I had a chance to work with several different mechanics while in and out of FOB. One in particular was Larry. He was a bull mechanic who was the terror of all helpers. He was a big guy with a barrel chest, deep loud voice and close-cropped hair. He was also a hell raiser who could hold his own with just about anybody. It was a very bad idea to cross Larry. When pissed, he could be like a rattlesnake with a case of hives. His dress for work was a little different than the rest of us; it consisted of a short sleeve sport shirt, grey levies and cowboy boots. Not exactly a poster child for OHSA.
This guy was a helper�s nightmare. He could pick up two counter weight rails, one in each hand and carry them a long distance over all types of terrain in order to get them to the hoistway, and that�s pushing over 200 pounds. The major rub here is that somebody had to be on the other end. That somebody was his helper big or small. He went through helpers like Imelda Marcos went through shoes. Today he might be known as, �The Helper Cookie Monster�.
He usually started traction jobs by installing the rails and pit equipment, hoisting the generators, machines and controllers and then pulling off. Thus he was called a �Bull Mechanic". That reference really pissed him off. He worked hard, drank hard and expected his helper to do likewise.
When we worked together at FOB we spent our time re-rigging skips and untangling the kinks in the manila rope in the pit so the skips could travel up and down without stopping. The kinks and tangles in the rope were known as "Assholes" in elevator talk. The jargon we used were terms such as "Down the Road" (fired, laid off or sent to the shop), "Grunt" (helper), �Pusher� (Foreman), "Can You Do it Boy?" (get with it) and "My Mothers Slow, But she's 80 Years Old" (hurry up). All these terms and some others I can�t recall were adopted by Elevator Constructors from High Lineman. By the way, the comeback to "Can You Do it Boy?" was, "With A Slop Jar Full Of N*!s And A Nine Inch C*!k. . .�And You Call Me Boy?"
I worked with Larry for a few months and we got along just fine. Sorry to say, some years later I heard he had moved to Denver, taken a job as a route mechanic, cleaned up his act and remarried. While on a service call, he picked the door lock and while stepping on the car top tripped and fell into the hoistway on the front of the elevator. The hoistway doors closed behind him, the car started up and crushed him to death.
