We have a new roof

Historical Photo:
 Historic Century house Cleveland Ohio

To tell the truth, I am not happy that our USA labor force has changed, but it has. The four men who did out roof were all Hispanic.  Illegals?  I have no idea. Mr. Baster hired them and he is supposed to check for work permits. None of the men spoke enough English to answer simple questions.

I am not knocking them, I watched them work and remember when I and my fellow workers worked that hard. My son Mark, the hardest most consistent worker I ever had, would have fit in with this crew. 

Jerry Rogers of Florida made a statement once when I commented on how hard he and his Florida crew worked.

Jerry said, “Hey Jack, we quit school because they wanted us to go out on recess!”  LOL

At the end of this roofing job a look of ‘shock’ was on the workers faces when I got my own ladder and climbed to the roof to inspect. It was a very good job. The working area was clean and all debris policed. I knew they are thinking ‘what does that old man know?’  They don’t know I and my son built and roofed this house.

When I climbed down and gave them the thumbs up, with ‘Mucho gracious’ and then gave them a tip for the hard work, then they sure smiled.  They knew the tip was from my heart because I did not hire them Mr. Baster did and he will pay them. 

I do have friends who are out of work in the drywall and framing business because contractors can hire Hispanic labor cheaper and that is the name of the game. I did hire a Hispanic crew once because my regular subs were busy and I needed the job done.


They do believe in the ‘siesta’. I was surprised when we traveled in Europe that stores closed from 12-2:30 for siesta time. Most construction workers will take 15 mins. breaks morn and afternoon and an hour for lunch.

These guys took no breaks but slept from 12 to two. The first day I kept wondering when they would go back to work after lunch and noticed they weren’t sitting around shooting the breeze at noon but they all ate and found a place to sack out and went to sleep. (One exception was a dude that talked on the phone the entire time. I guess he is Americanized!) 

This is not a post against the Mexicans who are here due to a demand. But it is to the American worker (not all) that allowed this to happen. They caused a void and caused the demand that the Hispanic is filling. I also appreciate family men and men of faith, most of these Hispanic guys fit that bill. Blame also goes to the contractors. 

You cannot over look our government that also looks the other way. there is enough blame to go around.
Thanks for taking the time to read this ‘mess’.
Nite Shipslog
PS: Yes, I think everyone in the USA should learn English.  Learning a new language is tough, most of these guys are trying. Some pick it up faster than others.  ME? I have been trying to learn Spanish for a long time now, I still want to learn and converse in Spanish.