Rant: That one Monday on a job in Scranton nearly cost me my back

Last summer I was working on a retaining wall for a new parking lot near the mall in Scranton. The foreman rushed us to lay 500 bricks in like 6 hours, so I skipped mixing the mortar the proper way (you know, letting it slake for 10 minutes). By noon, my back was screaming from re-doing three courses that slid out of place because the mortar was too stiff. Has anyone else had a boss push for speed and then blame you when the quality goes to crap?

2 comments

2 Comments

felix_bailey4513d ago

Man that is brutal. I have been in that exact spot where the foreman is breathing down your neck and you skip a step you know better than to skip, and then it all falls apart and somehow it is your fault for not doing it right when you were just trying to keep up with their crazy timeline. My back went out last summer on a similar job, not bricks but block, because the boss wanted us to stack them dry just to get numbers up and then we had to tear half of it down the next day when the inspector came. It is a special kind of frustration when you know the shortcuts are going to cost you more time and pain in the long run but the person signing your check does not care about that. That mortar slaking thing is one of those steps that seems like a waste of time until you are kneeling there trying to fix a wall that is sliding apart and your spine is screaming at you. I hope your back is okay now, because that kind of work does not forgive a rushed job.

hugo_jones212d ago

That line about "mortar that was too stiff" hit home for me @felix_bailey45. You can't skip the slaking step no matter what the foreman says. I've seen guys try to cheat it and end up with mortar that crumbles like dry sand after a week. The boss pushes for speed, then blames you when the wall falls apart. It's almost like they think the mortar fairy will come fix it overnight. Your comment about tearing down block the next day because the inspector came is exactly the kind of nightmare I'm talking about. Good luck keeping your back together when you're lifting the same block twice.