Wichi Dude

STRAYS

CK and Chew were graced with a stray cat earlier this week.  It decided to hang out at their place.  They knew it was a domestic cat as it had a collar.  It also had a good disposition towards people.  And enjoyed going for a drive.

And so, the beginning of a friendship started.

SOME NICE THOUGHTS AND HINTS

I have received several words of encouragement about the recovery of "The Monster".  It is nice to know that others sympathize with the plight Gimpy Box and wish me the best of luck.

And I have also received various hints that may or may not take care of the problem.

NEWS BROUGHT ABOUT ACTION

In light of the current news coverage and all the "dog and pony show" antics of the people.  It got Dudette and I thinking about some old business.

VETERAN'S DAY

This is simple:  To all those who have served, Thank You.

I wish Mad Dog were here to get another card from me.  He understood the thanks.

Thanks happens.

A RANT AND A QUESTION

I don't usually do rants. But every now and then, something hits me that just won't let go. The following rant has to do with a "religious group". I put in quotation marks, as I find so much hate hard to associate to a group, that most would think, as one preaching love.

I am (this is just a warning as not to confuse people) not going to use any proper names, titles, locations, direct quotes, or too much information. This is to keep the search engines out of my backyard. (Don't need these freaks using the Big "G" to find me out. I don't need the traffic THAT badly as to put up with them spamming me to death).

After the basic information, I have some nagging questions. Not that I expect an answer to any of them ( I am gifted with the ability to play both sides of the court in a mental match) as there isn't one. Way too much "shades of grey" area to cover. Still, something to think about as you swirl your wine and stare into the fireplace.

"MADDOG" WILL BE MISSED

Randolph Shirie (pronounced "shy-ree"), aka "Mad Dog", passed away this morning at his own hands.

Mad Dog was a crazy, lovable clown. With long, wiry, jet black hair, shot through with silver, Marty Feldman eyes, and "Billy-Bob" teeth, it was hard to believe how inteligent he was. His sense of humor and freedom of fear from showing emotion made him a bit of a conundrum. He could be crying about some silly sad happening one moment, then laughing the next.

I had the pleasure of having him as one of my employees when I was running the press shop in the A/C building. His knowledge of the presses and the dies we used was impressive. On more than one occasion, what he knew kept us up and running, or kept us from going down in the first place.

As one of our shop stewards, he was knowledeable about the company policies and the union handbook. One many occasions, he was instrumental in helping employees keep their jobs by explaining what was expected of them. He saved quite a few jobs and made several Supervisors jobs much easier.

Mad Dog had a bit of pride and could boast that "he" was never the reason for a line going down. He would move mountains if that is what it would take to get good parts out. And his tag line to this was "Mad Dog don't make BAD parts". Many Quality Control people would have to agree. And most of the people could recite that phrase right along with him.

I can't think of a single person at work that disliked him, he was just that kind of character. And a character he was.

During the time I had the pleasure of knowing him, I know he got his nickname in Vietman. How? He never said, and that's his business. I know he was a biker after getting out of the military, and road across the United States several times. He was a press operator for us for 16 years. I know he had some home problems, but in the past year, he was getting them taken care of.

I know, I never expected to hear about him taking his own life.

Two weeks ago I talked to him at length, and life was fine.

A week and a half ago, he heard his younger brother was shot in Iraq and he was a little uset about that.

One week ago, a friend, the President of the local union chapter, talked to him at (very) great length, (at work and at the union hall, discussing business and family), and life was great. His little brother was on his way home and would be Okay.

Another steward talked to him at length last Friday, and life couldn't be better. He was close to finishing the work on his bike, and expected to be in the wind this summer.

(I have to explain, when you talk to Mad Dog, he uses up most of the oxygen. And he will tell you everything going on in his life, and anyone elses he can think of. So it is pretty easy to tell what kind of mood he was in.)

When I heard the news this morning, I thought it was a VERY bad joke. The kind someone gets hurt over. But it wasn't. Everyone who knew Mad Dog is being typically nosy, they all want to know WHAT happened.

For now, all I know is, we lost a special person at work. One that will never be replaced.

Wherever you are, ride hard Mad Dog. Get some wind in that hair. You wouldn't have it any other way.

Mysteries happen.

