A Case of Youthful Folly? A Story of a Mistake at My First Assignment
This is a story about my first construction site assignment after joining a construction company.
At that site, the superstructure work (prestressed concrete bridge) had been completed up to the central closure, so the bridge was already connected from its starting point to its endpoint. The construction method used was cantilever construction (Wagen method), and on my first day on the job—which happened to be the day of the central closure pour—I went to the site after the pour was finished.
All that’s left is cable tensioning, PC grouting, ground covering, wall railings, curbs, and cleanup. For the cable tensioning, I handled the photography and did some tension control for the main cable. We spent a full day on that; for the transverse tensioning cables, I managed the tension while my senior colleague handled the photography, and we somehow managed to wrap things up in a flurry over two days.
After that, when we started working on the PC grout, it was the height of summer, so the water we used for the grout was 30 degrees—almost like water from a heated pool. That was the first time I learned that there was equipment available to control water temperature. The PC grout work took a full two days, and we carried out the work and monitored the process while constantly complaining, “It’s hot, it’s hot!”
I got so carried away because I was the guest of honor at the welcome party that I blacked out.
Just as I was wrapping up a few days of work, a welcome party was organized for me, including representatives from our partner companies. It was Wednesday night. It was a sweltering night, and the beer just kept flowing.
As a newcomer, I just went along with whatever was happening and drank like crazy, mixing beer, shochu, and sake all together. I remember drinking until around 2:00 a.m. that night, but I have absolutely no memory of what happened after we left the bar.
The next morning, sure enough, I had a terrible hangover.
Since I was in the habit of waking up at 5 a.m. every morning back then, I somehow managed to get up on time the next morning. As soon as I woke up, I had a terrible headache and felt nauseous. Sure enough, I had a full-blown hangover…
First, I opened my eyes, looked around, and tried to figure out where I was. I remember feeling relieved—even with my hangover—thinking, “Did I make it home safely?”
I had an unbelievably bad hangover, but I figured the people on set would laugh at me if I took the day off, so I forced myself to go to work (which is only natural since I’m a working adult, haha).
On the way there, I bought a 2-liter bottle of water at a convenience store and headed to the site office while staying hydrated.
What Happened When I Went to Work on a Construction Site With a Full-Blown Hangover
When I arrived at the site office, the first thing I did was clock in, clean the office and the restrooms, and check the day’s work schedule—but things didn’t go as planned that day.
That day, I spent the entire time running back and forth between the restroom and the office, with a never-ending cycle of burping and vomiting. I was in absolutely no condition to work—I felt terrible.
That said, no matter how bad my hangover was, work started as usual. My first task of the day was to chair the morning meeting. I felt like I was going to throw up just by opening my mouth, but I told myself, “I can’t throw up!” and put on a brave face.
But, as usual, I couldn’t speak up, so my seniors and the people from the partner company immediately figured it out: “Oh, this guy’s got a hangover.”
While watching the level, "The END.".
Our job that day was to determine the height of the ground cover using a level, measure the height of the bridge deck, and investigate the amount of bridge deflection caused by the difference in temperature between the hot daytime and the cool early morning.
It wasn't too hot in the morning, and we made good progress setting the ground level and finished the layout, but the afternoon was absolute hell…
Because of my hangover, I couldn’t bring myself to eat lunch, so I cooled my head and body with cold water, rehydrated, and headed off to work in the afternoon. By around 2:00 p.m., the temperature outside was nearly 38 degrees.
My senior colleague handled the equipment, and I checked the levels. As the two of us were surveying the bridge deck with no shade in sight, the next moment,Gaaaaaah…
(Inner voice) “I did it again...................................”
Before I knew it, I was vomiting all over the bridge deck. My senior was far away, so he didn’t notice that I was vomiting. The first person to notice that something was wrong with me—as I stood there frozen—was a supervising engineer who happened to be passing by.
Supervising Engineer: "Phantom just threw up~!!"
(Thoughts): "Stop it~"
The supervising engineer started shouting loudly, and from that point on, it turned into a total commotion. Everyone on site rushed over to me—bringing drinking water, cooling spray, a water tanker, and even an AED—and I was this close to being taken away in an ambulance.
After that, I took a short break, and once I had regained my strength, I returned to work and was finally able to wrap up that long, long day. I’m truly grateful to everyone at the worksite that day.
The place where I threw up—it still feels a little off
I heard that the supervising engineer used a wire brush to clean up the area where my vomit had splattered, making sure not to leave any traces, but for some reason, the spot where I had vomited stood out the most. And no wonder—they had scrubbed it too hard with the wire brush, so it actually looked completely out of place compared to the rest.
After that, I ended up staying until the final inspection, and on the day of the inspection, the inspector asked me, “Did something happen here (where someone had vomited)?”
Although I was a little nervous, I gave a vague answer—"There was a dead bird there, and it was so dirty that I scrubbed it clean with a wire brush"—and managed to get out of it. After the inspection was complete, I handed the site over to the paving crew, and the spot where I had vomited was completely gone under the new asphalt.
Be careful not to get too drunk, because it'll cause trouble for those around you.
In this post, I’ve decided to share a story about one of my failures—though I’m a bit embarrassed to admit it. When I was a new employee, I gave my all to everything and tried desperately to be liked by everyone, so I actively participated in work and after-work drinks.
Back then, I didn’t know how much I could handle, so I just went all out, and that’s how this happened. Since then, I’ve been drinking in moderation, and when the party goes on to a second, third, or even fourth round, I just get by with water mixed with alcohol (laughs).
I’ve heard that due to the coronavirus, there are fewer opportunities to hold welcome parties and farewell parties these days, but I didn’t want new employees to make the same mistake I did, so I decided to write this article.
To all of you who have overcome challenges at various construction sites over the years, have you ever had experiences like this?
