Fishing and Falling…Getting All Wet and not one Regret…

It was not a good day at the building site for Mendix & Son. One of the drywall people had come to the site without steel-toe boots. An electrician had been putting up a lower grade of wiring and two of the crew had gotten sick after eating lunch from the food truck.

Herbert Mendix was not amused. He had no choice, he had to fire the electrician. He was potentially endangering lives. The electrician Pete Cook had been friends with Herbert for years, but the idea of him putting in inferior wire was serious. ‘’Herb, I just ordered from the wrong supplier, it wasn’t really my fault.’’ Herbert felt disappointed in his friend on a million different levels. ‘’C’mon Pete, you know the difference between Aluminum and Copper wiring. You’ve been doing the job long enough. I have to have someone redo the work you’ve done. That’s extra time and money. You screwed up. I’m just praying you didn’t use aluminum in the other projects we did together, I trusted you and now I have to go do audits. Shit !’’

Pete asked Herbert if they could talk in private for a minute, he didn’t want the other trade people to hear what he was about to say. Herbert obliged him and they went to the back of the property where landscaping hadn’t started yet.

‘’I should have told you about the Aluminum. I was only going to do a couple of rooms. I got a big kickback for using it from Tony Manza. I’m sorry. It’ll take me a day and I’ll have the copper in. I’ll do anything. I just don’t want to lose this gig and I value our friendship. Herbert was angry. ‘’Did you do that shit at any of the other sites, be honest Pete.’’

Peter Cook kicked at the ground. ‘’Nope, this was the first time. Manza bought a huge amount of aluminum wire and he is trying to get rid of it. Herbert you know I have four kids and two are going to University. I needed the money. I’m sorry. I won’t ever do it again. Let me fix the problem, it will take half a day and we’ll be back on schedule.’’

Herbert had met Peter on the first project he did, a small renovation and they’d worked together on hundreds of sites ever since. The betrayal was sickening. ‘’I’m going to close the site up till Monday. I’ll let you know Sunday night if you should return. What you did is beyond serious and I’m pissed. Get out of…