It was my first experience in a leadership position. I was the official/unofficial (no extra pay for it) "senior tech". There were four crews to cover the 24/7 manufacturing. Each crew had three guys. On our end of the week, during the time of this story, my crew was on day shift, opposite of Cooper's crew who covered nights. We all worked 12 hours shifts and had some overlapping time for means of communication.
The balance of the work load was fair to begin with, but I could detect a change happening. It was a gradual change that didn't warrant any particular alarm. We all rotated shifts and it was professional courtesy to allow the night guys some time to adapt to the overnight shift. It was understandable that performance could be affected. We all went through it and we gave each other slack. It was a team effort.
But somehow, the contribution of the night crew continued to wane. It kept getting worse to the point that my crew began to comment about it. I tried to make subtle hints using humor during our passover meetings in the morning. Everybody laughed over my comments and I thought that I was getting the point across. "Many an honest word is spoken in jest!"
Things just got worse. So I became a bit more direct and pointed at our little verbal meeting. They laughed all the more; I was a funny guy. They were not getting the message? So I started to include a little more detail on our written report. Naive was I to think that our superior might take the time from his golf game to detect the trouble brewing!
The night crew began spinning my attempts to bring attention to their slacking into portraying me as a grumpy ogre. When my golfing supervisor found it amusing to join in with one of their jokes to poke fun at me, I just plain gave up the fight.
The "good ole boys" were firmly entrenched. The supervisor had brought Cooper into our group from production. They were both chummy with the supervisor's boss, the department manager. Their "good ole boys" club was rooted deeper than I could have imagined! Their bond was akin to what Chief Joseph referred to as "white man's magic".
It was fitting that I would fight no more forever. The ridiculous grew where I demonstrated to my crew by pulling hairs off of my head and placing them on the subassemblies. After the twelve hour night shift, we returned to find every strand of hair exactly where I had left them.
They had progressed to the point that zero was expected from them. We were packing their weight. Nothing that we could do about it, but grit our teeth and do the best that we could. Not having the time or the man power, we fell behind. We had to start prioritizing our activity. We didn't know how long this could go on before somebody noticed?
The security department must have had a random route? I guess that if it wasn't random, the bad guys would detect a pattern and avoid detection? I saw security on occasion, but didn't ever think about their duty. But this fateful night for Cooper's crew was coming.
Security personnel had walked past the supervisor's office late that night. It was suspicious to see three men in the office surrounding the computer. They were all so engrossed in the battle of the computer game that they didn't notice security watching over their shoulder! They'd been had! Not only red handed, but the game was progressive and logged all the time they had spent on it.
It was big news. They'd spent all their working hours playing a computer game. It was also known to be Cooper's game the he'd brought from home. We were finally vindicated!
Imagine our surprise upon hearing of the crew getting fired. That part came as no surprise, but the fact the Cooper was NOT fired just floored us! It was his game, he was participating, and he was the senior tech - How could he be spared of the axe!?
Oh, and how the "white man's magic" ran deep in that department. He was "re-assigned" for awhile. During the years that I had transferred to another department, I learned that Cooper was promoted. And then he was promoted again! He had gained the title of department manager. Now that guy had the right stuff!
The story doesn't end here, unfortunately. While all of this was going on, I had progressed to a position that I had grown to love. It was an especially challenging position, but one that I seemed to be a near perfect fit for. The equipment that I supported was specialized and complex.
We would support machines that were spread all over the far reaches of the manufacturing complex. The unique functions of the machines and their complexity made it challenging to keep up with the technology and the physical demands of their locations added to the difficulties. I wore a pedometer on one typical shift and logged six miles answering trouble calls.
As a specialized group, we were stretched thin. There was only one tech per shift. When somebody was sick or on vacation, it was very demanding for us to fill in. I was never sick or took a day off during the two years that I did that job. A lot of overtime was available for anybody dumb enough to take it.
The big shots took notice of our situation. They decided to re-structure, but couldn't compartmentalize our specialized group. We were a unique entity, but we needed additional resources for back-up. At least they came to understand that the pace we were working was not sustainable.
Finally, they had identified a department in which we could fit and could benefit from some overstaffing? And who might you guess was to be my new boss's boss? You guessed it, Cooper!
I couldn't believe it! My existing boss was being converted to area coordinator, so now I had another level of supervision. I was direct report to the department shift supervisor, dotted line to the coordinator, and of course Cooper was over top all of us.
I tried to stay optimistic because I was really enjoying my job. And my hopes were high when they told me that they wanted another guy on shift to back me up. Maybe Cooper had forgotten about our animosity?
It had been awhile since the restructuring and nothing had changed. Expecting some relief, I held on as long as I could, but I was getting tired. I'd had a difficult week and was pretty fried before going to the super to ask for help.
"I'm taking about sixteen trouble calls a shift. I am walking almost six miles every shift. I miss as many scheduled breaks as I get. I've been doing this for a long time, is there any help on the horizon?"
He looked at me sympathetically, but he must have believed that I was exaggerating.
"I hear what you are saying, but I just don't have any extra man power."
"I thought that was the purpose of the new structure? If nothing is going to change, why did they go to all this trouble?"
"I don't know. All that I can tell you is that my guys are strapped. I can't do anything to help you."
"If that's the way it is, I will have to move on. I'm not making this stuff up. I am burned out."
"I am sorry to hear that."
He wasn't very convincing. I was reluctant to apply for a transfer. I loved my job, but it was too much of a good thing! I saw no hope in remaining. By the end of that week, I had a new offer.
It was the beginning of the next work week and I went to tell my super:
"I got a new job. I am transferring immediately, like the next couple of days."
"What!? You can't do that! We don't have anybody that knows anything about your job."
"Not my problem."
"Well, I'm going to talk to Cooper about this. He'll put a stop to it."
And he did. The big shots decided that I must stay for two weeks to train somebody else. I laughed at that presumption! It would take about two YEARS for somebody to gain proficiency at that position.
The super chose his good buddy, Devin to trail me for two weeks. Their "good ole boy" affiliation was sharing a dart league. I knew Devin and had worked with him in the past. I respected his smarts, but he was a heavy set guy and I knew that he was not up to the physical demands of the job. Especially if he was to follow me for the next two weeks.
After the first week, the super stopped me in the hall.
"How's Devin doing?"
"He's a smart guy. He's learning quickly."
"He told me that you guys take like 16 calls a shift?"
I nodded.
"He said you guys have to hustle six miles a shift to take those calls?"
This all sounded very familiar to me.
"I don't think he's going to be able to do it. So I put in a requisition to get him a helper."
I felt the blood boiling into my head! My hands were taking shape to place around his neck. I couldn't say a thing. I just turned an left, but that really torques my nuts!
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