Warning: Buddy system failed me on a 60 foot barge repair last month

2 comments

2 Comments

Man I feel that. My buddy system failed me last week when I was trying to change a lightbulb in my garage. He was supposed to hold the ladder but he got distracted watching a squirrel and I ended up hanging from the ceiling fan like a dumbass. At least you were on a real job with actual stakes. I was just trying to see better and almost broke my neck over a 10 foot drop. Guess we both learned that buddies need more supervision than the job itself sometimes. Hope you made it out okay though for real.

carter.julia3d agoMost Upvoted

Oh for real, that squirrel thing got me laughing but honestly it makes a good point. Ngl @paulc93, everyone talks about the buddy system like it's foolproof but nobody ever mentions that the buddy is just as likely to screw up as the guy on the ladder. Like you said, they need supervision too. Maybe the real lesson here is that we should be pairing up with someone who's actually been trained on what to watch for, not just whoever's closest and bored. Tbh half the time the "buddy" is just standing there scrolling their phone anyway. We all act like having a second person magically makes things safe but it really just doubles the chances of somebody getting distracted.