Some workers in desperation do desperate things.  And usually the desperate thing turns out to be, well, dumb.

One of the larger jobs I was on was a build of a thirteen story building.  As the electricians were finishing up our trim-out of the job, the carpet layers arrived.

I had made a habit of cleaning up behind me as I worked, so there weren’t many issues on my end with tools and debris lying about.  However others had not been so careful.

The carpet layers said that they wouldn’t do any clean up because, in their words, “That’s not our Job.”

There were many rooms that after being carpeted, had small lumps under the carpet.

That will wear out a carpet much faster.  And of course a worn out carpet will need replacement quicker.

It reminded me of a story I heard about a couple of carpet layers doing a job.  As they finished up and were leaving, one of the carpet layers couldn’t find his cigarettes.  As he looked about he saw a small lump in the carpet near the middle of the floor.

Taking his hammer he went over and pounded the lump flat.  Then as he was leaving the door, he saw his cigarettes on a window sill near the door.  He picked them up and put them in his pocket, but stood wondering what had been under the carpet.

About that time the lady of the house came hurrying up and asked them in an anxious voice if they had seen her parakeet.  It had gotten out of it’s cage and was nowhere to be found.

Smoking can be hazardous to your health.

And to the health of little birds.

For awhile, in order to make a living, I worked out of town.  Over a period of a couple years, I worked part time in Seattle.  I couldn’t afford to move there, so I stayed with our daughter and son-in-law and drove home every weekend.

This practice gave me a wide variety of experience.

Heavy fog was the most challenging condition I encountered.  For instance, at times I would follow a set of tail lights through the night, in the fog, on the freeway.  One time I followed a car right off of the freeway.  Then I had to figure out how to get back on the freeway and find another set of tail lights to follow.

Another type of experience was accidents.

One time my wife and I were driving home from Seattle when we observed a huge cloud of dust.  When we reached the location of the dust cloud, we saw that a car had gone off of the freeway and rolled.  The lady who had been driving the vehicle was standing by the edge of the road hugging a passerby.

I immediately thought of all kinds of back stories that could have lead to this eventuality.  However since the lady had help and we would have been holding up traffic, we continued on without stopping.

Seventy-five years of driving makes me appreciate the song that says; “It’s a jungle out there.”  (Even if I’m not OCD)

I have travelled by airline to get to some jobs.  Air travel is said to be the safest way to travel, but I don’t feel it.

For one thing, it is difficult to stop by the side of the road and visit with someone when you travel via plane.

Or to visit a roadside attraction.