Security Sales & Integration October 2022 - 22

SMARTS & PARTS
Tech Talk by Bob Dolph
Do You Believe in
Resistentialism?
TOOL OF THE MONTH
It is a win-win situation when
you can both reduce manpower
and worker frustration.
The Wire Vortex wire pulling
guide from Rack-A-Tiers fi ts
on a 4-inch square box and
saves a ton of time when
pulling cable.
▶ AFTER MANY YEARS of observation and
contemplation I have reached, what I feel, is a
philosophical epiphany. In fact, just recently, I
found a word that defi nes this personal belief. Th e
word is resistentialism and it was created in 1948
by humorist Paul Jennings.
Resistentialism is the theory described as the
seemingly spiteful behavior manifested by inanimate
objects. Simply put, I believe that all inanimate
objects have some level of animation and
conciseness. Hypothetically, inanimate objects,
such as installations, installation equipment and
hardware, can wreak havoc at will on us any time,
just to ruin our day as a technician.
An interesting security related note - In 1924,
Mark Twain relates an anecdote about a recalcitrant
burglar alarm in his ornate mansion in Hartford.
It " led a gay and careless life, and had no
principles,'' he says. " We quickly found out that it
was fooling us and that it was buzzing its bloodcurdling
alarm merely for its own amusement.''
Go ahead and call me crazy. However, have
Bob Dolph has served
in various technical
management and advisory
positions in the security
industry for 30+ years. To
share tips and installation
questions, email Bob at
bdolph.ssi@gmail.com. Access
content from his 20+ years as
Tech Talk columnist by going
online at securitysales.com/
author/bdolph.
22
you ever noticed when you drop something, either
at home or on the job, it will not simply
fall straight down. It will fi nd the farthest hidden
location to hide from you (also known as 1920
Bernstein's First Law).
Some other resistentialism conditions you
may have encountered over the years: fi nding a
misplaced item that you swore you never placed
there; managing cables that seem to always have a
mind of their own; procedures always seem to be
the most noncomplying when you have the shortest
time to complete; and yes, you end up making
personal comments to these inanimate objects.
Do you see the pattern?
Putting all humor aside, what does this discussion
have to do with low-voltage technicians and
the trade? It teaches us that no matter our level
of expertise we need to constantly focus on the
little nuances of our daily technical work. Even
with this concentration we will occasionally be
surprised with a resistentialism visit. However, the
true tradesman over the years will increase his performance
and sanity by being aware resistentialism
Security Sales & Integration OCTOBER 2022
bdolph.ssi@gmail.com
is always lurking in the shadows.
Th ere are many practices and tools that we can
apply to help reduce our degree of resistentialism.
Let's take a moment to look at some of these practices
and products.
Flexible Pickup Tool - Ever have a screw or
small part that has decided it does not want to be
installed and jumps down on the fl oor just out of
reach between other equipment in a small utility
closet? A must for these incidents is a 24-inch 2-1
magnetic pickup tool (harborfreight.com) with all
those tiny fi ngers.
Magnetic Wrist Band - Keep your screws and
installation tools under control so they can't even
think of pulling something to ruin your day. One
handy tool for this is a Magnetic Wrist Band (harborfreight.com)
to keep these rascals close to you.
Cable Pulling Kits - One of the craziest resistentialism
arenas is when dealing with cabling
installations. No matter how experienced you
are, the cabling will pull a fast one on you when
you least expect it. It is always good practice
to taper cables to be pulled and make sure you
do not overfi ll raceways. One toolkit for this is
this the Wire Noodler (stegsupply.com). Th e kit
comes with eight diff erent attachments, including
a super bright LED light, fl exible nylon rod,
chain noodle, magnet, various hooks and 11 feet
of fi berglass rods.
Another great resource, and one of my favorites
for installation tools is the specialty supplier RackA-Tiers
(rack-a-tiers.com). Some tools to check
out there are the Pullee, a 4 X 4-inch steel box
wire-pulling guide. It is a simple snap-in steel roller
that helps eliminate needing a second person to
guide the feeding end. Another really smart tool is
the Wire Vortex (see Tool of the Month).
Wire Fishing Aids - It seems like cables always
have a mind of their own when trying to be
routed through walls. If you want to tame those
unruly wires you need the super force of a tool
such as the Magnepull (magnepull.com). Th is
device has been known to cut cable fi shing time
by 70%.
Over the years, I have seen too many instances
of resistentialism to completely debunk it. Even
though this is a humorous topic, there is much
we can learn and teach ourselves to reduce this
environment and focus on creating more productive
and less stressful work conditions. Let's
do all we can to drastically reduce resistentialism
in our lives.
securitysales.com
COURTESY OF RACK-A-TIERS
http://www.harborfreight.com http://www.borfreight.com http://www.stegsupply.com http://www.rack-a-tiers.com http://www.magnepull.com http://www.securitysales.com/ http://www.securitysales.com
Security Sales & Integration October 2022

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