Personalities and their quirks

I have been trying to think of a way to write this post. I look at the group of people that have come to make up the place where I work. They are a very diverse and unique group with personalities that I am not sure would be "acceptable"in the States in a corporate environment, or for that matter, any social gathering! And remember, unlike the military, they can quit (and get fired of course) so it does change the rules somewhat. And most are on at least their second deployment so take that for what it is worth.

But somehow, they have all gelled to produce a site that is pretty fun to work at, and more importantly, get the job done. With a 7 day a week, 12 hour a day (in reality 24) job for a solid year, it is hard to stay motivated. So as a manager, I know there are things and issues I stand firm on, and others I just laugh about. And trust, me I laugh about a lot!

I have given some thought to what it takes to survive out here, and what kind of person "fits in" and won't crack under the constant work load and very little opportunity for any type of diversion. I think they have to be slightly off kilter, able to work independently, and have a hell of a work ethic, is a given.

You can forget any type of corporate look as well. Hair styles run from "normal' (whatever normal is) to pony tails to mohawks. And you can not consider yourself "welcomed" into the team until you get the port-o-potty treatment. There is no indoor plumbing here, so when you are on the port-o-potty, I gurantee you will get the rock (sometimes several) thrown at the side of the can. Yeah, loud as rifle shot and you are never expecting it. It literally scares the sh*t out of you. Or, you have one of my supervisors throw a rock, watch it curve, and hear, "no, not the truck" as it goes through the rear window of what used to be my truck. We switched vehicles after that little incident.

It helps, but is not mandatory, to be ex-military because you have probably already deployed and you are used to "this" whatever "this" may be. But I have people with no military background who are fitting in quite nicely so it is certainly not a "must."

Some use different methods to "fit in." A sense of a humor is absolute necessity. Without one, you will crack or quit, I am absolutely positive of that. Everyone has a weakness, and here, they will exploit your weakness so without a sense of humor (and revenge!) you will have a very hard time.

As soon as the group found out one person had a fear of clowns (yeah, clowns) it was game on and clown stuff is popping up everywhere at work. But, realize that this is the same guy that was putting fake snakes in people's drawers , etc so turn about is fair play.

I have a 50 something Puerto Rican grandpa who has two gold earrings, a "do-rag" wears shorts that are not quite shorts and not quite pants, plays Latin music at full volume and drinks "near beer" since alcohol l is not allowed. The first time I saw him at the tent and he said "Jefe (Spanish for boss) have a beer" with the look I described above, I thought "when in the hell did I walk into the barrio?"

But, when I can understand him, he is pretty fun to talk to and the best I have seen at scrounging stuff to make the site work. He tells me he has the "Puerto Rican connection." I don't care as long as I get what I need to continue to make the site work. If I did not turn a blind eye to the methods used to "acquire" what we need, nothing would get done.

With 30 plus people (and growing) I could (and might) write a book about my team and their various quirks that keep them sane. Most are married, and many with children, so they each deal with that in their own way. Some talk to each other, some "compartmentalize" as a coping method.

As I have learned my team and discovered what makes each one "tick' and what it takes to make them happy and working, it has been a blast! It sucks being away, but the job (and the people) never gets boring!