Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / From US Navy Weapons Elevator Tech to 23-Year Elevator Mechanic | Bob Sinram’s Career Story

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From US Navy Weapons Elevator Tech to 23-Year Elevator Mechanic | Bob Sinram’s Career Story · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_02: I think the elevator industry is a great industry to work in.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's interesting.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: It always keeps you busy.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that um I think the if there's any young guys out there that hear this, and check into it.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I do talk to some of my customers, you know, they at hotels where they got young guys working and and they're interested in the elevators.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I tell them, you know, hey, go to your local um and and see if you can sign up.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: They they uh they on occasion have uh a test you can take and get into there.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's I I I enjoy it so much that I try to share it with people.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Matt Allred.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: 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.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Today our guest is Bob Sinram.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Bob has been working in the elevator industry for 23 years on his second time around.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Bob's first exposure to elevators was from 1980 to 1984 as a weapons elevator technician on an aircraft carrier for the U.S.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Navy.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: After the military, Bob chose to work in industrial maintenance, which he did for 16 years.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually, Bob made his way back to the elevator industry and he's been here ever since.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Bob loves making people happy by keeping their elevators running and finds his work very rewarding.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Bob, welcome to the show.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, man.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's good to see you.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um I appreciate you inviting me in.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I it's good to uh good to see you.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh obviously we've talked over the years from time to time, and um I I definitely wanted to get your perspective.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: You have a unique perspective as a as a non-union mechanic.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I I just wanted to learn a little bit more about your journey.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And uh first question, how did you get started in the elevator industry in the first place?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh my first um stint was 80 to 84 in the Navy on an aircraft carrier.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, was a weapons elevator technician.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Was that uh it's been a while.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Was that wartime?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Was it peacetime?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, were you seeing a lot of elevator activity, in other words?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, we we did.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Well, obviously, um the Navy and I guess all uh branches of service are always practicing all the time.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, sure.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: Elevators were up and down all the time.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we weren't in what they considered a war, but we did go between Lebanon and Qaddafi uh quite a bit.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: So it was it was um called a conflict.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha, gotcha.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, those were definitely some hot spots back then.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so you 80 to 84 uh elevator mechanic or or uh technician, I guess, in the uh in the Navy.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then what what happened when you come came home?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I got out and I relocated um to the uh Atlanta area, east of Atlanta, and I went into I I did interview with a couple of elevator companies and I chose to go into industrial maintenance.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so I basically stayed in industrial maintenance uh for about 16 years from 84 to 2000.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha, that's a long time.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: It was it was a good job.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: It was uh it paid well.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um I enjoyed the work.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: I I like fixing things, so um, so it was it was enjoyable to me.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, what led you back to elevator um you know after the 16 years away?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um industrial maintenance is a very tough job.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: You gotta work a lot of nights, you gotta sweat a lot.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's it's a tough job.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: So around 2000, um, I was working at a uh an injection molding factory, and um I I just for some reason I I just thought, well, maybe I'll just send some resumes out for elevators.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: That's tired of working nights, tired of working really hard.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um so and not that elevators wouldn't be hard to do or as hard a work, but um I just I sent some resumes out uh in central Florida and got picked up by an elevator company, and uh that's when I got back into it then in 2000.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha, gotcha.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: So Bob, once you once you decided to get back into elevator, what kind of um training or you know, apprenticeship, what what was required to uh to get you going in the trade?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, well, I would say that you know, if a young guy starts out, he needs to start out as a helper, he has to be with the mechanic all the time.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um but I was 40 years old and I had been doing maintenance and troubleshooting on machinery for 20 years.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: So uh when I got picked up by an independent, um, I rode around with uh with the guy for a week or so, and uh, and then they gave me a bunch of parts and gave me a route and said, here you go.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: So um that was my indoctrination into the elevator.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how quick were you able to to pick up on you know the elevator machinery versus the the manufacturing machinery you had been working on?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um fortunately, everything I worked on in the manufacturing industry was a lot more complicated than elevators.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: And if you can believe that, um there was for instance, you you have an injection molding machine that's got two or three or four pumps, hydraulic pumps, and it's got 20 or 25 valves on it, and they all work in sync.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well, with an elevator, you have one pumping unit, one valve, and one motor.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I I acclimated two elevators from the um in industrial maintenance very quick.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: It was easy to pick up on.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, very cool.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what kind of uh license or certification did you need?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh back then in Florida, it's where I was working at in Florida, uh, they required us a CC license certificate of competency.