Gargamel rears his ugly head

Today, as all Thursdays are, was check day. This is the day my week's labor comes to a head and I give out checks to our (currently) 80 employees. Typically everyone is very happy to receive their checks. We have one employee that very nearly resembles Papa Smurf. He's an elderly gentleman, a carpenter helper. He is very nearly illiterate. He can read and write although it pains him greatly and takes him enormous amounts of time. He is a very nice man but he does have a tendency to not speak clearly and has a reputation of that. Today was a hard day for all of our guys and many of them came out looking like they had rolled around in the mud and most were still completely soaked from head to toe in sweat. The humidity was relatively high today although it was only in the mid 80's. The worst part of it all was the deadline of having the twenty some foot wall ready to pour tomorrow. There were many down attitudes at the end of the day but Papa Smurf came out nearly last. I try to keep the guys' spirits up and be somewhat jolly when they come in and leave though it pains me sometimes. Papa Smurf is one of the guys that is nearly always in a good mood. Tonight I asked him how his day was and without looking up he said it was a bad day. Knowing it was a bad day for most I assured him it would be a better day tomorrow and he replied that, "No, no it won't be better."

With that response I knew it was more than a bad day. On our last project this man had gone home one weekend and had a heart attack and didn't return until I invited him back on this project. I knew if he said it wasn't getting any better something was very seriously wrong. I asked him about it and he simply asked what time I'd be in my office in the morning. I replied I'd be up there about 7:30 after the night shift left and I had them all checked out. Then he began with "They moved me down the line."

I'd heard his foreman, we'll call him Moose, at lunch say something about he was going to give me a list of names that he didn't ever want me to hire again. I knew he was just aggravated because our company does not operate like that. I didn't give it much thought until I heard Papa Smurf say this cryptic line about moving down the line. We don't work in a factory style and there are no "lines" to speak of so I was quite baffled. I asked him what he meant and he finally looked at me. He reached into his pocket as he started to speak. He said "they" had cut him back in pay by a dollar since he was here last time. He showed me his check stub and sure enough he was exactly correct. I felt as though I had just kicked baby Jesus. I assured him it was nobody's fault but my own and I was eternally sorry. I told him I would fix it in the morning and make sure he got all the money that was coming to him. The apology and the promise of making it right put him in a much better mood. His posture corrected itself and he forgave me.

Hopefully tomorrow Papa Smurf will have the strength to conquer Gargamel.