A Perfect Start

By Douglas V. Gibbs

As I proceeded to the quarry/plant this morning to pick up my first load of the day something extraordinary happened. The morning began in a perfect manner, without the usual setbacks and obstacles. It was. . . unnerving.

After I exited the freeway each and every stop light turned green for me. As I entered the material facility grounds I called in to let their dispatch office know that I was arriving for cold mix (a kind of temporary asphalt - it has kerosene in it so that it never fully sets) and for them to please send my material order form down to the hot plant kiosk.

As I arrived at the appropriate location, and stepped towards the kiosk, the tube made a "thud" sound, and in the newly arriving cartridge was my order form. Characteristically, one waits a while before they get around to getting the form to you. I filled out the form and sent it back up to them.

As I went around the main scales to the back toward the cold mix pile the loader was uncharacteristically waiting for me, with his bucket already full of material. He loaded me in an instant, and sent me to the scales. I called in my arrival on the scales, and the dispatcher indicated my weight was good. Normally, especially at this particular plant, the loaders overload the trucks, and one needs to go back to the pile and trim some of the extra material, and move it around if necessary (with a shovel, of course), to get under the maximum weight, and ensure one has not exceeded the maximum weight for each axle.

I turned the corner after exiting the scale, expecting to wait ten or twenty minutes for my receipt, and the kiosk went "thud." I pulled out the cannister, and lo and behold my receipt was in there. I signed the ticket, sent back their copy, and tucked the rest into the side slot on my door.

The net weight of material was 25.49 tons, almost a perfect load. That put my total truck weight just under 40 tons (80,000 pounds).

The loader at this particular pit was not usually so accurate.

Then, as I pulled over near the exit to check my load, and clean off any material that spilled from the loader's bucket onto my fenders or draw bar, or anywhere else, to my amazement, the loader had placed all of the material squarely and centered in my boxes. None of the material had spilled outside the boxes.

Hmmmmmm.

I chalked it up to the workers being happy about their long Labor Day weekend, and a happy worker is a good worker. . . usually.

The day was beginning so perfect, uncharacteristically perfect, that I was half-expecting a bunch of animated birds from a Disney film to being circling over my rig, chirping and whistling a happy tune. And I was half-expecting the sun to look down upon me, and give me a great big wink and a grin.

Then, I got to thinking. . . If I was a liberal, I would probably appeal to government to mandate that every morning be the beginning of a perfect start. Then, as an added touch, I would (as a liberal) demand that the government ensure everyone's day begin with a perfect start. . . you know, just to be fair.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary