Bar Cameras — Part II
(Editor’s note: This is Part II in a series from H&S Protection on a recent bar/restaurant video camera installation to give customers insights into how we protect their businesses.)
Weather and Heights
The day turned humid and hot after starting out with drizzling rain. “The weather can determine a lot about a job. Not WHETHER to do something, but WHEN we do it. It’s tricky in the winter, for example. We can be working in temperatures below zero on outdoor installations and we have to figure out how to work around that. We’ll take turns. One guy works for a while, then goes inside to warm up his hands while the other guy takes over,” Matt Hills explained.
Hills can only remember a few times that a job has been postponed due to weather. Wind and heavy rain can be tricky. If you’re on a lift, for example, wind and rain pose serious safety concerns.
“We take ladder safety extremely seriously. It’s super important. You could die from a 20-foot fall and we work at heights of 20 feet pretty regularly,” he said.
Walker Mence got a taste for heights as a rock climber when he was younger. Crawling through attics on installations, he said he found he “kinda missed” the thrill of heights from his rock climbing. Now he gets the call from H&S when there’s a crawl space: “When we’re in a kitchen or bar and we need someone to crawl into a small space, I hear, ‘Send Walker in there’,” he chuckled.
Coworkers and Customers
Mence and Hills have known each other since high school and have a friendship along with their professional connection. After Hills screws in the four-square box, he also caulks the connections to make sure the seal is tight to keep water out. The two then begin bantering as Hills looks for one of his tools:
“That’s the other thing you have to watch out for – your coworkers stealing your tools,” Hills joked.
“I always give you your tools back,” Walked chuckled in reply.
Both noted they enjoy working with each other and talking with customers. “We’ll joke around, but also be professional. I show them I’m a person, too, and not a robot putting the system in,” Hills said.
“I’ve worked in factory environment and now I’m outdoors meeting people. Each install is different,” Mence added.
(Stay tuned for Part III of this story.)
