How do I know if a CWI is current?

Date 07-18-2003 10:48

I'm not sure if this is right, so , don't quote me on this....First 2 numbers are the year, and the second 2 are the month that the CWI cert was "originally issued" to them.
The only way to I know of to see if they are current is to get them to send you a copy of their latest wallet card (it has a renewal date on it) or a copy of their certificate. AWS might have something online to check them out, but I haven't seen it yet.
John Wright

By insp76

Date 07-18-2003 11:44

All that`s needed is a phone call to AWS in Miami Fla.,give the name or certification number and they will tell you if that persons certs are current.

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 07-18-2003 15:57

Deleted by John Wright

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 07-18-2003 18:39

C'mon JW!!!

I never thought that I'd read such inuendo coming from you!!!

I happen to speak, read, and write both english and spanish.
Never once did I have to speak to anyone at the AWS headquarters in spanish!!! I could easily do this if I choose to but, as a born and bred New Yorker, I felt no need to!!!

The point I'm trying to make is: If you have a personal opinion regarding
certain ethnicities, please keep them to yourself!!!
I'm sure that the AWS would'nt take too kindly in your form of promoting "ignorance" in these boards!!!

Finally, If you did in fact get a response to whatever you were inquiring about in spanish then, yes!!! you should complain about it to the office in question!!! However, to stereotype the Miami office as being a bunch of non-english speaking people, and insinuating to others in the forum that before they call Miami's AWS office, to brush up on their spanish is well - quite offensive to myself!!!

I'm proud of my heritage, and I'm almost positive that anyone else that has a similar heritage is just as proud of theirs also!!!

So please, if you have a problem with someone at the AWS Miami office speaking to you in a language other than english then, make a formal complaint about it to their office, and here's a tip: write a letter to them so you do'nt have to call, and worry about whether or not someone is going to answer you in spanish!!!

Ethnic or Racial sarcasm should'nt be allowed to creep in to these boards!!!

I usually end my replies with: "Respectfully" but, in this hopefully rare response, I'll choose not to because, respect is usually earned!!!

SSBN727 Run Silent... Run Deep!!!

By DGXL

Date 07-18-2003 19:36

Have to admit John, I was a little surprised by your post...

Other similar but more extreme remarks have been posted in the forum in the past BY OTHERS. I guess at one point or another we all show are true colors - so to speak.

Edited reply

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 07-18-2003 19:50

DGXL,
You have been monitoring my posts for along time now, Have I ever made comments that were slanderous toward other races or ethnics? If I have I can not for the life of me remember it. With God as my witness, I didn't mean anything bad about any other group of people by my statement.
John Wright

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 07-18-2003 19:43

ssbn727,
I really didn't mean anything out of the way by my earlier post. I'm very sorry if my post happend to offend anyone, because that was not my intent at all. I don't speak Spanish, like I said in my post.(Period!) I'm very sorry that someone may have read more into my post than was intended. I personally have no problems with anyone of different races or ethnics as it seems to me that I am being acused of. As far as Spanish goes, I've been to their churches in our area and worshipped with them(although I haven't a clue what was being said until someone would translate for me). My seven year old son learned Spanish hymns in school and his teacher was inviting parents to come sit in on the services held there.
Back to my earlier post, How did you read all that into it? I don't speak Spanish and I have never called that office and talked with anyone that spoke English to where I could make sense of what was being told to me. It is not my fault that I've only tried to communicate via phone with that office and received operators that switched me back and forth through out the office and never could find someone to help us communicate with one another. How do you get that I'm offended by other races or ethnics from my simple statement? The person on the phone was just as frustrated with the situation as I was. It was not a one way problem. I would have the same problem should I have the need to talk with someone of a different language in another country. I admit that I'm ignorant of other languages, heck I butcher the English language bad enough as it is. This sorta burns me up when I think about it so I'll stop typing and cool off before I go any further. All this has nothing to do with this BBS at all and no one should be offended by talking about welding or inspection topics. If offense has been taken then I apologize for the so called inuendos. I really work at getting along with everyone and hope this will be water under the bridge. I did write a letter to their office and the matter was resolved in English.
John Wright

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 07-18-2003 19:57

Back to the original topic,
I have emailed AWS and asked if there are ways to check or verify CWI certs online. I will post with any answers that I may receive concerning that.
John Wright

By pipewelder_1999 (****)

Date 07-18-2003 22:44

John,

As with many things said, someone is often offended.

Words are one of the most dangerous and abused things we have. We cannot know what is in a persons heart and sometime we may want to jump to conclusions based on words. That is often times to easy to do without getting to know someone.

I have probably lost potential and past friends based on my strong opinions about the evil of any type of racism. IT IS WRONG.

In this day of political correctness, pointing out a difference in someone is often taken as racism. In my opinion, what you said could not be taken as a racist remark. It may have been a true reflection of your past experiences.

