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\"Excuse me!!! Can I take a picture?!!!\"<\/p>\n
Standing in front of the tunnel face, I was shouting. The other person was up on a piece of heavy machinery. It was incredibly loud inside the tunnel, so even if I shouted at the top of my lungs, my voice probably wouldn\u2019t reach him. Still, if I didn\u2019t take the photo, the work wouldn\u2019t move forward, so I just kept shouting. Just when I thought he\u2019d finally noticed me, all I got in response was a single word.<\/p>\n
\"Hurry up!!\"<\/b><\/p>\n
\"Don't run at the scene.\" That's the first thing everyone is taught. But in that moment, that rule completely flew out of my head.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d dash all the way to the edge of the pit, set a huge blackboard on the ground, take a photo, then carry the blackboard back while running. This was back in the days before digital whiteboards.<\/p>\n
\"We're done taking photos!! Thank you so much!!!\"<\/b><\/p>\n
As I bowed my head, this is what I was thinking to myself.<\/p>\n
\u2015\u2015\"It's over,\" he said.<\/p>\n
This was just a typical day for me during my first year working as the \u201cprime contractor\u201d on a mountain NATM tunnel project.<\/p>\n
If I explain the steps calmly, here's how it works.<\/p>\n
After blasting, the excavated rock is loaded onto a heavy-duty dump truck using a wheel loader. Once the sweeping is complete, we move on to the next step\u2014using a breaker to dislodge loose rocks, a process known as \u201ckosoku.\u201d The only moment I can take a photo of the face is right after the rock removal following kosoku is finished and just before we begin the spraying process.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s noisy inside, so I wait about 50 meters behind the heavy machinery at first. Once the operator can see me, I wave my arms widely to signal him. When he notices me, he\u2019ll stop the machine, so I say, \u201cExcuse me, may I take a photo?\u201d If I hear \u201cGo on, hurry up,\u201d I\u2019ll dash over with the chalkboard. I\u2019ll set up on my own, snap the photo, and as soon as I\u2019m done, I\u2019ll put the chalkboard away, say, \u201cI\u2019ve got it, thank you very much,\u201d and step back from the face of the tunnel.<\/p>\n
That's finally one take.<\/p>\n
Just to be clear, running on the job site is something that should never happen, and I would absolutely never do it now. Also, it was us who were making the miners stop working at that dangerous face. Looking back now, it\u2019s no wonder the miners were getting frustrated and yelling, \u201cHurry up!\u201d But back then, I didn\u2019t have the mental bandwidth to think about any of that...<\/p>\n
When you hear the term \u201cconstruction management for a general contractor,\u201d you might imagine a role that involves running the job site based on blueprints and scheduling. That\u2019s exactly what I thought when I first started in the field.<\/p>\n
In reality, though, all I could do was bow my head to the miner and ask him to make the arrangements, and try to handle the situation in a way that wouldn\u2019t upset him.<\/p>\n
Even just to take a single photo, I couldn\u2019t proceed without saying, \u201cExcuse me.\u201d My title as the general contractor held no weight here.<\/p>\n
Looking back now, I\u2019m sure there were many times when I, as a first-year employee with no experience, must have caused trouble on the job without even realizing it. But back then, I was so desperate just to get through each day that I didn\u2019t even have the mental bandwidth to think about it.<\/p>\n
However, this doesn't cover the entire job site. Even within the same tunnel, the members of the tunnel face team and the lining team were completely different, and the atmosphere on site was polar opposites.<\/p>\n
To be honest, working with the team at the tunnel face was really tough. The miners all had their own quirks, and no matter what I did, I\u2019d end up getting yelled at. Normally, I should have gone through the primary subcontractor instead of dealing with them directly, but I just couldn\u2019t see eye to eye with that foreman. There were even times when he gave me explanations that I could only interpret as lies.<\/p>\n
Of course, this may just have been how I perceived things as a first-year employee. My lack of understanding and poor communication skills likely contributed to that impression as well. Still, there were definitely incidents back then that made me feel that way.<\/p>\n
The worst part was during the 6:00 a.m. morning meeting, when I\u2019d be told, \u201cHe said this,\u201d based on something I\u2019d never actually said, and then publicly humiliated in front of everyone. The term \u201cpublic execution\u201d fits this situation best. Even if I replied, \u201cI didn\u2019t say that,\u201d it didn\u2019t change anything in the moment.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the formwork team was different. The foreman was a really capable guy who actually listened to what we had to say. That said, I was only in my first year. I kept making mistakes\u2014misreading the height for cutting out the box or when setting the center\u2014and got scolded pretty harshly. Looking back now, I realize I was just being scolded for making obvious mistakes, but at the time, I was really struggling.<\/p>\n
The lining work was a long process involving over 100 blocks. As we worked side by side more and more, we ended up getting along really well by the second half of the project.<\/p>\n
What's interesting is that, even within this lining team, the foreman and I ended up communicating directly with each other without going through the primary subcontractor.<\/p>\n
The person in charge of cladding at our primary subcontractor was just standing in a corner on the second floor of the Center, looking at us and going, \u201cHmm,\u201d without doing anything. Whether it was a good team or a bad one, we ultimately couldn\u2019t count on the person who was supposed to step in and sort things out.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s one thing I learned for sure on this job site: no matter how accurate the blueprints or work procedures are, the site won\u2019t run smoothly if the people involved aren\u2019t working well together.<\/p>\n
And that \u201cperson\u201d wouldn\u2019t follow the hierarchy chart of the primary subcontractor. In the end, I had no choice but to build a relationship of trust directly with the foreman myself.<\/p>\n
After working on several tunnel projects, I became convinced that the atmosphere on a job site can change completely depending on the team. To be honest, I still feel very strongly that \u201cI\u2019ve had enough of tunnels.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been nearly 10 years since then, so things might be different now. Interactive whiteboards have become the norm, so I suppose there\u2019s no need for that last-minute dash anymore.<\/p>\n
Even so, the sense of \u201chow to motivate people\u201d that was drilled into me during those days has become the foundation of who I am today.<\/p>\n
It was way too tough to handle in my first year, but looking back, that job site was definitely a valuable experience.<\/p>\n
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