Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Disappearing Butt

I should have no butt at all because I have been working it off like a crazy woman. Sadly, it continues to follow me around…sigh.

Today, we reconfigured the work area and added a second line. I had to smile. I went back and read some journal entries about when I first started working at R-company last fall. I was excited because we did 5 skids of parts then (approximately 400 parts). Today, with two lines we packaged 2020!!!!!!! We had 1200 done by noon and then lost 2 people. So it was a very productive day!

We did, however, have a casualty. I’m a bit sad about. One of the guys who I trained with there with T-Net left the packaging business to go to work at Dairy Mart. His departure was in part due to my being asked to be team leader: he’d been there longer and felt he should have been offered the position. He doesn’t have the leadership or organizational skills necessary for this position. He doesn’t have the people skills, either.

Well, he decided he didn’t like his job at Dairy Mart: the hours were horrible and were starting to take a toll on his health. So he asked to come back to the packaging business with T-Net. We needed workers and so we willingly welcomed him back. Today was his second day.

I kept telling everyone that there would be lots of bugs to work out with this new “two line” system. Things were really in a state of flux. He couldn’t handle it. I made one too many changes and he just blew his stack. Dan was working with us this morning and he saw the steam start to roll. He approached the guy to help him calm down. It wasn’t going to happen. The guy just started getting louder and more verbally inappropriate until finally he just stormed out.

Dan was pretty adamant that he wasn’t going to let the guy come back. He had blown up and caused problems last fall. He was pretty confrontive with Dan about feeling slighted regarding the team leader slighting. It’s a sort of “three strikes you’re out moment.” It makes me sad. I like the guy. He is a hard worker. He just can’t control his temper. It’s landed him in jail before. It probably will again.

I’m not going to let it take all the joy out of my hard work today! And my hopes about tomorrow! Tomorrow will have it’s own challenges. We’re not only going to run two lines, but we’re going to run two different parts with two completely different kinds of packaging. This is a big test. We should be able to better today’s production.

At the end of the day, there was a humorous interchange. With this increase in parts and packaging, there has also been an increase in ordering and delivering of packaging supplies. There have been some moments when I’m not the favorite person of the tow motor drivers and shipping clerk.

We finished an order today, so I went to her office to let her know she could ship the order. I walked in and the office looked like a hurricane had hit. File cabinets were pushed all over and B, the head of shipping, was prying chair rail off the walls. He said, “It’s all her fault (pointing to me)!” V agreed and gave me a pouty face.

The demolition in the office was to better accommodate a larger white dry erase board to track the receiving, packing, and shipping of parts. The new board is nearly twice the size of the original. That’s how good we’re doing.

I grinned and sheepishly asked if they’d rather I didn’t do my job so well? They laughed and told me no. It’s all good!

I stopped to see my PO on my way home. I almost forgot. She asked how things were going. I told her I was working my butt off. That’s what she typed in her report. I guess that makes it official!

3 comments:

Erin said...

I feel for the guy you lost due to the anger issue. My father lost nearly every job he has because of his anger. Makes for an ugly life for all concerned.

Congratulations, by the way. You demonstrate excellence... what an awesome witness for our Lord!

Waterfall said...

Hey Tina, you've been tagged. :) Come visit my site and find the "Tagged" post from yeterday. If you don't want to be tagged, just let me know, and I'll tag someone else. Take care!

Saija said...

i'm amazed at your exuberance and energy! i'm juggling here (with being back to work for almost 2 weeks) and i have to drop a few things to keep a float! *laughing* ... sheesh ...

but i admire you! GO TINA, GO!!!
must dash, the salt mines at the park are calling! hugs, saija