Men At Work Podcast - The Carpenters Union Spills All of the Trade Secrets!

Episode Date: May 1, 2025

Kyle and Matt are at the Carpenters Union in Philadelphia, PA to talk to the tradesmen of Local 158. We get into the trade secrets behind the Phillies and Eagles stadiums, what their first day on the job was like, the funniest nicknames on the site, and their favorite tools. These tradesmen spill secrets from over 20+ years in the business. Get your tickets for the Men At Work Live Show Spectacular! You can be a part of the show! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-men-at-work-live-podcast-spectacular-tickets-1333921478049?aff=oddtdtcreatorInterested in being a Carpenter? Check out the EAS Open House on May 2nd, 2025 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf_2ejISsDOy3hnOkGqfYFqWqJgy4Ima6B9W_ollFLL5M19hQ/viewform0:00 - Jim's BEST Nicknames on the Job Site 23:20 - Calvin's Secrets of the Phillies Stadium 44:49 - Martha's Cracking Skulls as a Woman in the Trades#union #carpenter #tradesman About Us: The Men At Work Podcast asks one question: What do you do for a living? After that the conversation flows from there. We've talked to substitute teachers, Bangladeshi t-shirt moguls, a real estate broker tight with LeBron James, and the Governor of Literal Pennsylvania. And we'll record anywhere. Random sidewalks during an eclipse, a furry convention, and more! Whether we like it or not, our jobs are most of our lives - might as well yap about it. If you want us to come to your event email us at: [e-mail] APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/men-at-work-podcast/id1373108039SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4XcFWt0I6gFvMotqDp5bsZ?si=2273debc08e5485dIf you want more bonus content from every episode check out our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/menatworkpod*If you subscribe to the Patreon consider subscribing on a desktop or website or an android device, NOT THROUGH iOS (Apple) APP. Apple takes 30% of every month you're subscribed (yea they suck). Follow Us:The Pod: https://www.tiktok.com/@menatpodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/menatpod/Follow Matt: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattpeoplescomedyhttps://www.instagram.com/mattpeoplescomedy/Follow Kyle:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kylepagancb/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kylepagancbFollow Vito: https://www.instagram.com/vito_visuals/?hl=en

I want to hear about your first day on the job site. Oh man. I did bring cupcakes. You brought cupcakes? I did. Mom made cupcakes. I had to bring these. And then they started calling me cupcake.

How far did cupcake follow you? Pretty far. Pretty far. All right, before we get into the show, we want to talk to you about a live show we're putting on, presented by Next In Line Comedy. It's the Men at Work live spectacular Friday, May 30th at 8 p.m.

You ever wanted to be on the show but you couldn't? Well now you got the opportunity to. Buy a ticket, come to the show, hang out with us. You can put in a little thing that says hey I'd love to be on stage and just come chat about your job. We'll just horse around. Same thing you see on the podcast normally we'll just be doing it in front of 70 to 80 people. Friday May 30th at the coop at 8 p.m. Please come. All right we're here local 158, 4000 of our brothers and sisters in Philadelphia. The blue collar of all blue collar. You look at a high-rise in Philadelphia they built it. You look at something on the land they built it. Something on the sea I don't know but they probably built it.

Local 158 we thank them for letting us in here today. We're going to interview some blue collar workers because you know why? Look at these goddamn hands. They're all white collar. We got little baby hands, dude. We got soft hands. I haven't had a cowl since I was seven years old, so this is big time for us here, dude. We got to talk to some real folks, dude. You and I, we're too big of podcasters now. We've gotten too light in our loafers. We got to talk to some real folks That's my record. I mean you're wearing a t-shirt from Abercrombie and Fitch from 13 years ago is really tight

Stuff's crazy man. So not as tight as one of the guys that's coming on Look at Calvin's t-shirt when he comes on here tight as yeah Cat wait to see Calvin dude. That's a jack strong man. Vito's been staring him down off camera. I'm starting to get nervous What's gonna? Hey, we got Calvin Johnson coming on later so you gotta stick around all right the Calvin Johnson. That's right man. We're gonna bring our first one on. Mike? Your name's Jim? Dude. Jesus Christ Jim. I called you Mike like three times dude. Sorry brother. Dude and you got a bad ear too right? So you really heard me call you Mike. Or maybe you didn really heard me call you Mike?

I mean, we didn't hear you call you Mike. It's cool. That's fine. No, dude That's fine. I can see it in your eyes every time we caught you Mike It's like that's not right if I call you Mike on this podcast. Feel free to flip the table. No Do the guy with pit vipers on that works on that works on the job I know you flip the table once or twice in your day. It's happened. Yeah Once in a while, I hear you know any of those rookies talk shit on the job when they you flip the table once or twice in your day it's happened yeah once in a while I hear you don't let any of those rookies talk shit on the job when they come in you set the you look at tone set are you a tone setter um I try and keep it you know professional oh you know but uh so you

got some guys underneath you who are the tone setters yes yes they're like they're in the trades they're there they're on Yeah. Yeah. A lot of tone setters in the in the in the union No, no You're here first you keep you keep lying to me we're gonna go back to Mike, okay Every time it goes bad. He's going back to Mike. All right when you're bad your Mike when you're good your Jim That's fine. I look up into the left up into the right All right, fine, we'll get on the same page. Favorite tool? Favorite tool? Hammer.

Really? Yeah, it's a weapon. Anybody that gets it online, you got a weapon right there. Oh, violence. Okay. I'm sure the communications director watching and listening very intently to everything you say loves hearing that right now. It's also good that we're completely surrounded by potential weapons. I've never felt safer to do this. Very true, gentlemen. Damn, Jim, what do you like about the hammer?

Other than it's a weapon to kill somebody with It's classic, you know, it's the oldest tool, one of the oldest tools probably invented Other than the wheel I would say Yeah, by mankind, right? Yeah, shout out mankind Shout out mankind, and the funny thing is, hammers are so adaptive That's right Because you could have the one that you have now, but you can say a rock is a hammer

Yeah, you can say your foot is a hammer as long as the nail or whatever you need Gets put down into the destination. Is that correctly? Am I using the right terms here? I think so. We're white-collar guys We're we're little tiny baby boys. We're gonna need your help of like how to be a real man So we're having some questions for you about the tricks the trades because we're totally naive to the entire thing So you're gonna have to help us out lay it on me. All right, don't like heights Don't like steel. Yeah, don't really even like carpentry. Honestly, really? Yeah today. I actually we just went through a move It's gone got awful and I had to we they broke my dresser Okay, and I actually you know what? I'll show you this Jim because maybe you can help me because I think I'm stopping at the hard

You gotta get on this on the way home this what the hell is this thing? It's a full body new it's in a dresser that's for my but it's not It's way fair, but yeah I know you did but what is that thing cuz I go into the horse ace hardware and shout out No, actually don't shout out to the ace hardware never Anybody listen this in Philadelphia do never patronize the knife and Gerard ace hardware. I say hey, why do you have this? He goes screws are in the back He sent a white-collar guy who just click-clack click-clack click-clacks on his keyboard for his entire corporate life

And he was wearing a sundress by the way that's worse. He said Yellow yellow let's play a pale yellow like an Easter yellow exactly it's pastel dude brings out my cheeks when I get a little I was thinking about his cheeks dude and folks of the day When I go to the ace hardware Jim I'm gonna say Jim sent me all right. I would go to Ikea with that. What do you what do I need? No, it's a it's just a thing to put back like Mike. They lost it in the move. Hmm. Oh man There's another screw that goes in it and it turns. Yes, so this isn't a screw though. I've been told now It's not a screw. What's it called?

It's definitely I can't I have the same one I have the same one. I'm not going to Ikea. I got to go to an Ace Hardware. I got to get this tonight. I got people coming over tomorrow. I got to fix this damn dresser. The guest room has closed everywhere.

I can't. I got I got to Google. We got to Google. Oh God. You know what? After you're done, you can get back on here. Maybe while Calvin's talking, maybe while Martha's talking. You can interrupt.

I'll show Calvin. I'll show Martha, but anyway. I mean, it begs a question though. I mean, IKEA getting big now. Do you hate IKEA? Are you pro-IKEA, like from a carpenter's perspective? What do you guys think? You hate it?

