Out of Town Humor
by
Gary L. Clark
Reprint from the 1998 Summer Roundup
Ah, the plight
of the out-of-town crew! For the duration of an out-of- town job, these
poor fellows often are doomed to spend every moment together. So, at times,
it seems like the hardest part of their job is learning how to cope with
each other's idiosyncrasies.
Even among the best of buddies, situations can develop to frustrate and
madden. Those situations, combined with different personalities, different
likes and dislikes, and poof - you have a perfect setting for dilemmas.
That's when a sense of humor really comes in handy. It makes problems that seem serious at the time into something to rehash and laugh about later on.
Almost without exception, our crews find that getting along during the day is fairly easy. But as the work day draws to a close, most guys - tired and lonely - are asking, "What are we going to do after work?"
Then the usual things come to mind: Find a new restaurant; go to the movies; pick up supplies. Or, if none of those are suitable, there is always the dirty laundry.
Some poor, lonely souls find that just hanging out at the local mall is entertaining. They claim that just seeing people who are not wearing hard hats gives them some comfort. Sleeping in near proximity creates another area of concern.
They Snored And They Coughed Snoring comes into play here. I particularly remember one project in the Midwest. We all lived in a house the company had rented. The boss and his family lived upstairs; the crew lived in the basement.
One crew member had a heavy snoring problem. If he fell asleep first, no one else could because he snored so loudly. To say it sounded like a chain saw is an understatement! Sometimes his snoring would inspire the neighbor's dogs to sing along. So, with the snoring and the dogs barking and baying, no one got a good night's rest - unless you were fortunate enough to fall asleep first.
Randy South often recalls a trying evening he had during a project in Denver. Randy, Barry South and I shared a motel room during this project. I had somehow caught a cold, and would cough myself to sleep every evening.
One night, strange noises within the room awakened me. It was Barry snoring. He snored as he inhaled. On Barry's exhale, I heard Randy trying to get Barry to roll over. It all sounded something like this: Snore - "Barry" - Snore - "Roll over" - Snore - "Barry" - Snore - "Roll over."
Eventually, Barry did roll over and the snoring stopped, but by then I was awake and coughing. The next day, Randy, noticeably tired, told the crew, "Between Barry snoring on one side, and Gary coughing on the other, I didn't get any sleep at all. That was the longest night of my life."
Really
Being Fired On another occasion, my family and I had a wonderful time
overseeing the construction of some domes at the Grand Canyon. I had a
duel crew: Some came with us from Idaho; some were local men. We camped
in trailers at the job site.
One day at work, I had some problems with a few local helpers. The problems resulted in the men getting fired and sent home. That became a topic of discussion during that evening's cookout at the campfire.
My daughter, Ashley, about three at the time and with a child's curiosity and understanding, listened to the adults' conversation about the firing while she roasted a marshmallow. Suddenly, Ashley's marshmallow burst into flames. She started running and screaming, "My marshmallow got fired! My marshmallow go fired!" In her mind, what happened to her marshmallow had happened to the men who were fired.
Ashley calmed down once we explained to her that getting fired from a job was very different than torching a marshmallow.
A Welcome Dinner But being out-of-town isn't all bad. There are benefits. Sunday usually is still a day of rest. While building a potato storage dome in Joseph, Oregon, we attended Sunday church services. On our first visit, we were asked to stand and introduce ourselves.
Being shy guys, most of us stood, quickly mumbled our names, and quickly sat down again. But not Randy! He introduced himself - then boldly stated he had fifty dollars for anyone willing to prepare a home cooked meal for our crew!
We shy guys didn't know whether to cuss or kiss him! That evening, we had a wonderful spaghetti dinner, a chance to make new friends, and hours of companionship, fun and game playing.
Building domes is enjoyable - no matter where you are. But you have to remember to bring along your sense of humor.
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