Marc Broussard - Come In From The Cold

Seeing the twin GNO Mississippi River bridges at the start of this video reminded me that my Dad was a rodbuster in the '60s and like many, trying his best to make ends meet. He busted rods on the first of the two bridges. One morning there was snow on the bridge in the Big Easy of all places. The foreman announced to the crew that anyone who wanted to work could and anyone who wanted to take the day off could without repercussion. It was colder than usual and understood that it just might be a touch more dangerous than usual on this given day. Most of the crew packed it in and sought warmth either back home or at the nearest 24/7 bar.

My Dad and two others had too many mouths to feed so up they went. The foreman waited for the last man on the ground to leave and then signaled up to the three to come right back down. Take the fear of getting fired by the boss and multiply it by a dozen and you have the construction industry. And you have just what was going through each worker's mind. They figured that they had just been nailed on a safety violation and were about to get sent back to the Hall where far too many men sat without work.

Instead the foreman announced that he had just enough indoor work back at the Yard for three men that day. Life is full of fear, small victories and more importantly, our heroes.
(Yours truly, like his Dad, spent some time busting rods on a GNO Mississippi River bridge, the "new" one, some twenty-odd years later. Paid for my college education. Never snowed though.)