Construction

Remember how mad Mikey got at construction? Well, I'm as irate at he was tonight.

So on our way to return a couple items to the store, we were faced with even more construction on 7800 South. I was expecting this. I was even glad to see some actual progress, rather than just one strip of road ripped up and undrivable, they've ripped up half the street. It's got to start somewhere. I was prepared to wait 3 or 4 light changes to make it across the intersection; what I wasn't prepared for was the idiot moving cones.

First, let me say I have some respect for construction workers. It's hard work (while, yes, there does seem to be a lot of standing around...), and it something I wouldn't do, but I'm glad there is someone to actually do it. But this guy doesn't deserve much respect. Let me setup this story.

We were in line to turn left on New Bingham Highway, right at 4000 South in front of Target. It was about 5:00 p.m., so traffic was pretty heavy, and the line to turn left had piled up beyond the given left turn lane. This is not an unusual occurrence. Add construction to the heavy traffic and you can imagine how slow things go and how tight space is. We move 3 or 4 cars at each green light, slowly but steadily moving forward, but being completely stationary most the time. During one of those not-moving-at-all-on-a-highway moments, a less than intelligent construction worker places one of those heavy cones right in front of my car, gives no instruction--doesn't even look me in the eye--and turns around to walk back away from me toward the traffic light. I was shocked. What did he want me to do? I waved at him to try to get some instruction, but instead, he plopped the next cone in front of the car in front of me. That car made the sharp turn into the traffic lane to our right, and tried to continue moving on. I was flabbergasted. And stuck.

The construction worker just kept walking away. The traffic wasn't getting any lighter, and there were cars behind me. So I did what any sensible person would do. I put my car in park, got out, and moved the cone out of my way. The construction worker finally noticed my existence, and ever so eloquently yelled at me, "PUT IT BACK!!" Seriously? What the heck do you want me to do? Stay there all day? Do you not realize you placed a cone six inches from my bumper and gave me no other instruction on what to do about that situation? So I, with equal eloquence, yelled back to him, "YOU PUT THIS RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY CAR! WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT ME TO DO, YOU IDIOT?!!?!" His response was again, "PUT IT BACK!!" To which I responded by getting in my car, closing my door, and driving away.

I can tolerate construction (somewhat). But this was ridiculous. I'm glad you can lift a shovel, but maybe blocking cars into  your construction zone in rush hour traffic may not help your cause, nor will it do much for the reputation of your fellow construction workers. All it would have taken to get the result you wanted was a meager point to the left (you didn't even need to make eye contact), and 6 to 12 more inches of space. Jackass.