I do, I hate it. It's very convenient for people who... Us. I didn't mean that. I didn't say that. Now you're Mike again, dude. Hope it was worth it. There we go.

No, no, no. It's just very convenient and easy and they come with the directions. You don't like directions? Well, I give directions, I don't like directions. True, true, true, true. I don't know what she's saying. Totally fair.

That's true. They could use some legit carpenters at Ikea. Every time I've gone there, I've noticed that I buy the furniture, I set it up, I break it immediately when I sit down on it. That's been like kind of my go-to. And then I have to call like a real gentleman to come help me to fix like an actual piece of furniture. That's like the IKEA process. I feel it's for smaller people. You know what I mean? We can now. No, no, no. You said that. I didn't say that. No, no. You're eluding. No, that's it. It's just smaller and you know,

you buy it, your kids can't jump on it and destroy it. You know, play WWF on it. Where's your go-to, like a real manly man's hardware store or office furniture, furniture in general? Nastagis or probably Raymore Flanagan. Raymore Flanagan? You know, something like that.

Got it. Nastagis, is that a popular PA? What's that? South Jersey type, you know, area. I'm an Ashley Home Furniture guy. Really? That's always been good to me. Kenneth Allen.

Kenneth Allen. He's good. Yeah, I'm kind of locked in on this nostalgia thing because I'm a South Jersey guy. Where in South Jersey is this? What's the area? What's it like? What are we talking about?

Where are you from in South Jersey? Like Cherry Hill, kind of the Hanfield area. Okay, me too. are we talking about where you from South Jersey like Cherry Hill kind of Hanfield area okay yeah yeah what position slot and corner so flacko was throwing you balls yes I called touchdown Super Bowl touchdowns by Super Bowl I was gonna say you were I was gonna say you probably weren't in the server ball but yeah that's not if I no. If I was in the Super Bowl I would have been. Wait, wait, so you're catching passes from Joe Flacco. We're having Calvin Johnson on later. Like what the hell is going on? What is going on here? I want a lineup dude. Who did you? I graduated Audubon. Oh shit, very nice. Is there a guy named Steve Young here? He's outside. Yeah, he's probably out here.

He's coming up. Yeah. Jesus Christ. Mike Young coming up. All right. Jim, right? Yes. Oh, Jesus Christ. Not Michael. Yeah.

How long you been in the tricks of the trade? Roughly 20 years. Out of high school? Out of college? Out of high school. Nice. Yes. Yeah.

Why'd you get into the trade? Why'd you get in the union? I was going to go look at schools. I was going up looking at Monmouth. I was looking at a bunch of schools and everything like that. And I just remember my dad looking at me, shaking his head, saying, you're going to go look at schools, was going up looking at Monmouth, I was looking at a you know a bunch of schools and everything like that and I just remember my dad looking at it looking at me shaking his head saying you're going to be 60 years old paying this stuff off. True. You know and I just before all that my grandfather was in the trades, the carpenters and a couple of relatives and he said hey as a back burner go take the test just go do

it just go do it just go do it and at first I didn't really know what it was. And, uh, I just felt like summertime job, you know, that, you know, I go to wildwood, I wait to whatever. Yeah. And then I got the, I got the call to come and I remember my mom saying, you're not going to the shore. You're going to go to work. Wow. And I was like, okay.

And, uh, I went and that was it. Hit the ground running and best decision I ever made. Money was coming in, making, making good money, yeah fair wages, you know everything like that and Then my buddies who were getting out of college and all that they were struggling you know 2010 came the recession came people people were struggling sure and Everything was good. I was okay. Do you ever regret not going to that? That 19 year old wildwood when you were back in 2010? That's probably a sick summer. That's probably a great summer, dude

Recession summer 20 30 years like what's it matter a year or two? Yeah, I think that was conceived that summer down Mom's gonna have to pay the price to make the ultimate sacrifice Wow, that's why she's a mother based flower. There you go, I like that. Yeah, we're cooking gyms back there. I like that, Jim, you're paying. We're in there. Mom's gonna have to pay the price too and make the ultimate sacrifice. Wow. Oh man, yeah dude.

Hey, you probably get to go down now, right? Yeah, yeah, now it's a different story. Exactly. So do you have kids? No, I do not. So now that you've been doing the trades for 20 years, do you look that if you did have a kid, you would kind of advise them to do the same thing,

or do you think maybe Kyle just made a heel turn and you would advise them to go that way? Now that you have the experience, does it change what your recommendation would be? Wow, that's a really good question. It would have to depend, I mean, obviously always what they wanna do, what your child wants to do.

You back them, support them, do whatever they wanna do, but it would depend, I mean. That's tough, that's tough to answer. Yeah, it's a loaded question. But I mean, if they were, hell, I would want them to get a college degree and come into trades. Construction management, something like that.

That'd be a kill shot. Yeah, it's a nice combo because you have the experience with the trades and then like you said, your dad told you like you'll be Paying this off till you're six ways. I remember putting his head down And he was just like you're never gonna be you're always gonna have and you would carpentry the blood dude You can't go against the blood. No. Yeah, I was common. You know, he was a bricklayer My brother's a bricklayer. My grandfather was a carpenter. It's kind of a sense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was it. Yeah

Yeah, I mean honestly, it's kind of hilarious because you're like, you know He asked you the loaded question about college and everything then we went to the school what a decade ago And now all the robots are replacing all of us anyway, so what's really mad? Yeah, we just got to destroy the robots Yeah, I think we should See the robots look up hitchbot and try to fucking take Terminator yeah, dude. It's coming. It's not come for your job though. They can't get that high go to those skyscrapers What's the project out there that you're proud about um? The one I'm on right now 36 in a chestnut. What are you guys doing over there? It's called the mark

They're building you know dorms at University Penn, upper dorms, you know, and it's going to be... And that's what you're most proud of in 30 years. What are you so proud about? I feel like you probably have some other ones. There's a couple other ones. You know, we did the... My first one ever was, when I got that call to come to work, was the Dickens Village in the Wanamaker building. Interesting. Shralbridge is closed. Really? R.P. Macy's. Yes. You might be caught upon in a couple years. Yeah and and we had to put it had to be up and running by Halloween so November 1st so we had to break it down move it and build it in the Egyptian room at Wanamakers. That's three stories up. The big you know department store

and everything like that. Now it's was ours. Yeah Yeah. Sweet. Wait, I'm kind of confused. I'm not as familiar. I know like the Dickens Village is very popular here in Philly. So you were there laying the foundation for it. What exactly were you? It was already built in Strawbridge. Strawbridge just went out of business and Macy's bought it.

So it had to be broken down and built and up and running. And I think this was like the summertime. This was like June. Like it had to be ready to go. And we did it. We did it. Everybody did it. Yeah yeah be honest with me she gets sick of the organ after the after a while no that's only you know you would yeah sometimes yeah I was in there for I do have a tombstone though what in Scrooge's

future what's that mean so the woman there was like doing you know putting it together and everything she was a decorator professional decorator and all this and one by one the guys who were leaving, there was only a handful of us left. I'm a first year apprentice. And she said, hey, what's your name? I told her my name. And she said, I'm going to make it tombstone.

And she made the four last guys tombstone. So we're screws, just seeing the, you know, death at the end. There's two in that cemetery. Are they still there or did they take those away? No, it's still there. Really? It's still there. Because it's funny, because like, I know you Union guys you leave your

marks on buildings whether you're signing a signature or you're doing that. What's your mark? What's your go-to mark? No I can't. Get saying there you go trade secrets. Mark is Mike. So close to Jim. It's still Mike dude. Oh man. What's uh you got a nickname on the job? Um, no just usually my last name salus salus. Yeah, that's it. No sally What are the nicknames like though? I mean, I feel like those are probably like what are they typically how do you guys typically like Find the nicknames of like everybody on the job Is it typically last names or you kind of just shorten last names or how's it go? Kind of both or if someone screws up. Yeah yeah they'll remember that name. What's one? Give us an example, give us a run, a quick one. There was a guy I know who was he was a young guy at the time and they told him to you know go around and fire caulk. He didn't know what it was.

