Construction work (2004-03-23)
March 31st marks the end of financial year in Japan.
It's like this every year: A rash of construction work springs up in
February and March. It has
something to do with local prefectures securing budget for the next
financial year and
politics, and since I don't like to talk about politics on my site, I
will tell you
about a particular kind of workers who work on a construction
site. They are more like road guards.
In every type of construction work where a road is blocked, there is
always a worker posting on one or either end of the road. His
entire day's job is
mostly to apologize to pedestrians for the inconvenience and make sure
they
walk past the area without incident. A mother who pushes a
bicycle with a
child on it often gets full service: the worker pushes the bike for
her. In fact elderly people and children get extra care and
attention showered on them.
If you've been to Tokyo, ever notice a parking garage
entrance? It is always manned by
at least one guard whose job is to alert pedestrians of any car exiting
the garage and direct human traffic when a driver pulls into or out of
the
driveway. The
garage and construction guards's job might look redundant in many
countries but if they can prevent one careless driver from hitting a
child who toddles across the garage driveway or one old woman tripping
on a road narrowed by construction work, then it is a job well worth
posting. And oh yes, they keep the umemployment rate down.
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