Heard a new guy call the ladder 'the easy way up' and it got me thinking

We were on a job near Mobile last week, and this young kid on the crew pointed at the ladder going up to the operator's cab and said 'that's the easy way up, right?' I had to laugh, but it stuck with me. There's no easy way in this job. That ladder is 25 feet of wet, slick steel you climb a dozen times a day with tools in your hand, and you better have three points of contact every single time. I think some folks see the cab and think it's like driving a fancy truck, but they don't see the hours of checking pump pressures, listening for a change in the cutterhead sound, or knowing how the spoil changes color when you hit a different layer. It's all focus. What's one thing you wish people outside the cab understood about what we really do?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas.piper3mo agoMost Upvoted

Right? The cab's just where the work starts. My foreman always says the machine talks to you if you know how to listen.

sandrap403mo agoMost Upvoted

What's the hardest thing the machine has told you?

white.grant1mo ago

Are we really acting like a machine is out here dropping deep life lessons? It's a forklift, not a therapist.