Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / From Apprentice to Program Manager: 37 Years in the Elevator Industry | Mitch Nici

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From Apprentice to Program Manager: 37 Years in the Elevator Industry | Mitch Nici · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: A large majority of who I see graduating out of our four-year apprentice apprenticeship program are so much further ahead than we were at that age.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Not just maturity, but intelligence.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: And they think a different way.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: They think more fundamentals and more where you can go.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I would tell them, hey, keep at it because you're going to replace us very soon.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: I am your host, Matt Allred.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: In this podcast, we talk to the people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry to inform and share lessons learned, building upon the foundation of those who have gone before to inspire the next generation of elevator careers.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Today our guest is Mitch Nietzsche, Elevator and Escalator Program Manager for the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: In Washington, D.C., overseeing all elevators and escalators.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Mitch started his career as a helper with Flynn Elevator in 1985.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: And in 1992, Mitch moved to Washington, D.C.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: and joined WMATA.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Mitch has been in the industry 37 years and has really enjoyed his career.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: He is proud of the trade.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: He is proud of what he does.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Mitch, welcome to the show.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks, Matt.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to be able to talk with you again.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's been a little while, and um, you know, it's just fun for me to get to know you a little bit better.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: And and so I wanted to start at the beginning.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: How did you get involved with elevators in the first place?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I think like a lot of people in the industry, uh when when I graduated high school, and this is way back in the day, uh, you know, a lot of a lot of my friends, they either went to college, they either knew what they were going to do, they went to college, they took a civil servants test, or uh they got into a trade or joined or joined the service.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I kind of fell into that trade.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh and and the way I got into it is my entire family is either cops or elevator uh mechanics.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that goes from my brother, my father to my uncles, and all the way up the line.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: So you're either one or the other in my family.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I happen to fall on the elevator side.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: And and did you uh is that something you wanted to do, or did you say, heck no, there's no way I'm gonna follow in the family tradition?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it didn't really interest me.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I actually really wanted to be uh a cop, uh you know, uh, but as time went on and the uh city city of New York, they opened their tests, they didn't have any open tests.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: I was working for PepsiCola for a little while, and there was an opportunity uh uh at Flint Hill Elevator uh for for me to be sponsored to start working there as a helper.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how I got in the trade.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: And started so started as a very big at the very bottom basically, and and working your way up.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: And how long were you there at Flynn?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So Flint Hill till 91, 92.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I served my apprenticeship there.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh somewhere around 89, Conet bought us out.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: And um, Conet, I think we might have been one of the first purchases in the United States.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: They bought Flynn Hill Elevator and Armor Elevator in New York.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it was funny because we just showed up for work one day, and then all of a sudden, it was this, you know, we were known as Flynn Hill-Cone.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: What's that?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: What's that?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because I didn't even know it was a worldwide company at the time.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: I hadn't heard of it.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, after that through '92, uh uh Connie is they were pretty good to me, so I enjoyed working there.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: So did you stick around for a while, or was that so did you leave shortly thereafter?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, in in 93 I left to um uh to come down here in Washington, D.C.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh uh I don't know, those in the Northeast may remember uh 91, 92, 93, things were really rough.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: There was a lot of people on the bench, so it was people far better than me that were on the bench.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and there was an opportunity to work in Washington, D.C.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: uh with Metro.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, okay, well, you know, I had uh I had a wife and and two little ones at home.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: I said, I need that paycheck.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I went down, came down here to work, and I uh worked as a mechanic for a few years, and then I was promoted uh to supervisor and then to maintenance manager.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I I in 99 I got my QEI and that was great.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I learned the inspection side of the house.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: I learned the um the the capital side of the house, capital replacement.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: I got involved, um, some project management stuff.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And and now I oversee the entire elevator escalator department, um, which is 255 people strong.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so we're pretty big.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm happy.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm proud.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Do you ever do you ever look back and say, man, I wish I'd have been a cop?
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: No, I might have gotten into trouble.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Who who were some of the early mentors that that really helped you learn the trade and helped you find your place?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: It was a trade.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so going back, believe it or not, um my father actually worked for Flint Hill.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I know things have changed since then and probably for the better, but he he used to show up on jobs that I was troubleshooting.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And not to help me, he would just stand there and watch me.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that would scare the crap out of me because it's it's really weird, right?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: But I looked up to, I really looked up to him.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: He um a lot, I'm sure a lot of people, especially older listeners, probably know who he is, uh, who he was.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And uh um so he was the one that always wanted me to become better and better and better.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, as a kid, I wanted to do what I wanted to do.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: I had trouble listening, I did my own thing, I didn't care what anyone said.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I matured into what I am now, I hope.