Didn't know what it was at the time. People have said that about me as a ginger. So fire caulk you know you got you got to caulk the top of, you know, a room, anything, you know, so fire doesn't get penetrated. We have no idea what you're talking about. You gotta let it on at the same time. I tried to throw a bit in there, bro. Yeah, we understand. He fire caulked all the seams on the sheetrock.

That bastard. How could he do that? Instead of caulking the outer, you know, perimeter. Got it. And that's it. His name became Firecock. How many years are we going on with Firecock? Oh man, Firecock's been around a long time. Do you still see him to this day? I still see him to this day. Yeah, still always Firecock? It's Mr. Firecock to you, dude. That's true. Favorite lunch spot? You got one? Oh, you guys don't, dude, it's the funniest thing in the road you guys uplift the

Economy by yourselves not just by everything you build just by the amount of lunch you guys have Yeah, it depends where you're in the city I mean, there's so many good spots to eat to John's Rose pork You know depends where you're at. Have you ever can you pick your jobs or do you guys know you cannot pick? You cannot pick your jobs. Okay. I mean I mean Can't but you can some seniority. Yeah, have you ever picked it because there's a lunch spot down there like Jones Rosporth like I'll go to the docks I'll go to the shipyard a little bit. No, I never did that. No, no What's your any um, is there any like in the 20 years you've done it that you've seen like when you first started you like

The way that you guys did stuff and over the time that you've been doing it You've noticed that there's an evolution that's happened that you have not liked or you've not been kind of a proponent for have any like major changes that you're just not in favor of um it'd be talking like in general with the world just really I mean I mean I mean kind of I mean the the hours are shifting like you know seven to three thirty now it feels like everybody's working them hours. So, so guys want to go six to two 30, you know what I mean? Kind of the traffic, the traffic.

And then when the pandemic, it kind of loosened up a little bit, but we're from home and all that. But now I feel like we're back. Yeah. Coming back. Did you like, Oh, you must love that when everyone was working. Exactly. You know, cause there was a fly down.

Yeah. And remember you drive as fast as you want. Nobody's pulling you over. They don't know what the pandemic is. But yeah, I see that shift, you know coming back It's coming back the economy's coming back people are coming back to the cities. I feel that yeah How how is the carpentry industry changed since you started Since I've started the carpentries. I mean are we like a weak generation? Are you not seeing a lot of like Millennials like join the join the year? I don't want to say weak. I just want to see that as not as not as

Tough and old-school as I guess our dads and her grandpa Generation got the boomers then you got us to you know, what really changed us the cell phone On the job. I can't stand it. You got these young kids coming out and hey sometimes I'm guilty too But when you hear your phone vibrating something silvering camera or something like that, man Why did I look at that, you know and put it back? Yeah, you know, no phones on the job I'm a strong believer in that unless it's a medical, you know emergency. Yeah something's happening. Here you go I got a cell phone definitely what about the NexTel chirp oh my god dude you guys love the NexTel chirp you could have that though

you had to be a superintendent or a foreman to have that the regular guys not having that dude NexTel chirp worst connection of all time if you called on the phone but you could chirp someone in freaking Afghanistan if you wanted to. What do you want for dinner? Yeah it was built like a D wall. It was black and yellow. It was like it looked like it was oh I know exactly. Yeah you could drop that thing 30 feet. 100%. The big ass walkie talkie looking thing. I've always been envious of those. Don't got the hands for it. So it's the cell phones anything else that's like since? No that's really the big pet peeve on the jobs right now, cell phones. Too many people with cell phones all the time man. But you're on a dangerous job too, like you guys are

up in the air, you got heavy machinery around, you got hammers with you and everything. Yeah, yeah, hammer cell phones. Line them all up on the table, hammer them off. There you go, that's why you like to hammer. Could be a nice boss move. I mean I can't imagine the amount of kids that are working on the job sites now trying to make like TikTok careers out of every day of the job. Absolutely, yeah, but I mean I can't imagine the amount of kids that are working on the job sites now trying to make like tic-tac careers out of every I mean, that's another thing too That's insurance and everything, you know, you see some get hers on posters or something like that or someone's writing stuff about somebody Wow, a lot of the stuff is a big liability on drama on the on the site. Yeah with them

Yeah, wow. So do have you seen that before where like somebody's does something in a whatever they switch up on the job Not even next day No, I have minutes. It just happened this winter really just happen. Can you talk anything about it? Yeah, there was a small minor accident boom it was right there five minutes. Oh, that's crazy Yeah, that's insane. Yeah, like if someone's like fucking around on the job, you know takes a takes a takes a orange cone uses like That's funny that's just I do that when I drink around Philly dude, I'm not working on the site Yeah, that's just guys talking shit, but I get that

First thing was right there wasn't good. Yeah, of course and then they wonder why they get fired because your names attached to whatever you post On there. Yes a brotherhood. Yeah, so I pick up your next man I got 1.4 million views That's true, too. He might have got a couple brand deals. That's no good 164 looking out for him being like we are building tick tockers over here. Look who wants it. Yeah Shout to 98 we're building tick tockers over here. That's what I mean. It's what it's gonna become dude Yeah, we're not building them. But the funny thing is, going back to TikTok,

how it kind of loops into our generation and stuff, the next generation is kind of looking at college as a complete and total sham. And they're like, if you are an idiot, do not go to college. Go get a trade job. Go get your pension started. Go do this.

Not everyone is fit for college. I do feel it's swinging the other way kids are coming it's coming back it's swinging back the other way yeah well it makes sense I mean there's only so many people that can just get a degree to like draw the plans until you need somebody who actually knows what the fuck they're doing out there make sure you know true it makes sense that like you know the manufacturing is supposed to be coming back to the country it kind of alludes itself into that it seems like right yeah it's also just I mean to two people I mean

nowadays going to college there's like maybe four useful degrees otherwise you're just going there to black out for four years and hang out and then you take the year to like figure out what you want to do that's right your mom didn't let you do jack shit give you a summer a while with and find out what you wanted to do there's a while to find out what you wanted to do. It was a wild wild days. Oh, dude. There you go. Beautiful.

So before we let you go, I want to hear about your first day on the job site. Oh man. First day on the job site. Did you get a nickname? Did you get fire caulk? First day on the job site. I didn't get fire caulk, but I did bring cupcakes. You brought cupcakes?

Mom made cupcakes. I had to bring these. And then they started calling me cupcake and that got x named. Why did you bring cupcakes? I didn't know. That's a Mike move. I know. I had to bring these and then they started calling me cupcake and that guy. Why did you bring? I know I know hey, I was a green. I was greener the green Green it's rainbow, dude. That's great How far did cupcake follow you pretty far pretty far those guys are long gone or dead That's okay, Jesus Made a peace offering

Then they said line up against the wall. Yeah. Thank you, sir. My have another We're trucking these Did anyone meet any oh they? Young kid. Yeah, yeah, oh they're talking shit while they're eating them Teachers fucking bad. Yeah, I do the same thing. Thanks to your mom, the mom, Joey Swann, everything. I'm totally on board with that. Great move. Great hand.

Anything else you remember for that day? Took a hard right turn. How so? Just go get a cupcake, start running that way. That's it. But that's it. Look at you. What, 20, 30 years later?

I'm sorry? How long have you been doing it? About 20 years. 20 years later, man. Yeah, yeah, still here, man. It's crazy. Whenever you retire, dude, I hope somebody brings you cupcakes on the job.

A total full circle moment. I need to. That's cool. Nothing better than that. That's okay. Now, if you saw that today, would you be the same? Would you be the same way? You know what, I would give the kid,

I would cut him a break because I did that. I went through that. I would say, you know you know what this guy you're coming with me today Said I can see you man You got no calluses on your heart though. Nah, I wouldn't do that. Thank you. I know it's beautiful. Thank you put it on your shirt You know your thank you. Yeah, well, I didn't even know it your name Well, dude, thank you so much for coming on anything else you want to you want to tell us just uh Shout to your boys you want to shout out any of your boys like shit everybody 158 everybody just keep working Yeah, that's it. Keep working

Seriously get the fuck back on the job. We got that. All right, we promised it. We promised it ladies and gentlemen We teased it. We told you we were getting V Calvin Johnson In the flash this guy in the flesh 15 years Detroit Lions top five receiver Phillies fan now Phillies Lot of shit has changed up. Yeah and local 158. Yes, sir Said you think NFL benefits are good carpentry benefits are better. What's up, ladies and gentlemen? How you doing? What's up, man? All right, all good Calvin Johnson. I got to talk to you about it. So sir. When did he get into Lee? How old were you?

