I have a love/hate relationship with my job, but it's mostly love. I'm outside in the fresh air, I'm responsible for making the dirt grades "flow", meaning pleasing to the eye and making sure the drainage, compaction, landscaping, streets/highways/curbs/gutters/sidewalks work, and foundations are solid.
The job dictates my satisfaction. If we have to turn a third or fourth generation farm into a 350 acre housing project, it's not so much fun. I just don't care for the clearing and grubbing to build expensive houses that may not sell, but urban housing near metro areas is a fact of life, and will be done with or without me.
If we are turning a 350 acre site of scrubrush, weeds, and dilapidated buildings into a family friendly waterpark (as we're starting now), I'm OK with it.
Walking amongst huge construction equipment running to and fro, while checking grade on a big jobsite can be exciting, though. You just have to be alert and be careful. I'm fortunate enough to work for a great company started just after the civil war by a man who used mules and manpower to build much of the early Kansas City infrastructure. Many, if not most, of the roads, bridges, and downtown area were done by my company, and as such, the company cares for the area and gives back to the community.
I also have a great, down to earth boss. He was the general superintendent over a 270 acre job, with multiple subcontractors and around 500 people on the first job I worked for him. It was hard for me to imagine managing that much every day...... I'd never seen only one man in charge of that much, usually four to five, minimum. After we got acquainted, we just sort of hit it off and became friends. Then one day I put on my poker face and asked him.... "Are you on nerve pills?"
Answer..."Why, you think I need to be?"....I could tell we were both trying our best not to crack a smile......
I said...... "Well, I think I would be..... I don't know how you keep track of all of this without going crazy."
He grinned just a bit, then dryly answered... "That's what they make beer for." I found out later he rarely drank except on weekends when he was off work. He's also the most brutally honest person I've ever worked for, in a good way. That makes my job much easier. You always know where you stand, good or bad, no backstabbing, no lies, no cover your own a$$ at someone else's expense. A supervisor who treats everyone equally, from the richest business owner to the newest apprentice with the dirtiest, hardest job is a great person to work for. So I mostly love my job. If I won the lottery I'd be gone as soon as the check cleared, though.
:nono: :saw: 
unch: :crazyguy:
