That’s what they say.  It takes all kinds.  I think I have worked with them all!  Sometimes they are a little bit difficult to work with and sometimes you have to admire them.

For instance: On one occasion we were remodeling a grocery store.  It involved tearing up the concrete floor to run the wiring and communications to the future locations of the checkout stands.  There were also some walls being moved.  The refrigeration and cooling area was completely changed.  And an addition was being built onto the structure.

With all this construction and remodeling going on, the store had to remain in full operation.  The foreman for that particular job was unflappable.  Nothing “bothered his mind.”

There came the time for us to run a long run of heavy gauge wire in conduit.  There was no room to lay out the wire inside the store, so we laid it out in the parking lot.

About that time a large produce delivery van entered the parking lot.  The driver and his burly helper intended to drop off their load at the back of the store.  If it had been me running the job, I believe I would have (cautiously) approached the driver and asked him to please not run over that wire.  Or maybe I would have said something about letting us move the wire before he drove over it.

Not our foreman.  He walked directly over to the driver and stated: “You run over that wire and you’ve bought it.”

That’s all it took.  We successfully pulled the wire in, and not a bit of it was damaged.  I didn’t see much of that foreman after that project.  He was sent to run jobs all over the country.

Another type of personality I would often run into was the joker/prankster group.  They could keep you laughing for the whole project.

Other personalities were always upset about something.  And they didn’t mind putting their load on your back.

Some personalities needed to be handled with care; as if you were walking on peanut shells when you spoke to them or worked with them.

I have formed many opinions of my own about how employees should be treated.  I was able to put many of them into practical use when I formed my own business.