Posted on 01/23/2015 9:48:47 AM PST by thackney
So your off week is about over with. It went by too fast again and there is some work to be done before going back to the rig. You still need to do your laundry and pray that at least half of that oil base will come off this time in the wash. You still need to go food shopping - you know the usual grub: protein shakes, cold cuts, bread, eggs, steaks, etc. And, you need to fill up that darn 20+ gallon tank of gas for your 4x4 work truck that you're going to drive on your way across the lone star state to your remote rig location.
Finally you pull up on site and dig your tires through the mud to get up to the front gate, and once you look up you see the whole darn derrick is stacked with drill pipe. Ugh. You'll be trippin' in all day tomorrow. Oh well. That's what the job is. You can't avoid it. Trippin' in and trippin' out. Although, that darn directional motor breaks way more than it's supposed to and so you are always trippin'. It leads you to believe that someone isn't doing their job. Who knows?
You walk into your trailer shared by the other 9 guys operating the rig and you see that it's muddy and trashed and an ant colony has inhabited the kitchen sink. Screw it. You just want to get some sleep before your shift, which begins in 6 hours. You plop your Walmart-bought sheets onto the top bunk, adjust the thermostat to a solid 68 degrees, turn off the lights and quietly fall asleep.
30 minutes later you wake up sweating in your bed with the lights on. Your Motorman is shuffling through his toiletries in search of a tooth brush and talking on the phone with his ex-girlfriend in Spanglish and your Derrickman is sleeping on his back and snoring out a thunderstorm in the bottom bunk bed.
You get up out of bed to check the thermostat. Somebody thought 80 degrees would be a comfortable sleeping temperature. After resetting the temperature, you hit the lights again and jump back into bed kind of trying to wake up the derrick man so that he adjusts his snoring pattern. Ah! It may have worked. He stops snoring for 4 seconds before continuing his Macy's day parade of snoring below your bed.
The next morning you jump out of bed, because you slept 10 minutes past your alarm and frantically gather your warmest clothing and shovel a few protein bars down your throat, washing them down with some whole milk. The safety meeting kicks off in panic because your Toolpusher bursts through the door disgruntled and ashamed of your whole crew's performance. He blames you for the work that went on during your off week and says he expects better of you. The Toolpusher blurts out all the problems of the rig's current situation and the meeting ends without any solutions discussed. Your crew is confused about the objectives for the day. No safety is discussed.
Walking back up the tall stairs to the rig floor after a week off is always intimidating. You don't know what to expect. What is your relief going to tell you? What are these new problems that the Toolpusher was complaining about? Will the floor look different from last hitch?
You finally reach the last step, meet your relief, exchange a few words about the job and a quick, "ya, the off week went by too fast." and get back to working. Everything is the same. Things don't change. These vague problems that the Toolpusher poorly conveyed in the safety meeting are clear, repairable, and standard. As long as you're staying busy, those 12 hours on your feet will go by fast.
The oilfield teaches you to be independent. When your Driller needs you to tighten the bolts on the flow line to stop a leak in less than an hour, you need to think fast. You gather the diesel, grease, wire brush, rope, extra nuts and bolts, crescent and hammer wrenches, hammer, harness, lanyard and pipe wrench and get into the manlift that you aren't certified to drive and finish the job. You teach yourself to gather these tools and approach the problem the fastest way possible because time is money and your job. Working in freezing rain with 30 mph gusts will also teach you survival techniques. Your body needs a certain amount of hydration and calories to burn to sustain enough energy to perform these physical tasks and you learn this in the oilfield. With the job comes a real income and so you learn about financial independence - about saving and unfortunately more about spending money.
The oilfield also teaches you discipline. 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 and you keep your mouth shut. You learn to ignore irrationality. Not much makes sense out there and why should it when your Derrickman rolls his eyes at you when you suggest wearing a respirator mask when mixing the toxic chemicals that state will cause asthma. Or your company policy is absolutely no smoking allowed on the work premises, however, they provide you with cigarette ashtray receptacles and sticker labels that you are supposed to tag onto the trailers that read, "smoking zone". You learn to take cold showers, because your crew members have already used up all the hot water, and you learn to cope with the fact that the oil base won't really come off of your skin until you get back home to scrub yourself for a half hour in your own hot shower.
