Friday, December 07, 2007

That's HUGE!

I am a pretty big guy. Not just in weight, but in height, too - I'm nearly 5' 11", which is moderately tall for this area, but short for some other localities, and very tall for others. In Ireland I was a giant. I was able to blend in in most other ways, mainly by wearing drab clothing and dark shoes, looking weatherbeaten, and keeping my mouth shut, but there wasn't much I could do about my height.

I walked into my work area this morning and saw the biggest man I have ever seen, training on my DVD presses. I kinda kept my distance in the morning, but I was able to check him out at the shift change at the end of the day - well, I had to, because his trainer wasn't there yet, so I had to give him the turnover. If you know me, imagine me sitting on my shoulders, and that will give you some idea of the immense size of this man. My eyes came up to about his chest level. I think that would put him at over seven feet tall, and he was probably closer to 500 pounds than to 300. He looked a lot like Jack O'Halloran did when he played Non in Superman II, or when he played Ivan in March Or Die.

I can't imagine he will be at all comfortable in this job. Besides all the standing, walking, and running, there is also a lot of stuff designed to be done at a comfortable height for someone between five and six feet tall; he will have to stoop to do these things. There's also a lot of finicky detail stuff that needs to be done in cramped quarters. Even I find some of these things at the very least annoying, and I'm pretty nimble. Can someone so much larger than me find a way to do these things without placing undue stress on his body? We'll have to wait and see how things work out for him.

2 comments:

whimsical brainpan said...

I'm sure he's used to it and has learned to adapt.

hedera said...

Yes, what's he going to do? He has to eat, which means he has to work. Actually from your description, it sounds as if he could quit eating for awhile without permanent damage :-) but that's probably not a reasonable long term option.