Hit 10,000 bricks laid on a single job site and it felt weird

I was working on that big apartment complex over in Riverside, just keeping my head down and laying block. My foreman told me to check the delivery logs yesterday, and I had personally set over 10,000 units on that project. I always thought counting bricks was just for the office guys, but seeing that number made me stop. It hit me how much physical work goes into just one building. Has anyone else had a moment like that, where the scale of what we do just clicked?

3 comments

3 Comments

finleyh8922d ago

10,000 is a big number for sure, but isn't that just the job? I mean, you get paid by the hour or the piece to lay bricks. The scale is always huge on those sites, that's why they need crews. Feels like making a big deal out of the basic job description.

jamesfox22d ago

Miss the point much? It's not about the pay or the crew size. It's about the sheer physical toll of doing that one specific motion ten thousand times in a day, every day. Your body just breaks down. Ever talked to an older bricklayer about their knees and back?

hollyc9213d ago

That "just the job" line is everywhere. People say the same thing about teachers grading 200 essays or nurses walking 8 miles a shift. It's a way to dismiss how the basic task, repeated until your body or mind gives out, is the whole problem. We act like the wear and tear is a personal failing, not the job itself.