Ok, i´m the first in line.

 My father runed his electician houseistalation-company and my mother worked as a cleaninglady - my mother died 1996 because of too much alcohol - she was an alcoholic mum reading storytellers for me when i was a little boy. In my early age (5 year) i was teached by my father to install all the electrician wire in houses - it was easy in the early 1970-th.....not that easy today, the electriciandemand is way much higher today. Every whole summerholidays and weekend from i was 5 year until i was 15 i worked in my fathers electriciancompany.

But my schoolcertificate was like a catastrophe...i was suspended from highschool 15 years old. My homesituation wasn´t so good when my father realised that i will never take over and run his lifeproject - his electriciancompany.

I was 15 year and the school kicked me out, my father was furious and my mother was crying. That was my point zero in my life.

 I grew up in south of Sweden (the farmerlocatoin of Sweden) and my only possibility to find a work, was at the local slaughterhouse - ("Scan" - realy wellnowed brand in Sweden) biggest slaughterhouse in whole Sweden, 1800 employers. I worked as buther and doing piecework cuting up pigs for 6 years and after that i cut up cattle for 9 years.

I do realy know how to cut up animals on piecework - and i´m sick of it - 15 years of that is enough!!

It was a paine and a big cost to get my heavylicence for all heavy vehicle as on road.

Then i start my new life as a trucker....of course in a Volvo FH 520 (not in a comical MACK-truck). I pulled trailers i whole Scandinavia until my emploer, couple of years later said: I´ve bought a mixertruck - brandnew - that´s your new workingsite!!

I realy hated my boss at that time!! A mixertruckdriver (in Sweden) has the lowest raiting as all truckdrivers!!

But in a sort of a way, i realy found my call in my life - concrete.......

Nowdays i know (i guess or hope) everything about concrete. Then the step from a mixertruckdriver to be a pumper is not that big.

Then i started my linepumpcompany - i like to have a "Navy seals - hells week" - every week, that makes me not get bored at my workingday. I believe every linepumper agree!!

That was my very undressed story...show me how your undressed story is! Don´t be shy - i know you have a story!

Mom passed in 1987 I was 16, finished school, got a real job cutting concrete with a company that traveled the US , after a year living out of hotels and waking up drunk and stoned I found a job with a company with concrete pumps and cutters, started as a cutter within 2 years was managing the cutting department, in that time I was a backup pump operator,when the cutting dept was sold I decided to stay put and became a full time operator and here I am.

May 2003 my dad bought an old 1979 875 thompsen 28m.After a month working with it ,while washing it he tried to save some time by letting the pump pumping when he was cleaning .He got his right hand bitten by the flapper .A week later,my dad was driving the truck and i was becoming a concrete pump operator.Actually, they save 95 %of his hand.Today ,my dad,brother and i are pumping and i love it.

I learned the hard way with that thompsen but we were two with a lot of will.Actually 1 and half (my dad s right hand out).My dad and i maybe pumped 1000 square meters that summer and maybe 250 m my dad making shifting the pump with a 2x4 because the rod were all messed up.IGNORANCE!!!!

Started running stuff at 19,decomp. chambers,boats,old wore out cranes,trucks,shovel,then concrete pump,but I always wanted to work for NOAA......

ALMIMA

I am a retired Union Electrician from the bay area Calif, when I retired the scale was 32.00 now its in the low 50's. I don't miss it at all only wished I had have found this 30 years ago,I live in the 5 th largest city in Tennessee and we own the only locally owned concrete pumping business ever here we specialise in block fill and small jobs.

GUYS DON'T FORGET TO RESET YOUR CLOCKS DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME STARTS TOMORROW AM

I  started  out in life as a helper on a block laying crew.....  went on to work my way up to mason,  eventually owning my  own   business,  i taught my sons to lay brick and block. Along  the line  we bought 2'' line pumps,  did  our block fill,  subed out to others.   after many  customers requests we bought our 1st  4'' line pump to pump footers and small indoor slabs,  now we have 3   big rock pumps,  two  2'' block fill pumps.  they dont  all work every day but we get  by.  i only  wish i had started pumping  sooner.  i love  what we do.  my sons......not so much. they try to  busy themselves  with as much brick and block  work as  they  can. they leave the  pumping up to me and my pump crew and  hope i don't call on them.

5 years ago as a mixer truck driver and given a chance to operate a pump. i remember before giving help to our operator free of charge, reading parts manual,watching you tube about concrete pumping,asking do's and dont's. and finally joining this website ive learn a lot.

Keep on pumping.

I was doing a lot of slope paving repairs for DOT and needed to remove the bad get it ready to pour back and schedule all in the same day.  Well I could get my time figured but the pump and redi mix was a different story.  I ran across a used line pump and bought it with 200' of 2.5" hose.  Kept up the slope paving and others found out about my line pump and I stayed busy pumping.  Some one needed my pump real bad so I sold it and bought a new one in January 07 .  I enjoy pumping but that is not my main stay.  I pump the absurd type jobs, pipe fill, slab jacking, flowable fill and a few slabs.  My last job was 500' of 2.5 hose with pea gravel at a 4.5" slump.