Shop Truths, Phrases, Tales; and Outright Lies

[PJs]

Ah the picture is coming to mind...But of Course! I forgot ZZ the Carnegie wizards of Rock and Roll...a whole 'nother cogitation of Deguello!

[Frank S]

Many years ago I was accosted by one of those MR 25's only he was a MR 39 having performed the same task in a production atmosphere since his hiring at the company. I was fresh out of a short 6 year stint in the Military where there was very little call for my very specialized primary function hence I carried and worked in multiple MOS' ( Military occupational specialties) including mechanic/ combat engineer/ machinist/ welder/ truck driver/ weapons specialist, to name a few.
Any way MR 39 would constantly hover near my work station where I was fitting up prototype machine platforms for deep foundation and bridge piling drill rigs, requiring that I often times ignore the draftsmen's drawings and ad-lib my own designs to make things fit or function. MR 39 who had only done 1 single task in the company for 39 years just could not accept this young 25 something year old kid having the knowledge to do intricate work arounds. So one day I was having a particularly in challenging fit up work around. Here comes MR 39 with his less than needed advice, I decided that this would be the day that I either would be made foreman over the entire department or collect any due severance pay.
Right in front of the owner of the company I bulled to the max.
Look I said you say you have 39 years experience when in reality you have only at most 90 days experience and have spent the past 39 years trying to make sure you still know how to preform that same task.
I on the other hand apprenticed for 5 years doing 100s of far more demanding jobs tahn yours prior to joining the military to further my d hone my education an hone my skill set I may have only been with this company a short time but guees who has had not less than 5 significant pay hikes in my short 1 year with the company? My 6 year old daughter could do what you do here if she were only about a foot taller and probably my 2 year old could providing someone would place it on her high chair, either go away and let me do my work or grab that stinger and tack these parts where they need to be.
The next day he was retired from the company. And NO I did not accept the foreman's job a month later I moved on to start my own welding and fabrication business. I have only had 1 possibly 2 short lived jobs since where I actually had to punch a time clock so to speak.
Your Mr 25 sounds like my MR 39

[C-Bag]

I circle this thread like a cat on a hot tin roof. These stories are reflections of my PTSD ( being exposed to bad management, horrible unsafe and dangerous conditions ) of my history of working. It points directly why I tended towards one man shops(just me and the boss) and was never happy or able to hang with family businesses, dealerships and working for large corporations. The more people involved (especially middle management/lead men/family members ) the more the setup to not really do the job at hand and be thwarted at every turn.

These seem to be universal experiences but why oh why does it seem to also be the universal notion that we need more businessmen in leadership positions throughout every level of our lives?

I go through periods where I pay attention and feel like the guy strapped to the couch with his eyes clamped open with the chaos and sheer stupidity of the human condition pouring in, unable to fix or do anything about it. I have to kick the portal closed ,pick myself up off the floor and retreat into doing and making where I can bring creativity to bear and actually solve a problem. The news diet and accomplishing creatively is the only thing that gets my feet on the ground again and focused on the present. And the realization the most soul sucking part for me of my time in the wage slave trenches was being forced to do substandard work because of time limits and or cost.

Everybody knows the "why is there always time to do it over, but never to do it right the first time?" We tried to put that up on the walls with other stupid stuff management put up but it somehow always disappeared.

The truth is when I look back very few of my bosses were creative, that's what I was there for. But having not that great of self esteem I let them nit pick me and actually feel bad about it. Even though when they wanted something done perfect, I was the guy they went to. But I wasn't able to see that at the time, only the little niggling doubts they planted with criticism.

One of the many benefits of working at home is I listen to audio books as I go about more menial tasks. Everything from sci-fi to self help, history, biographies and everything in between. Keeps the old noggin' engaged while my hands are on auto pilot. One of my more interesting one recently was A First Rate Madness: Uncovering The Link Between Leadership and Mental Illness".

Contrary to what you might think, this is about great generals and presidents, NOT guys like Who, d1,d2 and my old nemeses. It shows how there are all shades of supposed mental illness and how the creative mind is more prone to varying kinds and levels of what if taken to extreme seen as mental illness. But in mild forms of like OCD, etc can make somebody compulsively meticulous or be able to come up with solutions a "normal" person could never even comprehend. Because their minds are more agile, less one track, where a normal person( a term called a homoclite) does not have the capacity for. While the book is fascinating to me showing some of the underlying problems the great figures like Sherman, Grant, Ghandi, FDR, JFK etc, went through with their physical and mental illnesses, the equally enlightening is the dissection of the homoclite mind. I'll be honest it reveals more about my old bosses as they were mostly homoclite.

