What Are The Wildest Worksite Stories?

In this episode of the Sparky Life podcast, host Lia Lamela speaks with  master electrician Roberto Reyes. They discuss Roberto's career, his social media presence, and his journey into the trades. Roberto shares his experiences with learning challenges, the importance of mentorship, and his personal struggle with addiction. He also recounts some of his wildest worksite mishaps and gives advice to those interested in the electrical field.

Roberto was fortunate to have a great mentor during his apprenticeship. He's now paying it forward by sharing his knowledge and connecting with other electricians in the community.

Connect with our guest Roberto's Link: https://www.instagram.com/ma_master_sparky/
Connect with us: @sparkylifeoflia

Sparky Life Supports: Raya Kenney's Foundation Women Who Worked on the Home Front Memorial

Be a part of history!
National Memorial to the Women Who Worked on the Home Front Foundation

Here's Raya and a little about her memorial
Congress approves Women Who Worked on the Home Front Memorial

Here's the link to donate.
https://marnie-kenney-sfg2.squarespace.com/checkout/donate?donatePageId=63d1d506217f9e44111ecfea

Apply for Skilled Trades the Mike Rowe Scholarship:
https://www.mikeroweworks.org/scholarship/
"We recognize a good education doesn’t always require a four-year degree.”

We support financial advancement for the skilled trades community.  You can reach out to Jennifer Markwell at Platinum Wealth email Jennifer@PlatinumWealth.net 

website www.PlatinumWealth.net

Music by https://www.purple-planet.com

Transcript

Lia Lamela (00:00:00) - Welcome to the Sparky Life podcast. I'm your host, Lia Lamela, and here we create the spark in our lives. Join me on this electrical journey where I highlight skilled trade tales and construction career opportunities with those I've met along the way. Thank you for joining. For trade tales continued. Today on the Sparky life, I want to introduce you to Roberto Reyes, a master electrician, almost a decade in the electrical commercial space, and named S&M magazine's 30 under 30 electrician for 2023. Roberto and I just two. Sparky's shooting the shit today share our wildest worksite mishaps. The journey into the trades and secrets to achieving success in our industry. Roberto, nine years sober, vulnerably divulges his struggles with addiction and shares his IEP background. Roberto and I prove you aren't defined by your high school achievements or lack thereof. His story is an inspiration. So welcome with me, Roberto Reyes. Hey.

Roberto Reyes (00:01:17) - Hey, Lia. How are you?

Lia Lamela (00:01:19) - Good, good. How are you?

Roberto Reyes (00:01:21) - Good. Thanks.

Lia Lamela (00:01:22) - Welcome. Roberto Reyes to the Sparky life.

Lia Lamela (00:01:25) - I'm so happy to have you here.

Roberto Reyes (00:01:27) - Thanks. I'm so happy. Thanks so much for having me. I was just looking at some of the other podcasts and saw you had some. Or you had Dustin on not too long ago and that was awesome. That was an awesome podcast, so I'm glad to be on here with some amazing guests that you've had.

Lia Lamela (00:01:43) - Thank you. Well, that's because you're amazing. So that's why you're here.

Roberto Reyes (00:01:48) - Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you.

Lia Lamela (00:01:50) - Roberto, you're a master electrician and you're currently residing in Massachusetts. Is that correct?

Roberto Reyes (00:01:56) - That is correct. Yep. Born and raised.

Lia Lamela (00:01:58) - So I came across you through your reels, which are absolutely fantastic. I love it, and I love seeing men like you in the field, because you really are a great advocate for what an elite electrician should look like.

Roberto Reyes (00:02:13) - Thanks so much. Yeah, thanks. It's I mean, the whole purpose of the whole social media account, which is something that is a bit strange for me to do because when I started my apprenticeship, I was never on my phone.

Roberto Reyes (00:02:27) - I'm not on my phone. When I'm working, I will press the record button and continue to work, but I'm never on my phone, so it was kind of hard to get over that. That gap of like, you know, oh, I'm recording myself at work or oh, like, you know, put my phone up and record this video. But the purpose of it was to like, highlight the awesome career it was to attract young people to it and to show them that there is people that are, you know, somewhat close to their age that take pride in their work, that love what they do. And it can really just be a cool thing that you know, you can do for the rest of your life and really enjoy. So that was that was the purpose of it. I hope it does come off like that.

Lia Lamela (00:03:06) - Absolutely. One of the things that your reels also does that I personally really like is you give tips, you're sharing your knowledge and your experience, and that elevates us all.

Lia Lamela (00:03:21) - And it's really cool. Some of the stuff that you've got on there, I'm like, oh.

Roberto Reyes (00:03:27) - Yeah, exactly. And before I even made my account, like I was inspired to do it based off of watching other people's accounts and, you know, there's there's so many great accounts out there now and they just keep popping up and, and so awesome to see. But that was even the biggest thing. Like I would send them to people that I work with, like kids that were I'm close with that, like apprentices that would work with. I would send them videos and be like, why aren't we doing it like this? Like, this is so cool. Like, you know, it's such like this awesome tips out there. And you know, that's a great another great way to share content is putting out tips and tricks.

