Post 8 – Getting tired…

Bricks on the truck -- notice how neatly they start out...



but then they get dumped...


And tossed from the pallet....



On this occassion, Harry and I were able to convince them to STACK the bricks!

No English Hyder and I

My new partner in crime and I in front of an Iraqi Helicopter (perks of working on their airbase)


I arrived at site the other day just as a crane was lifting a pallet full of bricks to the second level of the housing project. The pallet was lifted from a chain hooked to each corner of the basket and came together in the center to connect to the crane hook. The bricks were emptied by disconnecting two of the 4 hooks from the crane and then in one swift motion, lifted the two connected ends, raising the pallet a few feet off the 2nd floor slab so that all the bricks could fall out onto the slab and then swinging the crane around and lowering the pallet back down to ground level. So of course, the quantity of useable bricks halved as most of them broke into smaller pieces from the fall (these aren’t the bricks you find in the US. They are about double the size, yellow and are almost guaranteed to break if dropped).

Perhaps I should degress for a moment to provide for you the full journey of the bricks. The bricks come very neatly stacked on a flatbed or dump truck. There are about 10,000 bricks in one load. As I mentioned previously, these bricks are not as sturdy, and much more brittle than the smaller red bricks we are accustomed to. The typical method of unloading the already fragile bricks is to raise the bed and let all the bricks crumble down to the ground (see photo). Then, the Nepalese, in their blue jumpsuits, scurry over and begin loading the pallet by tossing the bricks one by one into the pallet. It is not long before there are 5 or 6 Nepalese at work, creating a shower of bricks directed into the same pallet. If you can imagine this, then it is not hard to imagine how many of those bricks are broken before they even reach the 2nd level of the barracks where they are intended to go.

Next, they are dumped onto the second level floor slab in the manor I’ve already addressed—using the crane and pallet. From here, the Nepalese take over again. The shower of bricks comes alive again as the now, mostly broken, bricks get tossed into a wheel barrel, brought over to one of the bricklayers, and just as with the dump truck and pallet, the wheel barrel is tipped forward to allow the bricks to roll over one another as they arrive at their final destination, by their brick layers feet.

If you could not imagine the mess before, I hope that now it is not hard to envision how many usable bricks are left from the once neat stack of bricks that has now been dumped from a height, tossed, dumped from a height, tossed and dumped from a small height.

This is an argument had with No English Hyder during every truck delivery. “Bring the bricks already on a pallet and therefore no dumping or tossing is needed! You can lift the bricks directly from the truck to the second level with the crane.” Harry and I have both been saying for weeks now. On some occasions, we do get them to at least stack the bricks between each process instead of tossing them into a heap. This success story usually lasts a few days and then it goes back to dumping and tossing. And the suggestion of a pallet already under the bricks on the truck seems to be a lost cause.

Alas, one must pick and choose one’s battles. And today, this is not the battle I which to take on. Today the focus is the crane.

And so I end my tangent here and return to my initial conversation—the bricks have just been dumped from the crane in one swift motion of releasing two sides of the pallet and lifting the load…
As with the bricks, this was not a graceful process either. The motion of lifting the load up quickly to unload the bricks and swinging the crane around and down to the ground gives the empty pallet just enough momentum to swing wildly in the air the whole trip. To add to the scene, there was no tagline (which is simply a rope hanging off the load or pallet so you have something to grab and control it by). This is the 5th or 6th day in a row that there has been no tagline and as a result the brick filled pallet and empty aftermath have danced freely in the air, daring anyone who got too close.

This is the battle I have chosen to fight—the tagline.

I recognize I’m complaining about a rope. But it makes crane work a HELL of a lot easier and safer, and on top of that, it’s the fact that it shouldn’t be an issue at all; this is merely because the QC (No English Hyder) is being lazy and thinking if he just ignores me, I’ll eventually give up.

I’ve grown weary, but of patience, not the desire to give up.

So when I addressed the lack of a tagline that day, he told me, unfortunately, something that I have heard many times before, “Tomorrow, I promise.” It was a Thursday, which means they are off tomorrow. I say, “You will have a tagline by Saturday or there will be a letter written to your company recommending you stop work for non-compliance.”

So, when I showed up today (Saturday) and the first thing I see was the pallet dangling from two hooks again and no tagline, I was annoyed, to say the least (but not surprised).

I head directly to No English Hyder, my stride revealing my mood, and before I could say anything he spits out, “the truck with materials is at the gate, and the rope.”

“Good, so if I come back after lunch there will be a tagline on that pallet.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, yes, I promise.”

“Today? Because I’ve heard this before.”

Hyder closes his eyes, bows his head slightly, and cups his hands together as he says, “Yes, but I promise this time, and when I promise, I promise-- it is true.” To add emphasis, Hyder shakes his cupped hands towards me each time he uses the word, “promise.” To be honest, I’m impressed he didn’t end with “en shala.” (If God Willing).

“Ok, when I come back from lunch, I expect to see a tagline. If I there isn’t, then I’m reporting to my boss, he will stop the work and there will be a letter of non-compliance written to your company.”

“Well, you see, the rope, maybe not coming today. I am not sure, but tomorrow, yes.”

“So…you lied to me, Hyder. The rope is not coming.”

“Yes, but tomorrow, I PROMISE.”

“No, not tomorrow, today.”

“But you see, not sure, maybe difficult to get—“

“It’s a rope, Hyder. No, it’s not difficult. You have a truck, and there’s a True Value on base. There’s a Home Depot on base. Andalus (the contractor) has a camp with supplies ON BASE. Go to any of those and I promise you, you will find rope for a tagline.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Don’t “yes me” – go get a rope.”




I also had men standing on barrels instead of ladders as another issue today, but I won’t go into that.

After lunch, Mike (my new truck buddy—he just came back from R&R and is helping out while Harry is gone) takes me into the PX and buys rope. It may appear that I am not helping the situation by buying the rope they should provide themselves. However, according to Mike, showing up with a rope will HIGHLY embarrass the managers on site – Ahmed (Safety Officer), No-English Hyder and Abu Ali (the site engineer).

Mike was absolutely correct. Abu Ali is actually angry. It is taken as an insult. By providing them rope, I have just said, “I got this because you have failed and are not capable of doing it yourself.” Mike says they’ll have a rope the next day due to embarrassment. Especially since a 25 yr old FEMALE provided them the rope.

…

Again, Mike was absolutely right (I really hope he’s not reading this—or stimulating Mike’s already confident head is not my intention here!) I arrived on site Sunday before the workers and waited for them to show. When the bus pulled up, Ahmed got off and had a bag full of colorful webbing. “Gift from Hyder,” he said. AND he also had a HUGE rope for a tagline!

I showed Ahmed what to do with it and watched the workers successfully use the rope for the rest of the day.

I was absolutely GIDDY. As small as this may seem, this was a breakthrough! When I got back to the office, I told Rob (one of my co-workers) the story. He smiled at me, congratulated me, and then asked, if the crane was certified, was it set correctly and on level ground when in use, is the operator certified, is it hydraulic of friction…etc…? I had zero answers.

… Yeah, I’m still a sucky QA. But a sucky QA that now has a colorful bag of webbing and workers that use a tagline! WAHOO!!!