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it was a uh test that it was an open book test, kind of like if you were gonna get your QEI or um, so it was an open book test.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was 60 questions, three hours to take it.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: And uh passed it the first time, fortunately, because I hate uh testing.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um but uh the certificate of competency was what they required in Florida, and um, you know, you had to do eight hours continuing education.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so that was what what um what I started out with, right?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm I'm curious, you know, uh people talk about working on proprietary equipment because you're out there, you're servicing other people's equipment, right?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because you you're not installing anything new.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um what what's that like?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: I've I've been told about different tools you can access, you know.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, you've got your uh you've got your different tools, like the Otis tool.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um in my experience, I have gotten through 99% of all problems with any elevator without a special tool.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that's um that's that's amazing.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've been told by by some that if you you you know if you have the schematic that you can you can solve any problem, which I'm not you know electrician or mechanic, so that's like you know, interesting to me that I'm not even sure what that completely means.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just I know it's the map of the circuits or whatever, but is that is that true for you that you can pick up and yeah, without a doubt.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um the tool is primarily for software problems.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and the tool can be beneficial, let's say if you go out on a job and you plug the plug the tool in and you um and you're versed with the tool, it can find your problem for you faster.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh with with the fault log in there.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then some of the tools throw out false faults.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: So it can make it worse.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, I I I've used some of the tools for some of the different elevators, but um I tend to stay away from them because they can make things worse.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: And uh usually if you got a if you got a print, a schematic, and um and and uh a little bit of common sense, um you can you can get through 99% of your stuff without that special tool.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's fascinating.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, and it uh yeah, I I think there's a I don't know, I just have a lot of respect for people that can can do that kind of work.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's just never been my thing to Yeah, well, I I guess I don't know.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: And people know people ask me sometimes, how do you know all this?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: How do you do all this?
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I and and I think with my mind uh it's not that complicated.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's really pretty simple.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um but then again, I've been doing it for 40 something years.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: So um and I and I look sometimes at other people and say, How do you do that?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so it's just something you've done, something that comes easy to you.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Cool, very cool.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: No, thank you for uh thank you for sharing that.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: What is it that that you love about elevators?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you talked about you know the nights and some of the you know the scheduling things, but what uh what is it that that you love about elevators, about the elevator industry?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um they're interesting to work on.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um and being on a route or I, you know, doing uh mods, you get to work with a lot of people.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh when you get on a route, you get you get your customers who you get friendly with and and um and you get to make people happy, you know, if the elevators broke down and you come in there and fix it, then obviously there you're gonna be a good guy.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: You're the hero, sure.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: And and if it's not, you know, you go around and you take care of your elevators and and you keep them safe and you keep them uh functional up to the best that they can be.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: And um I don't know, I like I like making people happy and and it gives me the opportunity to do that.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Very cool, very cool.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I and I'm assuming you know, industrial maintenance, there may be some people are happy, but it's more about you got to just get production done and and yeah, I don't know, there's probably a different yeah, that's it.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, yeah, um when machines are running, everything's great.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: If something breaks and you gotta take care of it, it needs to be done right away because a lot of places um there's a flow.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and if you you've got this machine, that machine, that machine, that machine, and they all have to flow together.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: And if one of them goes down, all of them could shut down.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: So uh, you know, they're they're losing you know thousands of dollars an hour with those machines being down, so it's it was pretty stressful too.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: No, I can only imagine.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're losing money by the second, and and just a different uh uh different industry, different um you know, audience.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: It certainly it it happens in the elevator industry too, but it's uh sounds like you've you've found a niche that you've like.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: How how long have you been in elevators the second time around?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh 20 to um uh two 2000, so 23 years this time.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Cool, cool.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: And and how how long did it take before you felt like, hey, I I really have my groove here?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, certainly you had you had worked on certain types of elevators, but I'm I'm imagine they're very different from the the passenger elevators inside of buildings uh that you had worked on before.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they're they're completely different.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um but fortunately I did spend that many years in industrial maintenance, and from uh my experience, the uh working on elevators, working on industrial maintenance, industrial maintenance is a lot more complicated.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I when I switched over from industrial maintenance to elevators, elevators were quite a bit easier to work on because they're they weren't so complicated as some of the machinery that I had worked on in the industry.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so basically, when I started with uh elevator company, they put me on a route and I I stepped right in there and and uh picked it up pretty quick.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Cool, cool.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, who were who were some of the uh the mentors or you know some of the people that impacted your career early on?
