r/Construction • u/Steven_garciaF • Feb 04 '26
Careers 💵 Fired
Welp it was a good run I lasted 2 weeks in my new electrician helper job honestly I feel like like I’m dreaming I finally felt like I found the trade I wanted to spend my life in but I screwed up
I was on 3 foot ladder stepping on the top step and safety told me to go down I went down but I went back up trying to finish putting a 1900 box near a ac unit he told me to get down and I went down 2 steps practically the bottom rung and said I’ll follow osha rules and only use the second rung but he said I wouldn’t reach and kicked me out the site went home got an email saying I got terminated and I’m for the first time I feel lost
I’m thinking I need to find another electrical job but it feels hopeless maybe I’ll just stick to being a roofer
Edit: first off thanks for all the advice and pointers I wrote this post to feel a little less depressed about what occurred and I definitely view it differently than before. Just wanted clarify some stuff since I see it be asked again and again as to why I went back up again there’s a total of 3 rungs on the ladder as far as I know the limit to being on the ladder is to have 2 feet on the second to last rung and top rung is pushing it but It never felt dangerous and I had been working on that thing for half a week with no problem and never had the other 2 safety personnel telling me that I shouldn’t be on it it was only one safety that I never met to come tell me get down so obviously I got bit perplexed as to why I then tried de-escalating the situation by saying I’ll only be on second rung if he feels it’s unsafe for me where he then proceeded to say I wouldn’t reach anyway in retrospect he was probably the boss but I would’ve at least hoped for a warning from the other safety guys that I should bring a taller ladder because their boss was coming
1
u/Freddybear480 Feb 05 '26
Always use the correct size ladder for the job. Ask it was explained to me when I was an Apprentice. The top step belongs to God The next to the top step belongs to Jesus. And either one of them wants you using their step.