Monday, March 27, 2006
Waiting, waiting and more. . . waiting.
Waiting is one of the worst feelings in the world to experience. I hold it up there with slamming a car door on my hand. After all the waiting I did today, I would have given anything to get my hand stuck in a car door.
My plan today was to tag along with a drywall crew that was repairing the home of Father Dong Phan, a Catholic priest here in Biloxi. Phan is one of the most influential figures in Biloxi. He was a former military chaplain during the Vietnam War and survived Hurricane Katrina by hiding on a fishing boat. His stories were compelling.
We were supposed to get to Phan's house around 9 a.m., but nobody seemed to know why we got there at 10. He was there waiting for us with a confused look on his face. 20 volunteers came to his house for drywall and Phan was wondering who in the group was an electrician.
After looking at his building permit, a crew leader noticed Phan hadn't gotten an electrician to inspect the building. Phan thought the volunteers were coming with an electrician, and the crew didn't know anything about his request. The crew couldn't drywall until an electrician could OK the building.
Even worse, about 20 people came to drywall – all wondering why there were no building materials at the work site either. Crew leaders whipped out their cell phones and tried to get their hands on an electrician and some building supplies.
Pretending to be busy is almost as bad as waiting. In the three-hour time span that it took for the crew to start laying drywall, a dozen or so crew members were outside cleaning up leaves. The feeling of a car door caressing my hand was tempting.
After about an hour of yard work, a local Vietnamese woman dropped off some food for the volunteers. Many of the crew workers felt bad for taking a break when no concrete work had been done yet.
I honestly don't know who is to blame for these delays today. The crew was there eager to work and organizers were working even harder trying to find out what was going on. Hopefully this won't happen tomorrow.
Oh yeah, today is my 21st birthday.
My plan today was to tag along with a drywall crew that was repairing the home of Father Dong Phan, a Catholic priest here in Biloxi. Phan is one of the most influential figures in Biloxi. He was a former military chaplain during the Vietnam War and survived Hurricane Katrina by hiding on a fishing boat. His stories were compelling.
We were supposed to get to Phan's house around 9 a.m., but nobody seemed to know why we got there at 10. He was there waiting for us with a confused look on his face. 20 volunteers came to his house for drywall and Phan was wondering who in the group was an electrician.
After looking at his building permit, a crew leader noticed Phan hadn't gotten an electrician to inspect the building. Phan thought the volunteers were coming with an electrician, and the crew didn't know anything about his request. The crew couldn't drywall until an electrician could OK the building.
Even worse, about 20 people came to drywall – all wondering why there were no building materials at the work site either. Crew leaders whipped out their cell phones and tried to get their hands on an electrician and some building supplies.
Pretending to be busy is almost as bad as waiting. In the three-hour time span that it took for the crew to start laying drywall, a dozen or so crew members were outside cleaning up leaves. The feeling of a car door caressing my hand was tempting.
After about an hour of yard work, a local Vietnamese woman dropped off some food for the volunteers. Many of the crew workers felt bad for taking a break when no concrete work had been done yet.
I honestly don't know who is to blame for these delays today. The crew was there eager to work and organizers were working even harder trying to find out what was going on. Hopefully this won't happen tomorrow.
Oh yeah, today is my 21st birthday.
