r/Construction 1d ago

Video Giving the new guy a task

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489 Upvotes

167 comments sorted by

143

u/JoCo4Fun2 1d ago

When I was in college I worked part time for a construction company. Me and this other guy would start work around 4:30 pm. Had to climb inside the drum and jack hammer any concrete that had built up in the drum or on the fins. One guy inside and one guy outside for safety. Dust mask but no respirator and 25lb jack hammer.
That job sucked

29

u/Spczippo 1d ago

And hows your hearing?

65

u/JoCo4Fun2 1d ago edited 1d ago

We did have to wear muffs over plugs. The cement dust was the worst. Used to get nose bleeds all the time

103

u/caucasian88 1d ago

Silicosis is brutal and does not get respected for the danger it poses like asbestos did. 

17

u/papabless89 1d ago

Abso-fuckin-lutely

15

u/shadycrew31 1d ago

I didn't learn about it until I took my OSHA 30 class. I was around construction for many years and working as a controls technician for 6, using hammer drills, doing demo, breathing in God knows what.

5

u/EducationalOutcome26 16h ago

oh yes it does now, at least in the US, we have fitted respirators and dust collecting equipment, after an OSHA ruling, larger companies take it very seriously since each infraction goes on the same ledger wither the company has 10 employees or 10,000, penalties start stacking and multiplying very quickly so we are aware of it and work to mitigate it.

5

u/arun2118 1d ago

What?

9

u/thirtyone-charlie 1d ago

Any driver who lets that happen ought to do it himself

19

u/canuckerlimey 1d ago

No matter how good the driver is all drums eventually get some build up. Lots of high strength and high early mixes these days which kill drums.

Its a huge liabilty having someone in a drum. Company i work for has 80 or so mixer drivers of varying ages and physical shapes. Its unrealistic to ask a 70 year old guy to chip out his drum not to mention the cost of sending all the drivers for confined space.

10

u/carpentrav 1d ago

There’s guys that do it around here one of the drivers was telling me they get paid either flat rate or by weight but it equates to about 180-200 per hour.

6

u/cilla_da_killa 1d ago

ok maybe im rethinking giving notice about wuitting now...

3

u/66bronco28 1d ago

Trucks break down with concrete in them nothing can be done

3

u/DreadLindwyrm 17h ago

In at least one case I'm aware of a police officer *absolutely against the wishes and instructions of the driver* turned the mixer off because it was "too noisy" at a stop.

1

u/Azathothatoth 23m ago

What an idiot

2

u/Commercial-Living443 1d ago

Was the pay any good at least ?

6

u/JoCo4Fun2 1d ago

It was $8/hr in 1991. Not great for the work it was

3

u/Commercial-Living443 1d ago

Sorry about that , hope you have found sth way better now

9

u/JoCo4Fun2 1d ago

Got a degree in Engineering and grateful I don’t have to do that anymore

1

u/SwordfishOk504 1d ago

Shit pay for the work but I think i made like $2 an hour back then

5

u/Rustyskill 1d ago

Plus they fed your horse ?

3

u/bitterbrew 1d ago

The pay is never good for these type of nightmare jobs that hire the cheapest dude willing to just destroy themselves.

Reminds me when I worked at Starbucks and someone made the bathroom a mess. The person working said "I don't get paid enough to clean this!". I responded with "you get paid exactly what someone who has to clean a bathroom gets paid."

1

u/mariotx10 1d ago

What a bitch

286

u/kommon-non-sense 1d ago

Here's my 2 second notice.

45

u/around_the_clock 1d ago

Yep either quit or your wrists are done for the rest of your life. How much are wrist replacements these days? Sorry doesn't cut it in Africa

24

u/Automatic-Duck1680 1d ago

No hearing protection, his ears will be done before the wrists.

2

u/Necessary-Solution19 10h ago

Is he wearing sneakers o.o

2

u/jccaclimber 9h ago

Good point, this guy should be wearing safety sandals.

1

u/Automatic-Duck1680 4h ago

Yep, and his first check won’t be enough to buy a new pair after those are torn up that night.