Lia Lamela (00:04:01) - How did you get into the electrical field? Do you have family in the trades?

Roberto Reyes (00:04:06) - Um, yeah. So it wasn't a it was. No, you know, storybook as far as getting into the career I started, um, right out of high school, I went to community college and was going to pursue criminal justice with the hopes of becoming a police officer.

Roberto Reyes (00:04:23) - Didn't didn't do well whatsoever in high school. But I figured once I was in college, if I did something that I was a bit more interested in, then would apply myself more and it just wasn't the case. So I quickly dropped out of college. I wasn't going to waste my money doing that. And cousin a family friend. But you know, one of those people that you just consider a cousin, he worked at the company that I currently work at and then did my whole apprenticeship through, and he said, yeah. And he said, yeah, just, you know, give it give it a shot, apply. I had no experience as green as could be. I didn't know anything about electrical. I wasn't sure about the career, wasn't anything that even intrigued me. I just wanted to keep busy and get into something before I kind of got lost in the vortex.

Lia Lamela (00:05:07) - So that's a great way of putting it. Yes.

Roberto Reyes (00:05:11) - Yeah, yeah. So I decided to, yeah. Before I was 40 and still working at the same job, I was like, all right, let me give this a shot.

Roberto Reyes (00:05:19) - And I did and immediately fell in love. It was just it was awesome. You know, in the beginning there's always going. Things that you gotta work out or get used to. But yeah, as soon as I kind of found my groove, I got hooked up with an awesome, awesome journeyman and he kind of just showed me the ropes, showed me everything. I know I still work with him. He worked side by side for pretty much seven years straight, which is awesome. You know, you can't beat that. And we have a great yeah, we have a great relationship. And him acting the way he did was the main reason why I try and lead by example and be that person for people in the trades, because he made that transition so easy. I think a lot of people think like, oh, I'm going to get put with somebody who's mean or miserable or is going to make fun of me, or, you know, you're never going to be safe. There's always going to be like, you know, job site where people are just going to like, you know, whatever heckle you.

Roberto Reyes (00:06:16) - And it's just part of construction career. But he made the transition so easy. So I'm very thankful for that. And, you know, that was the kickstart of my electrical career. Now I love it and I'm obsessed with it and kind of consumes my life. But yeah.

Lia Lamela (00:06:31) - So I want to point out two really important things that you touched on. So first you said that school really wasn't for you, yet you're a master electrician. And I personally know as I just received my journey woman licensing. Oh yeah. We had so awesome.

Roberto Reyes (00:06:50) - Congratulations.

Lia Lamela (00:06:51) - Thank you. And I know that the Masters is even more challenging. So I think you're a great example of how you don't necessarily need to be an academic to be successful in mastering these types of exams.

Roberto Reyes (00:07:08) - Absolutely, yeah. When I touched upon it before, I never did well in middle school or high school was not a great test taker. I was on and I was on an IEP.

Lia Lamela (00:07:21) - Me too.

Roberto Reyes (00:07:22) - Yeah. Oh, so, you know.

Lia Lamela (00:07:24) - For the people, for the for the people who don't know, we're going to be besties. I'm like yep. Yeah. Right here, right here.

Roberto Reyes (00:07:32) - So I was on an individual education plan and got like extra time on my tests. A huge part of it was I didn't care, right? I didn't want it. Like I'd rather be out bicycling with my friends and playing in the woods, like, didn't want to be in school, didn't care about school, didn't think a lot of this stuff really mattered. So I didn't have a great attitude. And then from an early age, I was put into these brackets where I was told, like, you're not on the same reading level as some of the kids. So a lot of that I fed into, you know, I was like, I just kind of felt like, oh, whatever. I'm like, I'm not really going to, why am I going to try if I'm not going to compete or on the same level as the other students in my grades? Kind of a cool thing is part of me.

Roberto Reyes (00:08:12) - When I was going to take the journeyman and the master's test or no, not the masters, but the journeyman, I was a bit concerned because I had never taken, like any sort of standardized test since being in high school, which I always did poorly on. So I had gotten my paperwork from high school with the printouts of my IEP, and I could have used them in Massachusetts to get extended time on the journeyman exam. Yes, but as part of like really just saying, like, not screw you, but saying like don't need it was deciding not to do that for my journeyman and just taking it believing in myself and which I did. And you know, I went and passed it and I didn't use the extra time. It was really kind of like a proud moment of mine was just to be able to get over that hump of thinking that I wasn't capable, on the academic level, to to pass a test.

Lia Lamela (00:09:09) - Well, I totally empathize with you and your experience because I'm dyslexic. So I was IEP as well, and I had extended time and I've lived in many different states in the US.

Lia Lamela (00:09:21) - I also was lucky enough to travel outside of the US. And here's the problem with learning challenged adults and children depending on the school, depending on the state, will determine how they handle learning. Challenged individuals meaning? Yes, technically, by law, they're supposed to stand by accommodations for us to even the playing field. But it's been my experience that not all states do that, and you have to pick and choose your battles. So I experienced the same thing, although let me tell you, I wanted my extended time and I was really, really nervous about it. And the states that I took my journeyman licensing in, they were not compassionate towards accommodations, and I decided I wasn't going to fight that battle. I was going to be strategic in how I took this test, and that is what got me through. Now I will say this the universe was on my side, okay? Because during this, for our test, I had walked into the testing center and sat down by a window and the fire marshal was like telling everybody after I had already sat down to file from the back front and.

