An old timer in Dayton taught me to label every zone with a grease pencil, and I still do it 22 years later

Karen Wright · 2026-09-15T00:35:04.133102+00:00

Back when I was green, maybe 1999, I got sent to a bank job in Dayton with a guy named Walt who had been pulling wire since the 70s. On the last day he watched me write zone descriptions on masking tape and just shook his head, then pulled a grease pencil out of his shirt pocket and said, "tape falls off in a hot attic, son, this won't." I thought it was the dumbest thing I ever heard, but two summers later half my tape labels were curled up on the floor of that same attic while his pencil marks were still legible. Now every panel I touch gets the grease pencil treatment, and the young guys on my crew give me the same look I gave Walt. Anybody else pick up a habit from an old timer that you swore was pointless at the time?

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An old timer in Dayton taught me to label every zone with a grease pencil, and I still do it 22 years later | Alarm System Installers - Hub Chatter