When I saw “mandated breaks for construction workers,” I remembered my second boyhood job as ‘water boy assistant.’
You didn’t need to pass a regulation to tell Oscar Rose to keep his construction workers well-watered on hot West Texas days. Mr. Rose knew a few minutes every hour drinking water from a water bucket would keep his hands working.
His son, Earl Glenn, was a year older. He often hired me to help make the rounds at the construction site at least once an hour. We carried buckets of water, usually with some ice floating on top, with a dipper the worker used to drink.
Now that I try to remember, I’m not sure Earl paid me anything. Maybe candy.
On my first job at the Elam truck yard, my dad Red Elam paid me by the pound for nails and other objects I picked up. Helped saved tires and avoided flats. Days when tire ‘inner tubes’ were patched to hold air.
Back to Water Boy. Don’t know why newspaper letter writer concerned about mandated breaks for water. Any wise construction foreman knows to keep his crew well-watered during these hot days.
Maybe I shouldn’t tell about water dippers. Might encourage the county health people to advocate a law banning ‘dippers’. Maybe the resting construction worker supposed to expend more muscle, just drink out of the bucket.
Photo by AHMADSANDI at Shutterstock
