Tim Leeper couldn’t get it right. No matter how many hours he put in, the number of splinters that pierced his skin or the depth of the bruises on his knees, learning construction from an ‘old-world’ carpenter set in his ‘old-school’ ways was a regular exercise in hearing more about what he did wrong than what he did right. On every project.
Then he stepped on his boss’ mother’s roof. The job was a large re-roof with asphalt shingles, and it was completed in one day — a rarity on the projects he took on as the carpenter’s apprentice shortly after graduating high school. The precise shingle lines, quick installation and clean jobsite didn’t earn him a compliment or even an “atta boy” from his initial mentor. But it was the first time he didn’t hear a complaint from him. And it felt great for a reason he didn’t expect.