In a nutshell, the homoclite is THE best when in normal stable times where his opposite is not. But under crisis the opposite is true. The homoclite in a crisis situation tends to be the proverbial deer in the headlights, more likely to double down than to find a creative solution. Sound familiar? jes sayin'

[WmRMeyers]

...Everybody knows the "why is there always time to do it over, but never to do it right the first time?" We tried to put that up on the walls with other stupid stuff management put up but it somehow always disappeared.

About a year or so before my employment ended, I put up "The beatings will continue until morale improves." on the board in the maintenance shop. It stayed up there for about 6 weeks or so. Management seldom wandered into the office. Might have something to do with that. Was a $4 billion corporation who had just swallowed their next largest competitor.

[Frank S]

I stumbled on to something I wrote years ago Thought I would share.
The other night I dreamed that I died. And this is how I wound up in Hell; by Frank S
I don’t know why but I died and was escorted up a seemingly unending stairway to a reception desk where St Peter was sitting in a long very heavy looking robe. Since I had died while sitting around the house I had on only light clothing and felt a chill coming on.
The first thing St. Peter asked me was would I like a drink of something. I said a cup of hot strong black coffee would be nice.
He said I’m sorry but there is no coffee in Heaven would you like a nice cool drink of water instead?
I grudgingly said OK if that is what you have.
He told me to go over to the well and draw up a bucket full of the purest water in the universe and drink to my fill.
So I dropped the bucket into the well that seemed to be millions of feet deep and hauled it back up and had a drink. OK it was water nothing tasted special to me I don’t really like water that much unless it is made into something else.
Then St. Peter summoned me over to a hard wood bench to sit while he went over my life report.
HE said it says here that you are noted for being an engineer and that you even have a PHD in engineering that you have designed many things throughout your life.
I said Yes I have a been blessed with a small amount of abilities in the field of engineering, and have built a few things over the years
St. Peter said your humility is admirable that is a check for you
Frank, it says here that most of your life you couldn’t be bothered with attending Church and when you did attend it was more to insure that your children went than anything else. May I ask why, don’t you believe in the sanctity of organized religion and the worship of the all Mighty.
I told him I believe in the All Mighty but I do not believe in religion, when asked what religion do you follow I would respond with what religion does The All Mighty follow
HE then said you only get a half check for that one.
Then he said now Frank this is an important question it goes along with many of the other things you have done in your life and will determine whether you will spend your life in Heaven at leisure or an eternity in hell destined to work hard throughout all eternity with no praise for your work.
I said OK shoot, I haven’t had a vacation in a hundred years it seems.
SO he asked me why I believed that most of mankind didn’t deserve to occupy space on the Earth and why I was such an advocate for cleansing of the Gene Pool as I had said many times throughout my life, Wasn’t All of God’s creatures sacred. Didn’t they all deserve to live their lives the way that I had?
I said well it is like this PETE ol boy, from my up take on life a large percentage of the people that have occupied the Earth for the past several thousands of years were born just plain stupid many without even the remotest amount of self intelligence they had to be led around and told what to do they would blindly vote for, and go along with anything that would let someone else have the power to make decisions for them. They would breed like guppies in a pond, to produce more just like them who would grow up to become a further drain on those few that were actually capable of producing anything. Yes I believe that there is only just so much knowledge to go around in the universal pool of intelligence and that most of the problems in the world today is because of the Earth being vastly over populated with ignorantly stupid people many of which are in position of making decisions for others when they themselves do not possess the cognitive ability to produce anything on their own as well. While I might not advocate anyone causing the death of another I do feel that most of the population alive today should have been neutered at birth so that they could not reproduce.
Well I am truly Sorry that you feel that way Frank because the All Mighty created man to be fruitful and multiply and to venture out throughout the lands He gave them free will to worship him or not to as their choice. Should they follow his few simple guidelines they are promised to spend eternity in Heaven.
You on the other hand are somewhat of an enigma; actually you are the enigma of all enigmas. You have throughout all of your life praised the Creator of the universe, and have done many good things. But it’s your lack of repentiveness that leaves me no choice but to tell you that you cannot enter the Kingdom just now do you will have to go to hell, and descend into the deepest depths until you repent.
OK fine just show me to the elevator and I will be on my way, it has been nice talking to you, it is too bloody damn cold here and you don’t even have hot coffee to warm a soul’s spirits, and what’s up with that million mile rope on the water bucket anyway?
Frank there is no elevator to Hell you will need to take the stairs.
So off I went descending step after step it seemed like years before I got to hell, once there I was greeted if you call it that by none other than the archangel himself Lucifer or Satin if that is the name you know him by.
He had a puzzled look to that red and deeply rutted face of his, when I arrived.
He said Frank, Frank, Frank! I’m so glad to see you. I have heard many things about you from several of your friends that came before you. By the way I must thank you for telling most of them to go to hell over the years many did just that. HA, ha, now you just go right over there I have your computer all set up for you to start your stay with us. You will not like it here I can assure you the air is foul the heat is intense the water to make coffee with is rancid; your computer will break down a lot because it gets too hot.
Lucifer, no offence but for all I care you can kiss my back side I’m not doing one damn thing until I get a cup of coffee and a cigarette. As far as the heat well I have lived and spent most of my life in places much hotter than this, Texas, Arizona, Columbia Kuwait Iraq and many more, and hard work won’t kill me. I’ll make something to clean up enough water so I can enjoy my coffee, and why the hell don’t you have an elevator? And that big furnace you got over there could be put to use with a bit of piping to produce a lot of electricity and the byproduct of all that heat will work perfectly for the refrigeration system I am thinking of. And if you don’t like it you can go to Hell.
OH God! I always heard you engineer types were non conformist.
Shove it Satin ol boy, I’ll do as I damn well please and if you don’t like it you can go to hell. Now the first thing I want you to do is clear out all of this rubbish and get me a factory set up I have an eternity of work to get done and send me in a cup of coffee hot and black and no sugar.
So I set into work what would be Hell for most I found relaxing. The first thing I did was design an air- conditioning system and piped it throughout all of the depths of hell. This increased production of cutting brimstone to fuel the furnaces so much that we soon needed conveyors to carry it all. So I built them then I built a huge elevator right up to the surface of the Earth so that all of the souls destined for Hell could arrive quicker that way we could put them right to work. Satin learned how much he liked coffee that I had to design a pump to pump the water down from the surface to keep the coffee pots filled. Life was so busy that I had all but forgotten that I only needed to repent my thoughts of mankind to be allowed to enter Heaven.
One day Satin gets a phone call from God.
Lucifer my evil brother how’s life in Hell.
God I can’t thank you enough for sending me that engineer, he has built us an elevator and conveyor systems we now have clean water to make our coffee with and he has turned my hell fire into a heat source for the air-conditioning and refrigeration system.
What? You say you have an engineer? You need to send him back he’s not supposed to be there I had forgiven him a long time ago for any and all of his transgressions. You can tell him that he was right all along and I have decided that there are too many people on the Earth and that it is high time to thin them out with my promise, so you send him back right now!
Sorry God but you can’t have him he has the place running so well that people are dying to get in here.
Lucifer you send Frank back to heaven this instant or I will sue.
God! Do you have a lawyer?????????????????
Frank S Prof. of theoretical Engineering philosophy

