Correct But Also Wrong...

  Although I did feel better Thursday night after seeing the gym,  I still didn't sleep much that night. I'd like to say the behavior improved on Friday but it didn't. No one likes accepting blame that is not, or that they believe is not theirs. The nice thing about having a voice that can't be heard in a loud room, you shut up and listen. I had two thoughts looping in my head:

•   The first was a conversation with my boss the day he approved my internship. We went for dinner/lunch and then took a walk to see the Jordan Gate Towers. He shocked me when he said he NEVER wanted to build something like them. Then he shared how three stories collapsed killing or injuring many workers. I look at the towers differently now. They remind me of a tower in Florida that many doubt will ever be completed. I am speaking of the Majesty Building (aka the Eyesore on I-4). It too blinds people with too much glass. It is only a year younger than me and it STILL isn't finished.

•   The second was a line from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes, "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." We know the design is good, the math is proven. We know Ukrainian steel work is SOLID, and a source of local pride. We know the footings are solid as well. We are missing a piece of the puzzle. It is a piece that none of us will find glaring across a table at one another.

  During dinner I raised my concerns with Saleh (Zahir's friend). His boy David was busy flirting with an almost panicked Betey. Together Saleh and I came up with three likely answers none of which could be proven in the office. To prove our theory we had to go to the build site. The best time would be Saturday or Sunday morning.

  As soon as I heard Betey hit the shower I threw on my skinny jeans and a grey sweatshirt. Then I slipped across the hall to Saleh and David's suite. We took the stairs down to the parking garage and headed off. I know this would piss off three people; Betey, Baba, and Zahir. There was a forth person who would be angry, if we found nothing... Our boss.

  Just in case Betey got creative we chose to turn our cellphones off. For a half second I thought about leaving it behind, but I knew we were too far out on this ledge already. On arrival, we managed to slip on a couple blue workers helmets in an attempt to blend in.

Example of catastrophic deflection

  We worked our way through the framing and deflection affected areas. Both of us knew something wasn't right. Neither could put our finger on it. Finally we arrived in what will be the grand lobby where the deflection was most pronounced. In engineering, deflection is the degree to which a structural element is displaced (sag or bow) under a load, heat, or age. All beams are deflected under load over time. If too much, the webbing of the beam collapses. Followed by the rest of the beam and structure.

  Our stealthy entrance lasted probably about five or six minutes. From behind me I heard the booming voice of the foreman, "Tiny Bird you come to visit!" He tapped my blue helmet and said, "You wear wrong color. Why not wearing the white? You are engineer team." On large build sites the companies will use color coded hard hats to know what trades are working and where on the site.

  I could see Saleh formulating a fib... I decided honesty was the best policy, telling him we were just trying to blend in. He asked if we were looking for the reason for the deflection in the lobby area. I shook my head yes. He told me it concerns him as well and he'd been concerned since the latest change sheets. Saleh asked, "What change sheets?"

  He disappeared into the office trailer and came back with two rolls of blueprints, and a white helmet with the companies logo. He removed the blue helmet and plopped the white on my head then he pointed at Saleh... "He blends in... You do not blend in ever. You brain boy, are too young and small."

  Saleh and I quickly identified what was missing, two walls. They were load-bearing. I asked the project manager if he knew what would happen it they continue to build without installing several buttresses to shed the load. I ran some numbers and even with the reinforcements the roof top Olympic sized infinity pool would be out of the question. Water is a killer for dead weight load.

  We saw what the secondary "architects" were trying to do. They were trying to carve out enough space behind the front desk to house two banquet rooms in addition to the restaurant. What they wanted was doable, just not the way they did it, or where they wanted to do it. This should have been on the original bid sheet.

  After we took some measurements, and had a productive discussion with a few of the crew,  we had a working concept not quite a plan but a start. Saleh was smiling, until he turned and looked over my shoulder. Betey was behind me and grabbed hold of said shoulder.

  I was so concerned with him finding me with my cell phone, I forgot about the stupid little tracker in my wallet. "I thought you were abducted until the zamel Jew broke down! He said he did not know where you were, but told me what you were doing. I called your brother Zahir rather than your father." It hurt when he called David a zamel, it implied I was as well. While it is true I am the bottom, it is such a coarse word. The worst part was knowing that he called Zahir.

