I hired out in 1978 and hung up my lantern in 2022. If you’re stepping in, find the calm old head on your crew and stick close — mentors keep you safe and help you last past year one; I’m happy to answer straight questions about 3 a.m. call times, July heat in steel toes, and making GCOR feel like muscle memory.
On those ‘3 a.m.’ calls in July heat, I stash a dry pair of socks in my vest and change at the first meet — it saved my feet more than any fancy insole. If the work’s nonstop and you can’t swap, hit your feet with antiperspirant before lacing up to keep the steel toes from turning into a swamp.
Mentor ride‑alongs saved my hide more than once, but early on I asked to rotate who I shadowed so I didn’t inherit one person’s quirks. For 3 a.m. calls, I keep a pre‑packed “go bag” in the trunk — spare gloves, headlamp batteries, and a laminated GCOR cheat card I flip like flashcards during dead time; it becomes muscle memory quick. If the heat’s brutal, skip energy drinks and stash electrolyte packets; @richard85’s angle is solid, but salt and water keep your head straight.
I stick a strip of blue painter’s tape on my radio and jot car counts or switch lineups with a pencil so I’m not fishing for a notebook; if sweat kills the tape in July, a wax pencil on the lantern works, @andwhit.
For pre‑dawn yard work, a headlamp with a red mode keeps your eyes adjusted when you step from the cab to the ground — “see the dark, don’t fight it,” an old head told me. Just keep a bright white handy for reading stencils and checking rigging; two lights beat one dead battery.