48hrs straight of managerial incompetence.

[RaisedByWolves]

I don’t even know what to think right now.


We’re struggling to find workers to fill roles in our skilled trades departments.

This time 2yrs ago we had 9 toolmakers, today we have 3. We keep getting applicants, but once they interview and are asked to join on they balk at the pay.

So, things have been getting pushed off and machinery is not being maintained. This weekend was a 4 day plant wide shutdown and these are the times we get to be “Voulintold” to work the entire shutdown.

Ok, Saturday is time and a half and Sunday is double time with Monday being optional if we get everything done.

Now the draw for some guys is the promise of free lunch. It’s usually from someplace special so this is a draw for some guys, but my department, while we do appreciate lunch and a longer than normal break, really needs to catch up.

So yesterday we’re working away and notice it’s past lunch and inquire about lunch…

And the boss gives us a blank stare.

He finally stammers “ No one told you to come eat?”

To which we reply no boss, that would be your responsibility, no?

Now we’re without lunch and the cafeteria is closed due to there only being a skeleton crew in the building.

We said words stating our displeasure that I can’t print here.

Boss leaves and comes back with a chucky cheese esque plain pie made up out of random slices from other pies.

Oh, and there was only 7 slices for 5 people (we had helpers).

This also didn’t go over well. The boss finally stopped telling me personally that he was sorry when I replied “Yes, you truly are!” And that was the last we saw of him for the day.

I threw in other jabs, but you get the idea.

So here we are today. Boss is not in but he sent a sacrificial lamb first thing in the morning to cheer us up with the promise of cheese steaks from a local good steak joint.

Ok, well at least they’re trying.

Noon time rolls around and we break for lunch. We normally take lunch at 11:30 but on days like this it’s a group thing.

At 12:10 a supervisor comes down and tells us lunch won’t be until 1:00, so ok, we go back to work. Not happy, not feeling appreciated but it is what it is.

1:00 goes by, 1:30 goes by (we’re done at 2:00) and at 1:45 the lunch cart rolls in. People descended like vultures, hungry tired and cranky vultures.

The excuse for the 2nd failure?

The guy putting in the order to a mom and pop shop thought putting the order in at 11:45 would give them enough time to make steak sandwiches, fries and onion rings for 50 people.

How can people be this incompetent and still function in every day life?

I have another incident to relate from another time, but that’s enough typing for now as my break is over.

 

[IHinIN]

Sounds a lot like where I work. We mainly build specialized automation equipment and work holding fixtures. They struggle to hire competent, experienced toolmakers for what they’re willing to pay. Instead, they’re hiring inexperienced folks with limited mechanical abilities and relying on us veteran guys to make toolmakers out of them. One kid we had for a while got outsmarted by a 1/2” ratchet multiple times. He thought it was broken because it clicked.
There is an apprenticeship program but most of them end up going into engineering or CNC machining. Very few want to deal with the added stress and additional working hours of being a lead toolmaker. When their workload gets overwhelming, the shop just outsources some of their work.
Like most employers, they think that a pizza party to show their appreciation is what every employee dreams about. Lol

 

[ChazzC]

It’s not much different higher up the food chain; one of several reasons I didn’t stay until I was 70 - a significant bump in SSI payments, but not worth the pain of putting up with mediocrity and just plain incompetence.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Sounds a lot like where I work. We mainly build specialized automation equipment and work holding fixtures. They struggle to hire competent, experienced toolmakers for what they’re willing to pay. Instead, they’re hiring inexperienced folks with limited mechanical abilities and relying on us veteran guys to make toolmakers out of them. One kid we had for a while got outsmarted by a 1/2” ratchet multiple times. He thought it was broken because it clicked.
There is an apprenticeship program but most of them end up going into engineering or CNC machining. Very few want to deal with the added stress and additional working hours of being a lead toolmaker. When their workload gets overwhelming, the shop just outsources some of their work.
Like most employers, they think that a pizza party to show their appreciation is what every employee dreams about. Lol

Damn carbon copy of our plant.

