Chapter 11

I went to DWP's Training Center and took the tests they required. I took the physical and drug test at their Medical Center located in the downtown office building and was assigned to start at their Central District. This District covered downtown L.A. and a little north in North Hollywood and south to South Central Area of L.A. My first Foreman was of Mexican descent named Tito Marquez RIP. He spoke excellent English and also excellent Spanish I was told.

We were working in East L.A. when a person approached me and I could tell he was trying to ask me for directions. But his English was very broken up and since I didn't speak Spanish, I pointed Tito out to him and he went to Tito. Tito just stood there with his arms crossed looking beyond the stranger. Finally the stranger walked away. I went to Tito and told him that I couldn't understand the stranger's English so I couldn't help him. I asked Tito why he didn't help him. Tito said to me "Well, Billy, his Spanish was worse than his English!"

Tito was diabetic and had many other health issues. There were many days when we would finish our work and have to wake him up when he laid in his pickup. Our Grunt (helper) drove him out to the work area and back. As I was new and still learning DWP's work methods and their Book of Standards there were times when I would not build a pole to their Standards and none of the Crew Helpers would correct me in time. One time Tito woke up, got out of his pickup with the work drawings and design papers, looked up and started shouting "Billy! That is not what the drawing shows!" We got along together very well though. Tito had maybe 40 years or more with DWP and could have retired long before this. With the rate of retirement pay he was entitled to, he was working there for almost nothing. But he told me that his Line Crew was his only family and he knew that when he retired he wouldn't live for very long. But his health got so bad he was forced into retiring. And he was right. He lived less than a year after his retirement date. RIP

DWP called their Linemen EDMs (Electric Distribution Mechanic), the Foreman were EDMS (Electric Distribution Mechanic Supervisor), the Troubleman was LPM (Line Patrol Mechanic) and the District Superintendents were A-Phase (in charge of the District), B-Phase (usually the UG Supervisor) and C-Phase (for overhead). When hired as an EDM I started my 6-Month probation which all of the above Positions went through. I started studying for taking the Civil Service tests for the positions above that I was qualified for. I ended up going through 3 probation periods in my first 4 years there.

I tested and after an interview I got appointed as a LPM. I got on their "Red Shift". All of the shifts worked 10 days straight and then 4 days off. I liked the Red Shift as it started at 3:30 pm on Tuesday. Saturday you worked until 11:30 pm and came back on Sunday morning at 7:30 am to fill in for the Blue Shift's days off. Then our 4 days started on Thursday afternoon after getting off of our Shift at 3:30 pm. This gave us a very long 4 days off. I was able to save up a lot of my vacation time!

I had also tested and interviewed for an EDMS (Foreman) Position and I soon got that call. I was hesitant to take it because it was actually a large cut in take home pay from what I was used. An LPM got paid lots of overtime for working the Holidays, doubling up (covering other shifts that were short of LPMs) and a lot of work around the clock during fires, floods, storms and other outages.

I took the EDMS call and was assigned in Wilmington the southern area of L.A. on the ocean. It had cooler temperatures, cleaner air and was close to my house in Long Beach, CA. I had never learned anything about using computers and I had to ask the Clerical there for help pulling up information on the Database for pole and transformer records. They were always very busy and at times would tell me to come back later. I found an evening Computer Course offered at the Long Beach Community College so I signed up for this. It started with "Where's the on/off switch and went from there." The Wilmington A-Phase let me practice on the District computers after hours. The course taught about IBM's DOS (disk operating system) which is still occasionally used. They got into Windows 3.1 and a few other Programs. I also got my first Email set up then. This learning really helped me out later.

My Line Crew got called out to work when the LA Riots happened in 1992 and we also worked on the restorations from the Northridge 6.7 earthquake in 1994. The LA Riots were later referred to "civil unrest" and "citizen uprising" but if you had been there, you would still call it a Riot with lots of gunfire and looting! This lasted 6 days but their timing was way off. It started on April 29th and most of the stores that cashed the monthly checks were burned to the ground so people had to find rides to stores still standing to cash their checks when the USPS started mail deliveries again to buy groceries and liquor. If I sound kind of jaded, sorry! But that's the way I saw it.

Our Superintendent told us that we would be working in South Central LA and that we would have police escorts with us. He said we could not carry any guns with us. If we did we would be fired on the spot. But that didn't keep us from being armed. Before we left for DWP's Electric Trouble Headquarters I found an orange hardhat to wear. All the Crew Members wore orange and Supervisors wore a white one. I didn't want to make myself a target.