Shit, because your life probably changed you come you can't go anywhere without me. Did he come what are you coming? I like 2006 2007. Yeah. What was that? I said my 20s. Hold on, you were in your 20s? So you were probably the coolest Calvin Johnson in your group at that time. I mean, I probably was a carpenter by then, though.

Yeah, but you were cool as hell, probably. Yeah, they called me Megatron, stuff like that. That's cool. Now we're talking. I mean, it's better than Cupcake. No, I don't even know where that came from. So your first day on the job, did you bring Cupcakes? No, I wouldn't dare. I know, I don't even know where that came from. So your first day on the job, did you bring cupcakes? No, I wouldn't dare.

What was your first day on the job like? I started out as a laborer. Yeah? Yeah, I started out as a laborer on, where was I at though? I've been on the plane, I hold a lot of jobs. Yeah, how long have you been doing this? Over 20 years. Over 20 years?

Yeah. Geez. Where was I at? I'm 20. Geez. I was I had I think where was that? Oh What's the name of the school University of Penn but the Drexel one not the quads they were doing the Dorms or something like that. Yeah, yeah, probably Penn dorms. Yeah It was it was Central Salvage doing demo nice Give us a give us a wonder

What's the difference between being a laborer and being on a full-on carpenter? I mean laborers do the hardest work. Laborers work harder than all the trades. Really? Yeah because they do all the bull work. What's the bull work you didn't tell? Bull work until the brick work up, picking up the bricks and all of that. It's preparing them for the brick layers and stuff like that. They do all the cleaning up. The demo part is like knocking out walls and stuff like that. The dude will like cleaning up. The demo part is like knocking out walls and stuff like that. Demo's gotta be cool shit though. Yeah, you get to throw, you know.

Yeah, have a bad day at home? Come in, do a little bit of demo work? I mean, listen, you do a couple hours of that though, you're like hurting. Oh, okay. That's true. All right, maybe we break up demo work. Yeah, you got a sledgehammer and all that type of stuff.

Yeah, but you gotta say, being a laborer, like how fucking jack did you get being a laborer? Yeah, you might have been a huge like you are those like retro fitness muscles or those like Union carpenter muscles? No retro fitness no retro. Yes. Just Union carpenter. That's a union car for her But when you work when you wish you get in union and start working in construction, everybody's big Yeah, you know, so what do you want to do not be big like everybody else? You got to get in the show true That's true. They're all figured out Yeah Is there any kind of like competition like while you guys are working like everybody else you got to get in the show true. That's true Yeah, is there any kind of like competition like while you guys are working like you're looking at some dude need the bicep veins are probably No, he's always got a big dude on the job. It's always gonna be that way

It's always it's always been that way then you call him cupcake You just follow his regimen of what he does he takes care of so works all the time Yeah time. He works hard. Everybody respects him. You see the respect he gets. Let me get myself together. Yeah, I mean, taking care of yourself. It seems like nowadays people are very into fitness. Are you seeing dudes on the job now that are bringing like chicken and rice and broccoli and all that? Or is it still just like whatever you do? I got friends that do all that type of stuff. They get their when they got their meals and stuff. Yeah, meal preps. Yeah, they do all that type of stuff, you know, they get their, when they got their mills and stuff. Yeah, mill preps. Yeah, they do all that type of stuff. When you do construction, like you kind of hang

with certain guys that do kind of like the same stuff that you do. What's your click? I mean, they do the same thing I do. They work out, they go to work every day. Everybody go to work to feed their families. You know, we see each other when we see each other. What got you into it?

Let me see. Just when we see each other. Yeah. Yeah, we'll got you into it Let me see Just was looking for a job. I needed I needed a good job I was like probably dead-end jobs jobs. I wasn't happy with it. What else has you done before carpentry? Or carbon labor labor carpentry was I doing that or at least on the dead-end jobs? Or at least on the dead end jobs? I don't know, probably was a little male stripper actually or anything like that. Yeah, a little trick. Security, something like that.

Oh yeah, you do look like every guy who ever had an ID too. I did a little security at Temple Hospital, something like that. Oh wow. Yeah, that's not fun. That stinks. That's your neck of the woods.

That stinks. What do you mean that's your neck of the woods? I went to Temple. You went to Temple. Oh yeah? Yeah, but down in the hospital? Oh, dude, just checking people in, scanning IDs, go through the door. Oh, you went through the wrong door, man

Please back up. You can't do this like yeah. Yeah, people giving you their the lip. Yeah It built character though. No, it doesn't Makes you hate society You see everything coming in there, right? You do you do I can't imagine what some of the stuff you saw like the craziest thing You saw while you're working at the hospital Temple yeah, I was hoping you were gonna say like jump the turnstile That's a lot more sadder. That's okay. There's always craziness Temple to yeah, this is same thing construction is always crazy so going to construction also. Oh, yeah

What are you what are you working on right now? Me, I was working at the, what is that job? I like Calvin, he has no idea where anything in Fort Worth is. No, I gotta explain. That's pretty good. That's okay, I'll respect. That's all good. You work on so many challenges.

That's a lot of dogs. You just have to forget. That's a lot of dogs you've been around. Where was I? Cobbs Creek Golf Course. Oh, you there now? Yeah, that's where I was at. You see Tiger?

No, he hasn't been there yet. Wow, yeah, Tiger's doing a course out in Cobbs Creek Is he really? Yeah, I'm out he does what every time yeah, he's got I think he's like a billionaire so yeah in between ACL injuries He's golfing. Yeah and spinal fusions and women I think that comes with the rain. That's true I'll be doing see you yeah them. I think it's foundations, there are all these people are there

and they're making it happen there. Nice. We work under all of them and they, you know, they come and check on the project. That's a cool project you're gonna be a part of. That's gonna be one that like back in, you know, 20 years from now, you'll be telling people like, I worked on that one.

It's a big deal. Yeah. It's in phases and stuff like that, but it's definitely a big deal. And once it gets on the running, it's gonna be a big thing for the community. Yeah. And it's in Philly, but it's definitely a big deal. And once it gets on the run, it's gonna be a big thing for the community. And it's in Philly, so it's a big thing for Philly too. 100%.

Yeah, I mean, they've gone through, like the course used to be a dump first of all, but then they had their Pro Shop burned down, and COVID and stuff. Yeah, they've been through the wringer, but now the Tiger game invested in it. It's gonna be really, really cool. What other projects have you been proud of

for things that you've built out there that people would know? I don't know, I was on the Comcast one. Oh, damn damn were you really? Yeah, I did the Philly Stadium. Oh shit Yeah, I did the Phillies. What else I do the Wharton School. Damn What'd you like about the Philly Stadium? Anything good? Yeah, anything fun? I just remember the Philly Stadium was like we had a lot of fun on that job. Mm-hmm And it's crazy thing. I always remember like it's underwater. So though they got pumps to make sure it doesn't flood. Oh you guys dug so low? Yeah where it has sit-ins and pumps and stuff. Interesting. Yeah so I mean they got pumps that runs like 24 hours a day.

