Petey walked to his first day of work reflecting on how fast the time had gone. Before graduating from CAT-U he was offered a job with Structures Done Right. Now only 5 days after graduating, Petey was on his way to shadow one of the foremen of the company.
He found the office for Structures Done Right easily, and was greeted by a blue-eyed Persian at the front desk, “Hi, can I help you?” she asked flirtatiously.
“I am Petey. This is my first day here. I am supposed to meet Mr. Levy here. Is he in?”
“Yes, he will be right up.”
The Persian picked up the phone and hit a few buttons, spoke to Mr. Levy and then hung up the phone.
Petey looked at the photos of buildings under construction that hung on the wall.
Mr. Levy appeared a few minutes later. He was a sleek built Siamese with piercing green eyes. “Good morning, Petey. Are you ready to get to work?”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Levy.”
“Great, well, let’s go.”
Petey followed Mr. Levy out the door and down the block.
Mr. Levy explained as they walked, “Today we will be helping with the construction on the Furville Tower downtown. Have you seen it?”
“I saw it when they were just starting to put up the frame work, but that was a while ago.”
“They have the exterior frame up and are working on the support structures on the inside of the building now. Soon they will be putting up the walls.”
Petey nodded.
Mr. Levy led Petey through the fenced off area, and handed him a yellow hard hat.
After introducing Petey to the crew, Mr. Levy said, “Ok, the first thing we have to do is finish getting the corner supports on. Take these nails and the support joints are over there.” Mr. Levy pointed to a stack of thick corner brackets.
The crew grabbed the nails and headed off.
Petey said, “Um.. Mr. Levy, I don’t think those nails are long enough to go through the bracket and the wood.”
“What? Nonsense. I have been using the same materials for every building. I have been doing this for 8 years. “
Petey nodded and quickly looked back to the crew that was working. He realized that he shouldn’t have corrected his boss. I am just so excited; I couldn’t help it. I know they need the three-inch nails not the two-inch nails.
As Petey stood in silence certain that Mr. Levy hated him already, the crew members attempted to attach the corner bracket to the structure.
They each hammered four nails into the bracket, but when they let go, the brackets fell to the ground.
Petey smiled to himself seeing that the nail had barely penetrated the wood.
Mr. Levy glanced around, before calling the crew over. “What’s going on?”
“The nails aren’t long enough,” a buff brown cat responded.
Mr. Levy snatched the nails from the out stretched paw, and muttered, “Who mixed the two-inch nails with the three-inch nails?”
The crew members shrugged and shifted uncomfortably.
Petey saw that the bucket of nails had the number 2 on one side and number 3 on the other, which caused the confusion. But after earlier, Petey kept his mouth shut.
Mr. Levy dug through the bucket and said, “We are going to have to sort these out. Here everyone take a handful.”
Petey and the crew grabbed the nails and quickly separated the two- and three-inch nails.
Once the crew was back to work, Petey grabbed some extra buckets, and a marker. He marked out the second number on each of the buckets, so that it was clear what length nail went in each. He then carefully sorted the nails into their new buckets.
Mr. Levy watched Petey work without objection. “Thank you, Petey. Nice initiative.”
Petey beamed at the praise.
After lunch, Mr. Levy was explaining how the crew was going to start putting up the stucco walls.
Petey listened intently as he watched the crew prepare to hoist a large sheet of stucco up against the frame.
Petey waited for Mr. Levy to pause, before he said, “Mr. Levy, they need more support on that stucco sheet, or it will break before they get it flush to the wall.”
Mr. Levy, followed Petey’s gaze and was about to respond, when the sheet snapped in half and fell back to the ground. The crew members scrambled to avoid being hit, and all escaped unharmed.
“Good eye, Petey. Why don’t you go help them?”
Petey nodded with a smile and walked over to the crew. He explained, “You need an extra support in the middle of the sheet, otherwise it creates too much pressure. The pressure is what caused the first sheet to break.”
The rest of the afternoon passed quickly, as Petey assisted the crew with placing the stucco sheets along the frame. The crew members all respected Petey and by the end of the day were asking for his help over Mr. Levy’s.
Petey couldn’t believe, it was already quitting time.
“Bye, Mr. Levy, thank you,” Petey called as he walked out of the fenced yard.
“See you in the morning, Petey. You did excellent today. You will be surveying your own construction site in no time.”
Petey smiled and walked home. He could not wait to tell his siblings about his adventures. I like this job a lot. I can’t wait to go back tomorrow.
The End
