A Public Service Announcement

I love the smell of asphalt in the morning.

I spent the summers between my sophomore and senior years of college working for the road construction company that is now paving some of the streets here on campus at Duquesne. Every Monday through Thursday (we worked four ten-hour days unless we got rained out), I woke up at 4:30 in the morning, packed a lunch in a small cooler, donned three pairs of socks and steel-toed boots, braided my hair, grabbed my orange hard hat, and drove to the shop. From there I hopped into a dump truck or someone’s pick up for a ride to the job site where I would spend eternal hours baking in the sun and rain, “flagging.”

Know this, all ye who read on: Flagging is hard, hot, awful, sometimes dangerous work. Please do not disparage those people whom you may feel are there for no other reason than to frustrate you. The flaggers are there to prevent accidents and to minimize traffic frustration (really!), but their biggest job is to protect the other workers and the machines and equipment. Flaggers only get breaks when other workers can stop to relieve them, because there must be someone flagging whenever there are machines on the road. Those STOP/SLOW signs are heavy. Fresh asphalt is very, very hot. The dirt and grit are everywhere and penetrate everything. The job is no picnic—and there is no mercy for those who may be menstruating. Just think about that, ladies.

Still, though. The work is concrete. (Ha!) You get to see tasks through from start to finish. The job is important. The machines are cool, and some of the people who operate them are highly skilled. You can smoke at work.

Working with the road crew was sometimes fun and very satisfying, but it served well in reminding me that college was a good thing. I learned the first day on the job that I wouldn’t want to flag for a living.

But I digress . . . In conclusion: Be nice to flaggers. Do not throw things at them, run them off the road, wave your fist, shout obscenities, or be otherwise mean or threatening. Flaggers are people too!