A Day in the Life of an Office Bitch in Construction
Do you ever have those days at work when you think, “Shit couldn’t possibly get much stupider than it already is”? I have them often. But as luck would have it, I continually get the answer to that rhetorical question, which is an unequivocal “yes”.
As I’ve said before, I work in construction. I don’t wear steel-toed boots to work every day, and I don’t swing a hammer, I am an office manager for a construction company. Basically, I am the “office bitch” for a construction company. I push papers, I copy and scan shit, and I watch the money. Correction; I watch the money go out. Rarely does the money flow back in, and when it does, it’s a trickle. When it goes out, it’s a flow like your first piss when you’ve broke the seal after pounding four beers in an hour’s time.
So this contract I work on, it’s bleeding; bleeding like your ball sack when you nicked it manscaping.
How to fix the problem?
My suggestions would be:
1. Work smarter.
2. Buckle down and get jobs bought out sooner and get your fucking paperwork turned in on time.
3. Stop making excuses and do your job.
I know those are novel ideas, and very easy difficult to implement, but they cost the company no extra money. Wouldn’t you think you’d want to try the no-cost approach first?
Not around here!
My boss just came to me and told me to buy “Moose Knuckle”, our head superintendent, a new white board. Moose Knuckle, known to everyone around here as “Captain Save-A-Ho”, claims this will help him get his shit together and track activity in the field better.
I must point out here that Moose Knuckle doesn’t even carry a notebook with him. He claims he can keep track of everything in his head. Really, the only reason he can keep track of anything, is because he makes it up as he goes along. If he doesn’t know the answer to a question–he will make something up. And that something that he makes up, to cover his failure to jot down a fucking note every once in awhile? It won’t be a simple bullshit excuse like, “Man, I was really fucking busy bailing my drunk girlfriend out of jail today and didn’t make it to that job”. No, it’s fucking elaborate and Ripley’s Believe It or Not kind of shit, like, “Man, I’m not sure what happened, because I got stuck in a 10 car pile-up on the way to the job site, and I had to give 3 people mouth-to-mouth, and one dude an emergency tracheotomy with my ball point pen, and then I had to whip off my too tight moose knuckle Levi’s and use them as a tourniquet to save this chick’s leg, and I just lost track of time and before I knew it was time to come back here for the meeting”.
But. . . .a new, really fucking big white board is going to make all the difference.
Do you have any idea how much those things cost? We’re talking party like a rock star in Vegas with cocaine and hookers, or a Justin Bieber trip to the titty bar expensive.
So I suggest to my boss that Moose Knuckle take the one out of the empty office next door to me. Nope. Not good enough. Moose Knuckle wants the BIG board. I’m guessing to make up for what he is lacking in the moose knuckle department, but mind you, that is merely a guess, except for the fact of just how fucking tight the dude wears his fucking pants. Gross.
I look at my boss like Crazy Eyes from Orange is the New Black. I ask him if he realizes how much it’s going to cost, and remind him that Moose Knuckle didn’t maintain the first white board he had. He says he knows, but tells me to get it anyway. WTF? Just to prove to everyone after dropping a load of money on this thing that the guy couldn’t coordinate s’mores making at a fucking Campfire Girl jamboree??
I know you guys don’t like to listen to me, because I have a VAGINA, but could we just buy the guy a little notebook and tell him that if he can maintain that, you’ll graduate him to the big boy white board??
Saving a few bucks. What a stellar fucking idea.
Fat Bottom Girl Said What 
Great post! I think you just did some manscaping with this post, no?
In my experience though having a vagina doesn’t mean women will listen either. I just don’t think anyone listens… *considers mime as an option to talking.
Love your style!
I would agree, that I don’t think people take the time to listen anymore. Everyone seems to be too busy for common courtesies. It’s why the world is going to hell in a hand basket.
When considering White Boards, bigger is always better. I am sure you had the same thing when purchasing PC. It is a man thing.
But if one doesn’t utilize the board, the size is totally irrelevant. Considering they cost almost as much as the Xmas bonus I didn’t receive this year, I would say he doesn’t need it.
Bonuses. They are Variable Reinforcement also. So you need to skip them every once in a while to make them really effective. Hence, the budget for the supersized white board was available.
I have a feeling bonuses will continue to be skipped on this job. lol
I’m an office bitch for a construction company too. Seriously, buy-outs…every damn project, yet they act like they’re surprised. Our company gave every superintendent an iPad and we now use ProCore to manage all the projects. But somehow I think your Moose Knuckles would be like our Mater, and it wouldn’t matter.
Yep–they should know what sub they’re going to use by the time the project is assigned. What’s so fucking hard about it??
The reason he wants the white board is because he doesn’t want to plug the information into a spreadsheet which someone created specially for him to track information. WTF?
How frustrating! We used to have a white board for the project managers, but the only thing we ever used it for was Hangman.
Quite frustrating. Frustrating enough to think about finding another job!!
It is frustrating, add to it we’re also under State and Federal deadline pressures to complete projects and we’ve been doing this for almost 30 years. For crying out loud!
Yep, but balls still trump a vag in construction.
Yup. Very true. And sad.
Hah! I’ve been in charge of a shop before. Usually, i’d have someone else do the OB thing. My boss, before I replaced him, did the OB thing. Let me tell you, I had to grow a tumor just to cope with that shit. Anyway, I had the best of both worlds. I had someone to keep the papers straight while I ran herd over my techs. Of course I let him chew ass on the guys when he realized we wasted money.
I miss those days (sigh).
I feel for you.
I wouldn’t miss some of the stupidity, or the moose knuckles. Lol
Sadly, while technology can do great things, a lot of people just wee the shiny toy and lose interst in learning how to use it fast.
On the other hand, hitting him with the whiteboard later on will be much more fun than smacking him with a tablet…
Maybe because he strangles his nuts in the moose knuckle jeans every day cuts off some sort of oxygen supply to his brain which deters his learning how to use the computer? Hahaha
My experience in construction is temp guy site cleanup, and that’s about it, but I’ve talked with people in the biz enough to know I’m not too surprised.
A dear family friend was telling me the other day he was the “cleanup” guy, only he meant that he was the guy to go in and fix up a project. He said one foreman didn’t seem to believe in on-site inspections– one site needed carpet and painting, and the young 20-something guys left the carpet rolled up and painted genitalia on the walls (and claimed they were done). So my friend was called in to sort things out.
Nice! Graffiti can be cool but I don’t want it on my living room walls! Lol
Hehe. I don’t think it was a living room– I believe it was an apartment complex for retirement living or something like that.
But yes indeed, still inappropriate.
Accountability is a good thing. I appreciate your commitment to such, even if your employer might not be. I’m sure you’re the office manager for very good reasons!
When i said office bitch I meant it literally. My former employer on my last contract loved the fact I watched every penny! I am currently wondering if they have a job opening.
Best wishes and lots of luck if they do and if you follow it up.
Thanks!
Time for a follow up post. He got the board and screwed up still, right?
How’d you know?? lol Luckily, Moose Knuckle has taken his “talent” to another company. Good luck to them. They’re gonna need it!