[Toolmaker51]

Terrific story Frank S, visuals and all. After reading and a good laugh, only found one possible error.

God! Do you have a lawyer?????????????????
Frank S Prof. of theoretical Engineering philosophy

I believe the real question is along the line of... "God! HOW did you find a lawyer that dared enter???????????????"

[Frank S]

Terrific story Frank S, visuals and all. After reading and a good laugh, only found one possible error.



I believe the real question is along the line of... "God! HOW did you find a lawyer that dared enter???????????????"

Yep I doubt that even honest Abe made it in

[PJs]

Well Said, C-Bag! I re-read this entire thread again this morning and thought of a couple of things.

First is; I wonder if I resemble MR25...that little niggler tells me I probably did once or twice along the many miles.

Second is; there are a lot of people out there and every one has their own "Way of Becoming". I generally don't like the idea of Archetypes but age has shown me there is some truth to it, even though I Know each of us has our own unique character based on many factors. The key is how does one make do in the sea of them...and why? Here is my attempt at breaking the workaday world into groups. Some are promoted by Peter Principle and will generally fail -some not. Some just do the same thing for 30yrs for the paycheck and blindly and obediently do only what is ask of them with mediocrity. Some are Alpha Dogs (2 types)...those that do anything to succeed (competitive by hook or crook) and those that are wily with discernment, street smarts and some brains to succeed. Then there are those that are creative, learners, doers that work hard at their own improvement and knowledge base throughout their lives and try to help others along the way. There are probably other groups but those are the primary, IMHO.

