Anything that can go wrong …

Concrete Producer, The, August, 2004 by Jimmy Ambrose

I recently discovered concrete production and aerospace research have at least one thing in common--Murphy's Law.

My experience began on the last leg of a three-day weekend trip. I was leisurely riding back from Chattanooga, Tenn., refreshed from the weekend's activities. I was preparing for a busy week ahead. I did my best to put off the thoughts of cement shortages, rising fuel costs, and training our new mixer drivers. The late afternoon sun had been replaced by the distant glow of the moon when an unusual clunk stopped short my trip about a mile from my home.

I managed to get my bike home that last mile. While I was thankful it didn't happen when I was gliding across Signal Mountain or halfway down the other side, the incident ruined by new frame of mind. I tried to settle down and relax for the night.

Just as I began to unwind, the phone rang. My soon-to-be ex-dispatcher chose that moment to tell me he wasn't coming to work tomorrow. In fact, he wasn't coming back at all! No explanations, just a quick goodbye.

Despite the cement shortage, we've had a pretty good season going. So when I drove to the concrete plant and checked the schedule, things didn't look too bad. Things should work out after all. But halfway into the morning deliveries, phone calls started coming in from customers who had scheduled concrete. The problem was their orders weren't recorded anywhere.

As if quitting employees and unscheduled deliveries weren't enough, I found out a driver leaving his job put his drum in reverse by mistake and dumped three yards of concrete onto a freshly graded parking lot. The box of carpenter pencils and the three baseball caps that were left for him probably are being thrown into the trash about now. Oh well, I thought. No one said it was going to be easy, did they? Just be thankful that you have a job and have people to "discuss" some of "life's little opportunities" with.

Meeting of the minds

After two phone calls from the project manager and the owner of the company, we set up a meeting. After explaining the series of events leading up to the spillage, and reasoning with them after everyone had a chance to cool off, we were back to square one. We all laughed because there is always something going on in this business that sets off an unforeseen chain of events.

That's when I pulled my trump card. I asked everyone if they knew who "Murphy" was of Murphy's Law fame. When they said they didn't know, I pulled out a printout from the Internet that explained how the origin of the law had to do with testing of escape systems for jet airplanes in the 1950s. Although there are different versions of the story, Edward A. Murphy, a West Point-educated engineer, used the saying to explain why testing devices he designed failed during an important test. A reporter covering the event used it in a national story and the name stuck.

Everyone enjoyed the story so much, that before the meeting ended, the owner handed me a purchase order for a new large concrete frame building.

It pays to use Murphy's Law to your advantage. If you have any Murphy stories, send them to me, and maybe one day, I'll put a series of them together for a good construction joke book.

Hoover Concrete, LaVergne, Tenn. jimambrose@aol.com