Chaos Donkeys and Steak Sandwiches

I started with Hennessy in the spring of 2003 as a part-time receptionist and worked my way into my current position as Administrative Assistant. In the fall of 2004, I was informed that I had been assigned my first on-site project. Being the natural organizer that I am, I began assembling list after list of everything I could think that we would possibly need to have on site. We weren’t even scheduled to move to the site for several weeks. But I wanted to be prepared.

This is when I learned one of the most valuable lessons, not only in construction, but in life. My boss, in words that could only come from a character like him, said “learn to ride the chaos donkey, or it’ll be riding you.” Truer words were never spoken.

That first project in the fall of 2004 was the first of many. We spent the next three years moving from job site to job site. If it hadn’t been for my ability to “ride the chaos donkey” I don’t know how I would have taken some of the odd things that happened over those next few years. There was the time that the subcontractor kissed me out of the blue. Not too odd except that I was married at the time and about a foot taller than the subcontractor in question. There was the time I came to work to find a bar of soap on the trailer hitch. Apparently, the homeless in the area were using the drainage from the trailer’s A/C unit to bathe in. Then there was the time an Architect walked in on me while using the bathroom. Luckily I was mid-zip so it could have been worse. I could have sworn I’d locked the door.

About a year into our field work we were working at a private school in Tampa building a Multi-purpose building. We were still in the same trailer from our first project. The set up worked well for us so moving it from one site to the next seemed the logical thing to do. However, after a year on a construction site, it had seen better days. Not to mention I think the thing was built in the 70’s. The rental company was out several times to fix issues.

The most interesting glitch was the day the door knob to the bathroom fell apart in my hands. My character of a boss was always cracking jokes so this occasion was no different. When he stepped into the restroom, he added “don’t peek” before he pulled the door to. Peeking had never crossed my mind, but the up side was that had anyone walked into the trailer I could head them off before they accidentally walked in on him. We had posted a note on the door which stated the bathroom was occupied, but who’s to say the note would be read before someone barged in.

Later that morning, while I was completely alone in the trailer, nature called. The question was how to use the restroom with nobody to run interference for me. Everyone was out walking the site and depending on what they came across they could be gone for ten minutes or over an hour. My bladder simply wouldn’t wait.

I moved the sticky note over the hole left behind by the missing door knob so if anyone did enter they would see the note when they reached for the knob. Of course, that wasn’t enough to make me feel secure in my privacy. After all, we had people in and out of our trailer all day long and I didn’t know these men enough to trust that they wouldn’t come barging in.

In a moment of false logic, I pulled the door all the way closed and went about my business. As I stood at the sink a few moments later, the stupidity of what I had done sank in.

Yes, the door knobs had fallen off. Yes, the door did open outward. But the guts of the door knob and latch bolt were still in place. So here I stood inside a closed bathroom, nobody else in the trailer and no way to pull the latch bolt back so I could push the door open.

I had left my cell phone on my desk so if I couldn’t figure a way out of this, I’d be stuck until someone came back. I attempted to use my fingers to fiddle with the latch bolt. Nothing happened. With no other options, I took a seat and decided to wait it out.

I’m not sure how much time passed when I heard the trailer door open.

I immediately called out “Hello” wondering who had come to my rescue.

Please don’t let it be the Owner or the Architect! Luckily for me, it was Peanut.

Peanut is one of our field workers who had been with Hennessy for something like 50 years. He is a sweetheart of a man and, as I would soon learn, slightly hard of hearing.

Peanut called back to me and said “I came to see if you wanted a steak sandwich.” We were working right down the road from a great little place called Mott & Hester’s and our group frequently picked up lunches there. (http://www.mottandhesterdeli.com)

“I can’t think about food right now Peanut cause I’m stuck in the bathroom. Can you get me out?” All I heard was silence and the squeak of the office chair at the Superintendent’s desk. At this point I was puzzled? Why wasn’t he looking for tools? I called out to him several more times with no response. I start yelling at the top of my lungs “Peanut, can you hear me?”

He replied back “I can wait.”

I screamed “Peanut, I am STUCK in the bathroom.”

At this point, I heard him get up out of the chair and walk in my direction. “I’ll just get you a sandwich” he said.

I banged on the door and called out again, “I am STUCK. Can you get this door open?”

“Oh, you are stuck in there,” he replied. I saw his weathered fingers poke through the hole but he had no more success then I did. “I’ll be back.”

Within a few minutes he was back with the Superintendent who slid a credit card in the door and set me free. The good-natured ribbing started immediately. The best part was the sheepish look on Peanut’s face when he apologized for not understanding. “I thought you were “stuck” in the bathroom.”

I honestly have no memory if I ate a steak sandwich that day or not. It has been nearly four years, Peanut has retired, but whenever he stops by the office to say hello, he still asks if I want a steak sandwich.

So remember - Learn to ride the chaos donkey or it will ride you!