Is it “marching to a different drummer”, or blatant denial of common sense?
For years, I’ve heard the Floyd stories that my brother-in-law, Fred, tells. They are the hilarious and sometimes shocking stories of a former employee when Fred worked as a masonry contractor. Recently, I enjoyed some time with my sister and Fred where Floyd and his brand of problem-solving came up in conversation.
First, I give Floyd a great deal of credit for confidence as well as for initiative. He worked as a laborer for Fred’s booming brick-laying business. Fred and his partner’s work is beautiful and you are indeed fortunate if you have his work in your home. Work such as his is the result of best practices mixed with some frontier work in masonry and the tight attention to detail you’d expect of a surgeon. Furthermore, his designs were anything but common. So, it was necessary to hire people you could count on. The problem is always that construction is hard work. It’s even harder to find people that will do the unforgiving tasks that are required. That means you don’t always attract the brightest bulbs in the pack.
Thus, Floyd. His own brother characterized him this way: Floyd was a wheelbarrow pusher, not a thinker. Floyd was happy to do the work for you, but his strong suit was not following instructions, nor was it thinking critically about how to go about a task.
These stories always end with Floyd proclaiming, “I do’s it my way!” Meaning, he had his own way of getting the job done and furthermore, you didn’t need to waste your time explaining how he should do it.
Floyd was working with Fred on a new home. Mostly single level, it did enjoy an enormous basement. During construction, the hole which would eventually house the staircase to the basement from the interior of the house was covered with a sheet of plywood so as to keep a little heat inside for water. At one point, Floyd was asked to go get water from the basement. He picked up the plywood to this hole and stepped forward — knowing full well what the plywood was covering up! This, of course, resulted in a trip to the hospital since he fell a full story onto concrete.
It was in the hospital that Floyd decided he had enough poking and prodding and proceeded to walk out of the hospital without his clothes, but only wearing the hospital gown not quite fastened in back — waving in the breeze as he exited the doors!
He was also known for a few stories that boggle your mind. One was the time he left his false teeth in a car that got stolen and mumbled something about having to go down to Maxwell Street, a well-known flea market in the area, to try on some new ones. There was the time he repaired hoses (something that was a frequent maintenance task on construction sites), cutting the hoses on both sides of a break and installing two female (or two male) couples on each end of the repair. On another worksite, the crew was working on a house that was going to be renovated. A couple of walls had to be demolished. Floyd had his left hand on the wall, leaning against it, as he struck the wall with his hammer/sledge. He kept working toward the left until he eventually hit his hand.
After each of these, Floyd would tell them, “I do’s it my way!” which has become a favorite saying in our family whenever we try to figure out a way to complete a task — even if those around us might think we are clearly proceeding in an unsound manner.
This brand of “independent” thinking must have run in the family because his brother who viewed Floyd as a hard worker, but not always so clever had his own story. He owned an old car that he used to put his spare change down the slot that the car door window would emerge through. One day he couldn’t get the window to operate it so he took it in for repairs. The mechanic had to take the panel off the door to get to the window for repair. He said it was like watching a slot machine empty its entire contents onto the floor of the garage!
I have always loved these stories. But they portray a person with more guts and gumption than common sense. At what point is a creative approach to a process one that displays some level of willingness to take a risk? At what point is it foolhardy? When is an action a matter of confidence? When is it just stupid?
Some like Elon Musk, or Thomas Edison, might say that line can be blurry.
What I know for sure is that without this confidence and without a little risk-taking much of the innovation that the US is known for would simply not have happened.
What I also know is that for every new venture that requires risk there are safety measures practiced as well as the thoughtful weighing of the cost and benefits of such an action.
One more Floyd story to illustrate my point. Floyd was asked to work on a chimney one afternoon. To prevent a fall, he tied a rope around the chimney and then tied it to his waist. Assuming that the chimney was solidly anchored to the roof, I thought this wasn’t such a bad idea. Except for the fact that the distance to the ground was estimated to be 50 feet.
Floyd used a 100-foot rope.
He certainly “do’s his way”.
It’s a wonder Floyd is still with us today! His confidence to do the job was commendable. (I’m not sure that I’d be on that roof!) (And, Fred does vouch for Floyd in that MOST of the time he worked safely.) His willingness to figure out a solution for his safety speaks to his initiative-taking. However, the execution of his problem-solving effort left out a critical factor in the solution — at least in the chimney story! Hardworking men and women find themselves on roofs all the time, but there is safety equipment for doing such tasks.
What not to do to be the subject of an entire family’s stories.
A critical review of the problem followed up with a list of possible pros and cons, and potential Plan B’s is necessary before. I’m sure that Fred or his partner knew whether or not that chimney was secured well or they wouldn’t have sent Floyd up to work on it.
On the other hand, because this was a common task, there was likely safety gear such as harnesses, footwear appropriate for the task, and knee pads, and not just a rope. Gathering the needed tools and resources should be an essential step before beginning to work.
Finally, risky work should involve another person to help keep you safe, to help you evaluate the task as it unfolds that enables you to reflect on changes that might be necessary to the plan. This second set of eyes can be the difference between one false move and a successful undertaking!
Let’s make sure that the next time you “do’s it your way”, you are “marching to your own drummer” and not denying common sense!
