I was a survey party chief during construction of the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline. We all worked hard and got along with each other pretty well. But this one crew foreman was kind of a hard a** and got on the bad side of a lot of people.
One day in the middle of the winter after a moderate snowfall, the snow plows were busy pushing the snow off the work pad. Plenty of shusshing and beeping as they worked back and forth. Everything was just kind of business as usual for such a day.
Mr. Hard A** headed for the (special self contained, all "material" combusted, ecology friendly, smells like burning you-know-what) porta john. One of the very alert snow plow operators decided it was time to make a statement. He quietly and without calling undue attention began assembling a large mound of snow near that porta john. Then, after he had what he deemed to be enough for the job, he quietly pushed it right up to the door of the porta john with Mr. Hard A** in it.
When exit time came, first we could hear a bit of pushing and shoving. Then came a fair amount of pounding
and quite a bit of, well, let's say, potty-mouth language. Still, none of that inspired anyone to run to his aide. We all had work to do.
Eventually a security patrol showed up. Turns out Mr. Hard A** had his radio on him and used it to call for rescue. I think the security patrol kind of guessed what was going on. He seemed to take a lot more time asking questions about what might have happened than he did trying to arrange a release,
But, eventually the release was carried out. As Mr. Hard A** emerged, we all crowded around and joined in a big raucous round of applause and laughter.
Mr. Hard A** didn't soften up any, but his good-natured response to the whole incident made him a lot easier for everyone to take after that.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.