Have an interview with the city

Sounds like what I do when we aren't sucking tanks. We Vac and Jet storm drains on a quarterly basis. Its not real bad work. Its Noisy and Dirty though. Grates are a pain sometimes if they are stuck. Tubes can be heavy and locks wont want to stay but that's part of the job. If you are going to be jetting Get a pair of rubber fire boots they will keep your feet dry and if you do drop something on your foot they have steel toes.

 

If they have a tractor trailer then you have a perfect opportunity to learn there without having a DAC report looming over your shoulder if you make a mistake while you learn. Plus they probably offer good benefits and 40hrs a week minimum.

Not too bad.

 

Sorry about that Mike, I was thinking of another thread.

Doesn't sound like that terrible of a job. The only downside I can think of is, downsizing if the municipality runs short on money. A few years of seniority should remedy that though. When I was locating underground utilities I went to Houston to help out for a few weeks. The water main breaks were unbelievable. They were calling in 100 breaks a day. They could only repair 60-70 a day. I talked to a Houston water dept. Guy one day and he said that just a couple of years before the city had downsized almost half in this dept. Little did they know that the worst drought in 75yrs was on its way and they would have to pay contractors to help repair all of the breaks.

 

With most city's, there are 3 departments that are revenue generators. Electricity/Energy, Water/Sewage, and Trash. When the money crunch hits, they are going to cut the fluff from parks and rec. and other non-essentials services before they start cutting from basic utility departments.

 

You're absolutely correct and you can add Libraries to that list. Around here we're considered essential workers like Police & Fire dept. The last time we did a job action over some unfair contract issues, the city here got a court ordered subpena to get us back on the job.