I work with Boneheads

[Anden]

If your a machinist that is an Interapid indicator inside that hole. And no its not my indicator.

That particular machine will rapid at 800+ inches a min. Covers 24 inches in no time flat.

Please share some of your bonehead coworker stories.

[Gixxus Christ!]

Lol....did he at least get centered up on the hole before he went full retard? (Assuming he was indicating the hole for location purposes)

[baptizo]

I deal with several boneheads in my job but nothing quite that costly as far as mistakes are concerned.  

 

They just simply refuse to adopt our standards for site audits, drawings, data collection, and so forth.  And it's especially frustrating when they've altered your previously completed work which was done correctly.  

 

I think I need to seriously consider a career change....

[2talltim]

A lot of our machinery is dated and not working very well One guy I work with will let things jam up and creates down time on purpose because he thinks he's trying to prove some kind of point to the company, even though all it dose is make him work 10 times harder.

[banditj13]

Ok, so I know nothing of the machinist world, but 2 of my "bonehead coworker" stories:

 

First:

 

At a previous employer:

Background: Our email was hosted offsite, by a larger partner organization. Any internet circuit maintenance that involved an outage would interrupt email access.

My replacement, shortly after I left (I stayed on part time to help transition the role), sent a notice of internet circuit outage, via email, stating that he would notify users when the work was complete via email... the very same email that he would be disabling access to.  

 

"what do you mean you didn't know it was working again, I sent you an email that the email system was working again"

 

 

Second:

Same previous employer, same department:

 

Coworker: "what does the big red button that says 'emergency power off' do over in the data center?"

 

Me: "Why do you ask? No, wait, let me guess... considering the fact that no one has any application or internet access at the moment, you already know what it does!"

 

Coworker: "Well, not exactly... I heard the UPS beeping after I pushed it, and thought I should come ask you... so I didn't stick around to see what it did"

[Helmutt]

Been a while, but our last foreman ( long since demoted for obvious reasons ) was shown a magnetic drain plug that had been pulled from a troublesome power divider differential that was covered in steel shavings.   He actually asked the tech "is that aluminum or plastic?" 

[redbarron77]

Here's a somewhat recent, boneheaded moment:

 

Database Administrator has to create a copy of the Production database(dataguard for backup/recovery).  Step 1, delete the existing files from the recovery server...this person deleted the datafiles on the primary server....the one that is being used by all the users....and did not tell anyone her "mistake" for 3 hours as she was fumbling around trying to fix it.  Then, after admitting the problem, the she and the supervisor could not figure out the restore script.  Called me at 2130, and I had to drive in to see what the problem was(I might have had a few adult beverages in me since I wasn't on-call).

 

I get in, and find they were trying to do a restore, with the following date string for the 17th of July, 2013:

 

to_date('17-07-2013','MM-DD-YYYY')

 

My inebriated brain saw the issue in not having 17 months in the year. got the database restored, and kept one of the largest universities in Texas from making the headlines for losing 60+ years for student data(yes, they have input records back that far).

 

This is just one of the many times I've had to "Fix" work done by that DBA, and our "Super-Visor".

[JackFlash]

My work rules:

1. 8 hours for them.  16 hours for me.
2. Do not do more work on another person's machine than that person normally does.
3. Being short of help is not my issue.  I'm not responsible for scheduling and staffing.
4. If you want me to do two people's jobs, it requires two people's paychecks.
5. In order for me to do this extra work, what is it that you do not want me to do so that I have time to do that?
6. There is absolutely nothing you can do or say to make your supervisor any smarter.
7. If you bring attention to a problem, you will be the one assigned to fix it.
8. You get two breaks and a lunch.  Don't cheat yourself out of them.
9. I do not have the authority to make decisions that screw things up.  Management gets paid well to do that.
10. If the person who called for maintenance is not present when maintenance shows up, we will come back when they come back.
11. Once you have put the machine in position to complete the task and the operator is not present to run the machine, starting the machine for them will only insure they will never come out of the break room.

.

Edited June 3, 2014 by JackFlash

[JackFlash]

It's amazing what kind of problems a simple computer reboot will solve.

Management has their "favorites".  Those chosen few will fail to share

passwords that are needed when computers are rebooted.  When the

"system" goes down and a reboot is needed, it's always at 2:30 am,

and no one in house has the needed passwords.

