i think jacksonville may want me to leave now
So I have one work day left now to complete my year of service. (Yea!) I've seen and done a lot of dumb things this past year (like losing a wheelbarrow out of my truck bed right on to Main Street), but Friday's event takes the cake.
I was trying to install a mailbox on a home that was supposed to be completely finished a few hours before. Usually, I enlist volunteers to help install the box because it takes some hits with a sledgehammer to get this metal stake into the ground. I had no volunteers yesterday and my co-worker and I are pretty clumsy and have bad aim and sledgehammers weigh a lot (and me and this girl do not). So anyway, I felt like I was hitting rocks, but it's Florida, so I was like, "eh I can get through some little rocks, and it's probably just a chunk of concrete from when they poured the driveway anyway." I was still trying to hit it and failing miserably when the Kitchen World subcontractor (the guy who installs cabinets) shows up to do something. He sees that I'm having trouble and offers to help, so of course I hand over that sledge.
He takes about three giant whacks at the thing, and then all of the sudden we see the ground start to bubble. We look each other dead in the eyes with an expression that can only be summed up as "Oh no, what the heck have we done?!" We get out of the way, and all the bubbling ground bursts and muddy water flies into the air, coating my work truck and all the tools still in the bed. Soon enough the water is clear and still shooting out at least 15 feet into the air going across the street, hitting an old A.M.E. church and a woman's house. All I could do was laugh. Another co-worker had been on site for a bit and he made all the calls. The thing went off for almost an hour before the city's forces showed up to fix the water main we hit. In that time, a good number of people came to get a free car wash (driving through it slowly and one even gave us a thumbs up as he rolled away).
The family that will be moving in next week even showed up to see how their house was going along (it was supposed to have it's closing that very afternoon, but...) We'd already dealt with some vandalism on their house that happened the night before. They weren't as amused but I told them the story and took the blame.
So Friday was nuts (but I still laugh when I think about the geyser I helped create over on Franklin St.), and I'm kinda glad that this job is ending. And my arm still hurts from the darn sledgehammer . . .
I was trying to install a mailbox on a home that was supposed to be completely finished a few hours before. Usually, I enlist volunteers to help install the box because it takes some hits with a sledgehammer to get this metal stake into the ground. I had no volunteers yesterday and my co-worker and I are pretty clumsy and have bad aim and sledgehammers weigh a lot (and me and this girl do not). So anyway, I felt like I was hitting rocks, but it's Florida, so I was like, "eh I can get through some little rocks, and it's probably just a chunk of concrete from when they poured the driveway anyway." I was still trying to hit it and failing miserably when the Kitchen World subcontractor (the guy who installs cabinets) shows up to do something. He sees that I'm having trouble and offers to help, so of course I hand over that sledge.
He takes about three giant whacks at the thing, and then all of the sudden we see the ground start to bubble. We look each other dead in the eyes with an expression that can only be summed up as "Oh no, what the heck have we done?!" We get out of the way, and all the bubbling ground bursts and muddy water flies into the air, coating my work truck and all the tools still in the bed. Soon enough the water is clear and still shooting out at least 15 feet into the air going across the street, hitting an old A.M.E. church and a woman's house. All I could do was laugh. Another co-worker had been on site for a bit and he made all the calls. The thing went off for almost an hour before the city's forces showed up to fix the water main we hit. In that time, a good number of people came to get a free car wash (driving through it slowly and one even gave us a thumbs up as he rolled away).
The family that will be moving in next week even showed up to see how their house was going along (it was supposed to have it's closing that very afternoon, but...) We'd already dealt with some vandalism on their house that happened the night before. They weren't as amused but I told them the story and took the blame.
So Friday was nuts (but I still laugh when I think about the geyser I helped create over on Franklin St.), and I'm kinda glad that this job is ending. And my arm still hurts from the darn sledgehammer . . .