That week two summers ago in Houston when nothing went right

I was on a job setting steel for a new warehouse out near the port. On Tuesday the load chart I had didn't match the actual boom angle I needed because the site layout was tighter than the plans showed. Had to stop everything and recalculate my picks which set us back about 3 hours. Then on Wednesday a swing brake line started leaking hydraulic fluid all over the cab floor. Took half the day to get a mechanic out and another hour to clean up the mess. Thursday morning a gust of wind caught a beam I was setting and spun it around pretty good. Scared the heck out of the ironworkers on the ground and the foreman chewed me out for not waiting for the wind to die down. By Friday I was just trying to get through the day without any more trouble. Has anyone else had a stretch where it felt like the crane itself was working against you?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant_torres1d ago

Was it really that bad though? Sounds more like a standard rough week on a job site than some kind of cursed crane situation. Maybe the foreman had a point about the wind thing but that's just how it goes sometimes.

faith_smith1d ago

Heard a similar story from my buddy Mike @grant_torres, swears his uncle's crew had a crane that would only break down on Tuesdays. Foreman blamed wind too, but Mike's uncle said it was just bad luck mixed with cheap parts.