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One of my all time favorite job site stories originates around tubes of caulk and a girl who had just started out in one of the most predominantly male occupied fields.
A girl we will call Mary was two weeks into working for Kevin, a general contractor I know when some of the boys on the job site thought it would be hilarious to send her to the yard for the first time on a comedy errand. The instructions were simple.....
guys- "Hey Mary, we need you to run down to the yard and pick up two large black
caulks for the guy doing the flashing work.
Mary- "Sure, where is the yard and where will I find it"
guys- The guys gave her the directions and even wrote out verbatim what was
needed.
Mary- Mary shows up at the yard and goes to the desk inside to inquire about her
needs.
Brent and Marvin are two large trucker mouthed roughneck bored guys perched on
stools behind the counter waiting for something to happen during
the slow part of the day. They relish silver platter moments.
Mary- Offers a hello, says she works for Kevin and then gets out her scrap of paper
with the instructions on it to be sure to get the details right and then asks
both Brent and Marvin-
"I need two big black caulks" It was at this point Mary realized her mistake
Brent and Marvin took one look at each other and then promptly disappeared behind the counter laying on the ground and gasping for air with barely a sound coming out other then the clatter of tipped over stools being kicked by flailing feet. Laughing hysterically the two re emerged from behind the counter and Marvin called Kevin who was Marys boss and tried in vain to speak to him, finally only getting out "two black cocks" and then hanging up.
Mary just stood there not too sure what to do and apologized to the two African American guys about how Kevin probably did not actually need the caulk she had come for. She negated to finish reading the note which said "make sure you ask for the kind that goes in the back". That day Mary learned to enunciate the word caulk very clearly from that point on. After a few months on the job Mary could make Brent and Marvin blush with embarrassment and dish out job site banter like no other.
Mary and I are close friends and still laugh about that incident. If I mention it to Marvin who still works at the yard it will make him start laughing and then he will usually tell whoever is in the vicinity about the day Mary came in for the first time.
Kevin also sent a new recruit green horn on a comedy errand while on a job in San Francisco. He sent him to "Steamworks" to pick up 12'' of hard pipe so a radiator return line could be repaired.
Poor kid actually went all the way into "Steamworks" (a gay bathhouse), walked up to the counter and asked for 12" of hard pipe. Kevin had him on speaker phone when he called to tell him he thought he might not be at the right place.
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