the list grows
Construction is dangerous work. Not only the physical dangers of things falling on your head or you falling off the building or any number of things that could happen, but also the stress. The superintendents are under an enormous amount of stress. In Buddy's company just last year two superintendents passed away on the job, well not quite ON the job, found in their travel trailers after not showing up for work. Earlier this year, one had a stroke, then another stroke. Last I heard he is still kicking, not sure how high.
Then last week #4 on the downed superintendent list, 4 that we know of,
the lack of communication is inconceivable. But this one was too close, a good
friend and coworker of many, many years. He is okay for now, a wake up call
in the form of a heart attack.
After the initial emergency stent placement and
while waiting around, resting, not working, not smoking… waiting on open heart surgery for bypass procedure, his wife described him
as unusually quiet, he didn't want to talk to anyone. Understandable.
So we got
his e-mail address. Buddy was going to send something light, maybe a joke, but
not me. At first I was so mad that I couldn’t say anything. Mad because of the
stressful job and mad because my old man just keeps plugging along and ranting
about all the things that go wrong and how he can't wait to retire, mad because
I think he can retire right now, but he won't. But when I got over my mad, I wrote my note:
Dear Mike, so you are just laying around, milking this thing for all its worth, right?
I guess everyone is walking on eggshells around you, not sure what to say, sorry not me. This 'incident' is just one of many that have happened over the last year or two that have me bitching at the old man to retire early, he gets so stressed with the job.
But you are the lucky one, you didn't wake up dead in your travel trailer, good for you!
You got a wake up call, a second chance, and today is literally the first day of the rest of your life.
So now you have been forced to rethink your priorities, there is a lot running through your mind right now. Just think of it as another job, lay out a plan, work through the steps, let your family help you, whatever it takes to get past this and on to better things.
Maybe you don't want to spend your days putting up with sorry subs, elite electricians, arrogant architects, lazy laborers, pushy project managers, corporate cronies.
Maybe you don't have to put up with mud or snow or rain or excuses or just plain sorriness like folks pissing in the shower.
Maybe you don’t have to live by looming deadlines and missed schedules and over budgets.
Maybe instead you want to be sitting somewhere on a dock fishing, or just being, your lady by your side, maybe traveling around not from job to job, but to see some of the real beauty of the world.
Maybe you are the lucky one, you have a chance to escape this rat race and leave the other rats running through the endless maze.
So, Mike, take care of you, let work go and enjoy your life, and then call all the other supers and tell them how you beat the odds, suckers!
