Carnage!

28 Apr Carnage!

Well, Monday has arrived! As I closed my last post, I noted that my day job never disappoints when it comes to a good story. I just didn’t think that it would deliver in such dramatic fashion first thing on a Monday morning. But did it ever! We are just going to start at the top and work our way through this…let’s begin.

1. As at 01:30 AM! This is the point on the timeline in which the story begins. I woke up to a phone call from my Foreman, which has been an extremely rare occurrence as of late, to let me know the power company needed additional manpower to replace a pole that had been struck by a vehicle. This is probably a good time to let you know, I am not employed by the power company. I am employed by a contractor through the IBEW working on the power company’s property. In this case, they (the power company) were not able to get enough of their own workforce to take the call. So when all else fails, they call us. I arrived at our staging area at approximately 02:15 am. We gathered some supplies, loaded a new pole onto the tuck, and drove to the job site. By the time we arrived, the vehicle in question was no longer on site, and traffic control was already in place. So if you were waiting for the part where I describe a horrific traffic accident scene, I’m sorry to disappoint you. But the wreckage left behind was still significant. The impact to the pole was severe enough to cause about an eight-foot section of the pole from the ground up to completely break free from the rest of the structure. The high voltage (primary) wires became detached from the crossarm and the traffic signals were within arms reach from the ground! Luckily, we were able to remove the old pole stump from the ground and reuse the existing hole to install the new pole. Up we went in our bucket trucks, reattached the primary and secondary wires, and rehung the traffic signals back up to their original height. Because of the efforts of highly skilled and motivated tradesmen, the structure was replaced safely in just about two hours. Not Bad!

2. Right around 06:30 am (normal starting time), we were ready to get started on our regular work for the day. Pretty good timing if you ask me. So we loaded another pole and the associated material for that job and hit the road. The job in question was roughly 40 minutes away. Just about halfway there, we approached a traffic signal three trucks in a row. The truck in front (the Foreman) was carrying a 45′ wood pole that extends roughly 8-9′ over the front and rear of the truck, next was me in a bucket truck, and following me was another bucket truck.

Out of habit, just as I was about to come to a complete stop, I checked my driver-side mirror, only to find that the driver behind me was clearly panicked and desperately trying to get his truck stopped to avoid a rear-end collision. In a split second, I realized what was about to unfold and attempted to accelerate to the right side of the road to give him some space without also crashing into the truck in front of me carrying the pole. Somewhere in that slow-motion sequence of events that my life reduced to, I was pretty sure we were going to get out of this predicament without a scratch. THUD! I was immediately reminded that 30,000lbs can only move so far so fast and requires a ton of room to stop. The trucks came together quite violently. The onboard inward/outward facing cab camera instantly registered the event and politely verbalized to me, “crash detected”. As if my body being jarred forward and the sound of two massive trucks colliding wasn’t enough. But hey, now I know! Thankfully, no one was hurt. Maybe some pride, but that’s superficial anyway.

We were able to safely exit the road and contain the river of fluids that were pouring out of the engine compartment from broken hoses and radiators. The camera footage revealed that the driver was actually looking straight ahead and doing all the right things. I can’t explain to you what actually happened. My guess is fatigue. I know from experience, driving fatigued is dangerous. I crashed my car, into my own truck, in my own driveway coming home from work as a result of fatigue. But, we are all ok and the tucks can be fixed. Pride will mend and we just have to remind ourselves to be careful when driving fatigued. If you can’t do it safely, just don’t do it.

3. Now to look inward. In between all the chaos today, I was able to find some time to read. What I discovered deepened my perspective and appreciation for time. Every minute that passes is another minute expired. You can never get it back. But you can always live and act in the now. Because the time is always, now. No matter what your clock says when you are reading this, the time is now. And now is always the time to take action, implement, and correct the course of previous actions. If we wait to act on anything, we have allowed enough time for our emotions and feelings to bail us out and set a course for safety. By not taking any action, and giving in to fear, we miss out on pivotal opportunities to succeed, fail, and learn. There can be no growth without failure! So take your fears head-on. Get comfortable being in uncomfortable situations.

This is something I battle with every day. I know I have to get comfortable promoting and selling myself and I have to charge at the opportunities in front of me. To accomplish this, I will add this “face your fears” philosophy to my daily affirmations sheet. This will ensure that I start and end my day knowing that I am an action taker even in the face of adversity and uncertainty.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post. Remember, reading is critical and vital to your success. Find the time for 15-30 minutes.

Until tomorrow.