So if you wasn't down there you don't work there you wouldn't really know that. Yeah. It was definitely a cool job. Give us a little inside baseball on on on the Sid's Back Park. What would we know what else wouldn't we know know what else is underlining in there? I don't know the nice dugouts. I mean not the dugouts, but the locker rooms and all that nice. Yeah Nice stuff in there. Do you ever like whenever if you've gone to a Phillies game? Do you ever like look around the stadium you see somebody screwing around you know, don't fucking touch that dude. I built that don't touch This is a house feeling every time I see something I worked on. I mean you see stuff I mean you work on you work at so many jobs. You don't look at is the house feeling every time I see something I worked on I mean you see stuff

You work at so many jobs. You don't look at it like that, but you know you were there, right? You were there so much you don't really want to go see that place cuz you was there every true It is work at the end of the day Like I never want to come back to the Carpenter's Museum because I'm working Yeah, I guess it makes sense if I saw an Excel sheet and somebody messed with it I was like don't touch it. That would be kind of insane. That makes sense. I totally see now No, man, I've had my sister kick over some Legos once or twice and oh I saw an excel sheet and somebody messed with it and I was like don't touch it. That would be kind of insane That makes sense. I totally see now. No, man I've had my sister kick over some Legos once or twice and oh I saw red Hey, that's you build Legos. That was two weeks ago. Yeah, that was it was recently they're expensive nowadays. Yeah, everything's expensive now

I'm a woman. I remember when we were the kid. We were all cheap. Yeah, what's budget? I look by the way, I like the first thing you could think of that you've ever built was leg. Oh, yeah Talk to carpenters. Yeah You know a bit of a Lego man myself I like that the first thing you could think of that you've ever built was Legos. Talk to the carpenters, yeah. You know, I'm a bit of a Lego man myself. I, uh, I like an expensive hobby. That is true, that is true. Damn, so Comcast 1, I worked at Comcast, so thank you.

How high? It's a nice building too. It is nice, Comcast 2 is even more beautiful. It's crazy, the amount of technology and the green energy and stuff. Like, do you guys ever like, well I I guess one yeah one was I guess lead certified so like did you guys have to follow like certain parameters I was I don't know what you did on the project and everything but like to get that green

certified I feel like you guys had to follow some strict material or budget they don't play games when they build those type of buildings. So yeah, they check everything. Why the hell don't they fall? Why yeah, it shakes though. I Concrete that he uses like the top of the line concrete. So it's like is is Like the end like the core part is all concrete. Got it So that the concrete grade that they use is like real it's like the best So yeah, it's not going nowhere And then they'll build, you know, they'll put the steel around it.

But they did that to most of all the buildings. I believe it was after 9-11. Oh, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, after 9-11 they started making sure it was concrete cores and most of those high rises. Did building code change, at least on the East Coast, when 9-11 happened? I can imagine, yeah, it had to.

With the concrete at least? Yeah. Yeah. How far did you get up on Comcast One? One, I was all the way up top. Were you really? Yeah, you could see the... Did you put the William Penn statue on top of it and help the Phillies win the World Series?

No, I didn't do that. I know you could see the power plants, the nuclear power plants. You could see both of them. The ones up in Limerick? The one in Limerick and you wanna see the one in Salem. No way. So how are you with heights?

Is it freaky or how at all? I mean it's crazy. The highest thing is once you start doing it, it's not a bad thing, but once you start it's hard. You're scared, you're paranoid, you're petrified. Yeah, it's gotta be waking up in the morning. I would think about that the entire night before that morning. It's hard, it's hard.

How do you get past that? My first. It was hard. It was hard. My first job, I was hard. I was scared and I was on a crew. It was like we were doing scaffold probably on like 15th and Locust or something like that around there. And it was a scaffold and I was with one guy and we had two older guys with us. They were two old guys and he was like, yo, I need you.

And I was like, what? He said, I need you. I said, these guys, they know the work. He said, no, I need you. You're a young guy need you. I said these guys they know they've been you know, they know the work Yeah, he said no, I need you. You're a young guy. You gotta get out there with me. Oh, and I was like He said look, I'm gonna make it make sure I'm gonna pay you top dollar I was in Prince at the time. So I was like What is it? Yeah, I'm gonna pay you so he paid me top dollar and the hard week that first week was my hardest week Yeah $25 and the hard week that first week was my hardest week Yeah Cuz I was scared and it was like we would you couldn't drop anything because if you drop something it was people underneath us

Oh, dude, I was underneath those people driving and stuff So you couldn't drop anything you just had to take your time and then and it was just me and him out there and the older Guys cuz they can't move around. It wasn't agile. So we were just out there making it happen Oh my it was like fight-or-flight Yeah, and it was it was like my hardest week And then we got paid the next week and I saw my paycheck and I say fuck get me back Yeah, that's how I worked out then that be Wow after a while you just get used to it man Yeah, sometimes you get tied off. Sometimes you're not tied off. But it's it's like you're not title Sometimes you had to off, sometimes you're not tied off. But it's like- Sometimes you're not tied off?

Sometimes, you have to tie off. I'm not saying you're not tied off. Sure, sure, sure. It's right there from the record, HR. Yeah, some spots is like, it's sketchy spots. You know, but you just gotta pretend like you're on the ground. That's what I always do. I always make sure, feel like I'm on the ground.

Is it like one of those things where you're like, don't look down or only look down so you can just totally get it over with? I mean, you do it enough, you can look down, but it's just that it's just it's just hard at first So give me give me give me kind of Calvin's strategy Are we are we are we butt sliding like a dog on a carpet? Are we walking on the beach? How we doing if you have to do it that way you do the beginning yet? But then that's that's why I do if you'll get up and walk on the beams mine would be just

Hugging on to the beam for dear life and just saying I want my Mommy I want my mommy until someone got me. We have guys do that before guys We're doing jobs and they scared and what just and they'll hope one guy I know did that it just held he held the beam and we said we told him to stay right there We're gonna take care of the job and be here right here when we get back and that's what he did How long did he hold the beam for probably till he was done? We probably 40 minutes That's what he did. How long did he hold the beam for? Probably until we was done. We probably 40 minutes Is insane! I mean, I'm just the truth. I would panic and I'd call an Uber.

He's a part of the crew. Where are you? I'm on the 15th floor of Sampson Street. I'm waving at you. I'm just comparing you with a lot of guys. We try to take care of everybody. So that's what happened. But I don't even know what happened to this guy, but that's what happened at that job. I mean, there's no chance he can come back. Just based off of just, he didn't get the job done,

first of all. And then second of all, the embarrassment. I mean, Jim gave cupcakes, and I'd rather be Jim on the first day than the guy holding the beat. We won't have to have a conversation about that cupcake thing. You're just mad you weren't on the job that day. I wouldn't know if they were even good,

would you even say? That's true, that's true, that's true. Yeah, but the guy was like six five, I remember. He was like six five, he was scared. Gee, I can imagine, man. I'd be the same way. What's your favorite tool in the job? I wanna ask everybody we have.

Yeah, I mean, he said the hammer. I mean, the hammer's like the best tool. Really? You could do a lot with that hammer. Like what? What else, other than putting a nail in it? I mean, you gotta pry something out, or you know, you gotta knock something out, but it just builds up arm strength

We just constantly swinging that hammer. Is there Rolls Royce of hammers that you guys all like? Yeah, they have different ones Yeah, like what's your favorite? I use a Dewalt one right now. Okay, Dewalt has a good play. Is there nothing better than the Dewalt boom box No, it's a couple of them. There's good. The black and yellow one is what my dad had growing up. That's a good one. Milwaukee makes a good one. Milwaukee does make a good one, yes.

Bosh makes a good one. What do you see most of it? More D-Wall, more Milwaukee, more Bosh? It's a little bit of everything. Who controls the music on the site? Most of the slottie jobs are not supposed to have music. Really? Oh wow. Can't we have music? I guess you can't have it like, you know, like a hundred decibels loud So no one can hear and stuff

But like you can't have a little bit of tunes I mean if we're doing concrete like way up high we normally do it so guys don't know no headphones Definitely no headphones. Well, I mean you're not supposed to do that either But do guys do guys, you know, sometimes guys break the rules, but safety purposes, you know one guys don't know stuff No, D wall. It's man. Yeah, but up top. I mean if you know, you guys break the rules but safety purposes, you know, one guy's doing stuff. No D wall, man Yeah, but up top I mean if you know you're doing concrete and stuff up top We will always listen to music I can say it's a monotonous job You want to get it done? I mean I'm farming to let it ride if you know getting the work done He's not even bothering us. Yeah, he's one production. So whatever whatever whatever, you know, whatever we got to do to get it done

That's all he really cares about true. Yeah true laws were safe Yeah, and we're listening to good music to you listen to a little bit everything was a little bit everything give me something Old-school Colby Calais. Yeah Colby Calais, who's that starts in my toes makes me crank on my nose Yeah, no playing whitey's no tees. No, give it one Listen, I think you'll be hooked. Yeah, I think you will you'll be you'll be hitting PRS. Yeah, put me on PRS next week. We're getting called by HR We just keep it old school natural old school music. That's basically it. How old do we get? We talking like 90s like biggie be talking Coltrane like a little bit of that. Dr. Drake Snoop Dogg anything

Is it rap is it more smooth jazz? No, no jazz. Okay, so not everything That sounds like a construction Kobe Calais, I don't want to hear about I'll take it out on that one. No Kenny G. No Coltrane. I got you Motivation motivation. That's it. We're all getting it done. Everybody knows you. Just motivational music. Motivational, okay. That's it, motivational music. That's it, we're all getting it done. Everybody knows most of the music and we're just making it happen.

