Freshly Poured Concrete

I went to Bagel Fair this morning to get a bagel and coffee for breakfast. There’s a construction crew around the building on scaffolding working on the exterior, and they were also pouring fresh concrete on the sidewalk in front of the building. To get into the store, you had to walk across a wooden plank laid down over the concrete.
After getting my bagel and coffee, I turned to leave, but there was a guy standing on the wooden plank, blocking the way. He was wearing dress clothes, and he was surveying the work being done above — he had an air of authority, so I’m guessing he was a builder or project manager or something. I stood for a few seconds and waited for him to see me waiting, but he was completely oblivious. The lady after me was ready to leave also, and I realized there would soon be a traffic jam, so I cleared my throat and got the guys attention: “Excuse me. I’m sorry, I just need to get through.”
But rather than stepping backwards off the plank as I had expected, he stepped to the side. Into the concrete. He didn’t even realize what he did until I looked down at his nice dress shoes, now covered with cement.
He jumped back out really quickly, looked at his construction guys, and said, “Hey, someone stepped in the cement, there,” sort of jokey… like it wasn’t him that did it. And the foreman guy said, “um, yeah, I saw that.”
And I walked the plank back to my car in the parking lot, satisfied at my morning accomplishments; I had a bagel and coffee, and I ruined a guy’s shoes.

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Matt B.

    Fabulous!

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