Well, Poop!

It would seem there was quite the kerfuffle in the plant Saturday, and wouldn't you know it, I missed the whole thing because I was off on a vacation day I'd scheduled months in advance. 

Before I get into all that, let me give you the back story.  As most of you know, I work in a facility that manufactures evaporator coils for home air conditioning units.  My job is to braze the header/manifold assemblies together. 

Here is an example of the type of coils we make.  Note:  This is not one of our units, but a photo I found on the internet of a similar product.   

That copper tube up at the top with all the smaller tubes sticking out if it is the header/manifold assembly.  Also note:  Header = manifold = two different names for the same part.  Also also note:  There is no way on God's green earth I would send something with brazing as bad as that to the assembly areas.  I take pride in my work, and for what it's worth, I enjoy the actual work that I do.  It's the toxic environment I have to work in that I hate. But that's a different story for a different day.

Our plant is divided into two big rooms -- the assembly area and the component area.  I work in the component area.  We make all the different parts for the coils -- each department being responsible for a particular part -- then send them back to the assembly area for...well, for assembly.  

Now that I've set the stage, on to my story. 

There is this one supervisor back in the assembly area who seems to think the sub brazing department is her own personal convenience store.  Any time she is short handed, she comes up and says, "I'll take her, and her, and her, and her," pointing to the brazers she wants.  It isn't always for brazing positions, either.  She'll come move a sub brazer to put on panels, or screw in drain pans, or whatever else she needs.  She's done it for years, and we've always had to give her what she wants.  

"We've got to get these units down the line," they'll say.  "You aren't sending any units down the line without a header on it," is my reply -- a plea which goes unheeded.  So any time she whimpers, we have to move, then they'll turn around and complain that they don't have any headers.  Sorry, you ain't getting any sympathy from me.  I mean, what did you think would happen?  

Lately, the powers that be have been complaining that the sub brazers aren't getting our numbers, so Supervisor got us all together and told us we haven't been getting our numbers and we need to work harder. Apparently, my face forgot to use its inside voice, because he looked at me and said, "Did you hear what I said?  You're looking like..."

I said, "How are we supposed to get our numbers when you keep moving us out of the department? We can't braze if we aren't here!"  I then pointed out another problem, which is bad parts and incomplete orders.  The first three orders I set up on this morning, two of them had something wrong with them. One of them had a part made incorrectly, and the other one -- a four piece order, only had three headers in it.  Seriously?  My dog can count to four!  I told supervisor that when I'm over in tubing reordering parts that were made incorrectly, or that I didn't have enough of to complete my order, I'm not here brazing.  

I won't go into all the ins and outs of that conversation, but basically I explained to him that the more of tubing's job I have to do, the less time I have to do my own.  

After he walked off, my brazing neighbor told me what had happened Saturday.  She said our supervisor and the assembly line supervisor got into a literal shouting match, going at it over her constantly wanting to come get brazers and move them to the line.  She said they were standing right over there (pointing) screaming at each other.  Then she told me the assembly line supervisor went and got the production manager over the assembly area and he said that yes, we have to give them whoever they want any time they ask for someone.  Then our supervisor went and got the production manager over the component areas and he said that no we did NOT have to give them whoever they want and that was that. 

According to my friend, the assembly line supervisor was livid.  She is so used to getting her way all the time, and this is the first time anyone has ever stood up to her.  The production manager was angry, too, but he wasn't as furious as the supervisor.  My friend said she started to video the whole thing and send it to me.  I told her, "Oh, I wish you had!  I would have loved to see that!"  

But no, I miss all the good stuff.  Hey, I'm just glad we finally have someone who will stand up for us. 

In other, less exciting news, my lawnmower part arrived.  I ran straight out to my shed to see if it fit, and glory be, it did, like a glove. 

I didn't even change clothes, but immediately mowed my yard.  OK, I fed the dog first, then mowed.  As you can see, my grass desperately needed cutting, and I wanted to get it done before the next round of storms hits tomorrow. 

Speaking of storms, I have one coworker who is terrified of them, so I gave her a heads up.  I said, "They're supposed to hit during the work day, so we'll take care of you."  

When she's at home and a storm hits, she gets so scared, she goes to the Emergency Room and waits it out there.   I told her to check with her county EMA office to see if they have a safe room where she lives.  

Heh, she told me one time she'd hurt her hand and went to the ER to get it checked out, and they were surprised to see her, since it wasn't raining.   

And finally, what with all that went on today, I only have one blanket square to show you, and here it is.

Square #4

Only three more to go!