As I lay in my bed, trying to fight off whatever latest virus seems to be plaguing me and my son (fever, cough, general lethargy . . . nothing swine-related that I can tell), I can hear the roof guy above my bedroom.
He's prepping the shakes to be power washed tomorrow, nailing down the loose ones, replacing the obvious bad ones. He's been pretty focused; hasn't really taken a break.
There are a lot of benefits to a white-collar job. The pay is good. The benefits are good. You don't have to tie yourself to a steeply slanted roof and hope you keep your footing. You get paid travel and expense accounts.
But now and then, when your brain is tired from the abstract world of finance and economic theories, when its full of academic accounting trivia that is like a foreign language to the layman, I kind of think that the roof guy hasn't got it so bad.
He's getting paid for each hour he works, and doesn't work for ones he doesn't get paid for. When he's finished, he can look back up at the roof and see and touch what he's accomplished. And he gets to do it all in the sunshine of late May in Seattle.
Respectfully submitted,
The Wife
6 comments:
He's "The Man," and God bless him for it.
-The Husband
Ahhhhh, yes, the world of diminishing returns for we salaried folk.
As I type this, I am just finishing doc review for a closing tomorrow. Technically today. Closing call starts at 9am ET . . . so you know what that means.
But I suppose I can't complain. It's the first time I've worked past 6:30pm since I started this job. I have no idea how I pulled all of those all-nighters in NYC.
I hope the relocation efforts are going as smoothly as they can given the circumstances.
*SMOOOOOOOCH
A lovely bit of rationalization for a bright spring day.
Vegas was 102 the other day. Roofing loses its appeal then. Snow damage? Up you go.
Doubt his expense account and billing is portal to portal.
The trades do have a lot of women though and they don't have any ceilings associated. If that corner office is sounding less interested, there always an apprenticeship around.
Grass = Greener > Fence
I am now giggling uncontrollably. Gasping for air. Thumping the table.
The Wife at the Carhartt store buying new work shoes by the pound.
Check out the ones at the bottom of this page for ladies.
http://www.carhartt.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/WomenMainView?storeId=10051&catalogId=10101
IT IS YOU, GIRL!!!
Oxygen!!! I need Oxygen.
There may be a simplicity to manual labor of that type, but it is hard, hard work.
Not that I'd know -- I have some bullshit career that somebody made up 5 years ago. =D
Days like today in Minneapolis make me miss my landscaping gig I had for a few years.
Nothing like getting in a quick nine in between working outside all day when its sunny out.
Post a Comment