In construction, timing is everything, but so is communication.

When one engineer was told by a longtime Project Manager that he was never allowed to schedule deliveries again after a blowup over a scrap bin, he got that order in writing and stepped back.

But when the company lost thousands of dollars over a missed deadline for the next delivery, the Project Manager found himself in the hot seat.

Keep reading for the full story.

Don’t Schedule ANYTHING for your Job? Roger.

While I usually work in the Structural Engineering side of our enterprise, occasionally I will assist with some of the generic civil projects.

We are a design build company (exactly what it sounds like).

I have been working with a Project Manager who has been with the company since its founding nearly 30 years ago.

We will refer to him as Rob for this story.

Important note: this project takes place near Fairbanks, Alaska.

Rob comes in with a pretty big request.

Well, about 2 weeks ago, Rob asked me to look into what it would take to get a 40 yard bin dropped off on site for scrap metal from an old tank that was being demo’d.

He said we want the bin to arrive on Monday (so Monday last week).

This engineer follows Rob’s instructions to the letter, only to receive an angry call.

I get scrap pricing as well as a drop-off scheduled through a local scrap yard, and inform Rob of the scrap price and mention that the delivery has been scheduled.

Fast forward to that Monday, and I get a call from Rob and he is just screaming, cursing, and chewing my *** out for scheduling the delivery of this bin.

Turns out, this engineer misunderstood what Rob actually meant.

He says “I told you to look into it, not to schedule it.”

Well, to me that means schedule it, and I pointed out that I informed him via email that the bin would be dropped off.

Rob makes it clear how this engineer should operate from this moment further.

Rob then says “I don’t care what the other PM’s have you do, nobody schedules any delivery to my job but me.”

Alright, fine. I can do that.

I send him an email which says something along the lines of “I understood from our conversation this morning that in the future I will not schedule any delivery for your projects. Is this correct?”

That evening, a one word response, “Yes.”

But soon, these instructions could come back to bite.

Last Wednesday I get a call from the company which will be supplying the Crane for our project.

They inform me that they would like to get the 60 RT Crane (pretty decent size) delivered to the job site on Friday.

I tell them that I cannot confirm that delivery, and that I will need to get Rob in touch with them.

I am informed that we need to get this handled ASAP because we are getting close to the delivery window.

There are specific logistical challenges related to their location.

For those unaware (I assume most everyone as I didn’t know this until the conversation), there is a time in the late spring in parts of Alaska where delivery of loads over a certain weight are not allowed due to the damage that the load will do to the roadways with subgrades that are recently unfrozen.

Apparently this window changes from year to year, but is in place starting this week.

You can still transport heavy loads, but it takes additional permitting and has a fee (much like normal oversized loads).

So the engineer lets Rob know, and he’s largely unresponsive.

I call Rob and leave a voicemail that he needs to call back. Our crane supplier needs confirmation for delivery on Friday.

I follow up with an email.

I did not hear back on Wednesday, so I repeated the procedure on Thursday morning, again with no answer to either call or voicemail.

So the engineer escalates the issue.

On Thursday right before I head out, I email Rob and cc our VP who heads all installation projects telling Rob that the crane supplier needs an answer immediately, and that I have been trying to reach Rob since Wednesday to confirm this as I have been informed that I am not to schedule deliveries for your project.

Well, that got the ball rolling.

Now Rob has snapped out of it and the VP gets involved too.

Rob calls me in the morning on Friday and tells me to get the crane here today.

I call the crane guys and they inform me that there is no way that we can get the crane in that day, and that it will have to come in on Monday during the restricted delivery window.

I end up transferring the crane supplier to our VP because I am not about to approve the additional price of this delivery, and the VP handles it.

Once the VP understood the situation, things didn’t look good for Rob.

VP is a cool guy. He is a bit annoyed with me, but I forwarded him the email confirming that I am not allowed to get deliveries scheduled, and he is completely off my back about it.

Sounds like we are out about 10k due to the additional charges for this delivery, and guess who is allowed to schedule deliveries again.

I should note that the owner is in the office every day, and he is not the kind of guy to take lightly to the fact that he is out 10 grand because someone lost his cool about something stupid.

What a logistical nightmare.

Redditors chime in with their thoughts.

Rob had every opportunity to make things right, but he failed miserably.

Losing money is usually the number one no-no at any company.

This commenter can’t help but take notes.

This user goes against the grain, seemingly siding with Rob.

An outsized ego really is a costly thing.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.