40 years ago, my father was a union carpenter on the construction of a big coal-fired electric generation plant in western Colorado. He worked for a big contra

40 years ago, my father was a union carpenter on the construction of a big coal-fired electric generation plant in western Colorado. He worked for a big contractor and was the foreman for the carpenter crew. When they waited for the next task to be ready for them to work on, my dad did things like paint company vehicles and equipment, and clean the warehouses. He stayed busy instead of playing cards in the break room. When that construction site started to wind down, he was the last carpenter to be laid off, and had many job offers at other places because of his conscientious work ethic. I'd take any employee with that ethic in a heartbeat at my manufacturing business.