Uncanny

Scott Adams hits just a little too close to home, sometimes

Hmmm

So, the HR Manager comes up to me a little while ago and says "The Chief asked me if I knew why you was so agitated. He said you seemed to be a lot more uptight than he's ever seen you."

Think fast Daddio......

"Well, it might have something to do with never seeing my family, and my wife's announcement that if I wasn't going to be around for the (non) holiday weekend then she was leaving to find someone to talk to for a few days."

"Damn"

"Yeah, and since The Chief reacted like I had just asked him if I could have sex with his daughter the last time I asked for an assistant, I can't promise Rootie it's getting better any time soon. Right now I'm just engineering and taking bids for this expansion. soon I'll be trying to train people and start it up, in addition to running my current job. I guess I'll just put me a cot in my office and hope Rootie will let me in the house for Sunday dinner."

"God Damn"

Knowing how good HR people are keeping your problems in confidence, I'm sure the Chief already knows about the conversation, which took place 15 minutes ago.

Bad case of the fuckits

We roll our product up on things called A-Frames. It is basicly a giant roll with it's own wheels. We have about 300 of these now, of which 75 should be condemned as unsafe. The journals are more weld thanoriginal steel. These 300 are of 9 different configurations, hving been bought a few at a time through the years. This makes it tough, because you have to hope that you can find one that will work on the piece of equipment you are trying to run.

So now, I'm in the midst of building a new $2.3 million expansion. There will be 5 new pieces of equipment that will wind on A-Frames. The bare minimum number I need is 90 to run everything 5 days a week. I was in a moth-balled plant last week with 420 identical A-Frames. I negotiated to buy 120 of them for $100 each (their value by the pound, as scrap iron, is about $65). I figure this allows for some product to be held for quality purposes, or maybe some A-Frames to be in the shop getting bearings replaced, etc. Anyway, it allows some breathing room without having to hunt for empty A-Frames.

The Chief changed the requisition to 70. I tried to explain that 90 was the minimum number, and offered to go through the calculations that brought me to that number.

"Oh I don't doubt you need 90. If you only have 70 you'll have to act like a manager and keep product flowing."

I can't wait to tell the owner that his $2.3 million expansion is idle for want of $5000 worth of scrap iron. I had budgeted $550 each for the 90, which was the cost of new ones. You'd think I would get an Attaboy for finding used ones at a good price.

I have a happy place!

I have a Happy Place! Go to www.sweetdaddio.blogspot.com

M%&*@$# F)#^&!

The Chief has decided that we don't make money when we aren't running (duh-huh you say), and that includes what is a holiday for the rest of the world. Not only are we running Monday instead of having cookouts and drinking beer like everyone else for Memorial Day, we are also running Saturday. The people can rest Sunday. I will come back later with statistics, but Labor Day last year we ran too, and productivity was 58% of standard. We didn't get any time off for Easter either, so we have to go back to Christmas to find a holiday we actually recognized out here. And we got Sunday and Monday off for Christmas. WooHoo 2 whole fuckin days. I can't remember how I spent them, I'm sure I wasted them somehow.

Happy Mother's, Rootietoot

A salute to the Mother of my children, Rootietoot.

She gives up so much to take care of the family. She drove aged mini-vans for many years, and is last on the wardrobe purchasing priority list. She is always here when they get home from school and listens to how their day went. She does laundry (lots of it) and cooks meal every night (except Sunday). I know sometimes she has to feel like we don't notice all she does, but we do. It has been many years since I didn't have clean socks and underwear in my drawer, and the boys can say the same. I notice, and the boys do too even if we don't always say so. And as they get older, they appreciate the full meal and the time at the dinner table every evening, talking politics, football, and current events.

Thanks Rootie, we all love you so much!

Mother bitch session

My mother, bless her heart, is buying a car for #1 son. She has taken to subtle comments, aimed at me no doubt, such as "well everyone seems to be kicking the poor boy while he's down, so I thought I would help him."

I guess I'm the one who's kicking him while he's down.

There's a widower my parents know who has a '91 Buick that was his wife's. He has decided to get rid of it, so my mother has bought it and is having a mechanic go over it. She will then allow #1 to make payments to her.

I'm certainly not opposed to him getting wheels, or to her helping him, but he will wind up not making payments, she will call me complaining about it, and I will have to tell her she made the deal with him and it is between them.

Why am I so negative about this? I have lived/known her for 43 years, and him for 19. I know with fair certainty how this will go down.

And she is enabling his behaviour, by making this easy for him. Now he will have more money for drugs and alcohol.