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Tales from the Trenches, stories forged in the fires of experience.

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Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of communication known to mankind and we encourage

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you to join us and share your stories.

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Hello everyone, thank you for joining Tales from the Trenches.

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Gerald Bergrin, thanks for joining us today.

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How's it going?

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It's going great.

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So, we were having a little discussion about Tales from the Trenches and stories from the

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field and how to prepare new technicians for that first day out on your own.

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And it might not even be your first day, it just may be a day.

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I mean, you might have been out in the field for six months, nine months, a year and you

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get sent out to a job and you go, oh man, what am I doing?

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Yeah.

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Blow something up here.

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Yeah, exactly.

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So, let's talk about that fear.

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Let's talk about those things we don't normally hear because we can go through training, but

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are we going to go through training on what do you do when something goes wrong, when

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something goes bad?

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Because we're going to have those experiences.

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So let's talk a little bit about that and some of your own personal experiences.

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Yeah, I'd say that's one of the things.

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I didn't go into a formal trade school.

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I did classes with Johnstone University and things like that.

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But, you know, get some book knowledge and so.

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But yeah, there's the book knowledge doesn't tell you, say, hey, what if the thing catch

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on fire or what happens if, you know, something goes sideways and we blow up a compressor.

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What if I let the smoke out?

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Yeah, exactly.

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Where's that magic smoke?

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How do you put the smoke back in?

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Yeah, exactly.

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They didn't teach me that.

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I've never seen a thermostat smoke.

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Where does that happen?

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Is that capacitor puking?

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What happens if I turn this back on?

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Why are there sparks flying?

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This compressor makes this funky sound when I turn it on.

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Is that normal?

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So, yeah, there's been a lot of that and a lot of like what I learned was just trial

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by fire.

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As I mentioned earlier, it's just that, you know, I had a really good guy teach me a lot

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of stuff and sometimes what he would teach me would be just, you know, trial by fire

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and just he'd give me a little bit of a

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knowledge to do something and, you know, to be safe with it and say, here, go to it and

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give me a call if you got any questions.

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Well, I thought one time I was changing out of a compressor that, hey, I got this.

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It was a walk-in cooler and changed a lot.

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And one of the things I couldn't remember is he told me was, you know, how do you charge

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your refrigerant?

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There's a couple of hours, dump the stuff in there and fire that thing up.

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And, oh, man, it sounded horrible.

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It sounded like it was eating a bag of hammers.

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Oh, Lord have mercy what I do to this thing.

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What did I do wrong here?

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Let me backtrack and think about it.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So I flooded the compressor and so, yeah, he was laughing his head off though.

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And it was good experience though.

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Like, yeah, don't flood the compressor when you first, you know, charge it up.

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And so there were some definitely good learning experiences from those.

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But that's the thing, you know, I learned a lot was that, you know, what you will make

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mistakes is just what's going to happen.

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It's not a perfect world out there.

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Stuff does hit the fan.

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And trying to prepare yourself for that.

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I almost called this series the do as I say, not as I did series instead of tales from

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the trenches.

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Yeah.

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We have these experiences that we need to share and we need to prepare people mentally

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for that because it's difficult when we learn how to do something.

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We go out on our own.

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Now all that pressure is on us and hopefully it's going to go right.

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But what happens when it actually goes wrong?

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How do you walk up to that homeowner and say, I know your unit was working fine before I

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got here to service it.

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But now it's not.

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Yeah.

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And I've had that conversation with a few customers and especially there's these people

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who are just, they're like, you know, these highly important people.

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I told them, well, guess what, you're not going to have heat for a few days.

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They're like, what?

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You just were supposed to do a maintenance.

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Yeah, I was doing a maintenance and something broke.

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And I actually, if your system's so old, I don't have that part.

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That's exactly right.

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You know, and sometimes you just have that honest conversation.

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And even though they yell and scream and dance on top of your head for doing that, you just

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kind of like have to say, yep, I made the mistake and I apologize.

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We'll get it done as fast as we can.

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And, and just start to have a little bit of thicker skin from it.

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So, yeah.

