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Friday Slide Show: Sidewalk Surgery
29 April 2022
Some time ago we had just finished shopping at a grocery store for Mom when we saw an old buddy who worked for the water department taking his lunch break in the same parking lot after having bought himself a liverwurst sandwich. Naturally, we went over to say hello.
After exchanging "pleasantries," we return to Dad's old Lexus that we drove on these special occasions to keep it from disintegrating. And thought nothing more about it.
But the next time we saw our old friend, he told us that as soon as we had walked away, someone had come up to him and asked if we had been hasseling him. The theory being that some idle but self-important guy in a Lexus would be giving a hard time to a mere city employee trying to eat a sandwich.
"Oh no," our friend replied. "He's an old friend. He gives me shit all the time."
But there's more than a grain of truth in the suspicion.
Union members, city workers, teachers, nurses, you name it. They are often resented. And that resentment too often gets expressed in uncivil behavior.
But when you get beyond the stereotype and examine what these people do for the rest of us on a daily basis, all you can feel is appreciation.
So it was the other day when for some unknown reason sidewalk surgery was performed across the street. It had something to do with a sewage drain. A new vent was being installed, we could see.
But that required one crew to arrive with a concrete saw to cut through the existing sidewalk. And another crew to install the vent. And another to replace the concrete, which was the most involved of the three jobs.
We weren't around to catch the whole sequence but we did see the concrete sawing and the new concrete being laid. And we think that's enough to impress anyone.
It certainly impressed the homeowner of the house in the background. He came out and gave them all bottled water. And a round of applause.
As the saying goes, don't try this at home. Make yourself a liverwurst sandwich instead.
