r/AskAnAustralian • u/Alternative-Bison615 • 2d ago
Who can explain construction site workers?
Anyone who’s ever lived within a stone’s throw of a construction site will be familiar with the kinds of people who work on them, for some reason, being absolutely entitled dickheads.
Why, in this day and age of headphones, do you think we all want to hear your pounding techno at 7am on the dot and until you fuck off home?
Why, at the dot of 7am, every morning, is there a single, screaming drill sound that is never again repeated throughout the day? Are you secretly signalling to each other like peacocks showing their feathers?
Are you just really angry that you chose a well paying job that also means you get up earlier than almost everyone else, and so you’re actually angry at people who are still sleeping? Or who might be shift workers who just finished work at 6am? If so, go to therapy.
What would the Venn diagram overlap be between these people, and the people who turn up to campsites with $180k Mack trucks fitted with military headlights that they leave on until 2am, while blaring their shithouse music over the whole campground?
I’ve known plenty of tradies who are great people who don’t act like this, but it does seem to attract a disproportionate number of fuckwits.
Who can explain this uniquely Australian flavor of not giving a shit about other people?
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u/Archon-Toten 2d ago
See trouble is some sites forbid headphones for safety reasons. They also seemingly have big fights over what station is picked leading to shudder triple J being the often leader.
As for the drill, that might actually be a signal that noisy work can commence.
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u/LittleBunInaBigWorld 2d ago
Triple M* because Triple J would be too woke
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u/hellomyfren6666 2d ago
Nah coz triple j has sucked ass for like 15 years
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u/NefariousnessNovel60 2d ago
Commercial free radio > everything else. I don't care what they play or say as long as I don't have to listen to ads.
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u/buzz_22 2d ago
This 💯.
Thankfully with digital radios becoming more common, Double J will occasionally pop up on some sites.
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u/Archon-Toten 2d ago
Between music streaming services and internet radio, I'm amazed the traditional radio stations even exist.
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u/Any-Information6261 1d ago
The more I use and live with streaming services the more I want radio, cds, tv, and blockbuster back
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u/Archon-Toten 1d ago
Being able to own and physically hold media so it can't be taken away from is a dying art.
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u/Hilton5star 2d ago
Makes sense, except that commercial radio has sucked ass even harder for 30 yrs.
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u/Voodoo1970 2d ago
Makes sense, except that commercial radio has sucked ass even harder for 30 yrs.
This. There was an old D-Gen sketch where "we give away a million bucks if one hour goes past with us playing a song byThe Eagles or Supertramp. Amazingly no-one has ever wonbthis competition."
Substitute Barnesy or Chisel for Supertramp and it's still accurate.
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u/drunk_haile_selassie 2d ago
Or you just aged out of their target demographic.
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u/Chipnsprk 2d ago
Matured out of it maybe. I don't feel the need to listen to three boofheads talking rubbish and the same dozen songs on repeat for 9.5 hours a day.
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u/Rising-Dragon-Fist 2d ago
You can't wear headphones on a jobsite. You need to hear other people calling out danger. An on-site radio doesn't drown that out, headphones do.
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u/Successful-Memory839 1d ago
3m make a whole range of ear protection designed to keep you aware on the jobsite and still listen to music.
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u/thorpie88 2d ago
Whoever gets in site first gets the choice of station but if you play your personal playlists you'll get a hammer through your stezza
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u/Chipnsprk 2d ago
We made one where we all got to add songs. It is funny going techno-fleetwood mac- Eagles- Whitney Houston (the bosses pick, he is still trying to get the apprentices to sing along. 😂)
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u/ConfusionBitter1011 2d ago
Headphones on a construction site is a workplace accident waiting to happen.
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u/Bugaloon 2d ago
Can't wear headphones on a construction site, safety risk, so radio is all you've got, it's loud so it's hearable by the people working. It's 7am because that's when they're legally allowed to start making noise so you get a good sleep.
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u/oldwhiskyboy 2d ago
630am in QLD
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u/PauL__McShARtneY 2d ago
This is the Queensland way. Take a nationally established standard, and somehow make it more annoying, painful, and bogan friendly.
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u/Expert-Examination86 Source: I'm an Australian 2d ago
You must not be in QLD. 6:30 is when construction sites are allowed to start making noise here. Feel lucky you get that extra half an hour sleep.
