The worst week of my career was in February, all because of one attic.

I got sent to an old house in the historic district to run a new line. The attic was maybe two feet high at the peak, packed with blown-in insulation, and it was 95 degrees outside. I spent over four hours up there, cutting in a new drop and fishing wire through three separate fire blocks. The debate I keep having with myself is whether I should have just refused the job on safety grounds or pushed through because the customer needed service. Has anyone else had a crawl space so bad you considered walking off the job?

3 comments

3 Comments

tyler_knight2mo ago

That attic sounds rough, but was it really a safety issue or just a hard day?

oliver_mitchell2mo ago

You said "just a hard day" but that downplays real risks. Attics can have weak floors or bad air that actually hurts people. Calling it just a tough shift ignores the real danger.

henry_palmer241mo ago

Look, I get what @oliver_mitchell is saying about real risks, but sometimes a bad space is just a miserable job, not a red flag. That attic sounds awful, but if the floor joists were solid and you had a mask, it was probably just brutal work. I've been in spots where you're just soaked and covered in dust, questioning all your life choices. Pushing through a tough one for a customer is part of the job sometimes.