• 6:32
  unknown: Love it.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, no, my father, there were other people, there were um there were uh supervisors, uh, there was uh a foreman named Richie Pelizzi, which I believe has passed away.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: He was with Koney.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and and these were guys that really helped me stay on on on track.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: So there's there's a couple of guys from Flint Hill that I worked with in Brooklyn.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, I haven't talked to them in a while, and if for some reason they're they're listening, they they've gone a long way.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Lance, Richie, you know who you are, they've gone a long way.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and helped me get to where I was and helped me mature.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate it.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: How how long before you were in the business that you you decided, hey, this is where I want to stay?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um so when I got my first paycheck, that was a help.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: But uh when I got when I got in the industry, I was put in the modernization department.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: So for the first couple of weeks, all I did was coil rope.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And man, I used to go, my arms were tired.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I kind of I kind of had trouble because the job they put me on downtown in in Manhattan, um, you know, that they were like clockwork, and now all of a sudden this green newbie shows up, right?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it was it was kind of hard for me to adapt.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I know I I seriously considered leaving.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, I I think at some point I quit uh maybe six months into it, but uh somebody else who worked there, he was uh um worked in the repair department had he showed up my house.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Wow, this is a good trade.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: You better make damn sure this is what you want.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I came back, I worked a little longer, they put me in the repair department.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: I worked with some really good guys over there, and uh they had time to teach me, and and uh so so yeah, that's how I that's how I got moving.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it was probably about a year into it or so.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: And things started to click, you felt the support, you felt some confidence maybe, and and just okay, you know, I can I can do this, I can like this.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's kind of what I'm doing.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but it you know, it helps when you're young as well, because this is very physical, especially the repair uh groups and the modernization and and and uh conversion, I think they call it up there, but uh yeah, it's very physical.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you tell me you don't want a coil rope today?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: No, but I'll tell you this.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: So occasionally I'll go out in the field and and this happened not too long ago.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, these guys were doing, I think they were doing a packing on a two-stop hydro, and uh and and I I happened to have a meeting I was coming out of, and I actually had a suit on, and I jumped in there and I gave him a hand, and I had hydro, I ruined it.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: I had hydro oil over my jacket, my face, but it was fun, you know, because I forgot how much fun it was doing ropes.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's fun fixing stuff, right?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because at some point in your career, you transition to right planning, forecasting, purchasing, you know, the political end of it, and you forgot how much fun it is and how challenging it it is to work on elevators and escalators.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: No, that I mean there's definitely a reward, right?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: That is rewarding to fix something to look at and say, you know what, I did that.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I'll tell you what, I don't know if you've asked this question before because I'm sorry, I haven't really listened to the podcast, but I don't know of an elevator uh per uh man or woman today that still doesn't drive down wherever they live and work and point out to their kids, you see that building?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: I I put the elevator in there, or I did this, or I did that.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because we all do it because we're proud, proud.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know of any elevator mechanics that aren't proud of what they do.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: They're proud of the trade and they're proud, you know, proud of what they do, and that's great.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: So you were in New New York for a couple years, sounds like two or three years, and then you moved to DC.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: How long were you?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you you you moved up with Metro, but have you stayed at Metro nonstop?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: No, like uh like we discussed before, uh, for a short time from 2000 to 2004, roughly in that time, I went to Florida and I owned a uh I opened a an elevator uh inspection firm.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um and prior to that, actually it morphed into that because uh I actually started a service company and that was really rough.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um getting customers were rough, and uh um at that time Florida was going third party.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I I was able to get in and and um I, you know, I got in with a couple of property managers and some other people that worked for for Otis and Tisson.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was able to get uh some crumbs here and there and put something together.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so about four years and then decided, hey, I'm gonna was that when you came back to Metro then?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so there was an opportunity uh here at Metro, uh and you know, having kids having kids there, they they weren't happy about leaving, but you know, the you know, the schools are better here.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it was a really good opportunity.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want to pass up, and uh so upper I uprooted them by moved them back.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: That was not popular.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, I hear you.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: I hear you.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: So so tell me, let's talk a little bit more about Metro.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you mentioned how many employees you have, and you know, it it sounds like a uh, you know, an elevator service company, but obviously dedicated to specific, uh, you know, a specific, I don't even know what you call it, an organization, a a uh uh transit company, essentially.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know public or private or or how it works, but so um Metro, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is a multi-jurisdictional transit agency.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and they serve Northern Virginia, uh, the District of Columbia and Maryland, and it's unique because it serves so many jurisdictions, and funding is required upon those jurisdictions.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: And what's really neat is around um 91 and 92, they decided to bring uh bring elevators and escalator uh uh service and maintenance of in-house.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um so prior to that, you had contractors coming in and working on it all.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was uh it was contractors that were in here and actually um all the way up till probably around the late 90s, it was contracted in some form or another.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um and until we it it takes a while to start something up, sure, and then you know, you have to tool up, you have to man up, and then grow.
