At my first real paying job I made $3 an hour which was a big thing at the time since minimum wage was at $2.90 an hour.  My boss just rounded it up, said it made the math easier.  I was working as an assistant to a land surveyor.  On my first day I over slept, probably why I’m always early to work now.  Anyhow on that job we were measuring a square house, which was supposed to be 24 x 24 x 24 x 24 feet according to the plans we had.  On the first try we got 24 x 24 x 24 x 23 feet.  Now my boss liked to swear and that he did at me because he was sure I was somehow screwing up by not holding my end of the tape correctly.  Well we did it two more times and he apologized for whoever built the house was a foot short and we were the first to notice it.  Some carpenter either couldn’t measure apparently or at the very least follow the plans or they decided to steal the money saved by taking away that foot.

On another site I was holding a measuring stick out in the middle of a field in the heat.  The surveyor was looking at the stick thru his lens when all of sudden it wasn’t there.  When he looked up, I had fainted from the heat.  From then on, no matter the temp, I was required to drink a lot of water.  But I was still making $3 an hour, while my friends we slaving away at $2.90.