In a message dated 4/25/00 2:23:29 AM Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:

<< I discovered I had to be very sensitive to their ways of thinking and
feeling to keep their enthusiasm and support and still get on with the work.>>

Cuyler,

Likewise to my response to Larry. I'm curious how the process of discovery
unfolded.

We have one concrete mason that we work with that I found out early on if you
send him a written memo, say telling him that the sky will be blue on
Wednesday, he will freak out and drive over to the office to find out if he
has done something wrong. Great guy, great heart, great craftsperson, Irish
all the way, but send him written words and he freaks.

Sean got into a fix w/ one of our younger staff who, for some idiotic reason,
decided to do a fairly extensive sidewalk patch job using hydraulic cement.
Sean had never encountered hydraulic cement in decades of replacing concrete
sidewalks and try as he would the stuff kept setting up too fast for him to
work it. Work it he tried, over and over. Despite diligence, best effort, and
I imagine several extra shots, the repair came out a coat of many colors, and
swirls, and bumps and valleys. My joke now w/ Sean is that we are going to
set him up on a job w/ fast setting bricks. He laughs, but I can tell you he
is not one to be burned twice.

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