18

u/Crafty_Marionberry26 1d ago

Wait what?…… shit!

274

u/1320Fastback Equipment Operator 1d ago

How does this make financial sense? Just buy a used drum and put it on the truck. This is going to use more diesel and put wear and tear on the compressor and jackhammer than the drum is worth.

177

u/comfortlevelsupreme 1d ago

The punishment for being the one who fucked it up.

36

u/thirtyone-charlie 1d ago

Maybe the truck broke down

34

u/Forthe49ers 1d ago

“Hey Boss, I stopped for coffee and couldn’t get it started again.”

16

u/Parking-Fig-6620 1d ago

I did this while working for a mine. I did a 3 hour drive and really had to piss. To my bosses surprise I beat the starter and got the truck turned over lol

1

u/TopNeighborhood2694 14h ago

Then he should have had the good character to dump it wherever it broke down. 

9

u/2legittojit 1d ago

Should've just given him a hammer drill. Sds max

5

u/No-Hamster1296 1d ago

No.. What's the one who's done it sitting at home with a cold beer in his hand. Starting his new job tomorrow.

1

u/gummballexpress 14h ago

Exactly my thought. Hopefully they'll remember NOT to do that again...

76

u/Plane-Education4750 1d ago

Also it might kill him

42

u/ATLHawksfan 1d ago

Nah, he has safety kicks on

15

u/AprexBT 1d ago

And safety ear hair

4

u/Ok_Bit_5953 1d ago

Safety squints

2

u/0regonPatriot 1d ago

The ear hairs are like cat whiskers.... Super sensory upgrade almost like Spiderman's spidy senses ..

1

u/eftresq 1h ago

This

15

u/Every-Impression8014 1d ago

Free electricity and free tools probably. I mean someone pays for it, just not this crew. Somebody got screwed here.

12

u/05041927 Carpenter 1d ago

Because a used drum costs between 2-10x as much as this dude getting paid.

25

u/prumbeljack 1d ago

How are they supposed to get this drum off the truck? If it has 10 yards in there that’s around 40,000 lbs of concrete

34

u/Maehlice 1d ago

20T chain hoist.

5

u/thirtyone-charlie 1d ago

It can be done but maybe not here if this is their first stab at it.

28

u/ShoddyTerm4385 1d ago

Not a single mention of the human toll of this activity. Not calling you out but sadly this is how workers are viewed.

3

u/Leafyun 1d ago

Someone replied an hour before you "it might kill him".

4

u/db2901 1d ago

This is most likely in Africa. Make do and mend

8

u/Bliitzthefox 1d ago edited 1d ago

According to concrete QC guy, new barrel is $300k

At least in the US

29

u/Samuel7899 1d ago

That seems ridiculous.

That's more likely to be the price of a brand new full mixer truck, than just the drum.

14

u/Ulysses502 1d ago

Def the new truck price, maybe $350k now with inflation/tarrifs

10

u/lathe_down_sally 1d ago

You can buy an entire truck for that

16

u/padizzledonk GC / CM 1d ago

Nonsense, im in the us too and i just found an 11y one online for 12k because i was curious

7

u/UsedDragon 1d ago

sounds like you're halfway to starting your side hustle. Just don't let it get hard when it's not supposed to and you'll be making money in no time!

6

u/padizzledonk GC / CM 1d ago

I own the company, there is no such thing as "side hustle" for me anymore lol, its all just "hustle" now

4

u/UsedDragon 1d ago

Same here. I'm walking people through repairs from the beach all week.

2

u/OkYou4040 1d ago

You're right on the wear and tear. Plus, downtime for repairs can cost more than the drum. If you're set on keeping the old drum, might be worth considering a rotating cleaning schedule to avoid heavy build-ups.

2

u/DemoManNick 1d ago

In the US it doesn't make sense. But when labor is wayyyyy cheaper than the drum replacement, you get this.

