I watched a crane operator in a steel shear department of a US Steel plant neatly take off a guys hard hat as a warning with a sheet pile lifter. Not exactly a surgical instrument. Mad skills. Funny thing was it was all a personal beef. The ensuing fight was hilariously unskilled.
Recently I watched a highly skilled backhoe operator tear down a house... was mesmerized with the degree of control he had and ability to manipulate the bucket....smooth as silk and could pick up a small toy to a cast iron tub like it was an extension of his own hand.
I’ve watched others before but this operator was a master at his craft.
My 95 year old uncle worked in a union steel mill along the Ohio River. Told me a story some years past of one of the union guys was found out to be snitching to the corporate bosses the union plans. This was early 1970’s.
A week later the snitcher was mysteriously electrocuted on the job. No one heard or saw a thing. Through chance I met a retired police officer from the town and brought up the story. He said they were 100% sure it was murder but could never prove it.
We had a coal strike back around the same time and union truckers were shooting at the scab trucks from bridges with high powered rifles.
Those union guys were tough back then. Many if not most were WWII combat vets just like my uncle and one more person killed under their belt would not matter.