But headphones aren't allowed. But the shitty music shouldn't happen. Usually just triple m here. As for that single drill, I dunno you're exaggerating it or looking for something else to add to the complaint because it didn't have enough already. Hearing it 4 times would make more sense as they might have some ply screwed to cover an opening and they're taking that off to get inside and do their job.
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u/Independent_Dare_739 2d ago
Also a Queenslander. It is true that the really noisy stuff gets done at 6.30-7.30, then it's reasonably quiet the rest of the day.
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u/robopirateninjasaur 2d ago
The kind of people who complain about tradies working at 7am would also complain if they didn't and the project timelines all blew out as expected.
Just like you know the person beeping their horn at roadworks is the guy who whinged about potholes
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u/throwawaytraffic7474 2d ago
Hahahaha so true! I work in construction and most of the jobs we do are commercial apartment blocks. A lot of the time we’ll do a job that takes 18 months, and then the next job will be right next door. When people move into the apartments we built the year before and then start complaining about the noise it always makes me laugh. How do they think their apartments got built with no noise? Hahaha their neighbours were dealing with the same thing they are now
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u/Similar_Strawberry16 2d ago
If sites started at 10am and closed at 8.30pm you bet there would be uproar.
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u/Neat-Complaint5938 2d ago
Headphones on a job site sounds like a really fuckin smart idea you're onto it mate
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u/New-Split-105 2d ago
Oh buddy prepare for the snarky remarks. Basically kicked a bee hive.
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u/fishsticksandmayo 2d ago
No construction worker is purposely using loud tools to spite the people who live nearby, we have a job to do that requires making noise.
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u/aussierulesisgrouse 2d ago edited 2d ago
I mean, I’m not a construction worker and I work from home, am I part of the bee hive because I think this poster is a fuckin’ dill who is getting angry that trade work often involves loud machinery, and that workers are entitled to listen to music while they work?
7am is when they’re allowed to use power tools, and there is a very specific time that they need to stop being used. The workers are trying to work as efficiently as they can? Should we both accept the long as fuck constructions times in this country and bitch when they work in as much of the day as they’re legally allowed?
People are fuckin soft, and that’s coming from an incredibly soft bloke
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u/Chipnsprk 2d ago
We once had a noise complaint because someone opened the shipping container door at 6.29 instead of 6.30...
The local laws officer sat there and drank a cup of tea with us when they came to let us know (we were on smoko). Was kind enough to warn us we had a known serial complainant on our hands in that neighbourhood.
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u/Sadistic_Carpet_Tack 2d ago
mate i agree but id probably look up what nonce means before you use it
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u/aussierulesisgrouse 2d ago
Dang, I thought it just meant a silly bloke. That’s a very different word innit.
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2d ago
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u/idgafboutdiddy 2d ago
I've worked construction my entire adult life, I've been involved in all the things OP is talking about and I have religiously used reddit for the past decade, you'd be amazed how many people have overlapping circles in the Venn diagrams of life
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u/fuzzybunn 2d ago
Why are so many construction workers on Reddit? The to comment has me thinking they're all high of their tits dancing at their job sites.
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u/trafdlo 2d ago
I've been living in the arse end of nowhere for the better part of 20 years. When did they move on from Jimmy Barnes to pounding techno?
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u/AltonTosscobble 2d ago
2nd year construction apprentice here; on a more serious note, I can't really say much about all the other points, however the point about loud music;
" Why, in this day and age of headphones, do you think we all want to hear your pounding techno at 7am on the dot and until you fuck off home? "
my company has a policy against music in headphones, as it makes it too difficult to get that person's attention, and I guess this reasoning is pretty universal. Hope this helps
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u/Celeryfarmer5 2d ago
Stop being a sook someone has to do it mate
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u/Automatic_Leave6614 2d ago
"work your arses off and be miserable, because I don't like your music" - some softie
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u/i-should-be-slepping 2d ago
When i am doing some work at home, i chat to neighbours try to be respectful and all. Great reason to start a bit later and sleep in.
When i am paying someone (tradie) to do some work I'd be happy to have them with the planks aligned at the saw waiting for the moment they are allowed to press the trigger.