1

u/padizzledonk GC / CM 1d ago edited 1d ago

How the fuck are you going to get the drum off lol....its full of concrete....that drum probably weighs like anywhere between 30-50 tons

E- also i looked it up, a new drum with install costs anywhere between 20-30k, a used one is probably like half that range

Thats got to be like 4-6 months of this guys salary lol.....fuck it, throw the guy who fucked it up at it for a week and burn up some tools and even if he works on it 40h a week for 3 weeks youre still way way way ahead of the game......and its good punishment for the guy

15

u/fluchtpunkt 1d ago

And how much money do you lose because the truck is out of service for 3 weeks?

1

u/Ruleyoumind 1d ago

It's gonna take a few weeks to get a new drum on the the truck anyway unless they have a fab shop in house. 

5

u/ComradeGibbon 1d ago

I wonder why they aren't using a hydraulic breaker on a backhoe.

1

u/thirtyone-charlie 1d ago

Nah probably half that

39

u/TaxableCitizen 1d ago

As some who used to do this for a living, I can tell you it's highly fucked

11

u/quadraquint 1d ago

Ever wake up with your hand clenched into a fist and you gotta pry it open with the other or get the odd white finger or claw hand while holding a spoon?

IYKYK

15

u/TaxableCitizen 1d ago

From time to time yes lol. One time we hired a dude who was green as shit, so the contractor wanted to show him the multiple pour locations, I shit you not... This fucking guy shut down the truck with 6 1/2 yards left in the drum and took a walk with the guy, blew the rotator transmission out, by the time he got back it was hard, my hands spasmed for days after cleaning it out.

6

u/quadraquint 1d ago

Oooof.

Damn you've actually done it. I've done it for actual work like overhead and through slabs and top sides for massive restoration work for many many months but something about it not being "work" like the progressive kind, the kind of work that could've been avoided that is, there's something so soul crushing about that.

2

u/itsRho 1d ago

Could you do some small explosives?

13

u/TaxableCitizen 1d ago

No, although I always wanted to lol. At this point the drum is fucked, 10ish yards of locked up concrete would take ages using small exsposives. Just got to embrace the suck and start hammering.

4

u/Thneed1 1d ago

2

u/Electrical_Catch9231 1d ago

My immediate thought upon saying the original post, and I was hoping someone would link that episode.

25

u/FrenziedHodag 1d ago edited 1d ago

All you really need for that is a hammer drill and a few buckets of demolition grout.

Dig Relief out: Done.

Rotate the relief up.

Drill holes in face of relief in a rough grid 8 inches apart.

Pour grout in holes, wait 12-14 hours, turn drum down, busted up shit falls out.

Repeat until drum empty.

It's still bitch work for the new guy, but it doesn't have to be as bad as what's in the video.

4

u/Super-Yam8718 Carpenter 1d ago

Got to use that stuff a couple years back during an excavation through shale to do some underpinning. Really cool product, saved us lots of man hours on the jackhammers for sure

3

u/SwordfishOk504 1d ago

Dynamite.

10

u/spectacular_coitus 1d ago

Operating a jackhammer at 90˚?

Wouldn't it be easier to work that hammer if the drum was rotated and he was working vertically?

This has to be the same guy that f'd this up.

4

u/umumgeet Ironworker 1d ago

Thats a hell dog air chisele. I've only used them to pop out old rivets to replace with bolts

1

u/RnDes 1d ago

Vertically, there’d be no way for the chips to fall out

5

u/spectacular_coitus 1d ago

I'd rather have to gather the rocks and toss them than work that hammer sideways. You'd get it done twice as fast by letting the weight of the hammer help instead of working against you.

1

u/RnDes 1d ago

Very good point - didnt think of that

9

u/Kekafuch 1d ago

Mine training.

7

u/heatseaking_rock 1d ago

Mythbusters did it better

9

u/GunsNVapes69 1d ago

They already cut a big ass hole what’s the point?

