That Fort Mac foreman who checked my math twice saved my ass
Back in 2011 I was doing rebar placement on a slab near Fort McMurray. This old foreman, Dave, came over and asked to see my layout numbers. I showed him and he just said 'you're off by half an inch on the north edge.' I checked again and he was right. He told me he always double checks young guys because one bad pour costs more than the whole crew's day. I still think about that whenever I'm tempted to rush a measurement. Anyone else have a site vet who caught something small but critical early on?
Guys like Dave earn their keep in ways that never show up on a time sheet. A half inch might not sound like much, but once the concrete is down, that mistake is there for fifty years or more. It takes a quiet kind of pride to catch another man's error before it costs the company thousands, and that lesson sticks with you longer than any tool you'll ever own.