In the construction business we meet a lot of people over the years. Some really stand out and some its no big deal.
I had an uncle of mine that I worked with that was just damn hardcore. I really like the guy, but he could pick at anything and anybody. Nobody was safe.
Anyhow just a couple of things that he said and did to rank himself way upthere on my characters list. We were doing finish work on a building one time and the tilesetter was there. It was afternoon, the tilesetter made the comment that he was going to crank the radio up to get himself going. He said he needed some “motivation.” My uncle looked at him and said, ” I thought motivation was work or get fired.”
One more story. One night my uncle called a pizza joint to order some dinner. They told him that they didnt deliver to his street. It was just outside their delivery area.(by two blocks) Needless to say he was PO’d about this so he ordered a pizza and told them he would meet them at a location, two blocks from his house, and get his pizza. He waited until it was time to meet then headed out, he drove there, saw the pizza man waiting, and then right on by to another place and got something to eat.
I love that story.
Replies
Last year I had a foreman working over me;he was 6ft.8in.tall about 280-300-lbs. and nothing but attitude.He would tell guys 'you a tinknocker-My father was a tinknocker,but he got out of the biz-he had more brains than you $%^&!%$*!He would say it totally seriously and just stand there waiting to trade insults with the guy or group of guys!He would literally try to provoke a fight.Every person he treated this way,he loved it ;it was his hobby.The thing was he was so big you could see the guys standing ther e thinking it over in there heads"can I take this guy?''Guys hated him with passion.
I was in my mid 20's, working with a guy in his early 60's - ropes for forearms, reading glasses, pleasant enough guy, cracker jack carpenter...one day we're toilin' away and he tells me something and I say "geez, I didn't know that". He stops dead in his tracks, looks me in the eye, chuckles and says "Jim, what you don't know would fill a very thick book, with very fine print". What a piece of work that guy was.
Brinkmann for president in '04
Worked roofing one summer in collij.
Worked with a guy..."Poncho". He'd been bending nails, as well as been in the sun, for way too many years.
Whenever Poncho missed his mark and dented the woodwork with his hammer, He'd stand up and start yelling "Holiday, holiday, holiday...and what do you do on a holiday? You eat treats."
With that, he'd jump in his truck and drive off to the nearest donut shop.
This would be repeated several times a day.
hehehehe, I could use a guy like that!
Brinkmann for president in '04
Ummm, what's the point of the pizza story, that your uncle is/was an sob? That they might stick to their buisness plan so he had to screw some kid out of the cost of a pizza and the tips he could have made out delivering if he wasn't waiting for your uncle?
Did your uncle his breath 'til he turned blue, too?
Edited 9/14/2002 11:31:10 AM ET by Bob Walker
there doesn't have to be a point. Just a story about interesting characters. Maybe you've known some?
Sorry, but I just got pizzed thinking about that guy stiffing some poor teenager and then getting admired for it.
Back in the 80's, doing masonry work with my brother, who had a worker named Rocky. This guy was a real pi$$er. A Puerto Rican dude from the Bronx, golden Gloves, sex, drugs & Rocknroll to the max.
One day we were laying leeds on a new foundation, and it was getting warm (late spring), so my bro takes off his shirt, I did the same. Around the corner comes "The Rock"(another story) and sees us working barechested. Rocky says "Holy Sh*t", takes his shirt off, and I'd be damned if he wasn't wearing a red satin bra!( he left it on) Boy did we laugh! What a piece of work!
Hey! Whatcha got against red?Excellence is its own reward!
Another time, Rocky got left on the job to move block and clean up the job site while bro was out at the end of the road waiting for the concrete truck. A nieghbor saw Rocky puttering around back there and called the cops about a burglary in progress! Man, I almost pi$$ed my pants when I heard that!
Now you've gone and given me an idea for another thread. Look for, 'Ever been arrested?'Excellence is its own reward!
How about "Ever been fired?"
Once.
You start this one.Excellence is its own reward!
Yes & yes. Not at the same time though. Young & dumb x 2. Joe H
About 6 years ago I get on a commercial job it's a renovation.The foreman tells me I gotta go above the ceiling and it was a basic disaster job_sheerock, 200years of dust ,no access-torture.He gives me a guy about 80 years old.I tell the foreman I gotta get someone else if he's expecting any progress.The foremangoes''I got just the guy you need -Irwin."I'm thinking oh great -out of the frying pan and into the fire.The foreman calls Irwins' name out like he's somebody's grndma.He goes "Irwin the nerdwin.''Around the corner walks a6ft 5in. Puerto Rican,big as a house,strong as an ox and he was from the South Bronx.The guy picked up sheetrock like I picked up my hammer.Nicest guy on the job,honest as the day is long,and I admit I was scared sh8t of him for the first two days till I got to know him.
What size was it.....:) Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
Well, it was pretty small, but then he didn't have anything to fill it up with either. :^}