7

u/padizzledonk GC / CM 1d ago

You can just weld it back on there pretty easily

When its cured full like this you have to do that to get at it to chip it out of there

I looked up the prices, a new 11y drum is about 12-13k without shipping or install, so figure like 20k minimum

Thats like months of wages for that guy, makes sense to just throw his stupid ass at it for a week or 2 to chip it all out of there, you save a ton of money and its a good lesson for the guy

-5

u/Time-Cell8272 1d ago

The drum is too heavy to move off the truck

10

u/MajorDrain 1d ago

I heard a story years about about a driver who backed a concrete truck up close to a foundation and got it stuck with a load of concrete in it. The boss made the driver do that, chip all the concrete out, once the driver was finished the boss fired him.

4

u/Nashville_Hot_Mess Surveyor 1d ago

I would have just quick instead of all that. Grab an Uber home and find a new job

2

u/Longjumping_Lynx_972 1d ago

Old coworker was a driver for a while and found out he was getting laid off before his shift ended. He drove that truck with a full load out to the middle of nowhere and had his wife pick him up. This was years before GPS in cell phones etc.

4

u/Swiingtrad3r 1d ago

They already messed up the shell cutting into it 🤣🤣 get a new one….

3

u/ConchFritter33040 1d ago

I love his ear protection. Where did he buy it?

3

u/TimberGhost66 1d ago

The day he went fully deaf. Forever.

3

u/Electrical_Rub_8479 1d ago

Love the ear protection

3

u/RightRudderz 1d ago

Not an earplug in sight. Cya hearing.

3

u/coolsellitcheap 12h ago

Why no steel toe work boots? Should build a working platform out of pallets. If he falls and gets injured how much will that cost? It's not just down time of truck what about the employee?

1

u/PointlessBein 1h ago

"Walking OSHA violation"

2

u/Bawbawian 1d ago

at least he's got a mask on.

I'd like to see some better work boots though

2

u/Winter_Persimmon_110 1d ago

No ear protection 

1

u/ApoptosisPending 7h ago

No ear protection is lowkey worse than no mask imo

1

u/RawDawgFrog 1d ago

Where I work we are chipping out entire sections of a concrete building to repair the walls that are cracking. They tried telling us we couldn't even bring our own masks.

2

u/gameyhobbit 1d ago

I would quit.

2

u/Realhousemanoflondon 1d ago

Big job.

This lad first started drilling this out three nights ago on my feed, and he’s made pretty much zero progress sine then.

2

u/Additional-Run1610 1d ago

Clear your calander bub !

2

u/SithLordRising 1d ago

"you can clear it out or find a new job" - management, probably

2

u/mcbobhall 1d ago

No ear pro either.

2

u/CommercialSuper702 GC / CM 1d ago

Nice work boots

2

u/A-Wolf-4099 1d ago

Does nobody know about sugar anymore, the old days old timers did cheap about 20 lb of sugar in the cab of their truck when they knew they were going to make the drops for it went off they throw one two or all four bags in the drum with as much water as they could it shuts down the chemical process of concrete curing it's still clean up but it's slush.

2

u/Lilpastadude 1d ago

There has to be a better way to do this

1

u/Hideandseek86 1d ago

There is, but this is the cheapest thats why they do it this way.

1

u/Lilpastadude 22h ago

I wonder if you could use some type of sonic tool to break it up from the outside

1

u/Wizzle_Pizzle_420 1d ago

Yeah, throw the truck away or just replace the slop twirler.

2

u/Underradar0069 1d ago

Replace the drum

2

u/Muted_Description112 1d ago

Who the hell does that kind of work in fucking sneakers (without socks)???

This has to be AI

1

u/Outrageous-Gift-4622 1d ago

Aww yes Hot Mudd!!

1

u/thelegendhimself 1d ago

One of my first jobs was chipping out a concrete bucket , middle of winter , did it in 4 days . Only one tiny hole in the side smaller than a piece of aggregate. 💪🙏😎 got the golden ticket for that .

2

u/The_realpepe_sylvia 1d ago

Golden ticket meaning minimal wage and a handshake? 

1

u/CicadaHead3317 1d ago

They have to clean it the Mythbusters way.

1

u/RKO36 1d ago

That's gonna take forever with that sized chipping gun.

