Generational Respect

Today is an interesting day my reader companions, I awoke this morning with a subject in mind to write about now I had been thinking a lot on the subject over the past couple of days and had even begun to write it in my head as I normally do before finally putting pen to paper or in this case fingers to keyboard. Planning is all well and good and I assure you that the topic would have been great, however within my first three hours at work this early morning another subject has pushed the first subject so far out of mind that I can't possibly justify writing about it today. The new subject my friends is respect or lack there of it. The topic jumped to mind after I was thoroughly tongue lashed for 'failing' to comply with the current job site's over the top safety standards. Normally I am not one to complain about sites and their safety requirements as I understand it costs them less insurance money to require proper PPE (personal protective equipment) and this is no different, the safety standards are in place for a reason and I totally understand and respect that, but I cannot and will not stand for verbal abuse from anyone because of it.
The violation I mentioned came as follows, I was wiring in my small obscenely hot metal box and came to a corner where in front of me was a series of copper pipes no more than six inches from my face and a large exhaust fan roughly a foot to a foot and a half behind me giving my a two foot space to work above me. Having multiple places to work in within the confines of this space I reserved myself to finding the most comfortable position to work in and sat on top of my six foot ladder, now I know sitting on top of a ladder is not a safe practice but knowing there was zero possible chance of my falling from my ladder or the ladder slipping from under me unless someone intentionally kicked the base out from under me, so I sat on top of my ladder. Halfway through my work I was called off my ladder by my foreman who proceeded to verbally tongue-lash me the about the safety practices, me being kicked off the job, and black marks against the company if i was asked to leave the job. Fair enough on the last point, but what he failed to note or comprehend was the fact that had someone come into my zone, seen me, and had an issue with my choice of work procedure I would have been asked to move from the top step and would have received at worst a verbal warning about ladder safety. Did this warrant a grown man screaming at me? I tend not to think so. Does it then show a large double standard when I climbed a second ladder not twenty minutes later in order to bring the same foreman (I was going to protect his identity but we will call him Jimmy from now on) some stock only to find him on top of the metal box twenty feet in the air without any fall protection on, which he not only had readily available but took off once settled in his work zone?

You may ask how this shows a generational gap in respect, well my friends when I approached him about his safety violation I was once again tongue-lashed and told to worry about my own work before questioning his. Enraged by the response I was given I hopped off the ladder and returned to my work, once I was finished telling him to go fuck himself of course. Now I want to note that Jimmy is in his mid-forties and has never acted this way to anyone else in the company, but perhaps since I am twenty years his junior and the only apprentice in the company he feels it is quite alright to ask like a total ass. Well I am here to say respect is earned not just given because you are old Jimmy. You want my respect? Stop acting like the king of Cock Mountain when someone makes a mistake or is doing something you don't want them to do. A polite request would have worked just fine, and for fucks sake it is 7:30 in the morning do you really need to be yelling and screaming at that hour? This isolated incident I am totally passed and over and for those of you who know me know that I don't give enough of a fuck to really care about him yelling and making himself look like an ass, but what I don't understand is the need for older 'adults' to not only say when someone younger is doing something wrong but also to verbally berate the kid. That shit needs to stop I don't care who you are what war you fought in or almost fought in or how long you have been doing this shit, show some class and respect for everyone you work with not just those you consider your generational equal.