Some of you will recall the massive bill that I had from a plumber a few months back, one man for a few hours. A few weeks ago I filled in a form online for our water supply company to come and fit a water meter for me and yesterday they started work. At 8am two men arrived and cut the surface around my water connection then left half an hour or so later having placed the sacks of material from the hole into sacks then they placed a plastic cover protecting the hole.

I then went out for several hours.

I returned later in the afternoon to find the plastic plate still over the hole but a card pushed through the letterbox saying they had fitted a meter. I am assuming it was probably two men again, different men from a different company.

At this moment in time men are filling in the hole and about to fit a cover and re-tarmac around that. There are two vehicles out there and six men! One man working and five are watching.

The water company provides the meter for free and free fitting but had I had to pay for it what would ten men cost? It took three different companies to do the work. I assume that it is fairly efficient to do it this way, a sort of conveyor belt.

They have just finished and have now moved on to the next hole, I heard the hole-makers working around the corner after they left me yesterday.

On the hole I would say that was a bargain.

Boom, boom.

Oh, very good ren!

Quote:

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One man working and five are watching.

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Sue, isn't that normal? I always see one working and five watching here. I always thought the rest were "sidewalk supervisors."

The five men are there to save the working man if he falls into the hole.

Instead of "if" don't you mean "when?" I'm just teasing ya'll! Besides, ren started it.

Could be the man doing the work was in charge and training the others, at your expense.

That could very well be true wayman. Yet in my town the "boss" is always one of the ones standing there doing nothing. I've stopped by places where the "5 men standing around, one working" scenario occurs and invariably the guy in the hole is the guy (or gal) with the least length of time on the job. But it could be one of those guys is the "teacher" and the hole guy the "learner."

In any case, those that are standing around are the ones getting paid by my tax dollars.

Well how else are people supposed to learn to dig a hole if they dont stand around watching someone else do it?
Maybe they didnt get to play in a sandpit as kids?

Not only do most of them stand around watching the others, the various departments don't communicate with each other.

In June, my city (I live in a rather large city) decided to repave the street on which I live.
They put up signs so people wouldn't park on the street.
They towed cars that ignored the signs.
They spent two days doing the repaving.
It looked great -- Nice and even. No more potholes

The following week -- just one week later -- signs were again posted not to park.
Cars were towed.
The gas/electric company came and dug up portions of the beautifully paved street for routine maintenance, that they apparently were incapable of doing *before* the repaving.

This happens on a daily basis here. The utilities companies:gas, electric,water, TV cable, sewage, seem to have no communication with each other. Never mind, it makes them look busy and feel important, bless 'em.

They're very good here. When the main road fell apart they put up a sign saying 'uneven road' for well over a year before they fixed it (only in Britain?) and while they moan about wasting water a damaged main was sending a stream down exactly the same spot for years despite at least my own letters to inform both the water company and the council in case either denied responsibility for it. It was a few years before that was fixed as well although they clearly knew about it a lot longer. I think we could have borrowed a few of yours from Jersey as they seem to be working in packs like buses.

We had a problem with the underground hydro cables coming into the house. For the 2nd time they had to dig up part of the driveway to repair them. I suggested that, since this was the 2nd time it had happened, it would be smart to dig up the whole length of the cable and repair it. The hydro company's response "We don't do smart"