Wichi Dude

FRIDAY WAS A BUST,

at work. At the start of the shift, we were missing three people in critical positions. One built the motor assemblies for the units. Another assembled the control panels and did the preliminary wiring. The last was our run test operator, who performs a function and evaluation test on every unit.

Normally we would borrow people from other lines to fill in for absenteeism, but Friday, there was a lot of absenteeism across all lines. A few even tried to borrow from us.

By the time the dust settled, we pulled the secondary wire person out to cover another position. That person we moved to the motor area. This left us with two trainees in the control panel and final wiring positions. Baptism of fire. Couldn't be helped, but it will sort out the good from the bad pretty quickly.

The run test position requires special training. I was the only other person on the line qualified to do the job. So guess where I started my day.

About an hour into the shift, the control panel person showed up. The supervisor traded them for another run test operator from another line. The two trainees were still stuck filling in, but it freed me up to float the line and help out the bottlenecks. We needed to put out at least 220 units to meet month end projections.

This would have been do-able.

THE HOURS ARE GOING TO BE THE END OF ME

Along with the new line, comes the new line hours. When trying to get a line up and running, it isn't unreasonable to have it fall behind at the beginning. That is the learning curve. And why the people in scheduling haven't been taught that in school is beyond me. They schedule a line at near capacity right from the get-go. Ain't gonna happen.

Therefore, it wasn't a surprise to find us working 10 hour days to try to get caught up. If the equipment doesn't do us in, we should be able to get it ironed out soon.

Today was one of those days it didn't matter what you did, you were in trouble. Run from one fire to the next, stomping them out. It kept up all day long.

My mom used to say there would be days like this. She just didn't say how many of them there would be in a row.

Just gotta keep making it happen.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Dudette has been looking for a new "Payroll Assistant" for a little over a month now. She has received a lot of resumes but so far nothing has stood out. She does need to find someone fairly soon though.

As luck, and timing, has it, today, she received in the mail, a flier for a seminar. It is to be held in a couple months at a local hotel, as they all are. This one is a training seminar for "Interviewing Skills".

I think they are a little late. But it could be useful in the future.

Timing happens.

A TOUCH OF OLD MUSIC

Yesterday, while I cleaned the house, as is the normal weekend thing, I enjoyed a bunch of old music. It is a luxury I enjoy when I am home alone during cleaning.

Dudette had to work and so did CK, so I had the volume cranked up like you're supposed to on the old stuff. It isn't like the newer stuff that has massive sub-woofers and 1000 watts in the trunk of the car. I love those fools. You can watch parts vibrate loose and fall off the car as they lose their hearing and try to convince you "it sounds better this way". Maybe it does, cause I sure can't stand it when I can make out what they are saying.

But as I was saying, the old stuff was made for high volumes. Not hearing loss loud, but not the low volume you can talk over. I'm talking loud enough for you to sing with it and not hear how bad you are.

ANOTHER WEEK DONE

Finished the third week of being a Lead on the new line Friday. The line is still not where it needs to be, but it is doing better. A few more changes and it should be close to self-running. That is the goal for any production line; get it to the point where the bosses can be gone and nobody notices.

At the end of the day Friday, the Supervisor got to talking about how much better the line is doing compared to last year. That is not to say he is satisfied with it, just happier. He told me that the production on the line was 85% better than compared to last year.

I remember last year well.

I'D LIKE TO LINE THEM UP

And slap them silly.

There are days when I don't know if I am leading a production line or running a day care. It never ceases to amaze me that people who are old enough to vote, drink, and fight for the country, can't be trusted to do a job without constant gooning.

Going into work today, I was aware that I would have to cover the position of one of our brazers, at least for a while. If one of the lines had a spare brazer, we could borrow them for the day. Otherwise, I would have to cover it.

Right off the bat, our run tester didn't show up. Another skilled position I was the only back up for.

Law of physics: You can't exist in two seperate locations at the same moment in time.

