Face-First in the Mud

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There are a lot of things to trip over on a construction site like cords, hoses, rebar.

Every safety guy I know has hit the deck at one time or another. I was side-by-side with an OSHA compliance officer when he rounded a corner and stepped into freshly poured concrete.

He tried to retreat, and tripped, and ended up on his back in the concrete.

I snapped a photo.

“Dude,” he said. “If you share that photo anywhere I’m going to hunt down all your clients.”

I’ve never shared the photo, but every once in a while I’ll send it to him and laugh.

It was a good dozen years since I took a flop.

My streak is over.

The site was muddy. I walked with two other guys that I was meeting for the first time.

We checked out the framers and turned to face the site guys.

I assessed the mud in front of me as we headed in the direction of the concrete pour.

“Looks solid,” the guy behind me said, and I took a step into what felt like a bowl of soup.

I knew my boot was sucked down into the mud, and there truly was no way to extract it.

I heard the boot of the guy who followed me plunge into the mud, but he was of zero concern.

I had my own problems because I felt my upper body tilting forward.

Face-first into the mud I went.

Yet, I held my notepad straight up, and my boot came loose.

I heard someone ask if I was all right.

I also heard laughter, but that was okay, I was laughing too.

Ten minutes later I was in my car…

…covered in mud, and still laughing.

I didn’t have to imagine too hard to consider what those other two guys talked about this afternoon.

“The stupid safety guy went facedown in the mud pit.”

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