A Textbook Example

Skippy has been hinting for months for me to accompany one of my work crews all day, to keep them on course. He doesn't realize that's impossible. He finally out-and-out told me to follow the crew yesterday. Naturally, it didn't work.

I retrieved my Gator and parked it in a place convenient to the starting worksite and the daily managers' meeting. I picked up a piece of trash and began walking toward the worksite (and a trashcan). An employee from the other crew stopped me and said he needed a key -- from the keybox back at the shop. I turned around and started walking back to my Gator -- and was stopped by my small equipment mechanic (that is, a mechanic for small equipment, not a small mechanic for equipment, although he is slight of build), telling me the tractor still has a battery problem and what he was going to do to diagnose it.

I drove back to the shop and gave the employee the key he needed. I drove my Gator back, parked it, and was stopped by the mechanic who had confirmed his diagnosis and was going to buy a new battery. I continued to the starting point and the trash can, and I decided to use the bathroom while I was there. Naturally, that's exactly when I was called over the radio and my cell phone rang at exactly the same time (and exactly when my hands were otherwise occupied). The radio message was telling me that the missing employee had arrived and needed to be let into the shop to clock in. The two missed phone calls (with no voice mails) were the employee trying to let me know he had arrived. I headed back to my Gator to go back to the shop. (At least I finally had the chance to throw out that piece of trash.)

I let the employee in. He grabbed his ring of work keys and his uniform shirt, and he went to get his equipment. He put it in the back of my Gator, so I could take him to the worksite (assuming I'd ever get there myself), and then he realized that he hadn't clocked in. So, I let him back into the shop and finally got underway.

As soon as I dropped off that employee, another one approached me and asked if I could drive him back to the shop, so he could clock out and leave for his doctor's appointment.

Sigh.

I did so, and by then it was time for the daily managers' meeting. By the time we got done with that (it was more like Froggy holding forth at an audience for an hour), it was time for the crew's morning break, so I couldn't observe them. I went back to the shop, checked for any new e-mails, and played a few rounds of Freecell.

At that point, I realized that I hadn't yet turned on the sprinklers to keep our new seed and sod moist, so I went around campus and did that. By then, I had half an hour before we managers would leave campus for lunch to celebrate Froggy's and Officer Krupke's birthdays (last month, but we're finally getting around to it, for reasons that would fit in well with this post but also would make it longer than it already is), and I really wanted to check on the status of the tractor, so I went to the mechanic's shop. He filled me in, I went to turn off the sod sprinkler, and then it was just enough time to use the restroom again before lunch. (At least I had time to go to the bathroom yesterday. Some days, I don't get that much.)

Lunch took two and a half hours, all told (waiting for everyone, driving nigh on forever, eating, listening to Skippy hold forth, and driving nigh on forever back to campus). I brushed my teeth, checked e-mails -- and then it was almost time for the crew's afternoon break, so no sense heading out onto campus just yet.

Finally, I did go to check on the crew. I drove through all the areas where they are scheduled to mow every Monday, saw that they had skipped a couple, and found them in Tuesday's area, where I instructed them to go back and do what they had skipped. (The crew supervisor was so upset by this that he has called in sick this morning.)

Sure, Skippy has a point about keeping tabs on my crew, but I think you understand why I can't.