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And having an honest professional conversation about things.

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I always bring it back to the same analogy as, you know, when you go to the doctor, do

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we go to the doctor because something is wrong or do we go to the doctor to try to find something

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before it actually goes wrong?

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So a lot of what our job is, is for that.

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We're there for preventative maintenance.

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And if you think about, say on that furnace, you know, there are a lot of things inside

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of that furnace.

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You have tubing that could be dry rot and just sitting there waiting to be touched.

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So it's going to crack and be brittle.

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You have collector boxes on condensing furnaces that could have small cracks on them.

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And as you start moving things around and actually looking to find problems, you can

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find problems that may have not presented a fault before that may now.

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There's so many things, you know, metal on 80% furnaces coming off from a flue pipe that

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may have been barely holding together.

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And you get in there, start touching it and all of a sudden it just becomes brittle.

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It's like a cookie and it just crumbles in your hand.

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And you have to go to the homeowner and go, I have to shut this down right now.

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Even though it was working when I got here, I have to shut this down and fix it properly.

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And that's not always the easiest conversation to have, but it's the reality.

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Yeah, it is. And yet also just the honesty of it is what I think has, you know, been

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the best part, you know, for the customer is that it's like, yeah, you know,

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it was working when I got here.

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And then, you know, like you said, you know, got brittle joints because you even being

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like, I remember one time finding a 90% and the flue pipe, you know, just had a weak

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joint in the PVC.

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I just, I showed up and let me clean this thing and pop.

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Oops.

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But thankfully something like that's easily repaired.

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But, you know, having the honest conversation with the customer too is like, hey, you

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know, this is just not good.

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We need to get this fixed properly.

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You know, it may have been attributed to what I did for the maintenance or whatever,

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but, you know, if we have that honor of conversation, people really appreciate that.

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They do.

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And then they just appreciate you more and want to have you back knowing, hey, this

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guy is honest at least, maybe he screwed up and broke my system, but, you know, he

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was honest about it.

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So he didn't try to hide it.

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Oh yeah, that, that, that, oh yeah, that was there when I got here, you know.

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Right.

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And I find documentation is very, very important.

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You know, if we see something that is bad, you know, if it's a, say it's a piece of

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metal on a flue pipe and we go to touch it and we stick our finger through it, grab a

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photo of it or take the homeowner down and show them, look, this is actually what's

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going on.

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So this was so paper thin that when I touched it, my finger went through it.

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This should have been changed probably a long time ago.

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It just wasn't found.

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And so now we have to fix it.

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It's one of these scenarios that now we are aware of a situation and that's what I'm

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here for is to prevent further issues.

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So now let's discuss the proper way to move past this.

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Let's get this fixed and get this back into proper operation.

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Yeah, definitely.

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I mean, especially, um, I'm up on the coastline here.

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We got a lot of corrosion on these heat pump coil.

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Man, all the salt water I can only imagine you sneeze on it and the coil is gone.

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Right.

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Oh my gosh.

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Um, well, you know, let's close that up and see how, but you know, a lot of the

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times it's just telling the customer, it's like, look, you live on the salt air, man.

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And your salt air is eating your coil up.

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And so yeah, having that conversation with a customer is like, you know, I show

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up to do the maintenance.

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As soon as you just barely touch that thing, crumbles up, you take a service door

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off or something, the whole coil starts to crumble in front of you.

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Wow.

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Yeah.

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And so the thing, like you said, was have a picture and you can document that.

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And that not only helps the company, but it helps you out too.

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That it's nice to have, you know, the tools like that to take those pictures

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and documents.

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So it just saves everybody from a lot of headache.

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And, you know, I remember before we didn't have those things and it just kind

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of like the back and forth of he said, she said, you just have to also live with

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that too.

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It's like, well, okay, we'll just have to eat this one as it were, because we

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don't have all the documentation per se or photos and stuff like that.

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We didn't carry cameras with us as part of our tool bag.

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I wish I did.

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So many people, you know, ask about some of these crazy jobs that it used to

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work on and scenarios that I encounter and I go, all I have is in my memory

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because we didn't have the digital technology.

