Buying oil! HELP!

And, just like that... Neither of us was in a mood to try to reassure the other.

So now, hang around for that Cal Frac job fair, or call up one of these other companies that was interested, or go hope and rake leaves and regroup...

 

We could have a very good conversation if guys are willing to talk openly. I know what an Emergency Response Guidebook is, someone linked the MSDS and I read it. But, I didn't need the MSDS to know that petroleum fumes are nasty and I'm not even talking about H2S. Benzine, carcinogens...

Someone called me a whiner for caring about my health, I'll take a butt chewing like yours over that, anyday.

I talked to yet another crude hauling friend and I'm convinced my trainer (employer) is careless himself and was too concerned he was going to get his money back out of me. Obviously, I'd have to produce, but he was looking for someone as quick and careless as himself. I looked at that ####tail of fumes he was working over and I thought to myself (from a distance) 'f' that!

But see, "buying oil" isn't completely safe. I think guys doing it would probably prefer not to think too much about it. I can imagine OSHA eventually forcing companies to employ automatic systems on the tank where guys don't have to lean over the hatch at all. Then, they'll talk about the olden days and how they used to do it and how dangerous it was.

It seems we have two kinds of people. Some who think we can expect work places that are truly safe and that OSHA fully protects us, and there are those who are actually doing the jobs, and making the money, and dealing with the realities of what's out there. I'm sure others can tell us of much worse jobs working in high H2S atmospheres with oxygen tanks or working in confines spaces cleaning out tanks, things like that. I see some of those excavators digging and they're right up to the ledge high above the ground, same with the belly dumps. Looks a little nerve wracking.

There is 'the book', and there is reality, and sometimes they are hard to reconcile. And, lets not even get into HOS.

 

Yes Chibob, can't tell if I was fired or if I quit. LOL Oddly enough, I got on the phone with a guy from orientation and he's going to check if his boss is hiring since I'm already qualified. This classmate I'm talking about, he hauled crude in Texas and his habit is exactly what my trainer told me not to do. He's careful, he goes up without his tools, opens the hatches, and then goes back down and does a few other things like chock blocks, and what have you. Then, after the tanks have vented a bit, he goes back up and works them. The guy who trained me said everyone does it the way he did and because he was paying a high salary he expected me to do the same.

Well, I've got the day off, I like that. Another thing that sounds better, my classmates job, they don't slip seat and they go out when they want and work as much as they want. That would be better because I was looking at a 6pm to 6am shift and more flexibility to work around the weather would be great- as if ice and snow aren't enough!

 

JSA's!? How funny! Do you get anything out of them? Seriously, they look like a useless layer of bureaucracy to me. I'm not against everything, like, the concept of engineering controls down to PPE makes a lot of sense to me. The JSA's however...my trainer wrote up a stack of JSA's at home so he'd have them already done when he went to the well sites. I'd be interested to hear if anyone actually benefits from them. In class we did one- walking across the road to a restaurant. Stuff like, 'look for cars', 'watch for holes in the sidewalk', stuff like that. There is useful stuff, like an MSDS, but the JSA's always looked silly to me.

If Texas allowed rotation I'd be down there. I can recount all my harrowing snow and ice driving stories. I can get through a winter but oh, traction, sweet traction! And, the muddy roads up here, like driving on grease.

 

I hear that! But, you're also implying they don't actually do anything, it's just something you have to do. Chock blocks! That's another one.

 

Not to depress or offend anyone but I'm just sharing what I'm learning. Crazy, looks like I'll be offered another crude job. I hope it's not wrong to take a strong look at the downside of something you intend to do.