Well, here we go again. This is my 5th Walmart Distribution Center job. Surprisingly, even though I’d never done anything like this before, my jobs have turned out very nice! I can honestly say Harmon Concrete has an excellent reputation with Walmart.
When we first started with Walmart in February of this year, we didn’t really have a clue what we were in for. As it turned out, we’ve been told that our concrete work has been the best in a long, long time. This comes from a man who’s been doing this for more than 30 years, so yes, it actually means something to me to hear that. It pays to be picky.
There’s actually a funny story to go along with me being told what a good job I was doing.
The General Contractor I work for has been less than complimentary with me. He’s actually told me on more than one occasion that my work was the worst he’d ever seen. I’m not sure if he’s using some kind of reverse psychology on me or what, but it did in fact make me try that much harder.
For someone who’s done this for 12 years, he couldn’t tell me much about how to do it, so I literally had to figure things out on my own. It took a full day of trial and error, but I finally figured it out (On my own) while my helper was busy trying to impress him by cleaning up with a broom! That’s a whole other story.
The GC likes things done right, don’t get me wrong. He’s a perfectionist when it comes to his work. That’s what I strive for as well. It just doesn’t work out that way all the time. God, however, does give me massive quantities of strength when those around me seem to fall behind, and I thank God for that often!
Anyway, the head guy from the door company (The one who’s done this for more than 30 years – An engineer and the designer) showed up in while we were in Williamsburg, Virginia. For 3 days he walked around and ended up giving the General Contractor a “punch list” that was at least 2 full pages of things that needed to be corrected. He got down on his knees, used his little flashlight, opened and closed doors, raised the dock levelers and just about everything else in between.
After the 3rd day, I couldn’t stand it anymore and had to talk with him. He hadn’t said a word to me and hadn’t even introduced himself. He just yelled at the GC for the most part. It was ironic for me since I was usually the one getting yelled at by the GC! He was just about to leave when I stopped and introduced myself to him. I told him, “I’m the concrete guy and I’ve noticed you’ve been going around to the different docks and pointing out the flaws. I’m sure my turn is coming and I’m just curious as to what you’ve found for my part.” The man looks at me and says, “I’ve done this for more than 30 years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen dock levelers that were so square, neat and precise. I don’t think there’s anything more you could do. Keep up the good work.”
I walked around for the last week in Williamsburg, Virginia with my chest stuck out like you wouldn’t believe. Not sure I’d had to many moments like that one.
Not bad for a guy who gets yelled at all the time by the GC. Big things happen when you trust God to take care of you. He gives us the strength to do what we need to do. We simply have to ask and believe. I have to admit, without God and my wife Denise, I wouldn’t have made it.