There’s more than one way to prove your skill on a backhoe, and some ways are tastier than others.
The NOWRA National Backhoe Roe-D-Hoe is an annual event at the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo. Participants demonstrate their mastery of the machines through a series of skill tests, with the best and fastest being crowned champion.
In the Roe-D-Hoe, contestants use the bucket on their machine to pick balls off of safety cones, pick up bowling pins via an attached eye-hook, and other similar skill challenges. But in Germany, the measure of a backhoe operator’s prowess may be judged another way.
A short video making the rounds online demonstrates two things: 1. Germany produces some skilled equipment operators; and 2. They enjoy taking the top off a tall cold one.
The 36-second video shows an operator in his Kubota mini excavator reaching out with its muscular hydraulic arm and gently approaching a lone bottle of beer sitting on the pavement, awaiting its opportunity to provide refreshment. But the bottle isn’t doing anyone any good in its capped state, so the operator gently nuzzles up to it with the front lip of the bucket. With a margin of error of mere millimeters, the operator brings the bucket to the bottom edge of the cap and skillfully – it’s amazing he could even see or work within such small parameters – pops the top without tipping the bottle or spilling a drop.
While there’s certainly no place for alcohol on the job site, the man’s skill is impressive and he was most certainly well deserving of the frosty reward at the end of a long day.
Check out the video:
