Pinheads:
I've decided that true construction-related stories are needed on this forum. Here is one. How about yours?
The Concrete Pickup
When I worked at Genstar in Whitemarsh, MD, a pickup truck came for a load of concrete. Inside were 3 large grown men who spoke Spanish. They insisted that the back of the truck be filled with concrete. The dispatcher insisted that they sign a waiver and leave by a gate to the east of the lab buildings. The gate to the west was the one that the mixer trucks normally left to get on Rt. 40, after they went down the narrow road next to the lab. It had a better sight line down the road, making it a safer for a large truck to enter the highway. The first that I became aware of the situation was when I heard "POW PowPow!". I ran outside the lab to see a pickup truck full of concrete (nicely lined with polyethylene, I might add) with three flats, the doors open, and with three large men standing around being excited. I guess that they didn't read the waiver that they signed, including the note appended by the disputer as to what would need to be done if they broke down on the road next to the lab. I think that the disputer anticipated the problem and made a call or two before he even loaded the truck, for a large loader immediately appeared, scooped up the rear of the pickup, and pushed the #2$%% thing, as I heard it described, into the area where we disposed of the concrete cylinders, beams and other debris after testing. The Spanish speakers were pretty upset at first, but soon left, and then returned in about 45 minutes with more tires and a jack. They shoveled out some of the concrete, changed the tires, and went on their way. About a month later, I asked the dispatcher if there was more to the story, but he hadn't heard any more from "those characters."