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um I worked with uh the first person I worked with was uh an elevator mechanic, Rob Bramsky, and he kind of took me under his wing because I hadn't worked on elevators uh per se.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um so he kind of took me under his wing and uh he helped me out quite a bit.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Rob Bramski.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think he's retired now.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um another person that I looked up to also was Bill Miller.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um he's the one he's he's he's the one that started Oracle Elevator when I was with with another elevator company.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: They bought that elevator company.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I I liked working with Bill Miller.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: He had a good concept, he had a good idea.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so he I looked up to him quite a bit.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: He he he I worked well with him.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: So and I know you you like you say you ended up not going um you know, choosing one of the one of the union companies early on, and then when you came back, it sounds like you were in a non-union company.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: What what is it do you think that um determines your your success where you're at now?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, certainly there's um there's training, there's you know, but I don't and I don't know if you can compare the two.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just curious uh for your insights on um you know working for a non-union company.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: I I really uh I just never even tried to get into the union.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um so non-union company I think the union um from what I've seen and what I've heard, um I think the non-union companies tend to um navigate towards paying people for what they're worth uh and and not how many how much time in.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um so and that's I like that because I really I don't I think everybody should be paid for what they're worth.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh if you got two guys that have got the same amount of years in and one of them's a great elevator guy and the other one's not, they shouldn't be paid the same amount of money.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's just my opinion.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Have you seen any drawbacks or or negatives from working for a non-union company?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh no.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I've 23 years in and uh and I'm still going strong.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I I don't see any drawbacks about working for a non-union company.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I guess the union's great and they and they take care of the people and and they uh they have a great retirement, I hear.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um but but as far as I've seen, I don't I don't have any drawbacks for working for a non-union company.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: You and you still get retirement and benefits and some of those things that that uh Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: You still get the usual stuff.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think the uh I think the union has a a pension, which uh none of the companies I've worked for have a pension, but they they do well with the 401k.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, you know, they they match and and uh so I I think a non-union company is just as just as uh good of a job as as a union company.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Cool, cool.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: So what what are some uh what are some lessons you've learned over your career?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's uh if you're anything like me, you know, I usually like to fall on my face first a few times to kind of figure things out, and then it's like, oh now I now I understand why this is that way.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Have you had any of those experiences that you've learned along the way?
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, sure.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody has.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, if you uh if you have worked on anything, including elevators and and haven't uh blown some fuses or you know made mistakes, then anybody that says that they haven't made a mistake is a liar.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh sure, sure.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, sure.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: There's I mean there's there's been things that I've done over the years that I should have maybe thought a little bit longer on or paid a little more attention to.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um fortunately, uh I haven't gotten hurt seriously.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because I mean the elevators will kill you.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, sure.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: Very dangerous.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: Safety is number one.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: You gotta you gotta make sure that everything you do is safe.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: And um I say probably you need, in my opinion, you need to uh you need to check once, check twice before you do anything.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: Check your safety circuit, you know.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's because they will kill you.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so yeah, there's been mistakes that I've made obviously, but um gotten through them all.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just uh just want to ask that question.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you were to if you were to start it over, uh start your career over, what what would you do different?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um I say I would say I I may have um I may have stuck with elevators when I got out of the Navy first, and I would have been that much further along.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um but I really have no regrets about my career.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh everything that I've done um I've enjoyed.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: And and maybe it's because I enjoy fixing things, I and and I really enjoy teaching people and helping uh younger guys learn.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um I don't think I would change.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: I I may stay just have gotten out of the Navy and went right into elevators, but the 16 years that I spent in industrial maintenance really was was good for me, also.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: So maybe if I would have started out in '84 with elevators, I might be burned out of them by now.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: So I took like a 16-year hiatus away from elevators and went back into them, and uh, and I enjoy that too.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, sure.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it sounds like you learned a lot in the process, you know.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: You learn to appreciate an entire different industry.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: And very good.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you were to uh you know give some advice to somebody who's new to the elevator industry, what would you tell them?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um work hard.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um try to do the best you can, but stick with it.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um always be doing something.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: There's always something to do.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh don't stand around um twiddling your thumbs.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: There's always something to do.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: So if I was to give uh advice to a younger guy just starting out, in in any aspect in life, I think, just always be doing something.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: Always keep yourself busy.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: If uh if someone says there's nothing to do, find something to do.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, yep.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Do you get it do you get a chance to mentor uh new employees at all where you're at?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: Where I'm at now, I don't I don't work, um I don't work with uh uh new employees that often.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: I don't work with uh I have worked with um helpers on occasion and I you know and I yeah I try to uh to mentor them.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_02: Now I have in the past worked with younger guys and uh mentored them and um but at the present time no I don't um yeah I don't get the opportunity.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: How much how much uh collaboration do you get with other mechanics?