What tool's useless on the job? Useless? There's gotta be a tool that's useless. This is the dumbest thing in the world. I don't know, man. I can't even think. I don't know. What do you mean by useless?

I don't know, like a, just for show kind of thing. I don't know, look do you mean by useless? I don't know, like a... Just for show kind of thing. I don't know, look around here. Screwdriver, like a putty saw. Do you really need a putty saw? No, we don't even have that. Like, you see, if you work in concrete, you need certain concrete tools. If you work in drywall, you have certain drywall tools.

You're not going to just bring tools that you don't need. Got it. You know, they'll look at you like, what is this? What are you bringing that for? You know, so we get... That's frowned upon. So you kind of know what you're doing. You know, you're not going to just bring tools that you don't need.

You know, you're not going to just bring tools that you don't need. You know, you're not going to just bring tools that you don't need. You know, you're not going to just bring tools that you don't need. You know, you're not going to just bring tools that you don't need. You know, you're not going to just bring tools that you don't need. You know, you're not going to just bring tools that you don't need. You know, you're not going to just bring tools that you don't need. You know, you're not going to just bring tools that you don't need. You know, you're not going to just bring tools that you don't need. You know, you're not going gonna just bring tools that you don't need. Got it. You know, they'll look at you like, what is this, what are you bringing that for? You know, so we get, that's frowned upon. So you kind of know what you need for that job.

Calvin, you kind of sound like my dad when I brought him the wrong wrench. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, I don't know. What are you an idiot? Why'd you come all the way out here? Yep.

Yeah, what you bring this for? But as you were talking about how, how multi-dimensional the hammer is, you would strike me that maybe the pliers aren't as much needed as you would think now that you can use prying method with the... But they got different types, like they got heavy duty ones and stuff like that. So we use, you know, we're doing scaffolding, we use heavy duty pliers. They always come in handy for everything.

All right. You know. All right. Is there any tool that's slept on? Slept on? I don't know. Tape measures are like the best. I like that. You always tool that's slept on? Slept on? I don't know, tape measure is like the best. I like that.

You always need that tape measure. You gotta keep that. Kind of like, like if, you like the NBA? NBA, yeah, watch it all the time. Like who would be a slept on player, like that you would be like, you know what, that's the tape measure. Right now?

Like Anthony Davis? Or anyone. Like a Buddy Hilt. He's out, Anthony Davis is out. No, I know, but like who do you like in the NBA right now that you think anyone like a buddy he's out the Anthony Davis is out well I know but like who do you like in the NBA right now that you think is slept on when you're talking about with your boys and stuff that they don't appreciate no no I'm just playing court Devin Booker feel he slept on a little bit he's not in the playoffs either I'm not going to do just a blue pass I'm just saying that we're talking about current stuff yeah we're gonna find I think buddy healed the Warriors might be the tape measure of no you know

he could shoot that three though. I watched him. He's on, he's on. No, you two stop it. I watched an entire half season of him on the Sixers and he couldn't hit the side of a boat if he fell out of in the ocean. I mean, you need a tape measure to measure his teeth. My man from the Lakers. Who else from the Lakers? Not Luca.

Ah... Austin Reeves. Reeves, that's him. Yeah, he's nice. Oh, Austin Reeves. He's a tape measure of the NBA. I like that. Yeah, he's a good dude. AR-15.

Yeah. He shoots that three2. Yes, he does look at I don't know what's up with him He's got a you know, they're on the break elimination right now. They say he's not in shape I don't know what's going on with him. Maybe me maybe maybe Niko is right I think he's put up 30 tonight though. All right, I think got the over on fan door here. We'll see you at 7 game 7 I think what is it for things three to one right now three women. They probably went tonight Yeah, it might be gentlemen sweep. I need it. I got some money on it. You like them. Yeah. Oh, yeah I'm a big LeBron guy big LeBron big Luca guy the bronze been put in work. Yes. It's great 40 years old still doing Yeah, you're living a good life though. Yeah, it's a good gillionaire

Do you do you want to do carpenters like that on the job where this guy's just going strong at 80 years old or 75? It's like this is the Paul Bunyan of the car. They kind of take care of those guys Move them up. I mean they're there. They're there for like morale purposes So it's there blue guy or like we need certain things that he'll tell you exactly what to do They got people's ears. They got the connections I like those guys and. They kind of know. Yeah, sure. A lot of things don't work out.

They kind of know how to make it work. It's interesting. The more I talk to you, the more I really enjoy this. Cause it's kind of like a carpentry, a trade union kind of cast system where you have like your laborers, your demo guys. They're just the low totem pole guys. It's a whole domino thing.

It works out. It works out. Sweet. It's a whole system that makes it work. Are there rivals in the unions? With the trades? I mean sometimes they don't get along, but they're just, it's just how,

that's on every job though. Is it like the Cold War, or are we talking like Jets versus Wings? Nah, it used to be, but now it's kind of laid back now. We talked to a carpenter who was outside of the convention center, and they were picketing and they used to have this guy who's still alive actually,

I think he might be in jail though. His name was the Gorilla. Yeah. You ever heard of the Gorilla? I've heard of it. I think I've heard of that situation. Yeah. That situation.

You would just come down and beat people up until they stopped picketing. Yeah, but we wasn't around from when he was beating people up. I know. I heard those stories. I wouldn't fuck with you. I mean just comes with the job like yeah But we have we've been on deaf light the convention center when he was picking and stuff like that. Yeah Yeah, we've been down there for that. What's your favorite? Uh, what's your favorite inflatable rat?

What's your favorite? What's your favorite inflatable? You like the do you like to scab you the rat? Do you like the big cat with the money? I don't know, the rat is the one we always use. The rat's a good one. Yeah, the rat was always a good one. It really gets its point across. I do like the cat with the big bucks. That's a new one, I see that sometimes.

Yeah, I don't know if the carpets have that, but different trades use different stuff. But everybody kind of works together, because sometimes I remember going on different jobs and helping, assisting other trades. Sure, yeah. When they're out there picking in and stuff like that. Interdimensional trade?

I mean sometimes they make agreements and behind closed doors they cut deals on making agreements and stuff like that. Interesting. We just go there to support. That's nice of you. We talked about rivals real quick before we let you run. So obviously you might have rivals across on your job site, whatever it may be working with concrete

Coming from our perspective Do you ever just have like a nice moment with you and your best friend on the site? Where you guys both put your handprints into the concrete and write your names over top of it. No, I get you laid off Don't write your name in the concrete That'll get you laid off. Yeah, that's fair. Calvin's great Calvin, thank you brother. Don't write your name in the concrete if you're coming to work with the Trace. Yes, do not do it, that'll get you laid off. Yeah, that's fair. Calvin, thank you man. That was great man.

This is great. The woman of the hour, some are saying. There we go. Literally. The bell of the mall. The end is what we're saying. Calvin, why do you tell our story about Cupcake? Martha?

He just watched you talk about being Cupcake. Watched you talk about being Cupcake. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. All right. First podcast, second podcast, third podcast? First. First podcast. Nice and easy.

We screw around. You see what we look like. We're a bunch of falls up here. How you doing? I'm good. And Martha, right? Yes. All right.

Where you at right now? What are you working on? Yeah. I do residential work. Residential work. I didn't know the union did residential work. I thought it was all commercial stuff. Is it like apartments?

Are we looking at on? Yeah. I do residential work. Residential work. I didn't know the union did residential work. I thought it was all commercial stuff. Is it like apartments? Are we looking at houses? What's the primary thing you're working on? So I work for PHA, so I do development. Got it, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Philadelphia Housing Authority.

