talk back and correct him on shit, that's fine. xD He likes me because I listen, retain information, and do what he asks. He seemed pleased by how the last week went and how much got done, and so does my journeyman partner, who came back from work today and was like "yeah I really did tell the boss that you should be in charge while I'm gone, because you know what's going on and that's more important than that you're a third-year apprentice."

(also the bossman has finally proven what I have suspected for weeks: that we're missing some of the pieces we need for the finish work he's got me and my journeyman doing. and also the two apprentices I was given, who haven't yet been taken from us again, so I think we get to keep them and have a four-person crew on this piece of the work? that's nice. things will go faster with more hands.)