Lia Lamela (00:10:43) - But he said it was okay. I had already sat by the window and I could stay there. Well, two hours into testing, the power goes out in the facility and we have to continue to test. Okay, I felt so bad for the people in the back they couldn't see I had a window. The universe was like on my side. And then because of the power being out for the remainder of the test, they gave us additional time and I was able to finish because of that. I was like, oh. So awesome. Yeah, crazy story, but so cool.

Roberto Reyes (00:11:18) - Like you said, the universe really helped you out on that one. But it's all it's all for for good reasons. Yeah. So that's awesome. I was in the same boat I really wanted the extended time to on my journeyman test. And it as far as the Massachusetts, there's like the same thing, like a four hour test. So the code section always gets people very concerned because when you're trying to practice, do your studying and you're taking practice tests and you're timing yourself, you just get so nervous, you're like, I'm never going to finish.

Roberto Reyes (00:11:48) - Like I'm just not going to finish it. Yeah. And at least for me, because of one amazing book which is the exam Busters and everybody in our area uses it, I don't know how exam busters.

Lia Lamela (00:12:01) - It's called.

Roberto Reyes (00:12:02) - Exam busters. Yeah. It's through a place called Worcester Electrical School. Okay. And. They released the Exam Busters book for the Journeymen and Masters, and they do it every year. And it is like the bread and butter it gives you. It's just like amazing. If you go through that book front to back and you take your test, you might not know it beforehand. But when you get out of there, you will be telling everybody you know about this book and that they need to get it. And that is going to help you because it really is just amazing.

Lia Lamela (00:12:32) - That's awesome.

Roberto Reyes (00:12:34) - I was concerned and I was taking those and but because of utilizing that, that piece of literature for the study guide, I think I finished with an hour left on my Wow, my code section.

Roberto Reyes (00:12:48) - So I had all that time to go back and we do it on the computer. I'm sure most people do. So you like flag questions, you start questions and you can go back. And now take some time to dig through on the questions that you were like, all right, this is going to take me 20 minutes to even find where this is. So right. I was able to do that. And it was just it was it was really just awesome having that book. So use the same thing for my, my masters. And I took it and it helped a lot too.

Lia Lamela (00:13:12) - That's fantastic. When I take my masters, I'm totally getting my hands on that book.

Roberto Reyes (00:13:18) - Whereabouts are you right now?

Lia Lamela (00:13:20) - I'm in Pennsylvania. I'm not in my normal closet studio situation, so.

Roberto Reyes (00:13:27) - I hope it helps in in your area. And it's still applicable for that because I know like the tests vary. I think in Rhode Island, I don't know if it's still true, but Rhode Island, it was a closed book test and it's just like different state to state.

Roberto Reyes (00:13:41) - So yes.

Lia Lamela (00:13:42) - I do know that there are variations. However, it's my understanding that the variations are slim because the code books national that most of the state testing for it is relatively the same, not exact, but relatively the same. The second thing that I want to touch on is your experience with the journeyman that you had. Talk about an amazing apprentice mentor relationship. This is what Skilled Trades was based off of, and this is why we had so many skilled craftsmen and craftsmen because of that teaching setup. You lucked out big time.

Roberto Reyes (00:14:27) - Yeah, yeah, and I'm definitely not naive to that because when I started we were in service, so it was a lot like it was a smaller group within the same company. And now I'm in construction, so it's a lot larger. And when you see the other foreman or the other journeyman out there, you really get a feeling for like, you know, the opposite and how it can turn pretty negative and not so welcoming or educational as any sort of green or first year or early apprentice.

Roberto Reyes (00:14:56) - So yeah, I'm so thankful for for that opportunity and to the universe being on my side in that. And in that case, yeah. And getting paired with a pretty awesome dude.

Lia Lamela (00:15:07) - And what's even more magical about the situation is that you then paid it forward by putting the rails out there that you do, by connecting to other electricians in our community, by trying to share and elevate your knowledge. And also there is a lot of negative behavior in construction. So to see somebody with high moral values love what they do, very driven. You're not complacent. That's really special and really needed right now.

Roberto Reyes (00:15:41) - Exactly. Yeah. And it's like you said, it's really needed right now. And now more than ever, when there's a huge shift in there's such a lack of people in the trade and, you know, and in any trade there's everybody's struggling to find people. So this is really important where the leaders stand out. And those people that can be great examples are the ones that that you want to put the focus on to try and attract more attention to it, because there's so, so many different walks of life that end up coming into construction.

Roberto Reyes (00:16:13) - And there's people that come in at in their 40s. And they used to be accountant and there's people that are in their mid 20s and they were chefs and there's people that went to vocational schools and they get their license when they're 21. And you know, so there's there's always going to be fluctuations. And so it's extra important to to really put those people into the spotlight that love their career in that are people that others can look up to and be like, oh, you know, maybe I do want to be an electrician, or maybe I do want to be a plumber or a pipe fitter.