They kept hiring people to just fill slots and it’s has bit them several times.

One buy I’ll call BrYon, (Brian)because that was his name, had a complete melt down on me the first day on the job.

He said he could do the work, just didn’t have papers. I tasked him with drilling 3/8” holes in the corners of two 1/4” steel plates.

Three hours later he’s making one hell of a racket on the drill press so I go and look. He’s work hardened every hole to the point the “half holes” he had drilled were purple.

Got him new plates and had him go at it again, more racket. He dulled the drill, so I sharpen it and drilled a hole to see if it was the wrong material and it drilled fine. (4140, but still)

Told him how to go about this (Did I mention we were desperate for workers?) and got called away for a couple minutes.

I come back and he’s gone. The drill bit is laying on the drill press table and I notice he tried sharpening it.

To this day I wish I had just got him a new drill and saved this one for a souvenir. It was the most god awful thing, every edge was rounded over and it looked like a twisted steel Q-tip.

He finally comes back and he’s standing at the machine behind me crying, sniffing and mumbling to himself.

I flagged a coworker for backup and started talking to him…. You alright buddy? Something happen? Let’s talk man…

He talks through the tears that he can’t get fired and needs to get his money right and on and on.

Someone went and got the boss and we convinced him to leave so he could go back to his old job and get rehired and he kind of calmed down and thanked us before leaving.

Never saw him again.

I went from being a toolmaker to Jr psychotherapist in a span of 10 min.


The company finally got into so much trouble with the union and labor board for what was going on they wound up keeping guys without skills and had to give us a $2 pay bump to settle things.

The leader position I was in for prior to this was a $4.85 pay bump, but after getting the $2 and the leader pay not changing (they weren’t affected like my pay level so they got nothing) I said screw that and let some younger guys take those spots.

It’s just mind boggling to see what’s going on when your mind was already blown over past events.

Unreal.

 

[ChazzC]

I forgot to mention that I resigned my commission in the Navy when my NROTC commitment was completed: since I had 4.0 fitness reports for 4 years all I had to look forward to was challenging assignments at the expense of time with my family for the same pay as the screw-ups who couldn’t be trusted.

 

[mmcmdl]

PM me what tool makers make at these companies . Seriously , I need a good laugh after todays adventure .

 

[IHinIN]

We have a guy who’s been there almost 2 yrs. His title is toolmaker but he still can’t run any machines except maybe a drill press. I don’t think he can even read micrometers. They offered to send him through the apprenticeship to get him some training. He declined, which tells me either he has no intention of learning the skills needed to do his job or he has a learning disability. He’s perfectly happy with not having a clue how to be an actual toolmaker. He can’t follow the simplest instructions. I asked him to check in some purchased components for a large machine, mark them received on the BOM (bill of materials) and put the skids on storage racks and label the skids with the job number. He labeled one of the 6 skids. Apparently, after the first one, he forgot what to do. That was just a couple weeks ago, not his first day. The boss keeps saying he’s going to give him a job to lead. That’s just a recipe for disaster. In this sink-or-swim scenario, we’ll be dredging the lake for a body.

 

[jwmay]

I’m goin on about 17 years of that. I’ve got lots of theories as to why, but not a lick of evidence.

 

[Ultradog MN]

I don’t even know what to think right now.

Wish I could be more sympathetic.
I could never work for anyone else.
When it was my way or the highway I chose the highway.
Spent most of the last 40 years on my own. Sole proprietorship.
Went bust a couple of times, got janked around by a few customers, worked weekends and holidays. Did some nasty jobs, hard jobs.
Ultimately though I gained some experience, got a leg up, built a customer base, put a nest egg aside and retired a few years ago.
I would suggest you go out on your own but I know that's not for every one. Some have the hive mind or lack the confidence.
But if you can, that's the answer to the petty crap you put up with in the corporate world.

 

[MikeInOr]

I am a Software Engineer (health care) and I can't say management in the places I have worked has been much better. Sometimes it amazes me that big business can function at all. The bigger the business the bigger the collection of inept managers.