The Struggles of K, the Slightly Overweight Construction Foreman
Site supervisors are sometimes treated like handymen.
In particular, site supervisors at companies specializing in residential construction may find themselves in situations where they have to handle everything themselves—from repairing roof leaks and other defects to exterminating pests and inspecting crawl spaces covered in cobwebs.
Since this is a physically demanding job, you’d think they’d have to watch their weight… but it’s also true that there are a lot of slightly overweight site supervisors around.
This doesn't apply to all slightly overweight directors, but,The Work-Related Struggles of Director K, a Slightly Chubby and Particularly Clumsy ManLet me introduce it.
Damage During the Handover of a Newly Built Single-Family Home
Site supervisor K, who is a bit on the heavy side, is in his 30s.
Now in his 12th year with the company, he stands 165 cm tall, weighs 80–85 kg, has a BMI of 29.4 (with 25 being the standard), and is a die-hard, slightly chubby manager—a fact acknowledged by both himself and others—with an obesity level of 1.
He’s a talkative, personable project manager who’s popular with clients, but he can be a bit scatterbrained at times.
That day, Supervisor K—a slightly overweight man—was scheduled to attend the handover of a newly built single-family home he had been overseeing. As a neat freak, Supervisor K arrived at the site early before his meeting with the client to do some final cleaning.
While cleaning, she said she was unusually bothered by the dust on top of the designer range hood installed above the kitchen gas stove.
Director K, a slightly chubby man, felt an overwhelming urge to clean the surface of the design-style kitchen cabinet. Unable to resist the impulse, he climbed onto the kitchen countertop and began cleaning.
Apparently, even after cleaning the house, a little dust had accumulated, and sweeping it away made her feel really refreshed.
Damage to the Glass Top of a Completed Building
Well, now that I felt refreshed, just as I shifted my foot to get off,
"Crack!!"
The spot where he had placed his foot made a nasty sound, and he could feel it deforming. Unable to move his foot for a moment, the slightly plump Coach K froze in place.
I tentatively shifted my foot, and—The shiny glass top of the gas stove was completely shattered...
At the subsequent handover, the slightly portly supervisor K could do nothing but apologize profusely to the client; however, since there was plenty of time before the move and the client was quite fond of him, it seems he got off with just a mild reprimand.
In addition, since it was possible to replace only the stove portion of the kitchen, the damage was limited to about 200,000 yen.
Director K, who was a bit on the chubby side, said with a wry smile, “I didn’t think it would break just because I got on it!” But I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Come on, with a build like that, it’s only natural it would break! (laughs).”
Ever since then, it seems that Director K—who’s a bit on the chubby side—has been careful never to put his weight on plumbing fixtures. And when he needs to dust high places, he apparently uses cleaning tools.
A Terrifying Experience During an Underfloor Inspection
Because Supervisor K, who is a bit on the heavy side, has a friendly demeanor, he often gets involved in regular inspections of private home renovations and new construction projects.
However, I absolutely refuse to inspect the space under the floor, even though it’s something I’d normally do frequently during on-site surveys for renovations or regular inspections. The reason is that I’m a little on the chubby side.
But that's not the only reason.It's because I've had a terrible experience in the past.
While the crawl spaces in new buildings these days are designed to be wide enough for even Chubby Supervisor K to squeeze through, the incident took place in the crawl space of a 40-year-old building. Back then, Chubby Supervisor K was even more portly than he is now.
Supervisor K, a slightly portly man, had been assigned to a property requiring seismic retrofitting and received an order from his boss to “take photos under the floor to assess the condition of the existing foundation.”
I went in alone, down into the old, dusty space with its bare earthen floor.
The clearance under the floor was about 45 cm. Wearing his underfloor inspection gear, the slightly plump Supervisor K began crawling on his stomach, turning in place as he went, and taking photos of all four sides.
Then, “Huh?”
A flash for taking photos from a second angle,“The Presence of Something”I realized...
Spending some time with *that* under the floor
Although there was a little light, it was impossible to see more than a meter ahead under the floor. Director K, who was a bit on the heavy side, tentatively shone his flashlight in the direction where he suspected “something” was lurking.
In the light of the flashlight, two eyes were glowing.
It's a palm civet...! (I'm sure I was screaming "Aaaah!" inside my head.)
A masked palm civet, with all the hairs on its body standing on end, was glaring at me as if it were about to pounce.Director K, who is a bit on the chubby side, reportedly had a gut feeling that “This is bad!”
I tried to crawl out from under the floor in a hurry, but I made such a sharp turn that my waist got caught between the floor joists, and I couldn't move.
Panicked, the slightly overweight Director K used the light from his flashlight to keep the raccoon dog at bay while shouting his boss’s name and desperately calling for help.
The boss and the client, alarmed by the unusual behavior of the slightly overweight foreman K, tried to rescue him, but no matter how hard they pulled, he wouldn't come out.
The boss crawled under the floor as well, unfastened the belt around the waist of the slightly overweight Supervisor K, and, by gently pushing him forward bit by bit, finally managed to rescue him.
Although the whole incident lasted only about 15 minutes, it felt like three hours to the slightly plump Director K. Perhaps thanks to the flashlight’s deterrent effect, the civet had disappeared by the time he noticed.
After rescuing the slightly overweight Supervisor K, his slim boss took some photos of the space under the floor, and the inspection concluded without incident. Although Supervisor K had shown the client a rather embarrassing side of himself, the company successfully won the contract for this project, and the seismic retrofit was completed without a hitch.
A Complaint from the Client Over Dripping Sweat
As readers have probably already noticed, for Coach K—who’s a bit on the chubby side—summer is the toughest season. During the summer, he sweats an extraordinary amount.
It was on a hot summer day.
Supervisor K, who was a bit on the heavy side, had been raring to go since early morning for the topping-out ceremony of the new construction project he was overseeing. Since it was a relatively small project, the framing was completed by early afternoon, and they were able to continue construction until the roof sheathing was installed.
Satisfied with how smoothly the construction was going, the slightly plump foreman, K, invited the client inside the frame structure once that day’s work was finished, but the sweat pouring off him from the heat wouldn’t stop.
I was wiping the sweat from my brow and answering the client’s questions when, suddenly, the client turned to the slightly plump foreman, K, and asked him a question.
"Mr. K's sweat has been dripping onto the wood for a while now—this kind of thing won't have a negative impact on the structure, will it?"
The word “salt damage” crossed K’s mind, but he laughed and said, “Sorry! This isn’t a problem at all!” and the situation was resolved amicably.
At that moment, the slightly plump Director K wept inwardly. Since then, he has reportedly made it a habit to wear a hand towel tied around his forehead whenever he goes to the set during the summer.
Whether he’s broken a glass top or drenched himself in sweat, he immediately comes up with a solution and heads off to the job site full of energy every day—Supervisor K, who’s a bit on the chubby side, is truly wonderful.
Site Supervisor K, Who Just Can't Seem to Lose Weight
However, the fact is that his slight weight gain is the root cause of this whole situation. He realizes that himself.
I think he should lose a little more weight, but for some reason, Coach K—who’s a bit on the chubby side—shows no signs of trying to lose weight. If anything, he’s heading back toward his peak weight of 85 kg.
Since working on-site often means eating dinner late and can be stressful, it’s probably no surprise that people tend to eat greasy meals.
To reduce on-site problems, a site supervisor like K—who is a bit overweight and clumsy—might want to pay a little more attention to his health and losing weight.
