My first hourly wage job was as a seasonal parkman for the NYC Parks Department while I was in high school.
I was assigned to the grass cutting crew. Our daily routine went something like this:
08:00 - 08:10 Sign in for 8:00 (paper blotter)
08:05 - 09:00 Morning Coffee Break
09:00 - 09:50 Load equipment on trucks
09:05 - 10:00 Drive around aimlessly
10:00 - 10:45 Coffee break at local diner
10:45 - 11:00 Drive to worksite
11:00 - 11:30 Cut some grass
11:30 - 13:30 Lunch break back at garage after driving around aimlessly
13:30 - 14:30 Drive around aimlessly
14:30 - 15:00 Cut some grass
15:00 - 15:45 Stand around drinking beer and regaling summer help with tales of sexual exploits
15:45 - 16:30 Drive around aimlessly
16:30 - 16:35 Arrive at garage and unload equipment
16:35 - 17:00 Kill time
17:00 - 17:00 Sign out
Let. Me. Be. Clear: I am not exaggerating. Now, since like every other red-blooded American boy, I had made money cutting my neighbors’ grass using my father’s lawnmower and my father’s gas, for about $0.50 an hour, the opportunity to make a buck-sixty an hour using the City’s equipment and gas seemed like a great opportunity. On my first afternoon on the job, (at 16 when the legal drinking age in New York was 18) I declined the offer to stand around and drink beer. One of my co-workers then proceeded to kick the muffler off my lawnmower and told me it was “defective equipment” and I could no longer use it. I then was treated to free beer and tales his macho sexual exploits.
Wow, just amazing. I have heard similar things from many many union workers. Is it any wonder all our government agencies are so inefficient?
As someone who grew up in Hudson County, NJ I can believe it. Unfortunately the internet, combined with cell phone cameras, is changing the way these slugs do their thing.
Too easy to end up on YouTube...