Yep, okay. So where are you at right now currently? In West Philly. Born and raised? Oh, you are? No. Will Smith. Are those Will Smith? Are those. Will Smith? Yeah that's Will Smith. That was a hacky hacky joke. He's going to slap you like Chris Rock to keep it up. I knew you

could beat my ass Martha. How long you been in the trades? 25 years 25 years Where'd you start at? Did you start in Carpacher? Yes. Nice. What makes you like what makes you stay around? The guys though. Yeah I gotta imagine You don't you know when you think of trades when you think of the Union you think of all you know blue-collar dudes You know messing around stuff. It's gotta take a tough woman to stick around for 25 years with these banshees. Well, they train me well.

They do? Okay, good, good. Well, I mean, honestly, I think you could probably kick some of their asses. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They know it, they know it. They know it too, they know it too. Where'd you, were you always a PHA,

or did you, where'd you start first? I started up in the Northeast. I can't remember the name of the development and I went to the Eagle Stadium after that. Did you? Yes, it was an amazing job. Talk to us about some of the behind the scenes of the Eagle Stadium.

What's some things like you, like Calvin was talking about how like if they didn't have the water pumps flowing CBP, it'd be flooded all the time. Is there anything like any trade secrets literal trade secrets? Not really not that I could remember. Did you ever would you work on? Did you work on mostly like the concrete you work on the scoreboard like when a good street on the concrete in the ground? Okay, so yeah building because it's so funny you say concrete and everything and then I'm thinking of carpentry I mean, I'm a Catholic school kid. Jesus was a carpenter. I think it always like wooden. That's really what I thought too

Yeah, I was thinking like we were surrounded by wood a lot of wood products in here Not much kind of what what is why does the carpenters do concrete? What else do you guys do too? I know it's like three questions in one We do anything that is building yeah, yeah So that's what it is. It's all just like kind of structural work regardless of whatever the you know The masses yep When did that change start to have you have any clue like when that started to happen where the transition went from wood or whatever Was prior to now it's all primarily concrete. It seems like when did that change that that happened during your career even before that it

happened I don't really see the change Like we still do the wood. We do metal studs, sheetrock, what we do. Do you have a favorite? All of it. Like I rehab houses, so I do everything from the kitchen to the bathroom to the bedroom.

Do you like HGTV? You don't watch HGTV? No. No, you don't like it. Oh, you know, it's not that I hate Don't I'm not a TV person. You don't watch the rehab television shows the property brothers those fucking dorks You would take the property brothers and You would take the Property Brothers in a handicap match and dominate those dudes. You make them the Property Brothers, dude. Just one. I got you in the Property Brothers versus Martha. That's actually kind of an interesting question of like, since you work in residential and

you have a good grasp on like flipping houses, do you ever look at somebody's house and you're like, look at this piece of shit? Like, really? How often do you see it? Is it all in Philadelphia? Because we all just build the same exact house every time now with all the new developments? No, I think Philadelphia has gotten, it has come a long way.

And it's not like all of us the same. I just miss a nice, I miss a nice brick. I miss a nice walk up, a brick. Yeah. Like that's what I miss. I'm tired of these gray and dull looking shingles on the side or 90 degree angles. Like, can we just get back to the brick please?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm what you wanted. I'm not really a fan of that. Really? So you're a brick too, yeah? Yeah. What about the new construction pissed you off the most? What do you not like that's become like almost trendy

that you look at and you're like, that would never work for me if it was your own place? Anything you're seeing now? Like the cabinets or maybe something with a tile or like a backsplash something ridiculous That I wouldn't That's like common grind your gears when you're driving driving down to a site like shutters. You're like, what's a shutter? What is that there for an awning? I hate a shutter Then you just call it

Shutter shingles the shingles the shingles. Yeah. Yeah, my dad had shingles couple months ago Good laying on a roof So Marla going back to like, you know, I don't mean to harp on it But like you are a woman on the job. We don't see all a lot of women on the job How did you set the tone when you first came in? Yeah You don't take no shit And that's in that and for any women that might be watching this right now, if they're thinking about getting into the trades, maybe they're a little apprehensive because they are a woman, just don't take

no shit. Just don't take no shit. And do your work, right? Like, learn your tree. Be engaged. Yeah. Because I'm sure there were some dorks who tried to give you some shit. Did you have to get someone a knuckle sandwich?

Somebody came up and like I fucking love shingles. Yeah You just noogied them to get to give it to him. Yeah, I mean I've had to to to Kind of remind guys. Yeah, you have a sister. Yes, you know, yeah, that's a good that's a nice way to put it Yeah, that's a nice way to put it. I like that. That's a nice way to put it, yeah. I like that. Do you think that's something that not enough women are looking into nowadays as an industry to get into? Or would you recommend that to somebody?

I definitely recommend it. I'm definitely proud because I've been in for 25 years. The amount of women that have come aboard. Oh, you see more of it now. Yes. Nice. Yeah, absolutely. Nice. Just like, I'm stoked. Oh, you see more of it now? Yes. Nice. Yeah, absolutely. Nice.

That's awesome. It is. What's your favorite tool? The measuring tape. The measuring tape, again, the measuring tape is good. At least we didn't get to hammer like those two jokers. The measuring tape tells you everything you need to know. Nice.

What's it about the measuring tape? Why is it like, why is it like God's tool? I think it's guys we know exactly the... What are we doing with the measuring tape? Nothing, just show how tall we are of course. Anyway, it's alright. Please keep pushing, we're back on the job site. He keeps going, you can give him a knuckle sandwich. Listen, I don't hurt at all. You probably have, you're right. What is it about the measuring tape? Just that it tells you everything you need to know.

All your measurements. It tells you everything. Do you have to be like down, like I guess when you're like building, especially housing and stuff, is there room forever or do you have to be down to like the millimeter centimeter? I'm anal so I'm down to the inch. I can tell. I'm down to the 16 foot inch. Yeah. Yeah.

It seems important. You think, I mean we just bought a couch in my apartment not too long ago, we went on Facebook marketplace so like none of the measurements were listed. Me and my girlfriend were a couple of fucking idiots. So we're just looking at the picture like, I that'll fit in here got the couch brought in the apartment Didn't even go through the front door. That's why the measuring tape Yesterday moving into apartment. I was pissed. I love that couch two years old done 1-800 junk $50 get it on out here

I was pissed. You know that actually is a nice dichotomy between a man and a woman where You know the woman will go let's measure it beforehand So we know exactly the size the guy comes in he's like I got a hammer. I'll break it fucking half We'll make it work That's exactly what it is. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my god So what are the main benefits you would say is that are like working in the Union like benefits that you think like what do you? What do you really enjoy about the union the brotherhood the system yeah the

benefits the benefits yeah that pension ain't bad no that pay ain't bad that over time that over time ain't bad And I would just say, just knowing the skill, right? This is something that you can carry through your entire life, right? And yeah. Yeah, you always need to know somebody who knows what they're doing with a power tool or something. Yeah.

And we are not those guys for that job whatsoever. Please know what you're doing. Yes, we try, we try, but sometimes the ego gets the best and you're like, I can figure this out You're not deadly with a drill literally deadly with Three casualties this past week. I just moved. It's been a nightmare Do you have any products that you brag about The Eagles the

Well, I didn't probably because I changed jobs but Well, I didn't probably because I changed jobs but Man, you're talking we young one the Super Bowl You should get a ring in a place you built. Yeah The ring would be nice. You should get a ring. Yeah. Shout out to the Eagles. I need a ring They can't they physically cannot win the Super Bowl without you Yeah, they always say shit. They're like, oh, this is the house that Jalen Hertz built. It's like no This is literally the house Standing on your concrete shearing this season without me without you by process of elimination. We should all be getting

Were you guys would you guys have been worked would you have worked on the the six or stadium? I guess if that would have went through Absolutely. Yeah, okay. Yeah, that would have went through? Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. That's gotta kind of be a kick in the dick. You don't build the stadium in this city now, you know. That's true. I can't believe it didn't go through.

