Journeyman Told Apprentice Not To Think And Just Follow Orders, So She Did Exactly What She Was Told Even Though It Compromised Work Safety
by Heide Lazaro
Some bosses look down on their employees as if they are robots that should do exactly as told.
This female apprentice shares how she was always told “not to think,” but only follow orders.
So while dealing with multi-colored wires, she decided to do exactly what she was told!
Read the full story below to find out what happened next.
Sparky apprentice does exactly as she’s told
I am a sparky, an apprentice to be specific.
I typically catch crappy jobs no one else wants to do (namely the journeymen).
But sometimes, I catch other apprentices work because I am the lowest man on the totem pole at the moment.
And I’m rarely unsupervised for the same reason.
This woman was often told not to think, only to follow orders.
Something I hear often is, “You’re an apprentice. You’re not supposed to think. Do exactly what you’re told.”
Okay, then!
Well, I did exactly what I was told in a temporarily unsupervised moment.
She didn’t pull a ground.
We were pulling wire and I was told to put x-color, y-color, and z-color together and start pushing it to the box, while they went and did something else.
So I did.
On this job, you are supposed to have a ground wire everywhere where you can ground to the metal.
Well, green wasn’t one of the colors, so I didn’t pull one.
She made a valid response to the journeyman.
My journeyman comes back and sees what I’ve done.
“Why didn’t you pull a ground?”
Me: “Well, I thought…”
Him: “You’re not supposed to think.”
Me: “Well, that’s the problem. I thought I should and then I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to, so I did exactly what I was told.”
Now, somebody else had to do it for her.
He blinked a few times, realizing what happened before gruffly going, “Pull one in.”
Fortunately for me, I was scheduled to leave an hour early for an appointment and didn’t have time.
I heard from another apprentice that I was in for the morning.
So he’d pulled the ground himself.
Hopefully that journeyman learned not to tell apprentices not to think! Let’s check out the comments of other people on Reddit.
This lady apprentice shares her realization.
While this person expresses their personal thoughts.
Stop and think, advises this person.
This user had a similar experience.
Finally, this person clarifies some technical information.
The worst kind of workplace is one where you aren’t allowed to think and make decisions.
Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.
Categories: STORIES
Tags: · apprentice, color, don't think, journeymen, malicious compliance, picture, reddit, top, wire

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