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We didn't have phones that had cameras in them 20 years ago.

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And so that has changed things.

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So now we can send homeowners photos.

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You know, I can remember my first year talking about corroded coils.

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I remember my first condenser.

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I was a young technician.

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I was out on a call on my own.

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It was supposed to be just a service.

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And if anyone's encountered a condenser that's been in a backyard, it's had a

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dog regularly urinating on it.

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You know, you can see a little corrosion at the bottom, but boy, when you hit

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it with a garden hose and it just disintegrates and like the whole coil just

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goes, and you look at it and go, oh my gosh, what just happened?

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So I actually went to the homeowner and went, okay, I've got to borrow you for

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a minute because you're just going to have to see this for yourself to

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understand that I didn't just do this intentionally.

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So I took them out and actually handed them the garden hose and said, why don't

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you go ahead and wash this because a regular preventative maintenance is to

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keep the condenser coil clean.

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Go ahead and wash this a little bit.

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And when they seen all of the condenser just crumbling and falling out, they

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went, what caused that?

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And then I was able to go, well, that's from urine from the dog.

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But I wanted you to see that I wasn't out here doing this because when I first

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seen it, I just went, what do I do now?

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So I actually brought them in.

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So it's very important to keep that homeowner aware when you see something

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that's not right, step back for a second, think about it, and then start, you

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know, figuring out how to properly address this and be professional and be

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honest about it.

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You know, they want you there to catch things before they go wrong.

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So when they go wrong, maybe even unexpectedly, you just had to be

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prepared for that conversation.

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Yeah.

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Like I said, just being professional about it, you know, professional is not

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covering up and like, yeah, I don't know where that came from kind of stuff.

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And, but having that, you know, tough skin to own up to your mistakes or own

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up to finding things is, you know, definitely key because, you know, a lot

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of people just appreciate that right off the bat.

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I mean, some may still yell and scream at you, but still they appreciate that

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honesty of just like, oh, thank you for finding this and helping me out.

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I mean, I talk about the dog on the coil and yeah, I remember finding one at a

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renter's house and the landlord always, you know, skewered the tenants for it.

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Well, hey, you know, what's between you two is between you two.

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Right.

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I'm trying to do my job.

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This is, you know, I'm just here to do my job.

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This is what I found.

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And so, you know, also being that go between of like, Hey, you know, you're

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the representative, the landlord and having that go between kind of thing.

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Also, you know, can be the tenant may hate you, but you know, landlord loves

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you and right now you just can't make everybody happy.

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So, you know, it's just sometimes you're end up being the bad guy no matter

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what, but if you keep it professional and just be honest about it, you know,

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and be upfront with people, let them know that really helps when you're

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having those, you know, oh nuts moments as it were.

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So absolutely.

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It may not even be something that we've created.

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I remember one scenario that I had, I had just did a service and maintenance

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on an air conditioner and I got a call a few days later that the AC was out and

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the homeowner was irate.

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You were just here servicing this.

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How could I be having problems?

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You were just here.

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And I'm like, well, so let's calm down.

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Let's step back and let's find out what the problem is.

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And then we'll address it together.

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And I was still pretty young.

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I mean, it was, it was a little nerve wracking.

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The homeowner was very, very irate.

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So I show up to the call.

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They're still, boy, they're just barking at me all the way down the stairs to

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take a look at things and out in the yard.

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They're just barking, barking, barking.

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So I put the gauges on it and there's zero refrigerant in the system.

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And I go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

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Okay.

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Hold on here.

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So either this is something maybe I did, maybe there's something that I missed.

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Well, let's walk through this.

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So kind of looking around, trying to find it, put a little bit of nitrogen on it.

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And boy, just goes, it just drops really quick.

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Man.

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Okay.

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So we've got something.

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So I keep the homeowner informed.

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I said, this was full of refrigerant when I was here.

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Now it is empty and there's a leak in this thing pretty significantly that has

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happened since I was here.

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So let's spend some time trying to find it.

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So we're walking around.

