In a Good Way

I have been working in the same industry for more than 48 years. You would think I’d be tired of it by now, but I’m not. Granted, I am only working 3 days a week instead of 5 or 6, so that helps. But the thing is, I love what I do… and I always have!

Why is that? I asked myself that complex question this past Saturday because I had five Light Pole Inspection projects to complete in one day, and two of them were large projects with over 50 parking lot light poles each. The work is physically demanding so there’s no way I could do that much work by myself. So I hired my son David, and my son-in-law Zac, two men who aren’t afraid to work hard, and we spread the work out between all three of us. But I knew even with three men, it wouldn’t be easy.

I arrived early at the largest project before anyone else got there. I like to scope out the site and figure out the logistics before we get started. This was a huge modern office complex that took up a whole city block. The parking lot alone had to be a quarter mile long, but since it was Saturday morning at 6:30am, the sun wasn’t even up yet… and nobody was around… except for this one guy.

At first I could only make out the silhouette of someone because he was so far away.  But as I traipsed through the never-ending parking lot, mapping out the light poles, I finally got close enough to see it was a worker wearing a yellow safety vest, same as me. Except I was carrying a clipboard, while he was carrying a leaf blower. It was 42 degrees out, so he was bundled up with a heavy coat and he had a large bandana worn tight across his face to block out the dust and debris. He appeared to be a small Hispanic man, mid-forties, who kept his head down, obviously intent on completing his work. But as I looked out across that vast expanse of asphalt, and then observed how much time it took him to do even a small section, his job seemed absolutely overwhelming.

We finished our inspection work at the first project around 10:30am. After packing up our tools and equipment in my truck, I made one last lap around the parking lot to make sure we didn’t miss any poles. That’s when I saw him again, head down, intently focused on his work, with only about a third of the parking lot completed. I stopped and watched him for a moment and admired his determination. The cool thing was that the area that he had completed, looked so much better than the rest of the lot. The daunting thing was that there was still another two-thirds to go.

 And that got me thinking… There are people in this world who aren’t afraid to tackle the tough jobs, the behind-the-scenes dirty work that nobody else is willing to do. You don’t notice what they do, but you would damn sure notice it if they didn’t do their job. We need those people, and we need to appreciate them. And we need to respect the work ethic they exhibit when they show up every single day and give it their best… even when nobody is watching!

I like it when I get to work hard and 

then go home tired… in a good way!

~ Pablo Rojo-Delgado

Migrant Farm Worker

Fallbrook, CA circa 1969