POPCORN (standard:humor, 2415 words)
Author: netnut	Added: Feb 13 2001	Views/Reads: 3618/2192	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Nothing ever changed.

POPCORN 

The end was in sight. Sixteen weeks of sixteen hour days seven days a
week was nearly over. Steve's brain was numb. He had survived the last 
two weeks on adrenalin, coffee and nicotine. He knew before he started 
this building it would be like this, it always was. The challenge had 
been laid down five months ago "Do you think we could build a six 
theater multiplex cinema in sixteen weeks? Old man Bennett had said. 
"No problems" Steve had said. He would have liked to of added all the 
buts and maybes that should have gone with that answer, like, "If the 
drawings are complete", "If the sub contractors turn up on time", "If 
it doesn’t rain" or "No one makes a cock-up", but he knew that wasn’t 
what Bennett wanted to hear. Times were hard and Bennett was harder, he 
knew if he showed any signs of weak character Bennett would give 
someone else the job and he would be without one again. He also knew 
from experience that if he could manage to carry it off and open the 
doors on the right day the success would be the old man's. If he 
failed, he could keep that all to himself. The real pressure had come 
on in the last two weeks the Architect hadn't liked the finish on the 
walls in the cinema foyers. "Just not good enough Steve, I can see 
trowel marks under the paint." What the hell he had expected Steve 
didn’t know. What he did know was that specifying 9mm Gib board bent 
around tight curves and painted in high gloss purple with a bright 
white wall light shining across it was never going to be easy. "I don’t 
like the detail around the toilet windows Steve" the architect had 
said. "It's better than the one you’ve drawn" Steve had replied "I 
didn’t draw one did I?" "Exactly!" Steve thought. There wasn’t any 
point upsetting him at this stage he had to stay on side with the 
jumped up little bastard there was still a lot for him to sign off over 
the next two weeks Steve had nearly lost it the next day the 
Architectural team had decided that the matt black paint on the ceiling 
tiles in the cinemas just had to be changed to high gloss. This 
decision had arrived on the fax machine about 15 minutes after the 
scaffolding had been taken down and the seating contractors had 
started. "What the bloody hell difference does it make! " Steve had 
screamed down the phone. "The lights are out for most of the time and 
when there on who's gone look up there!" The outburst had had no 
effect; gloss was what they wanted. Steve knew even before he dialed 
the architect's office that they wouldn’t change their minds. They 
never did, in fact the site foreman yelling down the phone at them 
usually hardened their resolve. He also knew though that unless he had 
made that call in front of the painting contractors they wernt going 
back up there. The carpet layers arrived. "You guys can start on the 
vinyl in the wet areas, its all ready to go" "No we can't, we lay 
carpet there's another team coming to do the vinyl” "Well the carpet 
areas aren't going to be ready till next week" "Were on another job 
next week it's today or not at all" "Piss off then!" Steve would worry 
about carpet layers next week. It was the next week when Steve had 
managed to find some more carpet laying contractors that the imported 
machinery like projectors, screens, computers and the people who were 
installing them started turning up. Mysterious looking crates of 
equipment were strewn through the main foyer. Tension filled every 
corner of the job. Steve was answering a barrage of questions from all 
directions. He needed a break. He walked back to his site office five 
contractors were waiting for him. "The dishwasher wont fit in the 
space." Said the plumber. "Do you know which light fitting goes where, 
in the toilets?" said the sparky. "Are you the foreman?" said a 
slightly built guy in overalls with long greasy hair. "Yep, whats up?" 
said Steve "I'm here to install the popcorn machine," said the greasy 
one. "How long will that take?" "Dunno, never done one before, you’ve 
only gotta plug it in and switch it on tho." "Is it here," asked 
Steve." " Yep, It's that big crate over there just inside the door." 
"Any chance you could come back on Friday and plug it in, It's a bloody 
mad house in there at the moment? "No worries mate" said the greasy 
one. One down four to go. When Steve had got rid of all the subbies 
waiting with questions and problems he lit another smoke sipped his 
coffee and stared blankly at the newspaper on his desk. Turning to the 
back page he saw the advertisement. GRAND OPENING FRIDAY NEW MULTIPLEX 
CINEMA. "Well there it is in print." He thought, no turning back now. 
He looked at the list of items to complete, could it be done? "No 
problems" he laughed to himself. He was glad that Bennett was away in 
Fiji and not due back till Thursday night his confidence wouldn't be 
high if he took a look inside the place right now. Steve knew if 
Bennett was here he would be walking around inside screaming at all the 
sub trades swearing, questioning their breeding and generally lowering 


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