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And so I walk back downstairs and there's a group, there's like five teenage boys

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all hanging out downstairs, right?

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And they're all acting a little bit funny.

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So I've got the homeowner with me and I'm looking around and I look up and I'm

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following the line set and all of a sudden I see a wet spot on the line set.

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Oh, what do we got here?

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So I walked the homeowner over.

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I said, so we shouldn't be seeing wet spots on the insulation.

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So something's happened here.

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So I take my knife and I open up the insulation right there and there's this

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little bitty hole right in the suction line.

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Ooh.

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And then they go, did you miss that when you were here?

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No, I don't think that that was actually here.

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Well, what would cause that?

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Did you puncture that?

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No, I didn't.

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Let's think about this for a second.

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So I'm standing there and I'm looking at this insulation and I look across the

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wall where all these boys are hanging out on the couch and right behind them is a

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dartboard.

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But it's like 15, 18, 20 feet away from where this line set is, right?

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It's a pretty good way.

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It's not standard dart throwing distance.

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It's over by the stairs.

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And I'm looking at this and I go, I walk over to the dartboard and I grab the

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dart and I walk over and I insert it into the suction line and it fits.

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And the homeowner looks at me really funny.

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And I said, so which one of the boys was trying to see how hard they could

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throw a dart?

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And the entire scenario changed.

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Then I was the savior because I found the problem.

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I called the boys out.

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And then you're right.

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It went from the homeowner conversation with me to the homeowner conversation

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with the boys.

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It changed the dynamics.

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But sometimes we have to keep that calm.

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I mean, it's rough to try to be able to think when you have that pressure going

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on, that homeowner just barking at you like a dog.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Maintaining that calm is key for sure.

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I mean, you know, especially when you, you know, remember working on one of

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the newer style electric furnace of the relays and stuff.

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00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:18,120
I went to check amps on one of these things and little did I know, I pulled an

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amp clamp off and it was all crammed in there and something pulls off one of the

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connections.

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Didn't realize it was loose and you couldn't see it.

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And the whole thing just grounded.

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00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:31,120
Yeah.

321
00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:33,120
It went fried everywhere.

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I went, Oh, yeah, that's, that's not good.

323
00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:37,120
How do you explain it?

324
00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:38,120
That's yeah.

325
00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:40,120
How do you explain that to the customers?

326
00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:43,120
Well, I was just doing the maintenance, but you take a deep breath and, you

327
00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:47,120
know, gather your collection and you know, the, like say customers barking at

328
00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:50,120
you, you know, saying how, you know, calling you, insulting you.

329
00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:51,120
Right.

330
00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:52,120
Did I just fry my furnace?

331
00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:53,120
Yeah.

332
00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:58,120
You fried my furnace, you blankety blankety, you know, um, and I say, you

333
00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:02,120
know, it, it sounds degrading cause that's, that's the hard part when they

334
00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:04,120
start to degrade you and stuff like that.

335
00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:08,120
But again, you just kind of take a deep breath, you know, and collect yourself

336
00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:15,120
and, um, yeah, keep that professional mindset of being honest here and, you

337
00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:19,120
know, do what we can to, you know, expedite this and get this repaired

338
00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:20,120
as fast as we can.

339
00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:26,120
And, um, but, um, yeah, keeping your cool is definitely cause we can,

340
00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:30,120
obviously you gain nothing if you start working back at the customer.

341
00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:34,120
You know, there's nothing that helps with that.

342
00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:39,120
I mean, if you maintain your cool, it's amazing how much that will calm down

343
00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:45,120
the customer too, when we do do something, you know, kind of dumb and fry

344
00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:47,120
something that's obviously your fault.

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But if you can maintain your cool about it, you know, is that our normal

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00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:54,120
reaction is to bark back.

347
00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:59,120
But we as the professional have to maintain our cool to not bark as it works.

348
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:01,120
So yeah.

349
00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:02,120
Fantastic stuff.

350
00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:07,120
Gerald, I sure appreciate you hanging out with us today and a great insight on

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00:17:07,120 --> 00:17:08,120
keeping your cool.

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Sure.