A False Step

Monday, 02-09-2009

Today was another example, although a minor one, of how my survival skills aren’t the best. It’s a comment I made to Joe. But first let me tell you about Joe. I’ve been working with him, off and on, for the last couple of weeks.

Joe is a big guy. I don’t mean “big” as a euphemism for fat or obese. Joe is about 6’ tall, 210 lbs., affable, always smiling, always kidding around. But he’s nervous when he has nothing to do. Can’t stand still. So even though he jokes around about doing as little as possible, he’ll make work for himself. He also happens to be one of those guys, common in the shipyard, who don’t drive a car because their license is suspended for D.U.I. But the bosses consider him one of the go-getters. I’d say he’s average as a shipfitter in terms of ability. He’s neither precise nor careful. During the time I’ve been working with him I’ve caught him in several mistakes. He will also work unsafe frequently, like today, when he was working straddling a stepladder – one foot on a step, the other on a cross brace. And he sometimes uses an angle grinder without wearing a face shield. That kind of thing. Not really serious, but enough to get him written up if a safety inspector saw him. I didn’t like Joe at first, in part because of his tendency to kiss up to the supervisors, but now I’ve come to like him. We complement each other, sort of. I let him be the go-getter, because I have a Bad Attitude. Meanwhile, I keep my eye on him and make corrections when necessary. Oddly enough, though, it’s often me who makes a suggestion that moves things along while he’s just spinning his wheels.

So, for what I said. In the morning our nominal supervisor, Starner, seemed to be camping out on our job. He just stood there, saying nothing. It gave me the heebee jeebies. I kept waiting for him to leave, but he didn’t. After a while, right outside the space, I said to Joe, “Is he going to hang out here all day?” Later, Joe told me Starner said to him, “He knows I heard him, doesn’t he?” And I thought, “Uh oh, I screwed up.” I didn’t think he could hear me. But then, as I thought it over, I remembered having this split-second flash as I said it, that was like, maybe he can hear me, but I don’t care. Well, it wasn’t really a big deal anyway. Joe said, “He did get off our job.” But somebody else suggested the real reason Starner left. There were no women there for him to hit on. The week before he’d hung out for a couple of days on Joe’s job, first trying to hit on a woman electrician, then on the firewatch.