Generally speaking, I try not to be the one in charge.  You are the guy that winds up in the middle, between everyone; – The Boss and the men; The customer and the Boss; The architect and the engineer; The engineer and the inspector.

As a result I was never given the position of Foreman, which suited me just fine.

Many times I worked alone.  I actually preferred it.  In fact years ago I worked alone on government projects for months.  Towards the last they put me in charge of working out the “Punch List.”

When the inspector inspected the job, he made a list of all the things needing correction – the “Punch List.”  I noticed certain things came up again and again on the punch list.  I made up a list of my own.  I called it the “Pre Punch List.”

I showed my list to the Foreman and he thought it was great.  He took it to the upper echelon and they also liked it.  In fact they liked it so much they made copies and sent it to every one of their crews.  We eliminated the “Punch List” because of it.

Years later when working alone, I would use that system.  As a job neared its finish, I would make a pre-punch list and post it somewhere convenient.  I would add to the list as things needed to be done and scratch them out as things got done, and thus, no punch list.  You can punch out a job more efficiently using that system.

One job required us to drive 100 miles one way to get to the job site.  There were just two men, the foreman and me.  One day the foreman had to take the day off to take care of personal business.  He told me to take care of things while he was gone.  No problem!

And there weren’t any problems.

When I got my check at the end of the week the company had included foreman pay for one day.

Surprise, surprise.

One of my friends worked as an engineer at a local radio station.  The talk among the electricians I worked with, was that if you could get to the top of the radio tower and replace the bulb you would get paid $25.00.  This was in the early ‘60s and $25.00 was a lot of money!

I asked my friend about it.  He explained that a man came regularly to change all the bulbs whether or not they were burned out, except for the top one.  The top one was only replaced when it was burned out.  He didn’t know how much the station paid, but he thought it was pretty good.

One day he called me up and said some of the bulbs were out on the tower.  He wondered if I would like to try changing them out.  I jumped into my 1948 Ford Flatbed Pick-up and hurried out to the tower site.

When I got there and looked up at the tower I thought it was really high!  I didn’t think I wanted to try it.  My friend hadn’t arrived yet and I didn’t want to leave without talking to him.  I laid down on the bed of my pick-up and studied the thing.  The longer I studied it, watching the clouds drift past the tower, or the tower drift past the clouds (it was hard to tell which), the easier it looked.

When my friend showed up I said O.K. let’s do it.  (Sometimes it’s better to go with your original instinct.)  He informed me that he would call the station and inform them that the power would be cut for a little while.  I asked if that was necessary – couldn’t I jump quickly from the earth to the first rung?  That’s what the experienced fellows do.  He didn’t want to take a chance on me as this was my first time.

I strapped on my gear and proceeded to the first light – about ¼ of the way up.  I tied myself off and took the glass cover off.  It was about the size of a quart jar.  The glass cover was tied to the fixture with a small chain so it would hang there while you changed out the bulb.  What I had not realized was the chain was rusted in two and I almost dropped it.

That totally unnerved me.  I somehow got the bulb changed, the cover back on and I came down.  I informed my friend that I couldn’t do it – don’t pay me as I didn’t get the job done.  That eliminated any ambition to be the light bulb changer on radio towers.

The funniest part about the whole incident was a week later when I received a check in the mail from the station for $5.00; for changing one bulb.

It didn’t change my mind about climbing towers and changing bulbs.

In my days of being a Union Traveler, I have met quite a variety of people.  I’ll have to tell you about “Overtime Harry.”  We have probably all had the opportunity to work overtime.  I think the best I’ve ever seen at it was Overtime Harry.

Overtime Harry was a plumber.  He was quite savvy at manipulating the powers that be on government jobs.  When we completed a job for the government, we were required to run a test on it.  The test would run continuously for 48 hours and all of the trades on the job had to be there.  If you did your portion of the work correctly there would be nothing to do during the test but wait it out.

Harry was very good at being “short” one part to complete the job just prior to the test start.  The test would be delayed while he acquired the part and installed it.  He and his crew would sit down and wait on the job for the part, sometimes it had to be flown in, and collect their wages for waiting for a missing part.  Then the crew would be there for the 48 hour test.  The requirement was that whoever was on the job at the start of the test had to be there at the end of the test.  Since it was difficult for one man to stay awake the whole time, there could be a couple of guys per trade waiting out the test.  The plumbers had their whole crew; thus the reputation of “Overtime Harry.”

Harry was making pretty good money.  Harry had been mailing his checks (very large checks) back to his wife and he was anxious to fly home and see her.  Finally one weekend the whole crew had the weekend off and Harry was going to go home to see his wife.

Come Monday morning Harry was there nursing a hangover, trying to borrow money from fellow workers so he would have something to eat during that week.  We asked him; “Did your wife take all your money and leave you nothing to live on?”

“I never saw my wife.  I didn’t make it home.”

We asked what happened.  It seems Harry stopped at a bar to cash his check before buying a ticket for home.  Some of his working buddies were in the bar and he started buying drinks for everyone.  (He had an unusually large pay check that week.)

About 3 O’clock in the morning Harry passed out.  All his buddies laid him out in an alley and took his money and left.

I have noticed that the more money some people make, the more dishonest they become.

I didn’t see much of Overtime Harry after that, but I didn’t spend much time worrying about him either.