This presents a dilemma. And my Supervisor was going to leave early and be gone for the rest of the day. By the time we were a little over an hour into the shift, he found a brazer and a run tester for us. Before he left, OUR run tester finally showed up, he overslept.

OK. We have the people on the line. Only two hours have been shot in the shorts. And the boss leaves.

PARTY!!!

ITS BEEN A DAY

Felt up to going in to work today. Nothing unusual about that, really. Now that I didn't get bothered by that (not that) billy (bloke) from over at billy's . Handing out "free" advice.

It was a typical who's here and who's not kind of start off. Once the dust settled from shuffling everyone around, we got going.

To set the stage: the line needs to average 30 units built in an hour. That's 240 in 8 hours, or 300 in 10 hours, (for those mathamatically deficient). The key player is the person at the very front of the line. Their job is, basically, to "push" the rest of the line. To set the pace.

We have a "sorta" new person in that position. He's been with the line for over two weeks now. He isn't too bad, really. But he needs help on a regular basis. Not a lot, but still, on a regular basis. Today, he went home sick. After four hours of work.

Now, we were already tight on people. I had no one to cover his position but myself. My Supervisor looked for someone to borrow, but had no luck; so I took over.

By the end of the day, the last four hours averaged out to 30 per hour. Just what the line needs. And I had no help. I've shown him how to do this, but I haven't figured out which part he didn't get.

Anyway, tomorrow, the line has already told me that they are going to be on his case all day about what I did. I didn't rush anyone, I just kept it steady.

I think by the time the line gets done with him, we won't have anymore problems with him keeping up. It really hurts, to be shamed by the fact that a person almost old enough to be your grandfather, kicked your butt.

Bosses happen.

ONE OF THOSE DAYS

Earlier today, I shared comments back and forth with billy about me being up so early. I explained I needed to be at work to "turn on the lights" basically.

After sharing these thoughts, it was like someone pulled the plug on me. I had no energy, interest or desire to be functional today. I was not firing, but maybe misfiring, on one cylinder out of eight. I couldn't shake the feeling and ended up calling in for the day.

This doesn't happen too often to me but when it does, it's a doozy. All day long I just kind of wandered around the house in a daze. Staring off in the distance of periods of time wasn't uncommon.

It would be nice if I could figure out why this happens for no reason every once in a while. I sometimes think it might be my mind or body rejecting having to go to work.

Whatever it is, it was a total waste of a day. I even tried to work on the "Bright Lights" story and ended up rewriting the same paragraph about twenty times and am still not happy with it.

This is the most productive thing I've managed to pull off all day. To bad I need to get to bed now.

Life happens.

THE TURKEY

Behind Dudette's work is a field used as a pasture. The pasture is owned by the same person who owns her work. Over the years, the pasture has been the home for both horses and cows. It makes for a nice break to see the animals roaming or galloping around. And as Dudette's office window is closest to the pasture, she gets a much closer look at the critters.

Other animals have enjoyed the pasture also. Because of the constant supply of food, water, and salt licks, deer is common back there. And with all the wild seed and the other critters attracted to the area, the range of birds seen there goes from sparrows to hawks, falcons and eagles.

It is a very picturesque area. The play of nature and all the animals makes for a relaxing break from the hectic drone of the day.

Usually...

AN INTERESTING LUNCH

For lunch/brunch today, Dudette, CK, Chew and I went to a Chinese restuarant. Not a bad thing for a quick meal. And entertaining as well.

Chew is quite good at using chop sticks. I am no slouch either, but I have chop stick days, and knife and fork days; this was a knife and fork day for me.

Dudette and CK however, wanted to use the chop sticks after watching Chew go at his food with them. He doesn't care for onions or any "FUNGII", so he was picking out all the little peices of onion and mushrooms with the chop sticks. Between the two of us, (mostly him), we explained how to use them, and those two went crazy with their food.

It was a treat you couldn't pay for in any theatre. But the two of them were having a lot of fun, so it was OK. It was like watching a couple of long beaked birds fighting over food. Guess you had to be there.

Food fights happen.