“Just press on the hardware, or should I remove the power?” – foreign co-worker attempting to assist me in fixing his computer

I’m sure you’ve all driven by a road-crew at one time or another, and marveled that someone gets paid to stand out in the fresh air holding a slow or stop sign. You wondered how much of your tax dollars go towards employing an individual such as this. If you’re like me, you also wondered what the training program must be like, whether they ever get promoted to sign-holding and cone-placement, what sort of on-the-job wrist injuries they sue for…but I digress.

Driving around today, I saw a much more efficient road-crew, that had replaced their holder by way of a sawhorse with a sign leaned up against it. There�s something poetic about that.

I can only imagine what the designated guy must have felt like when he arrived 15 minutes late, and saw how easily he had been replaced. I�m sure he solaced himself with empty, internal compliments like, �Yeah, well, I can hold it higher than that stupid sawhorse� or �But where�s the human connection with the passerby?�the wave?�the nod?