 

The boneheads are supervisors, for not insuring changed passwords

are shared with those who need them at a moment's notice.

 

.

[Gixxus Christ!]

My motto is: a lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

[redbarron77]

My motto is: a lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

 

While I wholeheartedly agree with this concept, there are many PhD's who do not understand any ideas that don't come from themselves....

[Gixxus Christ!]

That issue is not limited to phd. ..pretty much any management type suffers from the same affliction.

[snot]

My favorite....a guy I worked with received $500 for costing the company +$100,000. He didn't do his job in inventory control, so the wrong material was used on 15 parts causing 15 jet engines to be serviced, one was on a plane ready to fly. Had he done what I instructed the issue would of been caught prior to shipping. Worst part was it took a month to locate the engines the parts were on.

[Steve Butters]

Never flying again.

[redbarron77]

[redkow97]

I'll have a bunch of them when I can think more, but these couple jump out at me:

 

- while I was roofing (friend's dad owned the company. I just helped out every so often, because it paid more than my regular summer gig), these idiots named Cedric and Ronulous were at journeyman status.  They were paid members of the crew, but admittedly there to be taught.  Knew more about roofing than me though.  Anyway, we're on a job site, hardhat zone, all that jazz.  We're carrying rolls of felt paper, edge guard, etc. up the ladder, and because it's a ROLL of felt, you have to lay down a bundle of shingles to keep it from rolling right off the roof.  Well Cedric and Ron decided they could safely set the rolls perpendicular to the edge of the roof, and that would be okay.

 

It wasn't.  an 80 lbs. roll of felt paper rolled off the side of the roof, and fell 40 or 50 feet to the ground.  Had anyone been under it, they would have been badly hurt.  That is just the kind of thing that cannot happen.  Ever.  It was not their first act of stupidity, and they were fired on the spot.  This was their second week of work.

 

- my other job had "mandatory" overtime on Saturday mornings.  It was an assembly line outfitting empty Ford Econoline vans with tool boxes and bulkheads, like your cable guy drives.  So I show up at 7:00 on Saturday, but half our line, plus the forklift driver aren't there.  Then one of them walks in and says, "hey, the other guys aren't going to make it today.  We were all riding together, and got pulled over. 3 of the guys have warrants for nonpayment of child support, and one got a DUI."  The guy telling the story also had a warrant, but the cops didn't have enough people to respond to arrest them all!

[chevysoldier]

My motto is: a lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

I got tired of coming up with last-minute desperate solutions to impossible problems created by other fucking people.

[snot]

Never flying again.

There is a reason I don't I know how the parts are made.

[speedytriple]

Half the guys i work with are boneheads. From spilling chemicals to dropping tanks and destroying property to making up mixes that are not there and flooding mixers with silicate. It never seems to stop.

[Pokey]

Oh how I love that I work alone.

[JackFlash]

Oh how I love that I work alone.

 

Could you ever go back to working with others

after this?

 

.

[Pokey]

Could you ever go back to working with others

after this?

 

.

 

It would be difficult, I have very low tolerance for bullshit and drama when I work "been there and dealt with that". I do have a partner and he is also one of my best buds, we have never butted heads in over 14 years of working with each other. I believe when there is a mutual respect and you genuinely care for and truly like somebody, you will try that much harder to make things work as smoothly and drama free as possible. Last thing I would ever want to do or have happen, is put extra work or more of a burden on him because of something I did or did not do. If more people had respect for each other and took more pride in what they did, that would sure make things so much easier in the workplace. Of course I have a manager and a general manager, but they are hands off and I deal with them minimally. Fortunately for me they are just fantastic bosses and people, so nice to have those above you that have your back and genuinely care for your well being and success. I do work with others, but I pretty much get to pick and choose when I am around them. My Wife recently left the ER department after almost 19 years, she lasted much longer than most. She is now in the Radiology department and could not be happier, small department, everything is scheduled, she works a set schedule and off all holidays and weekend, and most importantly little to no drama. We have paid our dues, worked our butts off to be in the position we are now.....we are very fortunate. My goal is to be retired from working 40 hours a week by the age of 57, not sure I can make that goal but it is a good goal to try and make happen. I try to take nothing for granted, life can change in an instant.