After reading a recent article on brutal honesty, an engineer decided to try it out on the jobsite. Encouraged to speak their mind, the engineer tried it on the person who is most brutally honest on a regular basis – the general superintendent. It didn’t go well. Un-shockingly the general responded in kind. Whatever the engineer said was barely brutally honest and tame compared to the general’s response so no one could provide a quote on what they said because they thought it was no bid deal. What is remembered is the response the engineer got. The general started by questioning the engineer’s mere presence on the project and followed up with questioning their intelligence in regards to a recent survey bust and submittal resubmittal. Upon the seeing engineer’s obvious hurt feelings and general butt hurt facial expressions, the foreman said, “facts don’t care about your feelings,” only making things worse. The other engineers, who weren’t in the kill zone laughed hysterically. The general, who had started to walk away whipped out his phone and gave it to the engineer and told him to call him mom who had given him his number the night before. Unable to take brutal honesty, and now brutal sarcasm, the engineer rushed the super and got chest to chest with him. Not understanding the sarcasm, the engineer demanded the general back off their mom and apologize. All this did was make the crew in The Trailer egg the whole process on more. Saving the construction team from full self-destruction, the owner’s rep walked in to discuss the schedule of tomorrow’s concrete pour. Everyone but the concrete super quickly disbanded and went to their crews or to their office.
Easier to give than receive, brutal honesty is growing slowly on jobsites.
***This was another Fake Construction News article. If you liked it, stay tuned for more. If you did not like it, you may take your laughs elsewhere.***
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