Posted on 01/23/2015 9:48:47 AM PST by thackney
And then there’s the “Ginsel”, the roughneck’s helper and then there’s the “Ginsel worm”, the “Ginsel’s” helper......................
“You turn a pipe wrench as fast as humanly possible while the Driller verbally harasses you over the loud speaker insulting your work ethic and manhood”
Boy! Does that bring back memories of my earlier years. However, back then the word SAFETY did not exist.
Being a roughneck is a thankless hard job. I really appreciated and enjoyed the article for it actually shows what it is like.
Roughnecking is not for “sissies” and you have to be strong both mentally and physically for fights are common and insults to your “manhood” and family lineage are a common language.
Trippin pipe on an oil rig is a rite of male passage back in my earlier days.
Back in the 80’s a favorite bumper sticker on oilfield equipment and vehicles went like this....”
“Don’t tell my mother I work in the oilfield. She thinks I play a piano in a whorehouse.”
I Loved it!
On my 8/2 WK schedule I once agreed to work 11 straight weeks to accommodate some desired schedule R&R by others. I quit 3 times during that stretch but got talked out of leaving before we could get a flight scheduled. Really tough at 5 weeks when I realized I had a full rotation left to go.
Big deal...I would have happily worked 7 x 7. I spent years on a 21 on and 9 off, (two travel days) in the Andes of South America and I lived in Chile. In Africa it was 45-days on and 18 off which included 4-travel days in the 18 off. Just finished a two-year job in Canada of 19 on and 7 off.
We would have laughed at a 7x7 schedule.
Back in the day..it was 28/28 Flying out of Texas to ME oilfields.
One Well I worked was 21 - 7 that just happened to sinc up with the X-Wifes cycle ... (the job only lasted 3 months) but I looked forward to going back to work those first two rotations.
TT
Mr. Cajun I had 35 years in the oilfields (southern cal )....it goes like this....the very lowest guy in the oilfields is call a WORM..BUT the worm has a helper that is soooo low he is called a ginsel. so there is no lower of a insult to be given than to be called a ginsel.
Worm = Newbie
Ginsel = Worm that screws up.
Ginsel Worm = Worm that screws up a lot (Lower rated than a regular Ginsel).
:)
I cannot comprehend how hard that must have been. When I started on the Slope in the mid-70’s most of the tradesmen (pipefitters, welders, etc.) worked 9/2. They’d leave for R&R with $80,000 in their pockets and come back two weeks later broke because they spent it all on booze and hookers. What a life!
Well, it did pay well...
I guess everyone sees it differently. 28/28 is the best job ever. It is really 30/26 with travel most of the time.
When you work you work. When you are off you are off and home. Time for six mini-vacations a year, time for real projects around the house, time to savor a coffee and conversation with the wife.
A well run staff house can be very comfortable. People who like to complain can always find something wrong. Every staff house I have run was a mess because nobody managed it. I have two primary rules in the house.... I tell the head man the only smells I want are Clorox and good food. I tell the troops if you don’l like the food bring some recipes from home and we’ll get them cooked. Nobody plans menus so we do that once a week. It helps the cook a lot and keeps down the grumbling about food. If we don’t have good beds we import them from the States. Everybody gets a room with his opposite and a lockable locker and the normal in-room entertainment plus the same in the common area. We give the staff Sunday off and eat out for dinner and free range for other meals on that day.
Working in the office, not so much. Weekends are for recovery. The commute can take half as much time as working. The office for engineers and many others in the oilfield has never been 8 to 5. More like 6A to 6, 7, or 8P. You get home in time to eat visit with the kids a bit and go to bed exhausted so you can get up and do it all again. I have gone weeks without seeing my home in the daylight except on the weekend. Weekends in drilling while in the office often go by without notice. There is either a problem or weekend duty and if not that the constant intrusion of phone or email for problems.
No, thanks, I’d rather have the rotation job than being a prisoner exiled from my own home that just becomes a place to sleep and eat a bit.
I’d rather live in my truck than a trailer as this guy describes. I’d figure out how to make that so before living in a pig sty like that. I hate camp jobs done off the cuff like he describes. They are nothing but a liability. You treat men like animals and they will work the same way. Sounds like he gets just what I describe.
I’ll never allow or ask a man to work more than 5 weeks out of 8 on a drilling operation. I been involved in too many incident investigations that involve the fifth week. I allowed a crew to talk me into a 35/35 rotation once since the flight time was so long. We ended it after four hitches.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.