Is An Education Really Worth It????

Years ago, I worked for a company which made "Trusses" for home construction. Most people call them "Rafters" but "Truss" is the official name for them. Most of the guys who worked there I had known around Sturgis for awhile, some I'd never met before. But the general consensus was that the majority of guys who worked there, excluding myself, were pure morons. Nice guys but morons.

Do you judge a person based on intelligence? Most people do and they lose out on some pretty interesting stuff. Mainly the humor factor. Some of these guys would do some dumb shit but it was very funny. They weren't trying to be funny but being a moron you just don't know and that is why us non-moronic types are always on the look out for a moron to make us laugh, usually based on the fact that they most always hurt themselves in the process.

Point in general, to make trusses you have to cut wood. With the cutting of wood you have waste. Pieces of wood too small to do anything with. Waste wood ended up being transfered to the city landfill or dump. While dumping the waste, the guys would drag back shit other people had thrown out. On this particular day, they brought back a bowling ball. Anything that resembeled a ball would be brought back to the warehouse to be played with by said morons. After getting bored with the bowling ball, somebody rolled it into the yard where the lumber was stacked. One of the guys went to get a couple of 2X4's that his crew was short on. I worked on the saw as a catcher to the wood the sawyer ran through the saw. A number of us were standing in the overhead doorway looking outside. We noticed Arlen with a shoulder stacked with 4 2X4's. Arlen looked at the bowling ball (which was black) and stopped. He laid the wood he was carrying on the ground and motioned like he was going to kick the bowling ball. We kinda said to ourselved "yeah... okay." Arlen then took a couple steps backward, I said " No way will he kick it..." Arlen had a four step start to kick this bowling ball, put everything he had into it and kicked it. Everybody shouted "Holy Fuck!!! and we nearly pissed ourselves laughing. Ya see... Arlen thought the black ball was a rubber basketball bladder.

This was nearly an everyday occurance. There was a dude named Willy. Willy looked like a skinhead but would have had trouble kicking the ass of a 4 years old. Willy was the one who received the most shit from everybody. I remember the time that he went into the tool room to get something. The tool room was locked from the outside with a paddlelock. Willy went in, they shut the door behind him and killed the lights. We stood around listening to Willy kick at the door begging to be let out. After a while, somebody noticed that Willy wasn't kicking anymore. They unlocked the door to see Willy laying on the floor. Above the door is where the air nailer was kept. The air nailer weighs abotu 13 lbs. Willy kicked the door enough to jar the air nailer enough to come down on top of his head. Of course, that was a laughable moment again.

Working at that truss plant was good money at the time, you could get away with murder most of the time. but most of the guys there were morons. Nice guys but morons.

Eric