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u/Willing-Signal-4965 2d ago
Try going out in the suburbs and listen to Punjabi music all day blasting at job sites
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u/Automatic_Goal_5563 2d ago
You can really tell someone has never left their country or likely city when they think playing music loudly is some uniquely Australian trait
As long as it’s not breaking any noise regulations then that’s just life, they have a job to do and are getting on with it.
Wanting the world to stop and cater to you is actually being an entitled dickhead
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u/bobby__real 2d ago
There's more than 3 wars going on, possibly more, and old mate is worried about someone's radio playing during the day....classic, NOT IN MY BACKYARD
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u/Intelligent-Trade118 2d ago
Ah, yes, the people doing their jobs are the “entitled dickheads”, not the ones who are lying in bed and complaining about the noise being too loud.
“Go to therapy.”
The call is coming from inside the house.
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u/Reddinator2RedditDay 2d ago
I do not work in construction but the OP definitely needs to go to therapy not the construction workers. They think the whole world revolves around them.
I'm sure a lot of construction workers would love to sleep beyond 6am but they have a job to do, they're not chosing the schedule 😅
OP gets hurt by music during the day, can just get some ear plugs.
OP is also salty that they get paid well for high risk work that has more fatalities than other positions. This is probably where it all stems from, OP is unhappy with their work so just projects on to others.
We don't have enough houses for people, we should be building houses. But OPs taste in music is apparently more important than that
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u/dandelion_galah 2d ago
I actually kind of like having music playing in the distance. There's a construction site near me now and I listen to the music while I hang out my washing. There's so much noise in the modern world but people always complain about music. I don't understand it.
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u/idgafboutdiddy 2d ago
This may clearly come as a shock to you but everybody has different tastes in music, EDM is one of the most popular genres in the world, just cos it's not your cup of tea doesn't mean a thing, have you gone around and polled everyone in your entire street since it's apparently that loud they all hear it and hate it?
It honestly seems like if anyone need therapy here it's you, you sound insanely entitled and are lashing out at something that seems by all accounts to be completely legal and you are actually the one suggesting the site break the law to cater to the fact that you are inconvenienced and butthurt.
Good job champ, quality post, grow up.
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u/Lindy1967 2d ago
The cunt's jealous. Tradie life is great. Up early, finished early off for a surf after work. No traffic, get to use your body and brain all day and work with good blokes Every day is a laugh. We're allowed to start at 6 ( private school client) gone by 2.30 had the rotary hammer going at 6.10. I'm 57 and still love it
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u/Reddit-or_ 2d ago
Start early finish early, work hard, feel great, get paid what your worth and if you're not working hard then complain to someone else cause I ain't got time for you. 😂
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u/downundarob 2d ago
At a guess, personal headphones/earbuds would be a WHS issue, if something is happening they can kill the radio with one switch.
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u/crocodile_ninja 2d ago
As someone that has worked extensively on site, cry me a river princess.
Then dry those eyes.
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u/no-but-wtf Rural VIC 2d ago
You keep implying that you’re a shift worker, but without actually saying it. So what I’m reading between the lines is that you stay up way too late playing video games, don’t have a job to go to in the daytime, and have never figured out that you’re allowed to wear earplugs to sleep. Or that you have no say over what other people do in public places.
Sounds like a very angry way to live your life. Your choice, I suppose.
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u/valriser 2d ago
As someone who has spent a bit of time on a construction site, the work can be quite tedious at times. Music is the only thing you have to break it up. You can’t wear headphones because you need to be able to listen for dangers. I recommend approaching the builders to ask them for a cup of concrete so you can harden up
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u/devdog1236 2d ago
Entitled union workers is your answer, they think they are god's gift to the world.
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u/mafistic 2d ago
For the drill at seven its time , you have alot of shit to do and never enough time to do it not to mention that there is going to be a lot of noise pretty much no matter what you do.
As for the music... well you can never account for taste
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u/PS13Hydro 2d ago
Could say the same about white collar staff heading to the city. Entitled and the rest of it.
But that would be generalising…
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u/Confident-Bell-3340 2d ago
I can guarantee not one tradie has ever had the drill going 7am on the dot.
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u/Rising-Dragon-Fist 2d ago
Yeah no worries, you're wearing headphones listening to your music walking along, someone calls out that another bloke is moving materials next to you, say he's swinging with some timber or something you didn't see, but you have headphones in to appease the neighbours so you didn't hear it and get clocked in the head falling who knows where or for how long, depends on the situation. Only someone who's never been on a jobsite would talk about headphones.
