Let me tell you a story of how I grew to like my job as a builder here in Khmer. It was the first day of my new job. I was excited to finally be getting a job because it meant I could support my kids. I haven’t had a job since my wife died giving birth. That morning I couldn’t leave the house without going over the rules for my eldest, who was going to be in charge, for the third time. As I walked to the building site, where I had my new job, everyone stopped and stared because they hadn’t seen me outside in forever.
I arrived at work and my boss called me over. I said, “Hello Kiri. What do you need me to do today?”
Kiri said, “Well Heng, you are our new building manager. We just got our new task today. The emperor wants us to build a building called the Angkor Wat. Here is the sketch and your men are over there by the materials. Get to work.”
I then said, “Yes boss, I will get right on it.”
I walked over to my new workers and introduced myself. I glanced at the sketch and told them to move some of the 1 ton bricks so we could build the base. I watched as ten guys got one brick and slowly moved the brick to the open are to form the base. I helped the second group and I struggled to help them move the brick but I was so happy when we put the brick down in its spot and felt a great sense of accomplishment. The guys had half the base down by the end of the first day. I went home and was exhausted. I knew there had to be an easier way. I told myself that was what I would accomplish. Every day after work I kept on coming up with new ideas but I didn’t think any of them would work. Two weeks later I finally came up with an idea. I decided I needed to make a prototype and test it. I spent the next week making the prototype. After I finished making the prototype I took it into work and we tested it.
Everyone loved the prototype and wanted to know what I decided to call it. I said I am going to call this a ramp. We used the ramp everyday as we worked on building this so called Angkor Wat. Everyone there loved how it was starting to look. With the ramp we were able to get a lot more done in a day. After two months we were half way done and we had a surprise visit from the emperor who wanted to see how the Angkor Wat was looking. We all put on our finest clothes as to not look poor and gross in front of the emperor. The emperor was extremely impressed by our work and told us that he couldn’t wait to see how it looked when it was done. We got farther and farther every day. We wanted to have it finished before the four month marker to impress the emperor and make him happy so we worked later and later into the night every day. We finished the Angkor Wat in three and a half months and were extremely surprised with the outcome. The next day we had the emperor over to take a look and he was surprised when he saw it finished. He said that it was the best building he had ever seen and that it would be his favorite home forever. That was my first and most favorite building job I ever did and will never forget it.
I arrived at work and my boss called me over. I said, “Hello Kiri. What do you need me to do today?”
Kiri said, “Well Heng, you are our new building manager. We just got our new task today. The emperor wants us to build a building called the Angkor Wat. Here is the sketch and your men are over there by the materials. Get to work.”
I then said, “Yes boss, I will get right on it.”
I walked over to my new workers and introduced myself. I glanced at the sketch and told them to move some of the 1 ton bricks so we could build the base. I watched as ten guys got one brick and slowly moved the brick to the open are to form the base. I helped the second group and I struggled to help them move the brick but I was so happy when we put the brick down in its spot and felt a great sense of accomplishment. The guys had half the base down by the end of the first day. I went home and was exhausted. I knew there had to be an easier way. I told myself that was what I would accomplish. Every day after work I kept on coming up with new ideas but I didn’t think any of them would work. Two weeks later I finally came up with an idea. I decided I needed to make a prototype and test it. I spent the next week making the prototype. After I finished making the prototype I took it into work and we tested it.
Everyone loved the prototype and wanted to know what I decided to call it. I said I am going to call this a ramp. We used the ramp everyday as we worked on building this so called Angkor Wat. Everyone there loved how it was starting to look. With the ramp we were able to get a lot more done in a day. After two months we were half way done and we had a surprise visit from the emperor who wanted to see how the Angkor Wat was looking. We all put on our finest clothes as to not look poor and gross in front of the emperor. The emperor was extremely impressed by our work and told us that he couldn’t wait to see how it looked when it was done. We got farther and farther every day. We wanted to have it finished before the four month marker to impress the emperor and make him happy so we worked later and later into the night every day. We finished the Angkor Wat in three and a half months and were extremely surprised with the outcome. The next day we had the emperor over to take a look and he was surprised when he saw it finished. He said that it was the best building he had ever seen and that it would be his favorite home forever. That was my first and most favorite building job I ever did and will never forget it.