Rebuilding Valley View (Valley View Book #4)

Chapter 3

“Charlie! We need you down at the west end.”

“Alright, I’ll be right there.”

Chris, one of my foremen, calls me over the radio to head down to the area where he is with his crew. We are well underway for Phase 1 of this project and thankfully on track. Seems crazy, but some of the best project managers run behind on a project at the very beginning when it comes to marking things up.

Not me though, I planned this schedule for weeks and I don’t take slacking off on my job site. One of the first things I learned as a female in this industry is that you have to be strict and raise your voice when dealing with some of these men.

It is no surprise that sexism and misogyny still exist. I have dealt with more awful experiences than I can count on both hands, both feet, and the heads of the residents of Valley View. So if I need to be a bitch, then that is what I’ll be. I know the drill, a male that runs his job site the same way as I do would be seen as strong and a good leader. When I do the same things, I’m a bitch with a poor attitude. Well, guess what? That attitude gets things done.

When I yell and hold people accountable, when I remove them from a job for not performing, when I write them up for insubordination, I’m asserting myself and showing them that they can’t walk all over me. One of two things happen, they either get with the program or they’re let go.

I get on my golf cart and drive down the shoulder of the road until I get to Chris. He’s sitting in front of one of the manholes that we dug up yesterday and he’s got a look on his face, this can’t be good.

“What’s up, Chris?”

“Something is up here, Charlie. According to the plans we have there should be a water and gas line down there, but I just see a water line.”

“Did you send the camera down?”

“We did, nothing is underneath.”

“Let me see the plans.” One of the younger temp guys hands me the plans that the engineering company sent over and sure enough, their drawings show both there. It may not seem like a huge deal, but if the gas line isn’t there, we don’t know where it is. Nobody wants to hit a surprise gas line. “Did you check any of the other manholes?”

He points further up the road, “It is where it is supposed to be down there, not sure what’s going on here. We haven’t looked further down the road. Do you want us to?”

“Just hold off for now. I’ll call and see when we can get a surveyor out here again.”

I take the golf cart back to the mobile office I have set up and called up the engineering company. They pull up the plans that I’m looking at and they can’t believe what I’m telling them. They went through the list of things I should be seeing.

As the phone call goes on I’m getting increasingly annoyed. They are talking to me like I’m a moron, but I clearly know what I’m talking about. Finally, I lose my cool and tell him he has until the end of the business day to get somebody out here or I’m coming down to the office and dragging somebody out myself. Shocker, they’re sending the guy out right away.

I leave the mobile office and run directly into Chris who made his way back to the mobile office, “What did they say?”

I roll my eyes, “Oh you know, I’m reading the plans wrong and they’re sending out the guy to ‘show me where I went wrong.’” I use finger quotes to show my annoyance.

Chris cringes as I re-tell the phone conversation. Most of the guys on the site are just temp workers from around the state that were hired just to work on this job, but Chris and a few others have been with the company for a while and have worked with me more than once. They know I’m the real deal but are also well aware of the shit that I’ve taken over the years.