The last group is probably why I joined this great forum. The people here come from all walks, disciplines, and skills, but share freely their ideas, builds and have that creativity and fortitude to get things done with the things at hand and with or with out plans. I would like to consider myself one of that last group but know I've fallen from the tree a few times until I either realized it myself or it was pointed out to me by someone that got the point across, nicely or not.

How 25 yrs qualifies as an argument escapes me; not seeking expertise of others part of that, continually; we'd be but a self proclaimed expert. Invalid, self absorbed, and not even well-rounded.

TM51 aptly noted that d2 doesn't seek expertise of others and would probably fall into the Alpha Dog 1 category in my book based on the story. Years ago an old guy I looked up to and thought was an expert once told me not to call him that. He told me to break down the word...Ex (has been) Spurt (a drip that's about to)...I got it and never forgot it. I had the privilege over the years to work with and learn from some fine people with what I would call wisdom. Not all of them were old, some set in their ways a bit (focused) but the ones I am grateful to have known are those that had vision, learners and the wherewithal to get it done, the best they could, share it...and most of them had broad backgrounds, young or old. Honestly to me its the miles not the years that really mean anything, but only if we learn from them, share them, and take them to the next level. Otherwise it's just road weary miles no matter what archetype we fall into.

Lord knows I have run into my share of "Them" that irritate, cheat, lie, steal and tell me "What to do or How to Behave". I'm a big fan of bumper stickers over the years and billboards too. What I've noticed over the last 20 or so is that more and more are telling people how to behave. Like the "CoEXist" stickers out here that you see on the back of the ID10T's that just cut you off in traffic or races you off the line to get in front of you and be a digital driver (on/off the gas and brakes) in front of you...Control freaks or maybe just ID10T's, IMHO. Who knows but they are here. What ever happened to the wholesome fun of the Burma Shave signs? Personally it's feeling more like a Systemic Pathology that is growing in the work world as well as the rest of it.

So how does one make do in a sea of "them" and "Why we do what we do"? Franks story of his encounter with MR39 and TM51's with D1 & D2 illustrate how it can be done and I've used both methods over the years. I think what I've learned from all those incidents is that I learn also from them, and sometimes figure out how to approach it better next time. However there are those times that nothing seems to work better than a good Gibb's, Head Slap. I got a few knots on my head a time or two from my Dad OCS ring...and it usually worked although I didn't like the method much and told him so a few times as I got older. It's funny we talked about it a year or two before his passing and I was able to laugh and tell him I actually appreciated some of them...and he said to me that he had learned a lot too by me telling him it was too harsh sometimes.

As for "Why we do what we do", I think it has to do with loving what we do or did, with pure intentions to do it right and the best of our ability, learning along the way...sometimes making something from nothing, recycling old stuff, making something better because we can and because deep down we like doing the impossible and doing the Right Thing. Not something I want to wear as a badge but as a way of becoming for myself.

Probably reaching the 5K point here and wondering if I'm in up to my ears... ~PJ

[Toolmaker51]

PJs concern with a MR25 or d3 label is...groundless.
d1, d2 and likely MR39 are NOT here or even lurk reading posts. They certainly aren't posting. And no recall of an ''outside the box'' moment.
Jon may have a magic screening process. Or 'they' collectively may have nothing to relate. I hope for both.

[PJs]

PJs concern with a MR25 or d3 label is...groundless.
d1, d2 and likely MR39 are NOT here or even lurk reading posts. They certainly aren't posting. And no recall of an ''outside the box'' moment.
Jon may have a magic screening process. Or 'they' collectively may have nothing to relate. I hope for both.

TM51,

I am a bit concerned why you would think I have "Concern" about a "Label" for these people or some fear that they may be lurking on the forum here. I'm not even sure what you mean by "no recall of an "outside the box moment".

As for groundless...maybe. I do tend to head into the æthers at times in my thinking and writing because it's where I do my discernment, generally and specifically and hopefully with intent, be able to bring it back to the real world as a useful tool of understanding what Vexes Us and how to work with it. Whether it's right or not, it's mine, I own it, until I change it.

Mainly because I like the idea of this thread (Shop Truths, Phrases, Tales; and Outright Lies) and the subtitle of ("Why we do what we do") and your allegory tale, I re-read the entire thread again yesterday for flavor and insight before posting my dissertation. In the meantime C-Bag posted his insightful thoughts on the murk of the ne'er do wells and the why of it according to the book and his insights into his interactions with them. So Off I went, trying to tie the themes of this layered thread together in the spirit of their titles and this great Forum, by offering my thoughts/opinions on them, valid or not by any others opinion. And frankly too old (mileage) to gas about who may be watching, when there was never any intent to belittle or offend.

It's obvious now that my typical verbosity and subtle intentions (Weirding Ways of the Bene Gesserit - Dune) to what I wrote were missed or misinterpreted by your response. I did find Franks addendum to his post most rewarding though, which brings me to a story similar but backwards from his, of the last time I was concerned.

In my last 12 year run in Corporate, we had a 25 year machinist (an HP transplant). Nice guy and I respected him and what he could do for 3-4 years. He also taught me a lot about setups, sequence of ops, Cam and what he did to get stuff to the machine. I worked pretty diligently at giving him all he needed to do some of the jobs we had and for some of the 1-2 off R&D stuff I did. Even lobbied and for him to get things for his shop (like a new knee mill) and bought tools from my budget for his shop. He and I became pretty good friends. He knew that I was pretty good with computers and had some trouble with his at home. Invited me over for dinner with him and his wife a few times. His wife was a quilter and because I wouldn't take any money for the help I did for them they presented me with a beautiful king size quilt she made...still have it and cherish it.

I was engineering manager by then and was out in the shop dropping off some stuff in sheet metal (A real wizard there) and doing my usual check in with people and stopped by to check in with him. He was doing a job on some explosion proof housings for a product we made in several varieties and had that look. We had an old Mori Seike that he didn't like because he had better stuff at HP. We had put a new spindle and bearings in it a few months back and was there when they finished up and ran the test runs on it...it was dead on to about 3 tenths. The fixture he was using only did 2 off and required the 4th axis for some of the ops, and was pretty tired and I really didn't like the way it held the parts. We chatted about what was happening and I looked up and saw the 55 gallon drum scrap bin was full of these housing. These are ~$300 per castings...so that was probably about $8-$10k worth...Oh Crap! The bad thing was they had a pretty long lead time so we bought about 100 at a time for price and to have them...and this was a pretty big order of 25 IIRC...and I had about 14 balls in the air at the time, with a new fire drill.

The short of the production run was that we came up some better hold points that held it tight and found he had changed his touch of point to a place he found easier to work from...but was not part of the internal or already machined point that we received from them. Got them out the door on time but it was a row to hoe!

After it was over I said I was going to talk to the vendor and get the actual casting/machine drawings for them and design a 6 off fixture that would lock them in properly and allow it to work better with the fourth axis. Also my guys and I went over the assembly drawing with a fine tooth comb. Luckily I/we had a pretty good relation with the supplier and after a chat with the owner we got copy of their latest drawings. What I noticed was they used Geometric Tolerancing on theirs, but mainly it was the casting tolerances I wanted. I had talk to our guys before as I had done quite a bit in the past and they poo-pooed it, so we didn't much other than concentricity and a few others once in a while. Bottom line was, I designed a killer fixture with his help and we did update our drawings with some Geometric Tolerancing because it was prudent!

About 6 months later I was out in the shop again and stopped by to check in and here he was doing them on the old 2 off fixture I thought had gone in the scrap bin or re-purposed. When I ask why, he said he only had a couple to do and it was easier. I Looked at the bin...nope...Ok, and said why aren't we building these bases for stock...Oh So and So dropped the order off. I had worked with Inventory to make sure we had these on hand and what the refill levels would be. Checked with Inventory and someone had bypassed the refill min levels. The worst part was of this ClusterTruck was that 6 off $2k fixture that worked perfectly because I was there when we ran it, sat on the shelf and he eventually told me he hated Geo-tolerancing. All I could say was You worked for HP for Blinking sake on tiny BeCU parts and how could you do that without Geo-Tolerancing...the program files were already written...it became clear.

That we pissed away $10-$12K in material and all the time and effort to help out and do it Right, was about the last time I was concerned. Except that he had dropped a foot long log of 4" brass on his foot about a year after the incident and left on disability and never came back...that concerned me too...because I liked him actually.

P.S. Vexus is the title of a book I started years ago about what Vexes Us...never finished it and finally realized it's probably an encyclopedia instead of a book. Add to it once in a while...who knows...my kids might get something from it.