  Betey continued, "Zahir told me how to use the trackers." I knew about the cute pink Bluetooth locator in my wallet. I did not know it automatically logs on to open WiFi routers. I also did NOT know the battery in my cell phone contained a second built in self powered tracker, or that my nice retro analogue watch was a tracker too!


  As soon as I turned my phone on our companies messenger app started to chime. It was Zahir, I put my ear pods in so that it could be private. He spoke "AT" me for the better part of five minutes. Letting me know how much I disappointed him. When I could finally get a word in edgewise the first words out of my mouth was I'm sorry.

  It normally disarms him for a few moments. I told him what Saleh and I were trying to do, and that we were working on a plan to save the contract. I also sent him some of the images of the deflection in steel. He told me what I did was good, how I did it was not.  We honestly didn't have another option.

  His opinion changed SLIGHTLY when I told him it was a bad copy of his signature on the bottom of the change sheets. If the building collapsed I did not want him held accountable for something he did not approve.

  Saleh asked the site manager to not mention the fact that we were on site until after we could come up with a couple fix action plans. He smiled broadly and told us he would sit on it forever, especially learning the chief structural engineer was not consulted for the changes.

  On the way back to the hotel Saleh arranged for the rest of the engineers to start heading towards his suite. While he was doing that I was apologizing profusely to Betey for ditching him.  I told him he stood out too much. He said he understood but my safety was the primary concern. I knew he was right.

  We spent the rest of the day Saturday and all day Sunday working on a way to make the clients desires a reality, and how to replace the damaged beams. Our boss in Amman flew in on Monday for that meeting. Saleh and I were commended by him for our ingenuity in protecting the firm's integrity and image.

  The choice is to except our changes or find another structural engineering firm. There is not a structural engineering firm on the planet that will approve the building in its current configuration. Especially when it gets revealed publicly that our client forged signatures on blueprints to achieve certification.

  I received an interesting reply from Zahir when he got the company's email. "Well done, but never do this again!" Apparently it's his place to fight for my honor, not the other way around.

  The boss arrived around two in the morning. We had an early team breakfast meeting to bring him up to speed on the two fix options. There was a private meeting of the client, our firm, and the construction company. After our boss exposed the forgery on the change sheets, he showed how they would have led to the probable collapse of the building before completion. The construction company was not happy with how their safety was compromised and threatened to walk off the job. The president of the client's firm said he was unaware of what his design team did and offered compensation. Our boss said he would send a bill.

  The client wisely went with the second design. It kept the pool on the roof and included the banquet rooms and a short service corridor to the kitchen. The damaged structural elements would first be replaced. A member of OUR firm would remain in Kiev to observe the rest of construction. The construction company foreman asked for me. Saleh put his hand on my shoulder as the boss shot down the request with, "He is just a student and needed on other tasks..." Saleh's junior was chosen with the construction companies approval. I felt sorry for him he hates the cold even more than me, and Ukrainian winters are hard.

  When the rest left the room the boss began praising Saleh. It went on for some time. When he turned to me the tone shifted. "I agree with Zahir, we have talked at length. What you did was absolutely good, how you did it was absolutely wrong." He then chronicled my errors in judgement. First was slipping my protectors custody, forgetting the fact Saleh was the man he originally wanted watching over me.

  He told me my job was to sit in office, do math, run errands, and learn. "You are NOT boy spy! Zahir and Saleh are trained warriors, you are JUST a boy." He went on for some time, but ended with, "You are suspended for three weeks. When Zahir returns he will decide if your internship is terminated." My head was hanging like it had been cut off. He cradled my cheeks and pulled my head up, "You and Saleh saved my family's company from a building collapse and I am grateful. You can be hurt far too easily. Please the telling is good, our people are trained to listen to you. Leave the doing to others."

  On the way out the foreman invited me to a celebratory supper. I told him I was leaving this evening with the boss and had been suspended. He rested his strong hand on my shoulder telling me when I graduate I would have a place in his company. "Always need good engineer." Then he gave me a new white company hard hat. I thanked him for the offer but told him my heart was anchored in Amman.

  We leave in an hour, Ever try to fit a hard hat into a small piece of luggage?