Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The job I hate to love

Work. Feels funny to call it that. Shoud call it sit and watch, or better yet, lie in wait for the next stupid move by one of the largest contractors in the east. I cannot count the number of times over the years that individuals have asked me " how do i get a position like yours? " mainly because it looks like I do nothing and, as a consultant for a state agency, am highly overpaid.
Quick rundown: all work for the state must be inspected and approved for payment. Sounds simple. Build it to the plans and specs. That would be great if the same entity that wrote the specs also designed the plans. Not so. This is where a major amount of $$$ is wasted (my money, your money) on redesigns needed that should have been caught by pay grade 16's in the field plan review. Fear not though, we have our own Palinesque commissioner who is trying to straighten out the good old boy network. Loved her til she muddied the waters by dating-firing-marrying a DOT board member. Not a cool way to gain respect of the near dead board members.
Steering away from the politics now....
Working nights for the past month since we cannot close lanes during the day and i am the "bridge lady" so I must oversee certain phases of work whilst my project manager gets his beauty sleep. This week we are installing pipe, grading new roads and ramps and managing the CRAZY traffic during lane closures. Here's a thought: If all the blinking lights are blinding you then SLOW THAT DEATH MACHINE DOWN.
FACT: death benefits are written into the cost of a job. Simple as that. It is akin to playing "THE LOTTERY" to get on the road, only crops don't thrive upon your death.
Current example: last week a 69 yo lady from Tenn traveling to see her boyfriend in Fla late at night rammed the back of a blue light who was running interference (rightfully so it seems) for the men setting out lane closure. She gassed it instead of braking to try to merge wayyyyy too late into only open lane and was forced into the closure to hit a cop. Bad night for her. Upon interviewing her in her tossed about state (no seatbelt. i mean really people) she stated " I was headed to see my boyfriend who called me and asked if I could be there tonight instead of waiting til saturday". Could not help but form the cartoonish thought of a long distance elderly booty call. Of course my dad took offense in hearing this story & her age and thus ensued the only slightly uncomfortably 'old people have sex too' talk. We both noted that he was lucky he didn't have to drive anywhere to have sex unless THEY wanted to. Hilarious!
Closing request: please advise of pitfalls and or unwritten rules of blogging. I already feel as if I run on too long.............

1 comment:

lime said...

lol, i gotta tell ya, my grandmother and her friends, all a bunch of widows, hipped me to the sex lives of my advanced elders many years ago. it was an education lemme tell ya.

as for blog length, you're fine. not to worry.