…I am not sure whether that’s the correct term, anyway ever since I returned from my maternity leave 8 months a go, that has been the view of my cubicle window. Yup, there is a an office building construction phase going on right next to ours. It was not a nice sight but sometimes it provides food for thought. Just like this morning.

As I looked down over steaming cappucino, I saw group of workers assembled for what (most probably) a morning briefing. A group of supervisors stood in front of the line and one of them were giving direction. It was interesting to see how they were colour coded based on rank. White helmets are for supervisors. Among the workers, there were orange helmets and blue helmets. It’s very interesting. I am sure that it would make identifying process easier but it also made the supervisor an easy target. White helmets among the brown soil and grey cement. Hmmm…it’s very easy to accidently drop something on them. Oops! My imagination running mild, if it was up to me, I will color code the supervisor with pink, and the workers purple and ocean blue. I will blend the cement with pink ingredients so it’ll turn pink (just like play dough) to make the supervisors less identifiable. I am sure they will like it. Ha!

The briefing lasted for about 10 minutes and afterward the workers swarmed through the construction site. The blue helmets were doing something in one side whereas the orange helmets were doing something in another side. I guess that’s why their helmets are differentiated. The white helmets were standing, supervising and chatting among them selves. They wore green uniform, I wonder whether it is their safety outfit. The workers wore their usual shabby clothes. Hm, uniform for supervisors but not for workers. Interesting. I was wondering how construction company structured their compensation. The blue and orange helmets might be a daily worker. Whites are not. Will they get commission on a percentage of total project if they performed? I heard that some oil service companies imposed such ‘carrot’, what about construction companies?

In the middle of the site, a crane stood proud and high. An operator had sat there, moving things around. I remember that in the early months of having Pascal, I was craving to climb that crane. I want to know how it feels like to be up there and moving those things. With the wind breeze playing my hair and people look so small down below. It must be quiet and serene (maybe not!), anyway it must be marvellous! Unfortunately, no friend of mine who work in construction business would like to risk their insurance coverage by taking a pregnant woman to it nomatter how badly she plead and beg. What a shameless behaviour!

As the sun set higher, my capuccino is getting colder. I need to start working.