• 13:31
  unknown: Sure.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: So it took us quite some time to to get to where we are now, but we're 255 strong, and and you know, we could use more people.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: So if help us are or help us the technicians, go on the website, look it up, and you should be able to find us.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: We'd be happy, uh, happy to talk to you.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, do you find that that most or or a lot of people just don't think of Metro as a a place to take your elevator skills?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Is that one of the challenges you see?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I would agree because when they started back in the early 90s and I was on the bench, I happened to be reading through the newspaper in the in the classified section back in the day, right?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I kept seeing this ad from Metro.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Metro, I'm pretty sure that's a train, right?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's the trains down there in DC.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: I I have no idea that they had uh that they performed their uh their maintenance in-house.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I I applied and got the job.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but you you normally don't think of uh of a transit agency, but you'd be surprised.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not just transit agencies.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think we're the biggest one in-house because we have over a thousand pieces of equipment.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: But um, but I mean, the the federal government, the different uh the you know, the different arms of the federal government, they're all in-house.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of colleges that are in-house.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so so yeah, you I think most guys don't think of that.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they just think of working for an elevator company, big or small, union or not.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, yeah.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and it sounds like it's it's served you well for a long time.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: You've you've grown.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think at one point uh you had mentioned retiring, but you're still there.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I guess that's on hold.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: They keep paying me, Matt.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, give me something good.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: You keep giving me stuff.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: So for those that don't know, I'm sure you know, uh I tell you what, I've I've talked to Matt on and off for I don't know how many years now, and he is a he's a go-getter, and I know a lot of people in the industry know him.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and he calls me and uh from time to time.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: But everything you give me is here in DC.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: So find some place sunny and we'll talk.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: So uh as you look at the the elevator uh industry as a whole, I'm just curious what are and I know you're you're kind of in a little different uh spot than a typical contractor, for example, but what are some of the the issues that you see that maybe uh affect the uh the industry and being able to get the job done?
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: So things I see um from my perspective anyway, I think uh uh a large part of the problem in the industry today, which I think code is finally starting to address, is the size of people's routes.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I've talked to guys who have these 200 plus elevator routes that include six escalators, and there's just no way you can do that kind of maintenance, right?
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think that's one issue.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: I I think that's slowly starting to be recognized.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: I know there's some smaller elevator companies now that are concentrating just you know more on maintenance.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think the other thing is um somehow, so when I work for Flynhill slash Koney and here at Metro, we have our own warehouse and we keep our, you know, we keep our own parts, our boards and everything we need in stock.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess over the years that is morphed into like an Amazon overnight type of thing.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: So you have um you may have a supervisor who maybe didn't come from the elevator industry.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: So in his task to to try to get this part for a customer and they may lead to more downtime.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and from a customer's perspective, they get frustrated.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I think those are the two things that really kind of stand out to me.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, no, that's uh, and it's uh yeah, I'm sure it's a big challenge of how much inventory you don't want to keep versus how much can you bring just in time, and then you get some supply chain issues, and just in time becomes way too late.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it it's true what you said, that's a really good point because it costs money to keep a belt or a fuse or something on the shelf.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: It costs money to house that.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what makes us a little bit different is we don't have that bottom line that elevator companies have for profit.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Our for-profit is uptime, right?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Keeping the equipment running, keeping the equipment safe for the public, and that's our that's kind of our uptime.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I think that's the difference.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: No, absolutely.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I and I would see that that if you uh lose escalator service and you can't get people out of the out of the tunnel very quickly, that's uh not smiled upon.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, no, I've been on.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, they're pretty deep, yeah.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: So um what what are some of the I guess the lessons that you've learned, you know, as you uh and and what would what would you like to share with uh with our listeners, some things you've learned over the years that uh you'd like to pass on?
