Let me tell you a story that I heard last week. A true story that shows what we are up against; but still with a [so far] happy ending.

A young man, an equipment operator, gets hired to operate a concrete pump. A small boom pump. His first training day, the fellow that was training him just walked away, end of training, Five or six hours of ‘here is how you do it’ taught by a guy with less than six months experience and then he is on his own.

One pump in the company and no one else had a clue about how to even put it in pump gear. This guy is the lone ranger.

The ‘learn as you earn’ program has been going on for quite some time now and other pumps have been added to the company. Our ‘instant operator’ is doing a good job and getting better every day.

As far as I am concerned; this guy is a hero.

The people that put him in that position, a zero.

Everyone have a good nap today and please be careful next week.

;~)

More so than one may believe,I thought we progressed more than that.Friday was a rainout,so working today.

best way is to learn the hard way.

A classic case of the blind lead'n the blind Bob. I'll admit, I learned to swim by bein tossed in the deep-end. My first line-pump had NO water tank. I did'nt know any better for almost a year. Needless to say I made lots of mixer-driver buddies. Even the ones I did'nt like!

My guess is this kids gonna come up to be a good operator someday.      Pump-On kid!!

There was a time when we were all relatively dumb and the rules were fluid and in the making. That is no longer the case. There is no need for that today. Those hard learned lessons were painful and dangerous; we just remember the part about learning to swim, not all the water we swallowed. ;~)

You should write a book Bob. (If you hav'nt already) Not just a pump'n book any ole story type book. The kind you learn lessons from,You're well versed and have a way with words.