I Had To Clown

I had to clown a bit at work this morning.  I don't like to clown, but sometime you just gotta do what you gotta do.  

And just why was I clowning at work this morning?  Because the very first order I got today was a 40 piece, and five -- five-- of the eight required adapter tubes had been bent wrong.   I tried to make them work.  Really, I did, but after some 15 odd minutes of struggling, I'd only gotten three headers brazed up, and I threw in the towel. 

"I can't do forty of them like this," I said, and went and re-ordered all of the parts.  

The really frustrating part is that nobody seems to care.  I said something to Group Leader Shark about being frustrated because of these parts being wrong all of the time, and she shrugged and said, "Get used to it, because that's not going to change any time soon!"

Excuse me, WHAT?????

Not going to change?  Honey, you're the GROUP LEADER!  Go over there and tell them to do their first piece inspections!!!

Why they stopped them doing that is beyond my comprehension.  It seems such a basic thing to do, to check your parts to make sure they're correct, but they're no longer required to.  And they've never been required to count them. A fact that apparently, Uncle Supervisor doesn't even know. 

Monday, we had this big Come To Jesus meeting up in the front breakroom with just the brazers.  Uncle Supervisor was telling us not to get another order until we've finished the one we're on, confirmed it at the computer, and put it onto the conveyor. 

I said, "So, what if we're waiting on a partial?  Do you want us to just stand there doing nothing for five hours until we get it?"

He replied with a bit of a sneering tone, "Why would you be ordering a partial?"

"If I get an order that's short a header, I have to order one!" I told him.  

"Why would they be short parts?" Uncle Supervisor inquired. 

"Because they aren't counting!"  I said. 

Still a bit sneeringly, he said, "And how often does that happen?"

"Every single order, every single day!" I said to the echoing chorus of yesses and every days from my fellow brazers. 

"Well, when that happens, I need to know about it," he said, to which I replied, "I used to write it on that paper you make us fill out, but you told me you don't read them, so I stopped."  

He told me then that somebody does read them, and I'd like to know who, because none of the problems I've written on there has ever been addressed. 

The great irony of all this is that when I got to work Tuesday, I got an order that was half of a 216 piece, or 108 header assemblies that I needed to braze.  One particular adapter tube had 78 parts bent correctly and 30 bent backwards.  

The parts stager said there was another order of the same par that was further down the schedule, and she'd just borrow 30 from that one so I could complete my order.  However, when she brought me the parts, they were bent wrong as well. All two hundred and sixteen, PLUS the 30 from my order. 

I had the dispatcher page Uncle Supervisor and said, "Didn't you say in that meeting yesterday that you need to know if something is wrong?"

He said, "Bad wrong."  And I replied, "Like an entire 216 piece order being bent wrong?"  

Yep, he needs to know about that, but why if you're not going to do anything about it?  Why do you need to know if you're not even going to go over to tubing and tell them they need to be CHECKING their parts before they bend the entire order wrong? 

I guess they don't have time to worry about that because they're too busy getting all bent out of shape over what kind of cup I'm drinking my water out of.  Because that's so much more important than giving your employees the support they need to do their jobs. 

Oh, and that being 15 hours ahead thing didn't last long at all...

Thank goodness for the sanity that is Ryan Hall's live stream... 

Multiple tornadoes so far, but none of them are near me. 

I think I'm going to get me something to eat, then go to bed. 

Goodnight.