NOW, ABOUT LAST WEEK...

I said I would share about how my first week went on the new job.  So here it is.  Hope you are ready to be bored.  Well, maybe amused at times.  Depends how your sense of humor goes.

It started out as one would expect.  My new boss got the other new guy and myself set up with the tools we would need (most of them I already had).  Then we started on the computer training.  A lot of new areas for me to learn but the system is basically the same (I just need to refresh myself on where everything is at).  The other guy, I'll call him NG, is at a loss on the computer.  This is going to be a rough journey for him.  Even with the help "K" (the resident "old timer" at the job) and I can give him.  The other person on our crew was a short timer so I will call him "ST".

Got the cast of fools down yet?  K (the old timer),  ST (short timer), NG (the new guy) and myself.  OK, now.

So off we went.  Ready to flex our muscles and do the deed.

To make the transition easier on us, I got two cells I was used to and kind of knew.  NG, the same thing.  K and ST, took up the overall slack in the program.

The first two nights, NG and myself looked like a couple of monkeys swinging football bats at soccer balls.  Entertaining?...m-m-m-maybe.  Pretty?...no.

I started getting the general feel for things sometime on Wednesday night.  It gave me the opportunity to get organized and to recognize some of my own bad habits.  Too many years of being a Lead and a Supervisor made me want to work with the people.  And correct the people.  That was not my job.  My job was to make sure the product was built correctly.  Period.

Now, that's rough, to see a problem and not fix it.  If I saw it, I tell the Lead about it.  It is their problem to get it fixed and to correct the people.

See where this is going?

Of the two cells I had, one of them the people pretty much have their act together.  And their Lead is very easy to work with.  The other cell, well...Yin and Yang.  Total opposites.

The people are in serious need of further training.  As in, they have no clue how to figure out what parts they need, or how to deal with them properly.  And their Lead is...ummm, passionate...yeah, that's the right word, passionate.  Explosively passionate.  Noisily passionate.  If he gets in my face one more time, I'm going to be explosively, and noisily passionate.  Hehehe.

But we know each other, and it's all good.  He used to be a Lead for me when I was a Supervisor.  He'll get over it.  He just needs to figure out that the people need to be watched, and trained better.  He used to know this, but after some of the bosses he's had, I guess he's forgotten.  I suppose I am going to have to push him back in that general direction.  All I have to do is do my job and that should suffice.

NG was a little troubling though.  By about the same time I was starting to get my feet under me, he started making comments about being bored.  Now, how the heck can you be bored already?

NG:  I got this down.  The computer is still giving me fits, but the cell audits...piece of cake.  I got my rhythm.  Makes for a long night though.

Me:  You sure about that?

NG:  You bet.  Just the same routine around and around.  I already have XXX audits done.

Me:  *baffled...man I must be slow or something.  I thought I would be the first one to be comfortable*  Well.  Okay then.  Knock 'em out and shine.

The more I thought about it...the more it bothered me.  I did this before and I know the dangers of "routine".  "Routine" makes you see the same things, at the same times, at the same places, over and over.  You stop looking at other times and places.  And, you stop looking for other stuff altogether.  I watch out for "routine".  "Routines" get to know you.  And that is bad.

I had my hiccups over the course of the week.  Wrote things up that shouldn't have been.  Found out that some defects aren't as bad in some places as in others.  Even though they are the same defect.  (Now how can it be bad here....but not there?  It is.  Don't ask.)  Got the passionate guy passionate a couple times.  You know, hiccups.

On Friday, (the last night before the holidays) our ST guy decided he had some time to use up, so he left early.  Not too early.  But we still had to split things up to cover everyone for the last half-hour of production.  I got one of NG's cells to cover.

I figured it would be a break in the action, and in a half-hour about all I could really do is take the list down the line and check out the parts.  Something new anyways.

My first stop was the the first station in pack-out and I checked the parts.  Uh-Oh!!  Wrong critical piece of paper work being sent out on the product.  Great.

Called in K to check it out.  Yup.  An entire code of production made it to the warehouse with the wrong paperwork.  NG was sure they were using the right stuff when he checked it out.  Nope.  Couldn't have been.

By the time the dust settled, we had almost all of one code, and part of another, on reject to be brought back to replace the paperwork.

"Routine".  Routine reared its ugly head and bit NG.  I'm sure the person putting on the wrong parts will be talked to, and I am sure NG will hear about it as well.  Both of them should have caught this mistake HOURS earlier.

I did try to warn him right after he felt like he was bored.  He didn't listen though.  When you walk down the road of "routine" in this job, you find it's like a dark alley, with a lot of little niches.  And a lot of nasty, ugly things are hiding in there ready to spring out when your back is turned.  A lot like Jason or Freddy only without the spooky sound track to go with it.  The sound track always comes later.  And it ain't pretty.

When we go back to work, we will rotate what cells we will cover for the week.  With ST gone, and his replacement in limbo (like NG and myself, they will probably be held until the month allowance is up) we will have a few more cells to cover.  I don't see this as a pain like NG does.  I see it as a way to break "routine".

My job, I have come to remember, is not to take the accountability onto myself for what the people do.  That is the Leads, and the Supervisor's place.  They need to hold their workers accountable.  My job is to make sure the parts are right, and the process is followed.  If not, I go tell them.  It is their job to handle it from there.

As long as I do my job effectively, it should eventually make their jobs easier.

Can't wait to see what will happen when we get back.  I know I won't be bored.  And, I bet NG has no problem staying awake.

Learning happens.

Comments

[bogie]

Sounds like you are getting your feet under you and getting into the swing of things.

Just remember that the "passionate" guy, is probably that way because he actually cares (both about his product and his people). Me? I prefer passionate people, I always know where I stand with them (and they with me).

[Cop Car]

Amen, Bogie. Whether labeled passion or enthusiasm, it can't be bought and can't be replaced.

[Wichi Dude]

Ummm, maybe I had better clarify things. By "passionate", I mean, well, errr, if he was a she, everyone would say PMS.
He gets really cranky and in your face. And not in a good way, type passionate.

[bogie]

And that would be the type of person I was referring to. As I said - I always know where I stand with them. They aren't usually the ones to stab you in the back, they come out firing straight to your face).

PS: I have been described as "passionate" by more than one boss (I know that just shocks the heck out of everyone).

[Wichi Dude]

I am "shocked"!! You are the kind of person I could use the term "passionate" about. This goober though, won't get off the soapbox and give it a break.
I appreciate sarcasm, especially in a higher form. But where he thinks constantly harping about an item is effective in intimidating someone, I find him tedious.
At least you are "creative" in your passion.
Nuff said. I am done.