Lia Lamela (00:16:45) - So yes, it's.

Roberto Reyes (00:16:47) - Kind of nice to be put into that category, but it's by it's by design and it's by the, the work that I put in in the decisions that I made as far as trying to be like a leader on the jobsite or just a leader, you know, from day to day and think that's what really separates you is it's so easy to get caught in. To the some of the mindsets that are in construction or the people around you, or it's easy to just go be on your phone because other people are on your phone, or hide from your foremen because other people are hiding and they don't want to work.

Roberto Reyes (00:17:19) - Yeah. You know, and yeah, like I tell anybody who asked me for advice, I just tell them to work hard. Even if nobody's watching. You just keep working and master the task of the day, and you'll be perfect before you know it.

Lia Lamela (00:17:32) - I really like that. Work hard even when no one's watching. That is great advice.

Roberto Reyes (00:17:40) - Yes. And if you just live by it, you know, and if you just practice it a little bit, it just kind of just becomes who you are. You know, you don't need to get the perfect bend while somebody is watching you. You know, you just work hard and you just you just keep going. And like I said, it's not easy. Like, it's never easy being a leader, being somebody that doesn't follow, you know, kind of follow the masses or do what others are doing. So people will throw jabs or they'll just be like, what are you doing? Like, why are you sweeping? Like everybody's just sitting down, you know, you just got to stick with that.

Roberto Reyes (00:18:09) - And if I make exceptions here and there, then it's just that's when it creeps in. And then you just kind of go back to resort back to what everybody else is doing. So.

Lia Lamela (00:18:19) - Right. Right. So you had experience in non-union. That's kind of your journey or background's in the electrical work. What is one of the wildest stories you've got on the job?

Roberto Reyes (00:18:38) - Um, not directly on my job site, but down the street and within the same company. Oh, we've gotten trouble. Like, uh, slack from the union being in the greater Boston or the Boston area, so.

Lia Lamela (00:18:55) - Right, right. And I started with the union. I'm now non-union, and I really don't understand the animosity because at the end of the day, especially because so there's such a lack in skilled trades, labor. Look, you want to be union B Union you want to do non-union, do non-union, whatever works for you and your situation. But we should be embracing one another and lifting each other up.

Roberto Reyes (00:19:26) - Exactly.

Lia Lamela (00:19:27) - Trying to degradation somebody for their choice to not want to join an organization or making fun of somebody because they do want to join an organization. What do you do in there? We're all electricians. We're all skilled trades. Like, let's support each other. Yeah.

Roberto Reyes (00:19:48) - Having just had that conversation with my girlfriend, it's kind of baffles me that you're in a career where other people places it's so serious, other people will almost hate you because the company you choose. Yes, but you're in the same career. And I was like, that's like that's like saying, oh, like you decided to be a chef down the street. So now I'm going to smash your tires and I hate you. And, you know, it's so it really does. I don't get it in. Anytime somebody hits me up on Instagram or a family friend was like, oh, hey, talk to somebody. They're thinking about electrical. I always will say the local 103 is awesome. The union is awesome. You can join the union.

Roberto Reyes (00:20:32) - It is awesome. I don't work for a union company. I'm non-union. We're a merit shop. There's advantages to both. You can do this. It's whatever you want to do. You know, you make that decision early on. You stick with it. You can change up if you want. It does not matter. But like that's everybody's question. Oh are you union. And you know should I go to the union. And absolutely if that's what you want to do, if that's like, you know, you want to work in the Boston area and you're okay being in Boston, then go for it. That's an awesome union to join. And I feel like that's the should actually be the conversation. And that should be it. There should be you know, you're scab and this and that and it's so.

Lia Lamela (00:21:11) - I completely agree. Okay. So what's the craziest thing you've come across being in the electrical field. Because it's been my experience speaking to all of our brothers and sisters in skill trades.

Lia Lamela (00:21:23) - We've got some wild stories. Yeah. So what's a good one you've got on the table?

Roberto Reyes (00:21:31) - That some stories for us are just like, if you're in the trades or you're in construction, almost like the norm. You know, other people hear it and like, that's ridiculous, like what's going on. And then you're like, oh yeah, that happens on every job site. There was like two job sites ago. Like I said, the same foreman. Such an awesome guy. Works really, really hard. Cares about getting the job done. Like cares about the employees by sandwiches for people on Friday when they come in, or Saturday when they come in for overtime, tries as best as possible to create like a family atmosphere. We had so many large jobs going on, we didn't have such a shortage of skilled labor, so it was just like one thing after another, after another problem. And then within think it was within a week. There is a suspended ceiling in the labs, and we were putting up some light fixtures in one of the kids that we had, who was a licensed person, but he was through a temp agency, took the Hilti gun flour.

Roberto Reyes (00:22:35) - They like the healthy ram set like powder actuated gun to set into the deck.

Lia Lamela (00:22:40) - So wait wait wait wait, we've got a because we know what that is. Yeah. All right. So let's try to explain what the tool how it functions.