Once you do finally pack up your things, throw your muddy coveralls in your truck bed, and scrounge the trailer's fridge for any good foods left behind, you drive home without much on your mind. It's a numbing job and your body's physical strain has stripped your mind of all creative thought. The drive is tough and you may have to sing along to some mainstream crap on the radio just to stay awake. You open your front door, drag yourself into your glorious hot shower and hit the sack right after. Your off week will be over soon. You can get some sleep for now, though, and maybe have a little fun with that fat paycheck.
Rothman states in the comment section of the post his reasoning behind writing the post saying, “ I actually wrote this post because I was recently laid off from my roughnecking job (they stacked half of our rigs) and I am trying to gain attention among industry professionals like yourselves.”
Good Luck Alec on the job search,hope the article/blog thing works out for ya
They get days off? WTH? I can remember going for about 6 months at a time(a lot of times actually) working 7/12 with no days off. Death included, unless you brought a not from the mortuary. :>}
Like an offshore or North Slope assignment I guess.
Glad I went to college.
He probably brings home more than the average college grad, at least he did before being laid off.
A roughneck should expect to earn approximately $60,000 a year starting salary. This salary is just an average as some may make less and certainly many make more. The more experience you have, the more you can earn. In addition, those roughnecks who are stationed at remote rigs will earn higher pay. There are also often bonuses and salary increases each year when a worker meets expectations and performs up to standards while remaining safe.
http://www.jobmonkeyjobs.com/cm/oil_jobs/rig_roughnecks
Note that pay for this type of work varies a lot on location and demand.
Yes, he does, just like my brother who dropped out of HS and works in the oil fields. My brother also busts his chops for little more than I make, and he was working 2 on, 1 off in North Dakota in the sub zero temps and snow and stuff. I sit in a nice temp controlled office, pushing virtual pencils from 8-5.
When my Son was a tech, tearing down oil tools in the shop( His first Post-Navy job) He’d bring home the grottiest coveralls I’d ever seen.
He’s now a MWD Engr and seldom gets even a couple days off between rigs. Then before Thanksgiving he got off 3 weeks, not knowing if every day He’d get the call. And of course late Thanksgiving eve he got the call. Later, since I was going his direction to go hunting, I drove out and delivered him his Thanksgiving dinner.
During the last crash, 1983 I went back to school and became a pharmacist. Sold the house, sold the airplane and used all my savings but it was worth it. I still miss the oilfield.
It is not for everyone. I split my time between the office and jobs sites as an engineer. For me that is best. As long as the equipment is running, I often get to pick which days I am in or out.
70°, low humidity, yeah I got some equipment in the field I need to check on.
35° and raining, I really got to get those calculations done and I’ve got an RFQ that needs sent out...
Well I worked as a roustabout for 2 summers and got a taste of what it is like to work 36 hrs, sleep 9 hrs then work 36 hrs more. Great incentive to finish college!
I met a kid back in the 70s who was working as a roughneck in Oman, making 4 times as much money as I was. After he described his typical tour of duty, I was no longer envious. I think itwas 3 weeks on, then a month off, but “home” was a 2-day commute at his expense.
and I bet you did not start at that pace either.
When I worked next door in glorious Yemen, the commute was the same, on our time, but the company paid for an equivalent air fair to Europe.
But I was working 8 weeks on, 2 weeks off. 7/12 when on, we got paid 40h hr/wk when off.
No, it has taken a couple decades to get to this point. And the pay is “a bit” better than then as well.
This guy can go right to work on the pulling units.
Its different but in some ways still the same.
I worked as a medic on the North Slope for 26 years. Started 7 on/7 off (which was really 8/6 due to travel), then went to 10/11/11/10 on a 3 week rotation, and ended up at 14/14. I liked the 10/11 schedule the best.
When working 14/14 I learned that I was productive for 10 days and then developed the 1000 yard stare. It took 2-3 days after I got home before I was pleasant to be around.
You don’t realize how stressful these schedules are until you quit. I’ve been offered similar jobs since and turned them down. Sleeping in your own bed every night is worth a lot.
later
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