Honestly. Why?
I don’t get it. They get paid good money to just stand there and turn a freaking sign but they all have this pissed off attitude and treat people like crap. Then they wonder why people yell obscenities or flip them the bird all the time.
For example. Yesterday. My mother and I were on the road. We came upon some construction (obviously) and the old guy they had manning the sign had the “slow” side facing us. Just as we got within twenty or so feet from him he quickly flipped the sign to “stop.” What the hell? We could see to the other end of the construction and there were no cars waiting. In fact, the only car that was coming hadn’t even reached that end’s sign turner. So why were we made to stop? I have no idea. But then, the guy just had to make things even more stupid. We came to a stop about ten feet away from him. A little closer than people should normally stop when confronted with a sign turner on a road construction crew but still a decent distance away. For some reason the fool kept pointing his little walkie-talkie at the pavement in front of him, motioning for us to get closer. Why? Again, I have no idea. But we complied. After which he gave us one of the dirtiest looks. I wanted so badly to flip him the bird but then he’d probably have taken down our license plate number and fabricated a huge story about how we endangered him by getting too close or something stupid.
Then….Oh yes, there’s more. Then, a few miles down the road we came to an intersection. Now let me set this up for you. This intersection was shaped like a “T.” The arms of the T made up one road and the trunk of the T was another. We were at the stop sign of the intersection (the trunk of the T). Follow me? Now, from our point of view, there was a bridge to our left (in fact that was the direction we were headed in. The construction was being done on said bridge and there was of course a sign turner posted at the intersection. This guy (another old guy) had his sign on the “slow” side. He let a few trucks go by and flipped his sign to “stop.” “Yeah? So?” you ask? Well, the thing was, his sign was pointed at the people on the road coming from our right, not at us. So we thought, ok, he’s letting us go too. So mom started to go but he looked at us and yelled, shaking his head no. So, we stopped. Then seconds later, he waved us on. What the hell? Make up your fucking mind dude! And next time make sure you either have your sign positioned in a way that everyone at the intersection who needs to stop can see it, or let the people who can’t see it know by holding up your hand. How hard would either of those be, really? Again, I wanted to yell an obscenity or flip the bird, but I behaved myself.
So yeah, why do all construction crew’s sign turners have to be such freaking morons? I’ll never understand it. I mean, do they not train these people? Do they just hand them a walkie-talkie and a sign and say “go for it”? You’d think they’d teach these people how to handle different situations, like say, people at an intersection? Come on, if you have construction near an intersection you should really have more than one sign turner. You know? One for each way. But that’s just common sense I guess. And we all know how rare common sense is these days.
And as far as the construction itself? Really, if you can slap up a temporary bridge that can weather the onslaught of heavy traffic use in only a few hours, then why the hell does it take so freaking long to repair/rebuild the actual bridge? Really now? Why does it take so long for construction crews to do anything? In fact, I think both sections of the construction we went through were in the same stages they were the last time we went through. And that was almost a month or so ago!
Next time you go through some construction take a look around and I can almost guarantee what you’ll see. Anywhere from two to six guys wearing white hats standing around/talking to each other, one or two people with yellow hats in/on/around machinery, and maybe one or two other yellow hat people. And those two other yellow hat people are the only one’s doing work.
Ah. I just answered my own question there. That’s why it takes construction crews so long, because only one or two people are actually working at any given time.
There. That’s my rant about construction crew’s and their sign turners.
Let’s see, what else do I have to tell you people?
Um, well, I still can’t find my books. In fact, another has been added to the MIA list. My copy of Frank Herbert’s “Dune.”
So, the running total of missing books is up to 8 now. That makes me sad.
I guess that’s all for now.
Keep on rockin’ on!
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~A.M.
Audrey May Photography 