That barely scratches the surface of what a fustercluck that job was on both the customer and contractor sides of the table. I have never, before or since, been so delighted to be let go from a company as I was when I got shown the door.
I did, however, learn a whole lot about what not to do on a job in a very short period of time. I guess there is something to be said from a learning perspective for having so many things go wrong at once.
I must add that when I was let go it had nothing to do with what happened on that job. During my interview before I signed on in September I told the owner of the company that I had a family vacation planned in May; plane tix were already bought, hotel reservations were made, other family members' schedules were aligned, etc. I told him I would take the time off sans pay if necessary, but I had to go. He agreed to it.
Then, the week before I was to leave he scheduled a one hour "safety meeting" in the middle of the time I was to be out. I reminded him (he hadn't forgotten) that I would be out that week but that I would do anything necessary to make up for it when I got back. His response was "This meeting is mandatory. I can't waste time arguing about this". So I went on vacation, had a fabulous time, and when I got back my stuff was in boxes.
The work environment was toxic, the owner of the company was a tyrant (I have lots of stories about that), the one project the company had was a total disaster, and my commute was brutal. I couldn't quit and qualify for unemployment, but when he fired me he solved that problem.