Knowledge vs. a Whatever Attitude

The Conflict 

In contrast, the conflict of Knowledge vs. a Whatever Attitude can result in attitude defeated knowledge by using luck. Yet today it was in full swing right outside my office door cause by a tow truck driver. Due to what I witnessed, I felt like saying to this person “you need to shake your head; your eyes are stuck”. My residence and company office is on Yale Rd. in Rosedale British Columbia.  With some nice curves and fairly decent scenery it is a meca for people who just want to go for a drive.  A two-lane road that runs east west from the Agassiz-Rosedale Hwy. #9 into downtown Chilliwack BC.

The Limit

With a speed limit of 50 Kph in this section, rarely is it adhere to by the hundreds and hundreds of cars that travel it daily.  That’s not even including all the transport trucks and trailers or the farming tractors with trailers. Some of those pieces of equipment that work the farms nearby have tires 6 feet high. Ya they are big.  The worst are the kids 25 and younger.  Some nights on a weekend they take this corner doing 80 to 100 Kph. Crotch rocket bikes even take these corners faster, again using luck. Any one of them would have slammed into this tow truck. Seems the only ones  who respect the area are old school Harley riders

Out Front

Around 7:00 pm or so a 5 ton roll off the back-deck truck was stopped on the road in front of my place. On the back was some sort of decked out sports car. As shown in the location mock up picture, you can clearly see that there really isn’t much room. Narrow shoulders, semi blind curve, and the light level were half of what is shown in the pic. Right across the street on the north side is my office and residence.  twenty-five feet in front of this truck on the opposite side of the road is where my company sign is located. Fully lit up with very bright red LED lighting and mounted 10 feet above the road, this 24″ by 32″ sign reads FreeBird Safety Services.  Two more signs mounted on my house and garage read the same and directly face the road. But it didn’t seem to matter.

Whatever Attitude defeated Knowledge

Tonight, the Whatever Attitude defeated Knowledge with a first-round knockout. As this tow truck operator proceeded to drop the car off right on the road taking out a lane without any rotator beacon lights on mind you. This guy actually had his, from what I’m guessing as his daughter performing the function of a TCP. A Traffic Control Person she was not. Stranding all of 5 feet high, weighing maybe a buck ten, she was wearing dark jeans and a dark gray shirt. With the sun going down, her standing in a shaded area, wearing what she was, she was totally invisible. Looking all of 15 at the most, she was clearly out of her element and yet her father had her directing traffic.

Bad Press

Pardon my language, but what really pisses me off is the fact they could clearly see the business across the street, me. They could have knocked on the door and asked for a vis vest, a TCP paddle, some help directing traffic, anything. My door sign for hours of operation did say OPEN. That’s always been my worst fear.  The crap hitting the fan, and a accident not related to my business, occurs in front of my establishment. Next thing you know a photo shows up on Facebook, the local paper or even the news showing the accident and by company signage in the background.  Just a little bit of a business destroyer I would say. That would be my bad luck.

Same as Before

At my former rental in Abbotsford, the landlord had his roof replaced. These roofers came on a Saturday believing that WorkSafe was closed and once again attitude defeated knowledge, there by thinking they didn’t have to follow any rules at all. Not one shred of safety was visible when I come home. The roofers even had some kid of the same age as this young lady, if not younger crouched down right at the leading edge of the roof with a 30-foot drop working.

Without a fall protection harness, toes hanging over the edge, this kid was pulling nail from the roof sheeting. So, me with my big mouth yelled up to them when I see as a fatality just waiting to happen. Next this I hear is this head roofer telling me exactly how hard I should go and have sex with myself. All the while old asphalt shakes are raining down around me. Ya pale, really? My next action was a call to WorkSafe after hours. With in 5 minutes the on-call OSO was speaking to me.

The OSO

Not only was this Worksafe OSO in the Fraser Valley already, I actually knew him from over 5 years. After I explained the situation, he asked for the jobsite address. I said “It’s at my fricken place where I rent. The landlord lives upstairs”. He then said “What, no way, and I guess your company sign is clearly visible?”. Another potential company destroyer in the making. The WorkSafe OSO was on location is under 30 minutes. He yanked their asses off the roof and had them on the street by his truck explaining the rules of working at heights, along with all that paperwork for over 4 hours. needless to say, they were a little mad at me. Well to bad bozo. Deal with it.

My Own Past

So, back to today’s situation. I have to admit. I use to drive a tow truck and recovery trucks as well. I’ve done some very stupid things in that occupation back in my youth. As Illustrated in another blog I wrote called “The Day I almost Died”, I cartwheeled a tow truck twice. The arrogance always finds its way showing the Whatever Attitude and defeating Knowledge by way of luck yet but once again.  On this day though, when I did come out of my office and noticed what was going out outside my door, it was already to late.  Without incident they were just completing the task of dropping of the towed car. They got lucky. Yet for those who ever gamble in Vegas, it’s common knowledge that eventually your luck runs out and the house will take you for everything. Hence the reason Murphy with is book of laws lives they’re in the winter months. Murphy’s law says “If you rely on luck, eventually what can go wrong, will go wrong”

The day I almost died my attitude changed. What’s it going to take for this guys attitude to do a 180? The death of his daughter? Please NO. For what’s it’s worth, I would have even designed a structured set of procedures for him for free. At the very least I would have helped him out if asked and been made aware of the situation.