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Do you pretty much do your route and they do their route or do you do you come together on you know challenging situations and things like that?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: No, we um I have uh an out route and um so I pretty much just do my route if I have any.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: My my route is I live w north of Charlotte, so my route is out.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: out north east and west and and the rest of the guys are down closer to Charlotte and down in the South Carolina.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't talk to too many people at all.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: And we have a great service manager.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: Kevin does a great job and and he gets out there and he works in the field a lot.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that um if the guys need any help they could they always turn they can always turn to him he's always going to be there for them.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: So now I don't sometimes uh I don't talk to anybody for a week or two.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna ask you does that get lonely right do you ever yeah well I have my customers see true I got all my people um that depend on me and and I you know you get friendly with them.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: I've been on this route and uh with Oracle for two years now.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so I've gotten to know the people real well.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean you know yeah you do a lot of driving um I listen to a a lot of pods I hear you so um I don't I don't get to communicate with the guys too much um but like I said it it's uh it's it's all good with me good very good no it's great it's uh it's good to get your perspective and your your thoughts and um if you were to give uh any words of wisdom you know share them with with our listeners what what would you share?
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well that's a that's an open-ended question there how much time you got yeah I mean give some wisdom Bob um I don't know I I think that um I always try to do the right thing in life I always try to treat people like I would have people treat me um there's there's a lot of mean nasty people out there I I would also give them words of wisdom as to watch who's around you because some people um some people are out to get you when you're successful.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: So you gotta you gotta watch them uh you know you've got you've got the uh the egomaniacs you've got the narcissists you have the insecure people um and keep them close to you because uh you know the old saying right keep your friends close and your enemies closer words of wisdom would be to do in my what I do is I just always try to do the right thing that's all I want and watch out because there may be somebody sneaking up on you trying to trying to make you look bad.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: When you say keep them close what what do you mean by that watch them just just keep your eye on them.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: If uh sometimes when you're successful um there are other people out there they're not as successful and instead of trying to make themselves better they try to make you look bad.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_02: Right so um by keep them close what I mean is to just keep your eye on everybody around you and try just be careful um because there are people out there that are trying to trying to make you look bad.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: Gotcha gotcha no thank you thank you um anything else you want to share before we wrap up we're we're kind of at the end of our time today uh no no I uh I think the elevator industry is a great industry to work in it's it's interesting it it always keeps you busy sure and I think that um I think the if there's any young guys out there that hear this and check into it and I and I do talk to some of my customers you know they at hotels where they got young guys working and and they're interested in the elevators and I tell them you know hey go to your local um and and see if you can sign up they they uh they on occasion have uh a test you can take and and get into there and it's it's I I I enjoy it so much that I try to share it with people.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I I think that yeah if there's any young guys out there the elevator industry is starting to ebb for people and uh I know there's plenty of work out there.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um and if there's any young guys out there that want a career that's going to be beneficial to them.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: I actually talked my son into going into uh he was working in Central Florida and I talked him into getting into the union and he's doing well now with Koan A down in Tampa.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: So um I think it's a good trade.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: I I enjoy it if you like fixing things and putting things together and it's uh it's it's a good it's a good path to take.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I mean it sounds like there's a lot of satisfaction a lot of uh opportunity just feel good about yourself make your customers happy and and you know enjoy what you do yeah exactly that there's a lot of people out there that wake up in the morning and don't want to go to work and that that's a sad that's a sad way to be um I wake up every morning I look forward to going out there um so I'm I'm very fortunate that I have yeah that I've had this career that I enjoy.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah well and I've talked to to many people in the elevator industry that you know just don't want to retire or they you know been at it for 50 plus years and it's like it's what I'd love to do.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I think that's that's special that and like you say there aren't very many industries that people just want to stay and and and have that kind of community and and opportunity to to really enjoy it.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Right exactly yep wonderful Bob thank you for your time today it's been good talking to you it's been my pleasure I appreciate the invite yeah wish you the best out there and uh stay safe okay thank you you too thank you all right thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers podcast sponsored by the All Red Group a leader in elevator industry recruiting you can check us out online at elevatorcareers.net please subscribe and until next time stay safe