Roberto Reyes (00:22:49) - Those who don't know it's pretty much a gun and it works on the same you know the same concept. It has a it has powder in it and it has a pin. And when you pull when you push it against something, it'll unlock it. And then you pull the trigger and it will shoot whatever you put into it into concrete. So very powerful. They have these little nails that you put into it and it literally shoots into concrete. It'll shoot it into steel depending on what version you have and what you have it set to. So he was shooting a gun, and they have this awesome pole that you can put on it, and it allows you to stand on the ground and shoot a whatever 12 foot deck without having to get up on a ladder.

Roberto Reyes (00:23:33) - So you just push it up, you press the trigger and it shoots. And when we're supporting wire and lights, typically it has like a little pin on it with a little bracket and then a hook. So you can just shoot it and then you can get up like a six or an eight foot ladder, and then just tie the light up and support the light so it doesn't drop down when there's a fire or anything. So we were in the lab space, the ceiling was packed, and you always have to look when you're shooting them no matter what. Because like I said, you're quite frankly shooting a gun. And he ended up shooting into a four inch conduit into the bottom of a four inch conduit. Hitting a single 600 conductor, blowing it up, and then proceeded to get up a ladder, tie the light up and go on. His merry way was shooting up the rest of the lights. No, no. And this was a journeyman electrician. And then, just to put it into perspective, two weeks or a week later, like I said, another person that was working for us for a temp agency went up and hit a sprinkler head and dumped the whole sprinkler system in the same building.

Roberto Reyes (00:24:47) - When there was when there was a sheetrock already up. So then Sarah Pro had to come and cut the sheetrock out and do their spray. So the mold. Yeah. So my boss just got murdered on that job with people.

Lia Lamela (00:24:58) - Just really messed it up.

Roberto Reyes (00:25:02) - But back to the gun in the wire. So he shot the wire. It was like I said, it was a four inch conduit, and he shot the bottom of it. So the wire, just, like, happened to be laying down on the bottom of the conduit. It was 600. So it was a feeder for an electric room like, wow, across the building. It was existing. We didn't put the conduit in either, so it wasn't in our scope of work.

Lia Lamela (00:25:25) - Wait, wait. Pause one minute. So explain scope of work. What does that mean? What is the consequence when something is outside of our scope of work?

Roberto Reyes (00:25:38) - So regardless of if it was in the scope or not, it would have been a big issue and we would have had to fix it and it would have been terrible.

Roberto Reyes (00:25:44) - But this building was an existing building, so our scope of work is in the early stages of the contract will decide what you're responsible for. As an electrical contractor, you're responsible for A, B and C, you won't go past this line. You're not responsible for the second floor of the building. You're only responsible for lighting and power. Somebody else is going to do controls, etcetera, etcetera. So the scope of work just is a definitive line on where your contract starts and ends and what you're responsible for. So when I say this wasn't in our scope of work, this was an electrical that was already existing, it was already fed. We just had to stay away from it, which.

Lia Lamela (00:26:27) - Apparently we couldn't do.

Roberto Reyes (00:26:29) - And so it was. Yeah, it was just the beginning of a nightmare. So he shut out the conduit, tied up the light. A couple of days later, the one of, I think it was the we could have been like the facilities manager or whatever, but he came, came up and was like, hey, you know, we don't have power.

Roberto Reyes (00:26:47) - Can you guys look into this? So I really don't forget how they found it. I'm assuming they just tested the wires and found a short the ground somewhere, and then they were like, all right, well, we got to start tracing this conduit back, which I'm pretty sure they did. And they started at like, which happens a lot on job sites, like somebody will somebody will take a sawzall blade and cut the wrong pipe or whether, if it's an existing building, it's always crazy with trying to coordinate, like, you know, people are putting danger tape on wire and pipes like, don't cut this, please don't cut this. So it's not it's not uncommon to have to do troubleshooting and chase out something because somebody cut the wrong wire. Or the demo guys got a little too happy with their sawzall. They found it. They took pictures, the geek got involved. The geek took pictures. Somebody, somewhere has a picture of the pipe with black char, and then the tie wire going and wrapped around a light.

Roberto Reyes (00:27:45) - And that was, yeah, there's a picture out there. I can probably get my hands on it. So it turned out to be this whole nightmare. And obviously it's our fault because it was one of our employees who did it. And, you know, that was that was probably the one of the worst couple weeks that I've seen on a job site as far as things going wrong and on the same and on the same job. The sprinkler got dumped two other times.

Lia Lamela (00:28:09) - So twice, three times, three.

Roberto Reyes (00:28:12) - Times the sprinkler got dumped total in one person, shot through a conduit and blew up the existing 400 amp feed. So yeah, it was. Spirits were not too high that that day.

Lia Lamela (00:28:24) - No, no, we like to call that shit show a shit show job. Yeah, we're just one after the next. After the next. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:28:34) - Exactly. Yeah.

Roberto Reyes (00:28:35) - Yeah. You're looking for ghost. You're wondering who who's haunting this job site. Because just like you can't catch a break.

Roberto Reyes (00:28:42) - What is your craziest job site experience?

