Hard Hat Zone

Good news, children.  I got a job.  Ish.  For a while, at least. 

Ever wondered how construction sites get so clean after being absolutely filthy during construction?  Yeah, me neither.  Let's be honest.  Nobody really walks into a new building and goes "Wow.  These carpets are quite well vacuumed!"  You're not going to do that.  You're going to enjoy the building itself; not the cleaning. 

But that's what I do.  I'm like a House-Elf.  I sweep, wash walls, vacuum things, and do that kind of stuff.  That monstrous 'Early Childhood Development' building that they're building up on campus?  Yeah.  That's mine.  It's got lotsa floors and lotsa walls.  I wash them all.

Turns out, it's just about the best job ever.  I just turn on some crappy Dan Brown book and get to work, only stopping to ask my brother what the score is on the World Cup game.  8 hours later, I go home.  9 dollar-an-hour no-brainer.  Just thought you oughta know.

And for all I've heard about the horrors of construction, I actually love it. It's chaos.  Fantastichaos.  Everybody seems to be spitting sunflower seeds, smiling, laughing in Spanish (really), or all three at once.  Many of the workers speak very little English.  No problem!  Josh and I got punk'd pretty good by an angry looking man who stormed up to us as we entered the building.  "Where your hard hat?  Hard hat!"  We didn't have any protective gear, so we spluttered something about how we were working upstairs and...but he was laughing at us.  Very hard.  His friends working in the surrounding area started giggling at us as well.  "Got you!  Joke, joke!" 

What I thought would be a hazardous zone full of hardened, tattooed barbarians turned out to be the best place I have ever worked.  Everyone is polite, everyone just does their job.  Bearded men chatter away about World Cup as they lift huge panels of glass.  Though covered in dust, grime, paint, and drywall, nearly everyone can be heard whistling or singing at some point.  At one point, we heard a loud bang and a scream, but instead of angry shouting, we heard loud laughter.  There are electrician-type guys balancing on massive stilts.  Men carrying massive tools, performing improbable feats of skill, defying death, all to discordant music:  it's like Construction Zone Cirque du Soleil!

Glory be.  Didn't mean to gush like that.  This blog is about me hating things.  Better get my head in the game.

Also, kudos to David Villa (pronounced Dah-veed Veeya) for being a swashbuckling Spaniard.  *Spanish Bow*  He's a real man.