Just realized a lesson from a foreman on a pour in Des Moines

I was on this big slab pour outside Des Moines about 8 years ago, and this old foreman named Larry was running the crew. It was July, like 95 degrees, and the concrete was going off faster than we could keep up. I was getting stressed and rushing my finish, making a mess of the edges. Larry just walked over, grabbed a spray bottle, and lightly misted a section. He said, "You gotta let the concrete tell you what it needs, not the clock." That stuck with me because he wasn't just talking about the slab. He was talking about how I approach everything now, even stuff outside of work. I stop and see what the situation is asking for instead of forcing my own pace. Has anyone else had a foreman say something simple that changed how you work for good?

3 comments

3 Comments

lopez.quinn3d ago

Spray bottle trick works better than you'd think, keeps the cream from burning up too fast.

grantw323d ago

Larry sounds like a legend. I had a similar thing with a guy named Hank on a bridge deck in St. Louis, he kept telling me "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" every time I started rushing and messing up the finish. Still say that to myself sometimes.

craig.mila3d ago

Damn, you had a random foreman drop a pearl of wisdom on you like that during a pour in the middle of nowhere Iowa? That's wild because most guys just yell at you to hurry up. The "not the clock" part really hits hard, makes you stop and think about how we're all just rushing through everything without paying attention.

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