So, I ended up having to run the Sokkia gear all by myself recently. Not really by choice, mind you. Things got shuffled around upstairs, someone left, and suddenly the crew was just… me. You know the drill, management just tells you to ‘figure it out’. Easy for them to say from their nice comfy chairs.
First thing was just getting all the gear out there. Lugging the heavy instrument case, the tripod, the rod, stakes, hammer… felt like I needed about four arms. Usually, you’d have someone grab half of it. But nope, this time it was all me, making multiple trips back and forth from the truck like some kind of pack mule.
Setting up the tripod and getting the instrument on wasn’t too bad. Leveling it takes a bit, fiddling with the knobs, watching the bubble. That part’s okay, just takes patience. The real fun started when I had to actually take shots. Normally, you got one person on the instrument, one person on the rod, moving around.
But doing it solo? Man. You sight in on where you think the point should be, lock the scope down. Then you gotta grab the prism pole, walk all the way over there, trying to remember exactly where you were looking. Plumb up the rod, hoping it’s in the right spot. Then walk all the way back to the instrument to take the actual shot. If you were off? Too bad, walk back, move the rod, walk back to the instrument. Over and over again. It takes forever.
And forget trying to do anything quickly. You rush it, you make mistakes. Drop the pole, kick the tripod leg by accident… nearly happened a couple of times. It’s just slow, frustrating work. You lose so much time just walking back and forth. What would normally take maybe half a day with two people stretched into the whole damn day.
It really makes you wonder about these decisions to cut staff down to the bone. Sure, maybe they save a bit on salary, but then one job takes twice as long. Is that really saving money? Seems pretty dumb to me. Plus, it just wears you out. Doing the job of two people isn’t efficient, it’s just exhausting.
Anyway, I got it done. Finished the points I needed to locate. Packed everything up myself again, dragged it all back to the truck. Felt satisfying to finish, I guess, but mostly just tired and a bit grumpy about the whole situation. Proved I could do it, sure. But I really hope I don’t have to make a habit of it. It’s just not the right way to work, not if you want things done properly and on time.