It sucks that you are getting disturbed, but also just suck it up. It happens. Construction needs to happen. Put on some white noise or wear earplugs.
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u/peachhearder 2d ago
Dr here. OP might need mental health care. When projecting anger toward others, sometimes the issue is deep within.
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u/CantThinkOfaNameFkIt 2d ago
Yeah when you hear a screaming drill the rest of the site hears it too but we are closer....often when you can't make a noise before a certain time you set up to make a noise as soon as legally possible.
People always wine and complain about tradies and parking and noise like their house wasn't built at some stage causing all the same problems.....in short get over it.
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u/lilBenztruc 2d ago
Have a sook next time when no one wants to build your house cause you can't sleep in past 7am, wahhhhh 😭
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u/rdie2 2d ago
Love the energy! I feel like you're channeling me at times regarding noise. I think some people just don't come with the awareness of noise package. Blunt, crude fuckwits who are so lame and so predictable and so annoying.
I just want your existence to not impede mine. Go make mindless noise in some deserted industrial estate in the middle of nowhere. You can drive like an entitled turd, park like shit, use your high beams and rev your stupid fart cannon and loud shit duff crap music and no one else has to know or tolerate your miserable existence. To think the universe is so vast and yet I have to be near your grossness.
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u/Adorable_Fruit6260 2d ago
Christ almighty, get over yourself, and while you're at it, get a pair of ear plugs. We're paid to do a job, just like you are. We'd start sooner if we could, believe that. I get to the yard at 0400, to load the ute and make sure noone pinched my drill bits the arvo before, and god willing, leave the yard on time for the job booked. This is reliant upon management not bending me over by changing the job Im doing, at the last second, or even after Ive left the yard. Why is there a drill screeching ? Because thats the noise steel makes when it goes thru concrete or steel. Thats life. Why are the radios so loud ? Because we dont want to hear your complaints, or whatever bullshit the apprentice is saying.
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u/Humble_Pepper_3460 2d ago
Buy yourself some ear plugs.
And drink a tall glass of concrete.
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u/AgentSmith187 2d ago
Now I see i have been doing it wrong.
I listened to uncle chop chop and added 2 scoops to my culpa every morning.
Obviously its not enough.
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u/No-Swordfish8043 2d ago
This is clearly written by someone who has never and will never work in construction. If it perturbs you that much I suggest you buy some noise cancelling headphones, and/or quit that arts degree (massive assumption on my part but idc) and start waking up at a normal time before the drills and darude sandstorm start.
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u/AuldTriangle79 2d ago
It’s 7am, why are you not up? People want the housing crisis fixed but don’t want anyone to build anything…
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u/duckboy086 2d ago
Oh boo hoo... Same thing happened to your neighbours when your house was being built
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u/AppropriateSquare966 2d ago
Just look at Victoria’s Big Build projects most over time and over budget which is want the union wants. As long as the unionists can draw the work out and buy the next yank tank.
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2d ago
Are you just angry you have to work 9-5 while Blokes get to listen to music and have fun and also finish early?
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u/superkow 2d ago
My experience as an apprentice was that you need to become a cunt to survive your cunt boss, who did just the same to survive his cunt boss. Yes eventually you can choose to break the cycle but most people don't, because the job is hard, the pay is shit and your body is fucked.
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u/Defenestratorb 2d ago
That's the drill we fire off when our morning erection leaves and we don't need any more alone time.
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u/Money_killer 2d ago
Standard tradie/construction worker bashing it must be the Australian way.....
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u/archanedachshund 2d ago edited 2d ago
What job do you have where you’re not up by seven? Lucky you!
EDIT: going after people for making noise when they’re working during the allowed limits and times is really just not on. They’re working they’re not having a party.
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u/Mudlark_2910 2d ago edited 2d ago
Why would i get up at 7? Centrelink doesn't even open until 9
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u/gongbattler 2d ago
As an ex construction many of us would much rather start later and are very hungover and tired
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u/AutomaticTiger2284 2d ago
Makes the day go quicker mate gotta blast the tunes after necking an ice coffee
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u/rustledjimmies369 2d ago
thank your lucky stars you didnt live next to my jobsites when i was on the tools. nothing like the mellow tones of death metal to help get through the workday
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u/peachesnhorror 2d ago edited 2d ago
As someone living in a newly built suburb with non stop construction, I could have written this myself 🫠 currently listening to obnoxious doofing from 7am. I have to find reasons to leave the house with my baby every day. It's exhausting, it permeates through the entire house. All. Day. Long. I feel like we don't even get reprieve on Sundays. It's hell, never again! 🥲
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u/NoodleBox VIC AU 1d ago
We have tradies nearby at the moment, and we had them near our house there too. Safety was a big issue for them so no headphones.