I saw your post prior to any responses being made and actually thought about one but figured I would "dwell on it" a little.

My post would have been one with empathy for your comment because I do feel that people do have a responsibility to be in pretty good control of the english language if they are in a position in which communication is a key part. I had received a call from a telemarketer (A Major Long Distance Service) a couple of days ago in which I could not understand a word because of an accent that was NOT developed in another country.

If I had been on a forum where people were talking about long distance services calling your home. I would have probably made a similar comment. It may not have been the correct place and I'm sure I would have been reminded in various ways. My comment would have reflected my feeling about the speaking skills of the person on the other end of the phone. You can be sure to others it would have reflected racism.

I live in a state that is probably thought by many to be full of racists just because of the flag we fly. You can be assured that if you ever visit this state and come through MY doors, it is not allowed. Prejudice can be perceived to be in the heart of someone by the words spoken by them. You have been on both ends of that today.

Have a nice day John

Gerald Austin

Heres a not often posted link to my site. I often have to refer to # 13 on the following link. But I often fail http://www.weldinginspectionsvcs.com/HtmlBible/B20C018.htm

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 07-19-2003 12:17

Gerald,
Thanks for you being sympathetic towards my position in all this. I regard you as a true friend when others have gone by the wayside when needed.
If I may quote from your post ....
"In this day of political correctness, pointing out a difference in someone is often taken as racism. In my opinion, what you said could not be taken as a racist remark. It may have been a true reflection of your past experiences."

This is exactly how I viewd my statement about the whole thing, and not how it has been terribly butchered. I really feel for people in political positions because they could never ever possibly make a statement without the world judging and criticizing their every spoken word. I agree that when AWS hires people to answer the phone, through the interviewing process they should be able to determine if the interviewee can in fact communicate with the country in which the office is located without being judged itself as being racist and not offering employment because of the interviewee being of a different ethnic group.

People try and "have a nice day"...to quote Gerald again.
John Wright

By TimGary (****)

Date 07-18-2003 20:18

To ssbn727

I've been monitoring this forum for about 3 years now and have never seen anyone post ethnic or racial sarcasm until you did.
This forum is a great information resource in which peolple from all over the world have been respectfully polite, even when they don't agree, until you decided to put words in John's mouth.
Please have the decency to not do so again.

To Keiko,

Please do us all a favor and wipe this thread from the board.

Thank you,
Tim Gary

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 07-18-2003 20:30

Tim,
I deleted my statement so not to further cause problems.
Thanks,
John Wright

By DGXL

Date 07-18-2003 22:07

To All:
Yes, there have been racial remarks posted - "Mexicanized" was the term used by one regarding the job market in his respective area. Other forum users had concured his remarks. Several protests were posted and ignored.

As I just browsed, one forum user asked a postee if "...she was good looking?" which had absolutely nothing with the post regarding the gender of welders.

Remarks were made recently about the war in Iraq which were not racist in content, but totally unrelated to welding issues within this forum. I guess you have to have soemone move an M1-A1 in your back yard and have your family torchered and/or slaughtered to understand that one. I have worked in poor economies, people do what they have to in order to preserve life.

John Wright, I have respect for you as a user of this forum and as a professional. Again, it was the wording that caught my attention. Many of my posts are misunderstood from a technical standpoint or the intent. It is the way I word my post or reply or it is simply too brief. (Plus I need a dictionary...) That is why I proposed another site or forum several years ago. Even that one has been misinterpreted by almost everyone who replied. I mentioned just recently that I do not respond to technical posts anymore. Too often my reply is worded incorrectly, or just plain and simple - too brief. Or another forum user replies with a VERY inappropriate or unprofessional reply in content.

If the person who is typing is not there talking, it is often hard to distinguish what the intent is. We ALL have tended to read more into posts in this forum if you go back and check the archives.

How about we all meet up for lunch one day and discuss welding issues, the state of the welding industry and how we have all learned and taught others with our experiences? Sounds good to me. Miller or Lincoln? GTAW or GMAW? Ginger or MaryAnn? MT or PT? ESAB or Hobart electrodes? Solid or metal core electrodes?

p.s.: We all know the answer is MaryAnn...

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 07-18-2003 22:13

To Tim Gary

When I initially read John's reply, I hesitated to respond until I got a consensus from some of my "Bilingual" associates.
Every single one of them reacted in the same manner as I did, when they read the comment about: "I always need someone to interpret what they say." was shown to them in the original thread!

Now maybe to you or John, that comment may not be construed as an insinuating comment but, I mean, to ten of us including myself, we were definitely OFFENDED by the comment!!

So, I did'nt "decide to put words in John's mouth" NO sir! John did that all by himself! The question that comes to mind is why delete the original statement?

