Lazy O’Clock
A few years back, my friends and I were freelancers, given the task of a hospital job. All we had to do was remove some plastic and fill in the gaps across the seven to eight-story building—it was a breeze and we estimated it would take about a week to complete.
As we quickly worked away, the hospital’s project manager spotted our efficiency and came up with a new deal. He suggested we extend our timeline and charge by the hour instead of the original quote for the entire project, which was a nice chunk of change.
Pausing to think it over, we quickly realized the project manager seemed pretty clueless about our work. So, we decided to stretch out the job, opting to dispose of the plastic bits by hand and carrying each piece outside rather than using a trolley to transport a large amount in one go.
We chose to move away from using power tools, claiming we wanted to lessen the noise. It was quite the sight seeing my friend devoting near an hour removing a piece of plastic, only to reaffix it to the wall and then head off for a break.
To our surprise, we were able to extend this simple job for much longer than initially anticipated. It dawned on us that the hospital had a fire safety grant that it had to exhaust. So, we started working sporadic hours, checking in at peaceful hours in the hospital and then heading off to a bar until we were ready to clock out.
We were left unattended throughout our shift. Hilariously, during one of our later days, we discovered a glitch in the hospital ATM. Excited by the discovery, we ran up our cards, withdrew the excess cash, then drove straight to our bank to redeposit the cash into our accounts—all while still on the clock.
We kept this slow-paced work for six whole months, until the project manager asked us to wrap it up. Finally, we completed the task in just four more days.
Looking back, I really miss that job.