Lia Lamela (00:28:46) - Oh, man, there's been a many. Let's see. Okay, this is a good one. So I was an apprentice and I was working for a journeyman. And we were in switchgear and we were trying to run control wire from the generator to the panel. And I was standing on the side of the switch gear. That's considered debt. So on the opposite side you have your live busbar. And then on the side that I was standing on, it was dead. And I was supposed to feed this wire through the raceway. Raceway is a path that is supposed to be secure to put wire through, and I didn't want to mess with it. I didn't want to touch it. I'm not supposed to be anywhere near live stuff. As an apprentice in the Union. So this is when I was going through my apprenticeship. Exactly. So you can't exactly say no when a journeyman asks you to do something as an apprentice. I mean, of course you can say no, but there's consequences to you saying no.

Lia Lamela (00:29:58) - So I got clever, and I pretended that I didn't know how to send the wire through. And we weren't using fish tape. So fish tape is a tool we use to help fish wire from one side of a pathway to another side. And I would say that it is ideal to use the tool. When you're moving through raceway, you have a better chance of controlling where the wire is going, and better success of getting to the other side by using the tool when. And you have short pathways. A lot of us will just fish the wire through because it's, you know, you're not going a long distance. So I start pretending like one foot standing on the ground, one foot in the the switch gear, pretending to fish it through. And of course, the journeyman gets mad at me and frustrated, and he says, oh, just stand aside, stand aside. He gets in there. He starts violently, you know, pushing the wire through the pathway. And then all of a sudden we see the wire coming down on the live busbar side and everybody's like, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.

Lia Lamela (00:31:22) - Well, why did this happen? Well, there was a hole in the raceway. There wasn't supposed to be a hole in the raceway. But whoever put that raceway in, whatever happened during that installation, there was a gap or a hole, and the wire started to go down on the live side of the bus bar. Very, very dangerous. We're talking arc flash. We're talking big boom. Okay. So everyone's like, stop, stop, stop. And we were in a very well known data center. That's all I'm going to say about that. Ideally, you would shut down the power to remove that wire safely. Of course, because of the data center we were in. We were told you're not shutting power down. Figure it out. Yeah, yeah. So as an apprentice, I was just like, peace and walked out of the switch for you guys to deal with. I was like, that's what you get for trying to force an apprentice to push through a wire, pull a control panel that's live.

Lia Lamela (00:32:30) - That's ridiculous. Next to live busbar and you're trying to rush, so you're not using a fish tape. If you would have used a fish tape, you had a better chance of the wire not getting through this little hole and traveling down to a live busbar, because the fish tape is obviously sturdier. So by being sent through to the other side, you'd be less likely of something like that happening. So he was pouring, sweat pouring, and I left the switchgear room. I was like, good luck buddy. Yeah.

Roberto Reyes (00:33:05) - You you pulled your mic card. You're like, all right, this is what I'm going to go pull some mic right here. I'm out.

Lia Lamela (00:33:12) - Right. And I don't know how he did it, but he managed to get the wire out.

Roberto Reyes (00:33:17) - Yeah. So that's crazy. I know our company, which is awesome is, you know, no live work policy and they are on you about it. And our safety officer will fight anybody that has to say you guys can't shut off power.

Roberto Reyes (00:33:34) - And it comes down to it. He'll say, then we're not doing the work for you. So it's awesome to have that backing because it's just so I it's one of those things for me where it's just I don't get it. It's a no brainer. Like, I don't know why you would ever want to do live work. I know whatever, I'll get some some crap for it because people will be like, oh, you never worked at a hospital or you never worked at a data center or. But for me, it's just like, what is it? What is it worth to do? Live work? Because all it takes is the tiniest little mistake, and then the repercussions from that mistake are so much larger than a scheduled shutdown would be. Okay, we, you know, oh, you got to do live work. So then somebody accidentally moves away or the wrong way and blows up a breaker. Where are you going to get that breaker from? How long is it going to take to install it.

Roberto Reyes (00:34:25) - What else have you damage. And you know, now it's this whole big issue and it's like and you're not expecting it. A scheduled shutdown is scheduled. You're expecting some sort of impact, right? You can't predict an accident. And the repercussions from an accident are a lot greater than the repercussions from a scheduled shutdown, you know? So, yes.

Lia Lamela (00:34:49) - I'm on board with you. I completely agree. I think it's it's your life. There's only one you. I have a lot of respect for the guys that work on live work. I know what it's like to do it. I'm not a fan, and I love that your company backs you like that and supports you like that. Because I'm a firm believer that unless it's life support for hospital, I don't care how much money it's going to cost you to shut down that power source, it's not worth someone's life. It's not worth somebody's life. So I agree with you completely.

Roberto Reyes (00:35:29) - Yeah, I'm glad we're on the same page. And like I said, I know, I know, there's situations and there's plenty of people out there that do it and all the power to you.

Roberto Reyes (00:35:36) - You're not going to tell them otherwise. They're still going to do it. They've done it for 40 plus years. They're used to being in live panels, live switchgear or whatever. But yeah, as far as me and the generation that might have an impact on I would all I will always preach, you know, live work and that's coming from somebody who loves electrical, you know, who's dedicated so much of their life to electrical. Rather come home to my family and, you know, enjoy the other aspects of life that are so important besides my career.

Lia Lamela (00:36:07) - So yes, I'm completely on board with you, completely on board.