Please Do'nt misunderstand me, I have too much respect for this forum!
I do accept John's apology for his mistatement and consider the matter closed.
As far as decency is concerned, I hope that I never have to respond to such comments again. If it happens again, I'll contact Keiko directly next time after careful consideration of course. Decency? This is something that I always try to practice!!!

To DGXL,
Thank you for your comments because, I still have respect for John as a user of this forum and his professionalism. I have to agree with everything you mentioned, even about having "lunch" someday in the future to discuss and comment about issues related to welding, and maybe a little about Ginger and Mary Anne. Perhaps, at the next AWS convention.

Again I accept John's Apology and He's regained my respect...
DGXL! YOU ARE THE MAN!!!

Respectfully,

SSBN727 Run Silent... Run Deep!!!

By DGXL

Date 07-18-2003 22:38

p.s.: A female friend of mine just virtually corrected me (again).

I forgot to mention the Professor or the Skipper...

p.s.s: DGXL puts his pants on like everyone else in here, unless I have flashburn.

Have a good weekend everyone.

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 07-19-2003 10:34

http://aws.org/cgi-bin/mwf/topic_show.pl?id=3358#12690

I pulled out an old archive where DGXL responded to me where I thought maybe I had offended someone before. Read and get a feeling for my intentions regarding this BBS. I never want to be misunderstood to the point people see me as a mean or uncaring person. This whole thing has bothered me to the point I'm not sure I care to post anything here anymore. I still can't see how those few words meant all that to someone. I try to choose words carefully and my ignorance of the Spanish language got construde(sp?) to say that I'm a racist toward ethnic groups. In hind site, I should have left the statement up there so others could see exactly what was said and draw their own conclusions. I deleted it because at the time I was so mad that it received such a MEAN and CUT THROAT response about me. This whole thing has offended me more than I care to talk about. So if that was your intent ssnb727, then more power to you. I pray that the Lord will help you if your feelings are so easily hurt by my words because your road through life will no doubt have numerous heartaches from rougher words than mine. I'm sure because not everyone that you meet in life will try to be as kind. I really considered the people of this forum as family and only tried to be of help where I could to them.
John Wright

By insp76

Date 07-19-2003 13:52

John, your responce was to me and when I read it I did not seem to be a racist remark but maybe just a complaint or an agrivation toward AWS. From reading the the responces to your post it seems some are jumping at the opportunity to put you down. Why do people do this,well in my experience in life and as an inspector on the job, some people will just sit there and wait untill you say something wrong or make a mistake and then jump out from no where making comments and making a big deal about it. This behavior comes from someone who just does not like you and would not do this to someone they like. It also seems some people do this because they think if they can make the next guy look bad, then that will some how make them look better.

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 07-19-2003 14:58

edfritsch,
You my friend still haven't received an answer to your question. Please ask again in another post and someone I hope will give you an answer without all that has taken place here on this one. I'm so Sorry for how this took off and ruined your question. Your question is worthy of a good respectable answer, so please start it again afresh and anew on another post. I hope this hasn't dampend your opinion of this forum. It really hasn't been this way for very long.
John Wright

By insp76

Date 07-19-2003 16:36

edfritsch, call AWS at 1-800-443-9353 ask for Nelly Perez, Terry Perez or Vivian Pupo. If you only have the name they will give you current certification statis on that name and give you there cert # so you can compare it to the # on there wallet card to be sure it matches up. If you only have the number they will give you statis and the name that is suppose to go with it. A couple of years ago on a new constuction job a new CWI was hired, his wallet card was not checked"he said he lost it" he simply just stated he was a CWI and the employer called AWS and verified that "John Dow" was currently certified. After 3 or 4 weeks the contractor he was working for was audited by the customers q/a /qc department and it was noticed that a certificate was not on file for this inspector. When confronted by the inspector to give a copy of his certificate or wallet card he admitted that he was indeed not a CWI but knew of a CWI that had the same name as him and simply got away with fraud for a few weeks. Needless to say he was quickly shipped off of that job site. The only sure fire way to verify certification is to call AWS and compare the information given with the inspectors wallet card or certificate. Just out of curiosity, how is it that you only have a # and not a name to go with it?

By DGXL

Date 07-19-2003 17:27

John Wright:
edfritsch received a brief and accurate answer way up on top (the 2nd reply to the original question from insp76.) This is how everyone is confirmed for a valid certification. I have called several times to confirm contractors who have worked for me in the past without problems. A valid Visual Acuity test form is also required for DOT work here.
A client of mine had a CAWI present himself as a CWI, upon verification by the above process he was basically demoted but not shown the door.

Speaking of taking things out of context, the thread you posted with my reply to you was a compliment to John Wright. It was simply worded poorly (I was trying to say your a hell of a nice guy.) You gave my younger brother some sage advice (not that he took it) once before. I guess I better be careful about complimenting anyone in the future...