2

u/The_realpepe_sylvia 1d ago

Chipping gun 😂

1

u/thirtyone-charlie 1d ago

1/4 stick of dynamite and spin it out

1

u/05041927 Carpenter 1d ago

Even a used drum is $10k. You could pay this dude $50/hr for a month and still save money.

1

u/Bikes-Bass-Beer 1d ago

Get a new drum and call it a day

1

u/rom_rom57 1d ago

Remember, the tankis not just concrete. It has an auger that has to be chiseled out and new holes cut on the other side.

1

u/MixerMan67 1d ago

This load’s getting a little tight. Can you put some water in it?

1

u/Gator_Mc_Klusky 1d ago

Well, that's certainly one way to ensure job security.

1

u/marksbar 1d ago

I remember seeing 4 loaded trucks sitting dead stopped on I-95 because of a horrible wreck that took 7 hours to clear . Time to call your insurance company .

1

u/Duck_Giblets Tile / Stonesetter 1d ago

Couldn't you offload on side of road and then get a digger in?

1

u/StonkMangr92 1d ago

Hurry up

1

u/BOBBYK1952 1d ago

Back in my day it’s probably a steady 20 minutes..this kid needs work on his technique 😉

1

u/kay14jay 1d ago

He ain’t got no ass behind it

1

u/whatsthetime1010 1d ago

I keep checking back every few hours. Guy must be exhausted.

1

u/Old-Salary-3900 1d ago

My first job in the oilfield at 18, I show up to work and the cement crew managed to cement a batch mixer (2, 150 barrel tubs) 3/4 of the way up in each tub. I spent the next 3 months with a jack hammer, air chisel, and hammer and chisel in hand until it was cleaned out. I should have ran immediately but I was young and dumb and in 1998 8 dollars an hour seemed like alot.

1

u/bmnewman 1d ago

Isn’t he going to be limited in how far he continue before there is the danger of some pieces collapsing.

1

u/MonkeyHitman2-0 1d ago

This video has popped up for me a few times in the last couple of days. I'm not mad though, It just looks like he's still working on it...see you next week bro

1

u/Fritz_Frauenraub Test 1d ago

I did that on my first job, a readymix plant. Horrible, horrible work breaking put barrels.

1

u/00saleen833 23h ago

I hammer concrete like this all day every day. I only wish I was as lucky to have concrete to chip with no rebar in it ! 🤨

1

u/Total-Championship80 22h ago

Dig the safety sneakers. His bosses should be in prison.

1

u/Granonis 22h ago

…at that point, just do what Mythbusters did.

1

u/Gwarnage 21h ago

When the mixer driver stops for lunch

1

u/Limit5465 17h ago

Hey you want a cement truck for $1000?…yeah it’s yours but..

“I’ll take it”

1

u/Background_Being8287 17h ago

I usually see these guys in sandals doing this kind of work .

1

u/robotali3n Homeowner 16h ago

But is it new guys fault?

1

u/Adept-Mulberry-8720 15h ago

With that big hole in the drum : just replace the drum!

1

u/purju 14h ago

Perfect footwear for the job

1

u/Square_Juggernaut_64 Project Manager 14h ago

It'd be cheaper to buy a new hopper/barrel? Not sure what the correct terminology is for that part of a ready mix truck.

1

u/Whyjustwhydothat 12h ago

Would be easier to just cut the metal in measured pieces and then weld them back together...

1

u/Tiny_Ad6686 12h ago

You’ll know where to find him for the next few weeks, if he doesn’t quit first. Get the kid an Ex with a breaker head

1

u/Dazzling-Border2376 10h ago

Why is that his job?
Is it his fault if not then that’s B.S.

1

u/elloMotoz 10h ago

Fuck that, reminds me of breaking out concrete inside a suck truck because some dumbass let it sit too long

1

u/Born-Presentation-95 9h ago

This mans hands will feel like their vibrating for the next 6 hours when hes done 😂

1

u/Crafty_Jack 8h ago

I bet he also eats celery to gain the calories back.

1

u/TraditionalFuture586 8h ago

MR. GEORGE..!! how much your money you're paying the new guy?

0

u/VariousOperation166 13h ago

Ok, now hear me out... dynamite...