Roberto Reyes (00:36:11) - But that is a crazy story and that is terrifying if you're put in a situation like that.

Lia Lamela (00:36:17) - Oh yeah. Yeah, especially as an.

Roberto Reyes (00:36:20) - Apprentice too, because you're just like you said, you're just, you know, doing what you're told and hoping that somebody has your best interest and is looking out for you. And all it is, is a quick mistake like that.

Roberto Reyes (00:36:32) - And it could have been very terrible.

Lia Lamela (00:36:36) - Yes. And one of my amazing foremen that I used to work for. They used to call. They call him Rain Man because he's just so brilliant. Yeah. As an apprentice, you don't know how dangerous certain things are. And the only reason I knew that that was very dangerous situation was because when I very first walked into a data center and was introduced to switchgear and all of that, this amazing foreman pointed out the busbar and he's like, you see that Busbar? Yep, I see it. He goes, don't ever touch it. Because if you touch it, you're going to die a long, painful death. Yeah. And I was like, all righty then.

Roberto Reyes (00:37:25) - That registered up here.

Lia Lamela (00:37:27) - Yep. No touchy I might not I might not have a three.

Roberto Reyes (00:37:30) - Way switch but I know don't touch that right now.

Lia Lamela (00:37:32) - Yeah right.

Roberto Reyes (00:37:33) - Yeah yeah that's super important. You know that's like the little things like that. That's like, you know, being a kid and saying don't touch the stove.

Roberto Reyes (00:37:42) - And you know, you don't even want to get near it or, or try and be around that stuff.

Lia Lamela (00:37:47) - Right? Right now, Roberto, you have a very successful career. And what would you tell somebody who kind of want to walk the same path? They want to reach the same goals? What have you discovered along your journey that you could share?

Roberto Reyes (00:38:07) - Absolutely. Yeah. Great question. I think, um, I come from a bit of a different headspace when it comes to, I guess my career in my life in general was kind of the the elephant in the room. But when I was in high school, you know, part of why I didn't apply myself was because I kind of just. I kind of got taken over by. Just a bad scene. And then me and my friends got into drugs and alcohol pretty early on, like I started smoking weed when I was in middle school, and we hit it pretty hard and ended up having a real tough time with the alcohol I've been to.

Roberto Reyes (00:38:45) - You know, I was in detox like three times throughout high school, so it was really it was something that was just like at the end of the day, you know, it turned out to be an addiction, but it was something that was just kicking, kicking my ass. I couldn't I couldn't stop drinking. It was just a really bad place to be. And when you're in when you're in high school or really at any time in your life, but especially in high school, you're so young you don't know what's going on, you're just trying to figure stuff out and to have something that that you're struggling with like that and, you know, to feel like nobody really understands you. It was a it was a tough thing. But I was in and out of detox. And then finally I decided, and there's no cookie cutter way of doing it, but. I don't know what what made the last time stick, but I ended up getting. Sober and removing myself from that scene. So I kind of made myself a promise.

Roberto Reyes (00:39:36) - And I take it as like getting a second chance at life because I was in a pretty dark place. So when it comes to my career and pursuing my electrical license right away and then going right into my masters and, you know, trying my best to stay physically active and, you know, running half marathons and setting goals and doing all that stuff. All that stuff comes from feeling like, all right, you were given this opportunity to change things around. So whoever had faith in me and whoever allowed me to get myself out of that, I try and live my life like that. And that ends up being why I'm more serious and why I work when others don't work. That's the root of it, and that's what it stems from. It just, you know, I just kind of turned into a, a workhorse and somebody who really is passionate about life and personal growth because of that. So I know it was a long tangent, but it ties into my mindset because I know a lot of people might not necessarily have that mindset when it comes to a career or electrical or even other things in their life, but the fundamentals are still the same.

Roberto Reyes (00:40:40) - So if somebody's trying to pursue a career, trying to get their masters early or whatever they want to do in the electrical and they want to be successful. And like I said, you know, working hard when nobody's watching thing is a huge thing. But if the principles are hard work, consistency and having a plan, right, if you're working hard and you're consistent but you don't have a plan, you're still going to stay in the same place, right? You need a you need a plan, whether that's writing it down, whether that's really beating it into your head and keeping some sort of filing system in your head. Hey, want to do this by then and want to do this? And this year I'm going to try and accomplish this, and next year I'm going to get my license. And and I literally wrote it down. I said, I'm going to get my journeyman by by the age of 23. I want to try and go into the office and become assistant project manager. I want to get my masters and then other like life goals.

Roberto Reyes (00:41:35) - So I wrote those down. I always have in the back of my head and to remind me, like what I'm working towards and keep me in line with those goals. And then the hard work and the consistency are the day to day that's getting up. Because we all know, like you're in the trades, you get up at 6 a.m. and or you start work at 6 a.m. so, you know, I get up at four, 450 or, you know, you get up. Yeah, before the sun's up. And it's tough. But the consistency of getting up early, working hard, keeping a positive attitude, always willing to learn because a lot of people get to the point where they get their journeyman or they get their masters and they just they don't even want to take on more stuff. Another point that I touched on earlier was mastering the day because people will say, oh, like I'm finding it difficult. There's so much to learn in electrical. What should I do? Like how do I learn at all? Just be good at the task you're doing that day, right? If you're bending conduit that day, just be good at bending conduit that day.

