Back in the late 1970’s, Waylon and Willie released a famous country song which warned mothers about the dangers of their babies growing up to be cowboys. One line in that song reminds me of working in concrete, “Them that don’t know him won’t like him, and them that do sometimes won’t know how to take him.” Concrete workers are difficult to get to know and we are often misunderstood, most folks assume we're half crazy. That’s okay though, it’s part of the price we pay.
I follow a very disciplined Facebook page for concrete line pumps, AKA LINE DAWGS. I learn a lot from folks all over the world on this page, from people who have dedicated their lives to pumping concrete. Christopher Fox, a moderator on the page, was on a jobsite recently when a contractor asked him how much his pump cost. His response, which he shared on the Facebook page, gave me goosebumps and made my eyes well up. Mr. Fox said, “It’ll cost you everything, if it gets in your blood.” That my friends, is the true price we pay.
Here's a warning to all the mothers out there; concrete is an addictive, obsessive, all-consuming trade and once we start in it, we can’t escape it. Concrete occupies our minds at night, robbing us of sleep. It distracts us and consumes our thoughts while our spouses are talking to us, we will never avoid critiquing concrete work which we observe everywhere in our off hours, and it takes a toll on our bodies as we quietly carry our aches and pains to the grave. We miss our kid’s ball games, we are late to their birthday parties, and we are the last parent to ever to chaperone a school field trip. No one outside of our trade will ever understand us or what our workday is like. But once concrete is coursing through our veins, we are willing to sacrifice a normal life for our trade.
Working in concrete, we take our lives in our hands daily; we can’t afford to ignore the dangers that surround us. Whether it’s a loose chute swinging by our head, driving a mixer on a treacherous route, climbing scaffolding to work on a tall foundation, unclamping high-pressure pump hoses or banging our hoses to get a plug out, or raising a few tilt-up panels, this trade has its inherent dangers which we must always be aware of. We’ll pay a much higher price than losing any eye or a few digits if we ever forget this.
Many years ago, Johnny Carson had a skit on his Tonight Show where he drank so much coffee, when they pricked him with a pin, coffee flowed out instead of blood. I’m pretty sure there will be more than one undertaker who'll get the surprise of their life. For when they go to embalm an old concrete worker, instead of just draining their blood, they’ll discover there’s something gray in their veins.
