Desk Jockeys of the Loma Linda University Campus Transformation Project — Lessons Learned About Desks

I come from a long line of Desk Jockeys: One of my uncles was in construction, he had a desk: it was always clean. My maternal grandfather, he too was in construction, he had a desk in his barn/shop. His desk, piled high with “stuff” was an archeologists dream. No doubt there was something on that desk that could help them tie up some loose ends on early twentieth century man. My paternal grandfather was a pharmacist: He stood all day, he had a desk. I understood why he had a desk. It came with a chair, which he used to take a load off his feet. My dad had a massive desk in his office, which was always clean. Never could figure out why he needed a desk. Seemed to me a desk was for putting stuff. Important stuff. Many years ago there was a vice president at the Medical Center with whom I would have occasional meetings in his office. His desk was always clean. I never saw a single piece of paper on the desk. Why did he need a desk? There was one particular day when I stood up to leave his office. Suddenly he pulled open the center desk drawer and said “You might need one of these” as he motioned toward the paper, I was holding. His largess offer of a paper clip was lost on what I observed in that center drawer. There were two stacks of paper clips. Yes, two STACKS of paper clips. Large paper clips were in one stack, and small paper clips were neatly stacked next to the large ones. Suddenly, I knew, without a doubt, why he had a clean desk. I had a colleague who had a very cluttered desk: papers everywhere. When it came time to go home, he gathered all the papers and shoved them in the top right drawer. He didn’t fool me. The desk was still cluttered as far as I was concerned. You might be wondering about the reason for this monograph. There is a purpose and a proper segue. First, we have discerned that there are two types of desk jockeys: those who have cluttered desks and those who have clean desks. In my book there isn’t a sort of clean or cluttered desk category. If I ever attended a desk jockey support group, I would be proud to stand up, throw back my shoulders and proudly identify myself as a lifelong cluttered desk jockey. I know what my desk is for–it is for my stuff! Second, and this is the perfect segue. I was delighted to see that there are desk jockeys at the Loma Linda University Campus Transformation Project  (LLUCTP) site. No, these desks are not in the construction trailers. These desks, often makeshift desks, are where they are needed at a particular. Third, I learned that on a construction site there can be clean desks and cluttered desks. And so, this photo blog is dedicated to the desk jockeys of the Loma Linda University Campus Transformation Project.  The featured photo is one taken of me in the fall of 2011, about two weeks prior to my retirement. Ironically, I’m standing behind my cluttered desk wearing the hard hat given me by McCarthy when I documented the construction of the Centennial Complex. Even more ironic, the photo was taken in my second story corner office that overlooked the main entrance to the Medical Center. I now wear the same hard hat down on the site that had been my vista for nearly two decades. Today, the view is in transition, changing along with the changing times.

A Random Sample of Desks on the Site

June 7, 2016, was my first introduction to a desk on site. This photo is the desk (table) that we sat around during a safety orientation meeting, which included  safety lectures, gut wrenching videos showing on-the-job accident (not at this site) victims, and a safety test.

Back when the project was in the excavation and grading phase, I observed one of the first desks at the site. The grading foreman, seen in this photo, used either the hood or the tail gate of his truck as a desk.

There he was sitting at his desk with his back to a column. His desk was so small, I almost passed it and the man sitting behind it as I walked by. There was something about Daniel’s desk that made me turn around and ask him if I could include his desk in this blog. Daniel an inspector for all things welding and steel agreed. Parenthetically, I must interject here that Daniel has proven my long-held  theory that a clean desk or a cluttered desk is directly proportionate to the size of the desk: A large desk will beget a clean desk, and conversely a small desks will beget a cluttered desk. His desk, as small at it is, is a desk my desk should be–NEAT, TIDY, and CLEAN. Clean of the stuff from the past, and unsullied from the things of the present. Everything on Daniel’s desk had its place. Even the small electric fan has its place to give him the optimum benefit. BTW, Daniel gets an A+, and as a bonus on this thirteenth day of August, 2018, has been, without delay, admitted to the uncluttered desk hall of fame.

And so, with Daniel and his small fold-up and clean desk still on my computer screen, I’m left to wonder if I ever will have a desk, large or small, that will be as uncluttered as Daniel’s. From the looks at my desk, I doubt it!!

This rebar foreman, his desk of choice was rebar: preferably a flat section of rebar.

The ironworker at the right used one the smaller and more innovative desks on site. Sitting on a mechanics stool he is monitoring the milling of a node from a laptop computer, which lays on a piece of plywood on top of a plastic bucket.

This is the office of the crane operators. At the time the crane was being erected, I asked one of the operators if I could stick my head in and take a photo of the cab. He hesitated and finally said: “well, the office isn’t tidied up right now…ah go ahead and take your photo.” The cab has all of the trappings of an office: A/C and heat, stereo, wifi, flat screen computers, and a second story widow office. By the way, my office depicted in the feature photo was in the office building (center right) on the other side of the wooden construction safety fence.

A pipe fitter uses a rolling cart for a desk.

Not far away another pipe fitter has the latest model desk: a rolling draftsmen’s style.

An electrician’s desk, also a rolling cart, down in the basement.

When it comes to desks, pipe fitter Brian finds, makes, or improvises. In this photo, he uses the safety bar of a scissor lift as a makeshift desk. Note the makeshift desk to Brian’s left.

An open air desk and chair used by the welding foreman.

Now this is a CLEAN desk.

The electrical foreman’s working desk down in the basement. Supplies are under lock and key. Even the papers and other supplies on the rollaway to the right of the desk is neat. The schedule board on the side of the desk is nicely done.

Isaac a pipe fitter studies a set of  blueprints on a scaffold workstation/desk. The two washers on the side are not clutter. They are used for holding the paper in place.

You have to make do with what you have. One of the crew that sprays the MONOKOTE fireproofing material onto the steel studies the blueprints laid over the side of a scaffold deck. When the blueprints are not in use, the sheet of plastic is pulled over the plans as a protection from moisture.

Electrician Kevin stands at his desk in the main electrical equipment room on level “A.”

There has to be a desk somewhere behind those sparks! Actually, this photo is a nice segue to the next.

A computer workstation, which is connected to wifi. Who needs blueprints when one has a computer workstation that is regularly updated from the home office or onsite trailer.  This station is located on the first floor, which …

… feeds information to this laptop sitting on a scaffold desk located on “A” level.

Even a damper pedestal will, on occasion, make a great desk.

Ed and Santos, their office and their desk can be anywhere. The side rail of a trailer works well, thank you very much! In this case, Ed (left) syncs information from his cell phone to his iPad.

Even a wooden crate on a pallet will do the trick.

A desk down in the pit for the ironworker foreman and the foreman for the welders.