It did go through. I can't believe they reneged on it and stuff. But I guess you guys will build a new one with, that they're planning on. Right. All right, so you'll get your kick back. Does that give you any kind of relief of like the idea of building in South Philly now,

versus like having to navigate building in center city on a main street main street in Center City was there any thought about how much of a headache that could be absolutely because yeah I'm like cheese yes it's gonna affect you personally like the traffic and everything that it brings into it and then septa with the way they're the shit they're going through right now I'm sure half of your or even more of your of your guys Trades they use septa to get to where they have to go sometimes. Mm-hmm. Yeah Sheesh, it's like going on like oh man. You have a you got a nickname

Sassy sassy. Yeah Like it how long did it take you to get that one? No, my mother gave it to me. Okay at birth sweet That's the man something on the way out. Yeah. You were fighting on the way out. Yeah, you definitely... You become more medicine here. I'm gonna hang out.

You definitely gave the doctor a strange look. So, when you came on the job, is that how you just told people to call me Sassy? No, they call me Martha. They call you Martha? Oh, okay. Okay. No Sassy on the job? No. They just started trying that and I'm like, no, it don't sound right. Yeah, don'tassy on the job. No, um, they just started trying that and I'm like no it don't sound right. Yeah Yeah, I agree. I don't think for the Martha is just a strong name. Yes, great name I mean that was the first president's wife's name. That's the strongest badass guy

Ever there's no there's no country. There's no carpeting without you GW Martha Didn't she make the flags to or is it my I'm the wrong person Ross. That's your us Do we ask you about what the first day on the job was like the first day oh, yeah, I don't think so No, I mean different right and definitely different for the guys because to see a woman coming on the job is like We didn't order lunch. Oh, damn, they hit you with that? What?

Damn. Did you get that guy a knuckle sandwich? No. I hope you did. No. I just reminded him. Yeah. He has a mother and he has a sister.

Was there, especially 25 years ago, like I'm assuming you're like you said You're noticing that more women are running the trade 25 years ago is it like a nerve-racking day your first day before you get in there you're driving over to the site I was I was a little nervous definitely because it's construction guys are not used to having females around Wasn't sure if they will be receptive I Mean the fact that they hit me with the lunch it was sure funny to me around, wasn't sure if they would be receptive. I mean, the fact that they hit me with the lunch, it was funny to me.

Oh yeah, so you could take a joke. I mean, you gotta go take a joke. Yeah. But the same guy bought me lunch, so it worked out. Oh, sweet. Good, good. Yeah, you stared at that guy's soul. I love that, I love that.

Holy shit. But it was, I mean, it took some, you used to get in, it took some, used to getting, it took some time for, I think both sides, right? Because I mean, I am a girl and I'm working around all these guys and you know, it could be heaven or hell. Was it tough getting used to it? Like what's the, so like, I'm assuming they don't just,

obviously they just don't just throw you onto a job. You guys got like training and stuff Before you go out there We love our apprentices So yeah, I went through a four-year apprenticeship Okay, wait four-year apprenticeship So they'll do like like will they throw you on a job during that four years or is it all just like doing it in? Like okay, what's that? What's that usually years or is it all just like doing it in like, okay

What's that? What's that using tail? What's the apprenticeship using in tail? So you go to school one day a week and then you're on a job getting on a job training the other four days Okay. Yep. All right So by the time you like are like, you know your first job out of apprenticeships, you're pretty You know the tricks of the trade most I would assume right your first job out of the British it what you have already worked Oh, so you're saying when I said when we were saying like your day one you're thinking about the apprenticeship when you okay Oh, so my day one of the apprenticeship. Well, no, I mean that that actually answered my question better your day your day You're real day one. Yeah, that was real day one. Nice. Do they give you like how do they know you're like you're an apprentice

They don't give like a little yellow boat bow or like a different color shirt or like anything they know there's like rookies or so young you can tell true yeah yeah it's true they don't have they don't have you know gray in their beards or you know they're not grizzled enough they don't have some we did have some older apprentices kind of shocked me but how much are you talking what's the age of an older apprentice so one of the guys I was in class with was like 50 something 50 and he's just getting well he was changing careers right yeah I guess never too late to slab some concrete that's what I've always said this

doesn't work out guess where me and Matt are coming. It's for anybody that can do it. Yeah, an older guy changing careers He's in his 50s and he's like, yeah, he's playing the NFL Calvin Johnson So you're uh I mean you're you've been doing for 25 years You know some backbreaking work and everything is there and is there ever like a time where you're just like, you know What maybe I need to maybe I need to get, put a button down on or something like that and get up to the corporate offices? Or are you trades till you die?

Or retire? I'd like to hope retire first. Yeah, retire first please. Please, please. Yeah, that's true. I mean, it's crossed my mind, but I love what I do. Yeah, you'll lose that. I don't wanna get away from that.

Yeah, you wake up every day and you're like, I'm gonna go kick some residential ass. Yeah, yeah, I really do. I love the floors that I'm putting. I'm just starting a new unit, so I'm putting the floors down. What are we going with? What type of wood?

Well, it's actually, it's vinyl. So it's like the vinyl hardwood looking floor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's like the vinyl heart. So it's pretty easy but when you finished it's just beautiful. Yeah and you're doing something and you're doing something that's like rewarding because Philadelphia Housing Authority that's for low-income individuals. Yeah that's awesome. And that kind of pulls the strings in my heart because you know that a child is like I'm doing a three bedroom now. So you know that some child is going like I'm doing a three-bedroom now so you know that some children are gonna come yeah and they're gonna be like yes this is my own room sure beautiful yeah you ever

get a chance to be around those projects after the fact where you get to kind of maybe run into those families or see them anywhere have you like run into somebody that they tell you hey I live in this property absolutely so I was doing like, um, um, DocuPot. And I had replaced the lady's, uh, whole first floor. And so I'm in the dentist. And she's like, I know you from somewhere. And I'm like, I don't remember. And, um, but the minute that the dentist came with the little pointy scalpel

and was ready to tag it my teeth. She was like, I remember it. And I'm like, could you hold that a minute, please? And then she was like, oh, when you left my house, I threw all of my furniture out and I started over. I was so happy. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, so like that kind of, you know, gets you.

Yes, you know that somebody is grateful for the work. And you can see it in front of you Too. It's a nice You must lay some mean vinyl people What your favorite type of wood floor what's what's what's you like get your hands on a little Sequoia a little pine little birch What do we like? I like pine pine pine pine Pine does, would you recommend people putting some pine out in their? Well usually you have a finish that goes over the pine,

but I just like the smell of it. Smell of pine, yeah that is true. Get a little sap between your fingers, it's so cool, and then three hours later it's still there and you wanna fricking cut your finger off. I hate sap more than anything now that I think about it. Didn't know you were so anti-sap. Yeah dude, I am anti-sap, anti-treesap, anti-warn sap.

There you go. Damn, anti-warn sap. Look at you, dude. Calvin Johnson, Warren Sapp. We were able to thread those into this episode. Look at us, dude. Marth, is there anything else you wanna tell us? Please, anything else.

How great we are at podcasting? Oh, you guys are, and you're funny. Thank you. Oh, you are. We podcast like you put down vinyl, baby No, just shout out to the apprentices again Oh, yeah, co-workers can big up the t-mac. Yeah, that's my that's my partner That's the actually the first female that I worked with and we've been working together for two years

Big ups to t-mac be up to fucking t-mac. Dude. Absolutely Team heck, I hope you're watching. We hope you are well well Martha. Thank you. Thank you so much. This was great You are thank you so much. Hey, and that's the episode We just want to shout out local 158 if you're looking to get into local 158 use this promo code local 158 50 for 50% off your union dues I'm not cosigning I don't really know what it means once again. We're white-collar people. That's right. The communications people just had a fucking Dollar signs in their eyes turned upside down. We'd like to say that promo code is not real

Okay, but we do want to think, thank, we do want to thank Local 158, the 4,000 brothers and sisters that are around Philadelphia that are helping us build a better Philadelphia and for the future. Anything you want to say? No, thanks again. Great people, salt of the earth people, and we appreciate them letting have a couple of doofuses like Kyle and I to come hang out and get to know them a little bit. Yeah, go check out, we're doing a live show May 30th. It's a Friday at 8 p.m. Go on the Eventbrite, just search men at work live podcast. You'll find it.

Tickets on sale now, relatively cheap. Go get them, all right. Relatively cheap, 50% off. Yeah, 50% off, yeah. Peace. you