Roberto Reyes (00:42:34) - You don't need to worry about fire alarm like you're not. You're not there yet. And I have my masters and there's a boatload of information that don't know. Right. And that's somebody who, under the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is labeled a master electrician. And, you know, if you. Oh, you don't know that. No. There's so much to learn. And that's covered under one license.

Lia Lamela (00:42:58) - Right.

Roberto Reyes (00:42:58) - And one title as an electrician. And I'm not naive to it at all. There's so much to learn with electrical. And you know, you can get into these, you can get into a niche where you are a master at this one thing like fire alarm, fire alarm on its own, it's like.

Lia Lamela (00:43:12) - Yeah, it's it's.

Roberto Reyes (00:43:13) - Own beast. And people will try and play it down. Oh, fire alarms, not that complex. It's just, you know, your in your neck and it's like yeah, great. Well you know you do a whole building fire alarm system from ground up and you run through it and you do all the tests and you wire up everything and you delegate the work.

Roberto Reyes (00:43:30) - And then you say that fire alarm is easy because you'll you'll mess up the whole building, you know, you'll, you know, your strobes won't even be synced and you'll have stuff going on. That's crazy. So yeah, I would say just just master the day. Just take it, you know, take it a stride at a time. Just be good at what you're doing at that. At that point, you know, if you want to go home and watch the videos and kind of look into other things, and then that's great and that's good for you. And it's obviously going to help you in the long run, but try not to get overwhelmed by it because there is so much involved in electrical.

Speaker 4 (00:44:03) - Yeah. Wow.

Lia Lamela (00:44:04) - That's really a great way to approach it. I love how you broke that down into focusing on the day, because you're right, electrical is vast. That's one of the things I love about it. You can never stop learning. There's always something more to learn. Regarding electricity and how it interacts with different devices and mechanics of it.

Lia Lamela (00:44:34) - And that to me, is what helps us continue to grow. But it is overwhelming, and it is intimidating to many because of those aspects. And to tell someone to hone in on the day, to just master the day, that's really powerful. That's great. That's great.

Roberto Reyes (00:44:56) - Yeah, it's super important and it's necessary. When we talked about how vast and different avenues that you can go down with electrical, to think that one person is a master of all of it is a ridiculous statement because you can work for 40 years, be a master electrician, and haven't even touched certain areas of the field, and let alone be a master at, you know, all the areas.

Lia Lamela (00:45:23) - Right? Okay. What tool is in your tool belt? What's one thing if you could gift someone? A tool that they could carry with them every day. That's going to help them achieve their goals. What would that tool be?

Roberto Reyes (00:45:40) - Passion and hard work, but if you have either of those in your tool belt, you'll be in in great shape.

Roberto Reyes (00:45:48) - If you have a passion and love for what you're doing, then the bad days or the bad days just come and go. And you know when when you're getting your butt kicked or you're in an attic or you're drilling holes all day, you know you're miserable or you're outside on 100 degree days, the passion will always.

Lia Lamela (00:46:07) - Yeah.

Roberto Reyes (00:46:10) - Or the freezing cold days where you can't even move your fingers.

Lia Lamela (00:46:13) - Yeah. You know. Yes. Those are worse, in my opinion.

Roberto Reyes (00:46:18) - Yeah. Oh they're far. Yeah. It was just I just had a conversation with one of the young kids. I told them, you know, wait, wait till the cold comes around. Because you might say that you like the cold, but you can't get away from the cold. And once it hits you, it's it consumes you. So, yeah, I think actually talking about it think passion is probably the number one tool to me.

Lia Lamela (00:46:40) - That's great. Thank you so much for being so vulnerable and opening up about what you've accomplished and your journey with drinking, because so many brothers and sisters have substance addiction in our fields in particular.

Lia Lamela (00:47:00) - So that really helps show that you don't need to let that stand in your way. Like there, there, there is a way to move forward and conquer that beast. So thank you so much for sharing that and all of your amazing advice. You gave me some great nuggets here that I'm gonna ponder on and implement in my own day to day. Where can people find you? How can we reach out?

Roberto Reyes (00:47:32) - Find me on Instagram. You can ask me any questions. Yeah. My username is Ma. Underscore master, underscore.

Lia Lamela (00:47:40) - Spark I love it. Thank you. Thank you so much for being on the spark life. It was wonderful having you.

Roberto Reyes (00:47:47) - Thanks so much. Thanks for the great conversations and the awesome stories. And I'm sure we'll talk again soon.

Lia Lamela (00:47:55) - Thank you for joining us. If you felt a spark in today's episode, I invite you to write a review.

Speaker 5 (00:48:01) - I'd love to hear what lit you up.

Lia Lamela (00:48:03) - Take what resonates.

Speaker 5 (00:48:04) - With you.

Lia Lamela (00:48:05) - And if you'd like to hear more.

Speaker 5 (00:48:06) - Of the Spark Life, please subscribe, like, follow and share.

Speaker 5 (00:48:11) - Until next time, create the sparks in your life.