Have you ever worked with someone who complained about how you did your job and basically insisted on doing your job for you?

If you were in that situation and you saw the coworker about to mess up really badly by taking on too much work, would you step in and insist on doing your job, or would you let your coworker learn their lesson the hard way?

In this story, a man who drives a concrete mixer truck is in this exact situation when a contractor insists on doing his job for him. Let’s see how the story plays out.

Don’t touch that valve! ….Ok!

Back in the early 2000’s I was a concrete mixer driver. Mostly I drove a front mixer. Which means the high end of the barrel and the opening is in the front. Because the driver has so much control over the concrete pouring operation. While I pour, I can start\ stop, control the flow.

I sit rather high, so I can better see the job site.

I can also easily move the truck while pouring, and I can hydraulically move the chute left/right, up/ down.

So, they are more desired. Mostly because the crew receiving the load can use less people than with a cheaper rear truck.

You don’t want the concrete to harden in the truck.

Keep in mind the concrete load is batched in the plant and loaded in the truck straight away for delivery. As the ingredients start to harden the “mix” heats up.

The longer the “mix” is in the truck, the more the concrete heats up and starts to set.

Two ways to slow this down is to slow the rotation to the slowest speed, reducing friction, and add water to cool the load.

Typically, you want to pour the load within an hour of being batched.

He had some extra concrete.

One day I poured a job and ended up with about 4 cubic yards of concrete leftover. Normally I would take this back to the yard and pour it in large block forms, to make large 1 cubic yard interlocking blocks to be sold for retaining walls.

However. this day there was a contractor close by where I was that needed a little more concrete to finish a basement floor in a new construction home.

Great thinks dispatch. We have a truck not too far away from you with extra concrete that we will sell you at a discount.

Contractor agrees because it saves him money, and he does not have to wait. So, I head there.

OP explains the water situation.

Once on site I set up really quick, check my load, and add water as needed to get a good flow. I pour for a little bit and the contractor asks for more water.

Here’s the thing. My load is over 2 hours old right now and it is heating up fast. It needs more water, more often, to remain fluid. The water evaporates out quickly and the concrete gets thicker.

Each of our trucks carry 300 gallons of water used for the concrete, and cleaning the truck when done. Under the water tank there is a main shut off valve. Below that is a pipe that runs to the cab. with another valve, then up to the barrel to water the load. 2 more valves for the upper and lower water hoses, and one more for a drain to the ground.

All these except for the barrel valve, are located outside the truck behind the cab.

The contractor was pretty demanding.

The contractor gets angry that I have to stop often to add water.

Remember the load is old by concrete standards. As a concrete contractor he should know that.

He comes up to me and says open the barrel valve and add water! (No where near that nice). Then he says do not touch that valve again. Leave it open and I will control the water. (Again, nowhere near that nice). Now mix that up and start pouring.

What he is doing is shutting off the main valve from the outside when he decides there is enough water.

I sense a big problem coming on…

Que “Malicious Compliance”

He comes out 2 more times and adds water.

Finally, as they get close to being done some of the extra guys on the crew come up, open the main valve, grab my hose and start washing their tools.

Because they opened the main valve, they are also adding water to the barrel.

NOW there’s a problem!

Now I am not to touch the barrel valve, so, i don’t. I don’t say a word. I don’t touch the valve.

The barrel line dumps 1 gallon of water per second. Just over a minute later about 70 gallons of water rush down the chute and in the basement!

The contractor comes out of the basement screaming. Comes up to me and he says, ” What is your problem”?

I said, “I don’t have a problem. The problem is you thought you could do my job and yours, and you can’t. Now you have a problem”

Here’s how the story ended…

As I finished cleaning the truck, he was calling every number for my company to complain.

When I got back to the yard the plant manager wanted to know what happened.

After I explained the situation, I found out the company as a whole has had an issue with this contractor.

I never heard anything about it, nor did I ever see that contractor again.

I’m glad OP didn’t suffer any negative consequences due to this situation. I assume the company he worked for stopped working with that contractor after this situation.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

A plumber shares his experience.

A former concrete mixer driver weighs in.

Finally, let’s end with a pun.

When you take on too much, something is going to go wrong.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.