Dear YouDig? Archives

3.5.21 Big Bully Gone Wild

Dear YouDig?

Me and three of my friends like to check out a nearby construction site when no one else is around. The equipment is soooo cool. Yesterday, just goofing around, I jumped on big yellow bulldozer. I was tinkering with the controls when, low and behold, the thing started! Then, when I messed with a pedal, it suddenly jumped forward and started to move! I couldn’t stop it so I panicked and jumped off. My friends were horse laughing as I fell to the ground. At first it was just hilarious to watch it rumbling unmanned across the very large site. Problem is, the dozer kept going off in the distance … and going… and going! It tore through a fence. It traversed a creek. It rumbled through some brush and into the neighboring property. Unstoppable, it then cut a large swath through their cornfield and continued until it took out the corner of their beautiful red barn where at last it somehow got hung up. We were literally in shock, looked at each other and ran away. I came clean to my parents and the police. No one was hurt but am I in trouble?

-A Little Mischief

2.19.21 Don’t gag but … gummers = winners

Dear YouDig?

We are in the middle of a pandemic. The unemployment rate is higher than it has been in years. We are lucky to have a lot of work going on and are eager to do it. Our problem is finding workers and when we do find them they just don’t “get after it.” They either quit or, are so lame, get canned. So we are constantly chasing our tail. The problem worsens when all of the work falls on the motivated who often burn out and leave. Any bright ideas for this one?

Abled Body Conundrum

1.23.21 Trap with the Tap

Dear YouDig?,

We are getting scammed by one of our suppliers but we can’t seem to pin down the proof. They say they give us 20 tons of the stone per order. Our scales consistently come in at 18 tons. Over and over again.

We think we can trap them into admitting they are shorting us. One of our project managers wants to record his phone calls with the supplier’s representative.

We are not the FBI. Is this legal?

-Faux Fibbie

1.11.21 The Power of a Decision

Dear YouDig?,

We have been very successful in constructing strip centers throughout the Midwest. Our success has brought us many opportunities to venture into other areas. We always stay in our lane and reject these opportunities, until now. A majority of our members voted to begin seeking hospital construction projects because of a key relationship. Most of our team has never constructed a hospital. We have many who disagree with this decision. So far the learning curve is weighing us down on ALL of our work let alone the two new large hospital projects we are on. There is some grumbling. How do we press on without a revolt?

-Strange Man in a Strange Land