To the Forum:
I think deleting the entire thread borders on censorship or communist in nature. I thought in this country we were all given a chance to speak? Can I request all threads be deleted if I don't like them? Would that include the threads that truly have racist, inappropriate, immature or otherwise completely technically inaccurate replies?

The reason I have only posted one technical response recently is:
1.) Many replys (while they mean well) are providing our fellow forum users with extremely incorrect technical advice. This gives the "askee" a false sense of security that he/she will be able resolve a problem. Some of these replys border on dangerous as well. I won't post specific threads, they are moot at this point. The people who are trying to learn a welding related topic will go through life thinking "this is the right way", but they have been given erroneous info which may hamper their career, result in a costly mistake in their own business, or create a situation which may pose a danger to life, limb or property.

2.) Some of the more immature replys are simply irritating and again, a solid/valid reply was never provided to the one asking for help.

3.) I will probably quit posting replies myself in this forum. Some have the "you think you know everything attitude". I enjoy helping others the way many have helped me in the past. I do lot's of volunteer work outside my office and I do so in here with every reply. My consulting fees are $175-hr., the forum gets it for free.

4.) I disagree with advertising in here as some do regularly. If you are offering help, then you should do so without hoping for something in return. This is why I have remained anomynous all these years. I was always taught to help out of your heart, not your wallet. Many of my friends who monitor but do not reply to any posts have asked me numerous times why I give free advice? It is always my pleasure to help someone. Recently I announced to anyone who calls my office asking technical advice, NO - period. I have to earn a living.

5.) This forum also appears to be somewhat of a clique for certain users as well, I never was a conformist... Let those with the bad info keep it. They will find out sooner or later bad advice is bad advice.

I'll probably watch posts from now on, but no more replies from me.

D.G. Luna
Welding Consultant
Senior Welding Inspector

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 07-19-2003 18:37

DGXL,
I took what you said exactly as you say you intended, Thankyou for the compliment, I should have said so back then. I posted the link only to show that I really don't want to hurt anyone just as you descibed so wonderfully(fly in the milk). I hope you don't feel this forum has been cliquish because I never got that feeling at all. I felt like most or all of users on this forum made new comers welcome and welcomed posts and replies regardless of their differences. I always felt at home with freinds here on the forum and hope people will in the future treat each other with mutal respect. I have had several emails that was encouraging and brightened my day from users on this forum that I have never met in person but felt like I knew them all my life. You sir, are one of those people that make people feel welcome. Take care, hope to meet you in life somewhere down the road. Thankyou for your help on welding and Inspection issues. Feel free to email me anytime as I might be changing jobs if the offer I got pans out and leads somewhere. If I had your email, I would have sent this that way rather than airing all this out on here publically.
John Wright

By DGXL

Date 07-19-2003 19:34

Hey John:
I just bounced back in to keep tabs on the post regarding RT Interpretations. <--- This is one of the best threads I have seen in a long while in this forum, again, I learned a few things myself. I work from home when I'm not on the road traveling, as you all can see I spend lot's of time on-line to keep from getting bored when I should be working on my book. As I noted above I will continue to monitor a few posts.

The very best of luck on your new venture should it pan out. I may quit my business after 9 years. May go back to the aerospace industry. I recently had a long discussion with one of the local citys' civil engineers. I guess we need another big earthquake to remind everyone here in CA what happens when you "don't put it together right."

By flashburner1 (*)

Date 07-20-2003 00:27

To All,
I have watched this thread with much interest, being new to this BBS, and not having seen anything quite like it in the reading of the archives I have done. I was reluctant to get involved, but now feel that I must put in my "2 cents".

John Wright is the only person that welcomed me to this forum a couple of weeks ago. I had not responded earlier, but give you my thanks now.

In my 46 years of life I have on occasion been insulted - when it was imagined and when it was intentional. I have also been childish enough on occasion to intentionally insult someone else, and have been read wrong when I meant no insult. I do not believe that people who intentionally make insulting comments would claim that it was not their intent to do so or claim that their comments were taken out of context, but that they would feel a certain amount of joy in knowing that they had caused harm or hurt, and once they know that they have gotten under your skin would continue to do so. Everyone misinterprets someone else's meaning at times - it is human nature, especially when not face to face with someone and only reading written words.

I have been welding or supervising welders for almost 25 years. I am by no means an expert at all (or any) aspects of the welding field. There are thousands of years of combined knowledge available here. You have taken the time to impart that knowledge and experience in this BBS, and I have much admiration for that knowledge and the willingness to share it. I think it would be a shame if this situation, or any other, caused anyone to stop contributing. John has said he intended no foul - SSBN727 has said that he considers the matter closed. Knowledge is strength, and there is strength in numbers.

"I will strive to be caring rather than to be judgemental."

Best Regards and Thank You To All.

Keep coming back.

Brian