The Thin Red Line
I usually try and play it cool at work. I’m a jackass on the internet, I’m not a very good person in general, but I need to have some level of civility at work so that I can pay my mortgage since I’m not a massive mortgage lender and the government won’t bail me out if I can’t pay. I’m just fucked.
But still, shit tends to happen because I work around dudes who are willing to cross that professional line to get their point across. You may remember this incident from two years ago.
I’ve been at the sandbox for one year now. I’ve tried to keep people happy. There are a lot of different groups of people that all interact together in a precarious truce that could be broken at any moment.
I broke that truce last Friday. I went into the field, with a non-Union operator and took data right before a thunderstorm without telling the operations supervisor. Woops. As the storm was rolling in, I called the operations supervisor and asked him if I could stay out, since I was in a covered building.
He asked me what I was doing out there. I told him I was taking data with this demonstration operator.
Boom. He flipped his shit. What I didn’t know was the politics behind the sandbox operators not liking the demonstration operators. I got an earful of how what I was doing was wrong, and how I needed to get the shit back to base and set up a meeting between him and my direct supervisor. I was a bit pissed off. I don’t need to be berated on the phone. We’re all fucking professionals working for a Fortune 50 company. Lets act like it.
I set up the meeting and left at 2 in the afternoon. I had come in at 5:45 AM so I was done. It really kind of messed up my weekend thinking about how I was going to handle this, and what was going to be done as a result of it.
As I talked with some people this morning I felt a bit better. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal to most people.
We had our meeting at ten. The weekend allowed the supervisor to calm down a bit. I stated my position, he stated his, and we came to an agreement on the demonstration operator evaluating my dozer.
He was getting pressure from the Union, that’s why he was pissed. I was making an awkward situation for him. So now, to give Unions a bad name, I can run with the demonstration operator while a Union operator stands and watches. Nice.
Whatever though, I’ll play ball. I just want to develop a good dozer implement system.
But still, shit tends to happen because I work around dudes who are willing to cross that professional line to get their point across. You may remember this incident from two years ago.
I’ve been at the sandbox for one year now. I’ve tried to keep people happy. There are a lot of different groups of people that all interact together in a precarious truce that could be broken at any moment.
I broke that truce last Friday. I went into the field, with a non-Union operator and took data right before a thunderstorm without telling the operations supervisor. Woops. As the storm was rolling in, I called the operations supervisor and asked him if I could stay out, since I was in a covered building.
He asked me what I was doing out there. I told him I was taking data with this demonstration operator.
Boom. He flipped his shit. What I didn’t know was the politics behind the sandbox operators not liking the demonstration operators. I got an earful of how what I was doing was wrong, and how I needed to get the shit back to base and set up a meeting between him and my direct supervisor. I was a bit pissed off. I don’t need to be berated on the phone. We’re all fucking professionals working for a Fortune 50 company. Lets act like it.
I set up the meeting and left at 2 in the afternoon. I had come in at 5:45 AM so I was done. It really kind of messed up my weekend thinking about how I was going to handle this, and what was going to be done as a result of it.
As I talked with some people this morning I felt a bit better. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal to most people.
We had our meeting at ten. The weekend allowed the supervisor to calm down a bit. I stated my position, he stated his, and we came to an agreement on the demonstration operator evaluating my dozer.
He was getting pressure from the Union, that’s why he was pissed. I was making an awkward situation for him. So now, to give Unions a bad name, I can run with the demonstration operator while a Union operator stands and watches. Nice.
Whatever though, I’ll play ball. I just want to develop a good dozer implement system.
Labels: Disenfranchisement and Delusion within Corporate America, That's Lawryde He's a Dick, The American Worker
posted by lawryde at
12:19 PM
3 Comments:
When I moved up almost two years ago, I went above my old boss on the food chain. I am not his boss as I am in a different area but I can tell him what to do and how I want things done when it comes to working on a big chain account in his area. He tried telling me what to do last week and I had a completely different (and better) idea so I challenged his ass to do it my way or the highway. He got stuck because I held the keys to the lock, so to say, and he could not get out. I boxed his ass in... it was funny. I have known the guy my whole life so it was kind of cool.
Unions are why all of our technology has gone to Japan and Korea.
We use your company's high pressure pumps at car washes. I always see one and go, "Opposite of Dog". I burn them up with chemical all the time.
By
Steve, at 3:55 PM, July 14, 2008
I didn't know we made high pressure pumps. Is it a diesel engine hooked up to a pump? We make diesel engines.
By
lawryde, at 8:42 PM, July 14, 2008
Ignore what I said. I am such a dipshit. I thought you guys made these pumps...
http://www.catpumps.com/
I could swear I have seen the "Opposite of Dog" logo on them but whatever.
Everyone is always... does your chemical burn cat pumps? Hell yes it does! What chemical doesn't burn pumps!
We clean tractors and heavy equipment... not that I am making a sales pitch. eco friendly green products. Peoria is not in my area though...
By
Steve, at 9:18 PM, July 14, 2008
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