I needed money. I was in graduate school and the University of California at Davis needed a heavy equipment operator. Perfect! (Except for the fact that I wasn't
really a heavy equipment operator.
) Nonetheless, I got the job.
I drove the backhoe from the yard to the jobsite in the middle of campus without incident. I was supposed to complete a recently abandoned trenching job. Pretty easy. The trench was about 3 feet wide and 4 feet deep. The previous operator had already trenched about 60 feet and there was only another 20 feet to go. Perfect!
Progress was slow till I figured out which of the 8 hydraulic controls did what. Lift the boom, extend the boom, curl the bucket, swing the bucket. Pretty simple. Before long I was in a good rhythm and there was a satisfying pile of dirt beside the growing trench.
After you cut about 4 feet of trench, you need to move the backhoe. When moving the backhoe in reverse, it's best to look behind you. I found out the hard way.
It was noon. The pathways were FILLED with students. Some were walking, some were on bikes. Nudging the backhoe in reverse I felt a hard THUMP. As I turned around, I saw the 20' decorative streetlight tipping towards the pathway. It was going down like redwood at the hands of a master timbercutter. The streetlight had four 2' plastic orbs at the top. Three of them shattered on impact and the fourth started rolling down the center of the path at an impressive rate of speed. Somehow, the falling post missed everyone and the tumbling plastic orb came to rest in a bicycle rack.
Unbelievably, I was not fired.