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4X4 · 02-18-2008, 10:41 AM

Blackarcher's story reminds me of a time I almost saw someone die. I had just gotten hired by a dirt flipping company and had the pleasure of flagging. Our site was along 85 st out on the west side, and the quarry was on one side of the road and the dump spot was on the other.
Now, if you've ever worked in this industry, you know that one thing that can't happen is for the scrapers to stop. If those wheels aren't turning, the company is making no money. (a scraper is one of those humongous earth moving tractors that you see playing in the dirt before roads and houses are built)
So the scrapers need to cross 85th street and my job as well as the stupidest woman I've ever met, was to stop traffic when a scraper was coming so that the scraper could stay at top speed.

We were armed with stop signs, vests and folding chairs. It was pretty simple, really. Make damn sure that a car doesn't cross the path of the scrapers.
So this lazy bag of crap decided that she would no longer stand for the one or two cars that were actually approaching at the same time as a scraper, and took to merely turning her stop sign so that the car could see it.
What does a stop sign on the side of a road mean to you? Well, to most people, it means STOP, then GO! Which is exactly what a car did. Unfortunately, a 100 tonne machine was barrel assing down a blind track and was on a perfectly timed collission course with this car.

I saw this and threw my stop sign at the scraper so that the operator would see it. Luckily he did and slammed on the brakes. The guy in the car froze up as well and hit his brakes (in the path of the scraper). The machine ended up stopping about 2 feet shy of the car.

Both the car driver and the machine operator had to get out of their machines to take a breath. At first, the machine operator went berserk on the car driver until I pointed out that it was our fellow employee's fault.
I was pretty pissed off, both me and the machine operator tore a strip off this dumb broad. And then, one of the red trucks (supervisor) noticed a stopped machine and came to investigate. The chick got fired either that day or a day or two later. Can't remember.

But I do still clearly remember that little car cowering in the shadow of that scraper.

02-18-2008, 10:41 AM	#66
4X4 One of the Nine Join Date: Dec 2004 Exp:	Blackarcher's story reminds me of a time I almost saw someone die. I had just gotten hired by a dirt flipping company and had the pleasure of flagging. Our site was along 85 st out on the west side, and the quarry was on one side of the road and the dump spot was on the other. Now, if you've ever worked in this industry, you know that one thing that can't happen is for the scrapers to stop. If those wheels aren't turning, the company is making no money. (a scraper is one of those humongous earth moving tractors that you see playing in the dirt before roads and houses are built) So the scrapers need to cross 85th street and my job as well as the stupidest woman I've ever met, was to stop traffic when a scraper was coming so that the scraper could stay at top speed. We were armed with stop signs, vests and folding chairs. It was pretty simple, really. Make damn sure that a car doesn't cross the path of the scrapers. So this lazy bag of crap decided that she would no longer stand for the one or two cars that were actually approaching at the same time as a scraper, and took to merely turning her stop sign so that the car could see it. What does a stop sign on the side of a road mean to you? Well, to most people, it means STOP, then GO! Which is exactly what a car did. Unfortunately, a 100 tonne machine was barrel assing down a blind track and was on a perfectly timed collission course with this car. I saw this and threw my stop sign at the scraper so that the operator would see it. Luckily he did and slammed on the brakes. The guy in the car froze up as well and hit his brakes (in the path of the scraper). The machine ended up stopping about 2 feet shy of the car. Both the car driver and the machine operator had to get out of their machines to take a breath. At first, the machine operator went berserk on the car driver until I pointed out that it was our fellow employee's fault. I was pretty pissed off, both me and the machine operator tore a strip off this dumb broad. And then, one of the red trucks (supervisor) noticed a stopped machine and came to investigate. The chick got fired either that day or a day or two later. Can't remember. But I do still clearly remember that little car cowering in the shadow of that scraper.