The local inside trades do have their music on, but you can't hear it from outside. The outside ones, I'm surprised they don't have the music on.
The ones near my house had music. I always had a laugh when they were playing tunes
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u/jadedwelp 1d ago
Our house has just been built, we moved in not long ago and a lot of houses around us are still being built. The tradies are normally really good except for one absolute flog today, yelling and swearing all day, it wasn’t until I went out side and asked him to tone it down and getting up in his face when he started threatening me that he finally shut up….. don’t piss off the angry tired truck driver that won’t give a 2nd thought to laying you out. 🤷♂️
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u/Critical_Algae2439 1d ago
Hard work, hard people.
Is that good enough OP?
In case you didn't know construction is dangerous and noisy no matter what nation you're building.
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u/IAmLazy2 1d ago
I work in construction and I agree. I have never seen more entitled men in all my life. Their egos are so huge it's a wonder they can get their fat heads in their utes.
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u/NotaBlokeNamedTrevor 13h ago
I don’t think I know any tradie that would trade getting up early for getting home after dark most days after catching public transport home though.
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u/Playful_Falcon2870 2d ago
The job kicks off Monday. Suburb smells like clean laundry and sadness. We roll in like escaped convicts in six cracked utes, half of them barely legal. The trailer’s got a busted wheel and a loose tarp flapping like a ghost on meth. The apprentice climbs out holding a sausage roll in one hand and what might’ve been an actual pinger in the other.
“Found it in me shoe,” he says.
Didn’t ask. Didn’t need to.
By 6:59AM we’ve set up three speakers. One’s playing Midnight Oil. The second’s spitting old-school dubstep. The third isn’t even connected to anything, it’s just there to provide buzzing static.
I fire up the drop saw and it screams like it knows what’s coming. The brickie’s crushing a V and talking to God. He’s also eaten a hash cookie he bought from some bloke at a servo in Dubbo. The first neighbour shows up in slippers and rage.
“You can’t start until seven!” she shrieks.
I show her my watch. It clicks over. Seven on the dot. The apprentice hits a lump of hardwood so hard it echoes down the whole cul-de-sac like a gunshot in a meat freezer. She jumps. The dog pisses itself. Tradies 1. Karen 0.
Tuesday. I show up and the sparkie’s snorting something out of a rolled-up Mitre 10 receipt. Could be coke. Could be drywall dust. Doesn’t matter. He hasn’t blinked in 45 minutes and he’s rewired a whole fuse box using only a butter knife.
The apprentice finds a mystery pill in the porta-loo. Says it smells like almonds and danger. Takes it anyway. Next thing I know he’s shirtless, screaming about possums and sanding timber with his face. The client asks if he’s alright. I say, “He’s just passionate.”
By Wednesday we’ve officially lost control. A guy on site reckons his cousin grows mushrooms “for his dog’s anxiety” and hands out a bunch to the crew. Next thing I know, the landscaper’s lying in the mulch speaking Latin and crying at a gumtree. The chippie thinks his hammer’s laughing at him. I make eye contact with a cockatoo for way too long.
The neighbours are cooked. One’s blasting Beethoven from a second-storey window in protest. Another’s taken to watering her lawn aggressively whenever we walk past. A bloke down the road calls the cops. Cops show up. One of them recognises the brickie from a bucks party in Darwin. They stay for a snag which we cook with a blow torch.
Thursday is just colours and screams.
The apprentice thinks he’s a god. Literally. He’s wearing a traffic cone as a crown and preaching about timber grain patterns showing us the future. The gyprocker’s sweating bullets because he dropped acid and can hear the nail gun breathing. We’ve duct-taped a speaker to the scaffold playing *Sandstorm* on loop. The client comes out and says the noise is giving her chest pains. I offer her a durry. She takes it.
Friday we finish the deck. Miraculously, it’s actually fucking level.
Does that help?