MY THOUGHTS ON A STATEMENT

Buffy posted this comment about this post,

"Isn't it interesting the effort that's put into a job when you either own the company or have a position in management? Is it possible to give the people on the line MORE responsibility; something that allows them to measure the results of their personal accomplishments?

The people on your line are exhibiting what I think of as "union" mentality. We will all have exactly the same experience, and work exactly the same number of minutes, and have exactly the same number of minutes for breaks. Are you working in a union shop?"

Yes, it is a Union shop. But their mentality, to me, is more that of a child afraid someone else is going to get a bigger piece of cake. Or someone elses toys are bigger or better. They are sure they are getting cheated somehow.

Also there is the whole idea that they might be expected to WORK. Heaven forbid! Manual LABOR.

The "old" work ethic seems to be lost on a lot of the younger generation. Many now feel that their presence alone constitutes the earning of a paycheck and all the benefits offered. I have had more than a few of them look at me like I was crazy when I told them what they had to do. And how quickly it needed to be done in. (Imagine the look you see on TV shows when the REALLY rich are asked to do something DIRTY.) THAT kind of look.

One of the people on the line, (who I think is going to be short lived), gets this insulted look every time you ask him to do anything.

Another has this air of AT...TI...TUDE that they think makes them unapproachable. Big surprise, when people pull attitude on me, I just enjoy pissing them off that much more. I know they are primed, so pushing their buttons gives me perverse pleasure. Serves them right. Acting snooty and snoty when they should be happy to have a job at all in this current economy.

As far as responsponsibility goes, sometimes it is a stretch to get them TO work every day, let alone get work out of them.

And, they can measure what they have accomplished, not only day to day, but hour to hour. We post what has been produced on an hourly basis so they can see how good or how bad they are doing. They know right from the start what the daily goal is. They are also aware that if there is an issue with machinery, absenteeism, or training a new person, the numbers are adjusted to compensate.

The last of the arguement of unobtainable goals, is shot down by the fact we have a sister line next to us that produces the same units. They exceed their hourly goals on a regular basis, therefore, the numbers are doable, and not unreasonable.

Even the two Shop Stewards on the line are unimpressed with these bozo's. So the whole Union mentality just doesn't come through. I've lived through that for years, and most of it is reasonable. This is just plain lazy. And last I looked at the sign in front of work, it didn't say Welfare Office. But, I guess reading, for some of them, is considered work.

Laziness, (unfortunately) happens.

THE HELPER

A little background first. About 18 months back, Dudette hired a "Helper". (I will continue to call this person Helper.)

Helpers job was to take over the day-to-day payroll duties and to "do" the payroll. Of course Dudette still had to verify the work and the numbers. But, she no longer would have to do all the entering, catagoring, tax liabilities, 401 K deductions, deferrals,...on a day-to-day basis. That was the Helpers job now.

This job, once all the different payrolls were figured in, (there are 5), would not be a full time task. Helper was also going to help with all the mundane filing, special projects, hot items, etc.

Job sounds good doesn't it.

OVERDUE GRATITUDE

I need to express my gratitude to Dudette. For the last couple weeks she has had to put up with me being ill. No easy task that one.

She has made sure I was well taken care of. That my medicine was taken at the proper times. If I needed anything to make my life more comfortable, she would try to respond as well as could be asked of anyone.

For those who don't know me, I am one of the worlds worst patient. I get nasty, surly, arguementative, dissatisfied with every living creature, especially Doctors and secondly, nurses. Any carbon based life form is usually fair game when I'm ill. So taking care of me, is to say the least, monumental. Yet, she does it. There is much to be said about lapses in cranial function.

And, as usual, it takes a few days of feeling almost human again for me to realize, she needs, and deserves, thanked.

She puts up with some less than stellar behavior from me during those times. I believe she must love me very much to endure me in this state. And I appreciate it. Without her help, I would probably end up comatose and found dead from dehydration after a week or two, (if anyone bothered to check at all).

Therefore, I owe her for being there and taking care of me. I'm sure I do the same for her but I don't think of it as doing anything "special" when she needs the help. Maybe she feels the same way taking care of me. But I think it's "special". And I do appreciate it.

Isn't she great, (*wild round of applause from the studio audience*).

Yeah. That's what I thought.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS

I had drafted this to be posted yesterday, but for reasons I won't bore you with, it didn't happen. So I am going to label this as post from Tuesday, Dec. 23 for the sake of continuity.