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: So the I think the one thing that stands out is you don't know everything.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Every time you think you know something, think twice.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because I don't know anyone who knows everything.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the people that do are probably in sales.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um but you you don't know everything, you can learn from anybody.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the the industry is constantly changing, and there's new technologies out there, and you know, for some of us old timers, it's it's kind of hard to accept that new technology until you really see how it works and the engineering behind it.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not just that, it's just you know, I think by listening to people, talking to people, and not assuming you know everything will help you solve some problems that you didn't think of.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I I would just say that you know, we all don't know everything, you know, there's nobody in this industry that does.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: No, absolutely, absolutely.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure it keeps you humble, right?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Just because it's like there's always something that you can learn from from somebody else or from the technology or from from from a problem that maybe you just hadn't seen before.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's cool.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: So um do you uh curious if you have any funny stories that you uh from being in the trade or working on on the machines or I got some funny stories.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you want me to that's always the problem, right?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Is what can I so I I mean I got uh so the uh there's one clean one I'm sure I could tell.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: So um yeah, I I work there's a lot of guys in the trade that have quite the sense of humor.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, I've run across everything from hockey games with electrical tape to you name it on the job, but I think one of the funniest things was um uh we were on top of a glass-backed elevator, and the car was in service, and we we were on top, and the uh actually it was the foreman I was with, and he took a hundred dollar bill and he put it on a piece of binding wire, and he he put it just over the back of the glass-back elevator, and he was he was watching people go in and out.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: We had somebody, you should have heard the conversations.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: We had people that were ready to break the glass.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Man, we're gonna cut this out.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: But um, but yeah, I mean, a little funny stories like that.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, a lot of guys are uh, you know, they they're quite funny.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: One time it was around 1990.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: I went to a building on Madison Avenue that had just been refurbished.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: All the floors were uh refurbished.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: I believe uh radio station WPLJ was in there.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: I was on top of the car doing some work, and I get off, I I stop the car, get off of the third floor, and I walk to the end of the hall.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: I go downstairs, I get my car, I don't think nothing of it, get my ticket sign and leave.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: I get home, I get a call from the service uh the service manager, and he is screaming at me that I'm gonna pay for a carpet.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, What are you talking about?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: The car top was full of grease.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize that it was it was a little dark.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize that it was on my on my feet, and I could I tore up an entire 30, 40 foot of brand new carpet.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, long story short, they were gonna make me pay for it.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the last second, I they said I'll have to make it up some other way.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't they didn't dock my pay for that, but uh yeah, that's a hard lesson to learn there.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: So, Mitch, what what advice would you give to somebody who's just starting out brand new in this industry?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I will say is I have met an awful lot of very talented young people just coming into this trade.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I love to crack on Gen Z about everything, but I will tell you a large majority of who I see graduating out of our four-year apprentice apprenticeship program uh are so much further ahead than we were at that age.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Not just maturity, but intelligence.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: And they think a different way.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they think more fundamentals and more where you can go.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and I would tell them, hey, keep at it because you're gonna replace us very soon.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: I guess the last question I want to ask you is what do you love most about the elevator industry?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I think one of the things I love most about the industry is that this is really, I mean, like I had said previously, this this trade has been unbelievable to me.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: It put a roof over my uh my head, put food on the table for my kids.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was able to send my kids to college, I was able to do, you know, everything else that somebody who graduated high school with no skills could do.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this is an amazing trade.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's an interesting trade, it's diverse, it's becoming more diverse, which is great.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I've I've really enjoyed it.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I really have uh it's 37 years, something like that, coming up on now.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: So so yeah, it's been great, but uh maybe in a few years we'll try something different.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, awesome.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: Mitch, thank you so much for being here today.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's been a pleasure talking with you.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I really appreciate the invite.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: You bet.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Good luck to you.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: All right, take care.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the All Red Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: You can check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Please subscribe, and until next time, stay safe.