This just ain't fair

[Norm]

This is a home under construction on the Island of Palm Beach, Fl. About a mile from the Kennedy compound. Years ago, when I was working with my tools, we used to sweat our asses off in the S. Florida heat. Now the contractor places a 5T brand new Amana package unit in the dirt in front of the home and pumps 2,000CFM into the house so the poor babies can work in relative comfort. How decadent does it get?

Download Attachment: Lap of Luxury.jpg

63.8 KB

NORM SAGE

[hausdok]

Hi Norm,

Yeah, I agree, it does sound like overkill. However, playing devil's advocate here, which is cheaper, install a spot cooler on the job or take a hit when employees start keeling over from heat exhaustion or, God forbid, heat stroke. Years ago, employees didn't automatically sue their bosses at the drop of the hat hoping to become instant millionaires. Now all you gotta do is look at them cross-eyed and they'll complain that you were sexually harrassing them or causing them undue stress.

It's not just the civilian world. The day I decided to retire from the military was the day a newly-promoted Captain called me into his office to "counsel" me,'cuz the day before I'd gotten up in the face of a troop, who'd taken one of my government sedans for a ride into the red light district in Seoul, and rheemed his ass out. The C.O. said that I'd invaded the troop's "personal space" and that I was a dinosaur. At the time, I was on the verge of lighting into the Captain 'cuz he was less than half my age, but my more rational half prevailed. I'd just been promoted to Master Sergeant, and figured I'd rather retire at that grade than at my old grade. I just said, "Yessir, how long will it take you to get the orderly room to begin processing my retirement papers?" "Why?" he asked. "'Cuz I've had about all I can take of this new, warm and fuzzy chickenshit Army. I've got 20 years in and want to put in my papers. Can you make that happen by tomorrow?" The rest is history. I retired just a year later.

We can't paddle our kids ass without landing in jail; if you say "Boo!" to someone they claim they've got post traumatic stress disorder, and the next generation is afraid of every little speck of dust floating in the air. It's our own fault, 'cuz we let our own generation become a bunch of pansies and they raised their kids that way and they in turn are raising theirs that way.

It won't be long before people are suing each other because they don't like the color of each others clothes.

Ah, I shouldn't have gotten started. Going back under my bridge now where all dinosaur trolls belong.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Danny Pritchard]

They would be laughed off most jobsites.Years ago the company I worked for built some multi story office buildings with all fixed windows and definitely no A/C.We viewed the sweating as a way to make room for beer at the end of the day.

[Brian G]

Awww, why don't you crochety old fossils go imbed yourselves in a rock someplace! It's the 22nd century already! [][:-dev3][]

Brian G.

[chrisprickett]

I remember having 6 guys fighting over one "salamander" propane heater, in the dead of the Connecticut winters. And that was before you had that fancy-schmancy Thinsulate!

[bradfeldt]

You have to look at the other side of the fence as well. I would be willing to bet the quality of work is much better on the job where it is a comfortable 75 degrees inside.

[crusty]

I always thought the claw on the hammer was for knockin the ice off the pump jack walk boards in the morning.

[Scottpat]

In our harsh Southern winters the majority of the better builder have learned that the need to get the heat working ASAP. One day we might be in the 30's and the next day we could be in the 70's, you just never know and always with our pleasant 80% humidity! Plays havoc on the drywall and paint.

[crusty]

We had the same problems in the Ohio valley where I cut my teeth Scott. Actually temperature and humidity control during construction of the building has it's pluses and minuses. Many years ago, I ran the shop for a company that produced plastic laminate veneered products. We supplied the fixtures for a very large major department store, new construction. The construction management was terribly out of phase and off schedule and the fixtures were forced into storage and then later delivered from 90 degree/90 percent+ humidity conditions into an air conditioned super low humidity environment. They promptly warped and buckled all over the place. Thousands and thousands of dollars worth of product destroyed. It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature.