Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

[minimac]

Originally Posted by cheesy

... I also got word that the big shots that were in Beaufort were very disappointed in what they saw.

As the great Gomer Pyle said, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"
That only took...how long?

[cheesy]

Originally Posted by minimac

As the great Gomer Pyle said, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"
That only took...how long?

Way...too...long.

[cheesy]

I hate our CE.

[Sport Rider]

just a general feeling, or some new fireworks for us to follow along about?

[cheesy]

I was on a conference call with my boss, a rep from the company that makes the item than I am having a problem with, our COO, our EE and our JERK. I got tired of being talked down to by JERK and let go with both barrels on him, ending with,"Geoffrey, just shut the fuck up. Do not say another word." He started to say something else and I told I would be in Beaufort in a few weeks and he should be on vacation then.


I had another conference call with just Harold and our COO a few hours later. Harold told me that Geoffrey wanted me fired for talking to him the way I did but not to worry. The COO rounded on Geoffrey by telling him the Jason and I have spent the last two years chasing his screw ups around the country and he may not be long for his position.

[Bruces]

Cheesy ,you are a better man than me ,I would of been out of there long ago ,

[Emerikol]

I'm with Bruces on this one, partner. Just sharing a life experience thought here: I moved out to Phoenix with a national water treatment company. I was heavily invested in the position I had with this company, drank the Kool-Aid, whole nine yards. I was a salaried guy, working 70-80 hours a week, all hours of the day, night, and weekends. Making the move was a complete disaster. The teams out here were terrible, I have no idea how they were still holding onto customers, and the general attitude from the sales guys was "I sold it, my job is done. You get to figure out how to deliver on my promises to the customer..." (Nevermind that what they sales people sold usually violated half a dozen of our procedures, rules, or safety tenants. That's a whole other ball of wax) Fast forward a year and a couple months, and I'm at a customer site doing an install. The director of the department I'm working in walks by, stops, and stands there for a few minutes watching me run conduit for wiring, pipe for sample water flow, and the brackets to hang the analyzer panel. After a few minutes of this, he walks up to me and shakes my hand. He hands me a business card and says something along the lines of "This is the cleanest install I've ever had a contractor come in and do. I didn't have very high expectations of what I was getting, and I wanted to thank you for proving me wrong. If things don't work out with -insert company name here-, give me a call and I'll bring you on board." I kept in touch with that guy (who turned out to be a really cool cat, by the way), and a few months later I jumped ship from the company I was with, and went to work with the new place. I cannot even express in my usual garrulous fashion how much of a good idea it was. I have a set schedule now (which I will admit, does have some drawbacks), I'm hourly and that means I get paid for overtime, I'm making roughly the same money as base pay as I was at company x, and here's the best part, at 2:30, unless the building is on fire, I usually get to pack up my gear and go home. What's the morale of the story you ask? Sometimes the squeeze isn't worth the juice, and the grass really is greener on the other side. Hope it all works out however leaves you in the best possible position, Cheesy.

[cheesy]

If it wasn’t for my age, I would have been gone a long time ago. On the other hand, I only have 20 months left until retirement. It’s going to be fun when I get to start saying 18 months.
As aggravating as this trip has been, it has been very satisfying to able to speak truth, bluntly, to power; to see experience shut down a smart ass with a college degree, to be a part of a small group of guys that actually knows how to do their job.

I am supposed to hear next week if I am going to get an ‘apprentice’. Harold has been asking management what the contingency plan is when we both retire. So far, it’s been crickets. Until the audit they had from the mothership two weeks ago that forced the departure of two of the top brass, that is.

And that audit, it’s worse than anyone thought. I’m gonna need more popcorn.

[minimac]

Screw that 'apprentice' idea. When you walk out of there-your choice or theirs- take all that tribal knowledge with you. When they call for advice (and they will), tell them the meter is running, at an outrageous price. Nothing is free. This charade has been going on far too long, and what you tell them seemingly goes in one ear and out the other, without slowing down. Ask them how much they've saved, since the move. How much they've lost, in good people, work ethic, customer goodwill, etc.

As someone who's been there, done that, got the t-shirt, quit looking for the "good" to happen. If it hasn't yet, it's not going to. Smile, nod your head, do things like their "experts"(CE), want to, and let the chips fall where they may. After all, you're 'only' the tech. You're a smart guy, and smart guys will always land on their feet.

[cheesy]

It’s been an interesting week.
Jason and I have come up with a new verb. Beaufort, Beauforted, Beauforting. Definition; to Beaufort is to produce a crappy, substandard, product and to be proud of it.

Learned that we are in a bidding process to build a specialized truck. I was ready to stick a finger in my throat when I learned of it, but then I heard that we will farm out the assembly if we win the bid. Someone finally listened?

Was on a conference call when the CEO said he was tired of hearing about problems and wanted to hear solutions. I said he could step down for a start and rolled on for about two minutes before I was disconnected. Harold has been on vacation this week so he got a call about my little speech. He asked if it was true. I said yes, he said good.

[minimac]

Originally Posted by cheesy

Was on a conference call when the CEO said he was tired of hearing about problems and wanted to hear solutions. I said he could step down for a start and rolled on for about two minutes before I was disconnected....

Isn't that what his job is? A CEO doesn't have to have ALL of the answers, but he (she) does have to surround themselves with GOOD people who do have the answers-or can find where to get them. It's been a massive failure on the CEOs part. If he doesn't want to hear what's wrong and about the problems, maybe he should find another occupation. Doesn't he understand that it's his job to FIX the operation? I wouldn't have the patience that you've shown for tolerating such incompetence.

[Weldangrind]

Please excuse me; I Beauforted.

[Sport Rider]

it's nice to be able to tell them what they don't want to hear.

[cheesy]

Man, I wish I was a fly on the wall down there this week. There have been some interviews going on between the Overlords and the management serfs. What few people left down there that I trust are telling me is that the serfs emerge very sullen and silent.

I did have a pretty good set to with the “Production Supervisor” today. Idjit told me that he didn’t care if a product he was shipping to me had the wrong fittings on it, it was being shipped. I told him he had two choices. First was to hold it until the correct fittings were available. Second was to ship it with the wrong fittings, which would result in me having his sorry ass sent to northern Minnesota, with the correct fittings, that he could change outdoors when the temp was below zero. If he didn’t think I could, he should check with Harold and the COO. The unit is being held.

Also have the future Harold up here in Minnesota with me, just to have another set of eyes on the machine I am trying to make right. A lot of what I’ve heard from him when he sees what I see is “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

[cheesy]

Well, nothing changed after the Overlords left. So, the status quo of lousy everything is maintained.

But, maybe not. Mondays’ conference call, of which I was not part of for speaking truth to power, turned ugly. One of the sales guys has had enough and ripped into the CEO, which caused the rest of the sales staff to join in on the ripping. Apparently, it was another bald faced lie from the CEO that did it. Even the guys that don’t get mad went off.

Keeping my fingers crossed that this is it.