I don't know where this tale originates, but it is worth retelling:
A young family lived next to a vacant lot. One day, a construction crew started building on the lot. The family's 4-year-old daughter naturally took an interest in the activity going on next door and spent much of each day observing the workers.
Eventually the construction crew, all of them "gems-in-the-rough," more or less adopted her as a kind of project mascot. They chatted with her, let her sit with them while they hadbreaks, and gave her little jobs to do to make her feel important.
At the end of the first week, they even presented her with a pay envelope containing ten dollars.
The little girl took this home and her mother suggested the girl take her "pay" to the bank and start a savings account.
When the girl and mother got to the bank, the teller asked the girl how she had come by her very own pay at such a young age.
The girl proudly replied, "I worked last week with a real construction crew building the new house next door to us."
"Oh my goodness gracious," said the teller, "and will you be working on the house again this week, too?"
The little girl replied, "I will, if those a##holes at the supply yard ever deliver the f##king drywall!"
In addition colorful jobsite speech, the tale also describes other conditions found on some construction projects:
- Underpaid laborers.
- Work done off-the-books.
- Scheduling problems are always the supplier's fault.
(Graphic from www.edu.buncee.com/buncee/25987)