Pros
As a Service Technician you will be paid pretty good after about a year. You will start out at about $14 an hour being a helper. All you will do is follow the Technician around and hold a flashlight and run for tools. When you become a cadet you will get about a $3 increase. You will also get raises according to the union contract. I basically went to customers homes and exchanged gas meters, turned off or turned on accounts, responded to gas leaks A lot of down time in the summer months. Just check the corner at 15th and Cecil B Moore from 5 pm until about Midnight you will see the pgw trucks there lined up doing absolutely Nothing for hours! It was nice making $20 an hour just sitting there for hours at a time
Cons
A lot of "clicks" if you know what I mean. Family members / friends and things of that nature. Some guys are hanging on by threads just because family members been there 20+ years. You will start to pay union dues right away. Even though this "union" will not help you in anyway until after your 1 year probation period. I found this out the hard way. That means.....do not be late and do not miss any days. Sounds simple right? Unless you get sick or if you have family issues or a sick kid. They don't want to hear about it!! You will be Fired!! Revolving door. You could be the nicest guy in the world and be a great worker they can care less. If you survive the 1 year probation then you should be okay. I didn't survive the 1 year probation. I missed 2 days because a death in the family. 2 days!!!!! The only thing they were worried about was when I was coming back. They could care less about my family member dying. I missed another 5 days a few months later because I was very sick and passed out on my way to work. I was SICK...It was Winter. I am Human. I was rushed to a hospital where chest, head and blood test were done. I had and given them all the necessary Doctor notes. They could care less. They fired me. They fired me not knowing or caring what was wrong with me. Luckily for me the passing out was due to being over worked and dehydrated. I say over worked because I work a few 15-20 hour days in a row with very little sleep. Also when you get fired your medical is no longer good that same day. So if i did have a heart attack or something was wrong with my brain I was up sh!ts creek without a paddle. They also tried to block my unemployment after wrongfully firing me. Unemployment seen it my way and awarded me my unemployment benefits. I say "wrongfully fired me" because it was wrong. I was very sick and I had all the doctors notes to proof this but they didn't care. I came back when my sickness was over ready to work and they denied me. The winter time is the worse or if you are single without a family it could be the best because you will work 15++ hour days. Mostly every Tech complained about being over worked!! The other thing I loved about this place is they wait until you are about to clock out for the day then hit you with a gas leak or some random job just minutes before your shift is about to end. One min you think you are going home in 5 mins and the next ...Bam.. now you are out another 5+ hours!! Helpers......Your hours will be from 5 pm until 1 am or until the last job gets done. You will at times work 10 days straight. You will not learn much as a helper except maybe how to hold a flashlight. You will transfer around to different shop locations even though you might live right next door to one of the shops.