monique

Woolgathering
2004-07-24 18:30:26 (UTC)

Early Morning Phone Call and A Bit of Good News

I was disoriented by a phone call just before 6 a.m. We
have caller ID but my eyes couldn't focus properly so I
didn't know who was calling until I'd picked up. A male
voice asked for John.
"Who's calling, please?" I asked, annoyed that he
hadn't identified himself but suspecting it was someone from
the mill.
"Mike, from the mill" he responded.
Humph! I was right! Can you tell I was a little grumpy? I
woke John up, not realizing he'd gone to bed at 3 a.m. and
had had even less sleep than I'd had. Mike the supervisor
needed him to go on an expedition to search the mill for a
valve which needed to be replaced. John wouldn't be putting
it in--a millwright would be doing that--but they needed
people to search the mill to find one.
"What does that mean?" I asked John. "Looking for
a valve. Don't they know where everything is?"
"No, they don't." he replied
"Why don't they keep a parts inventory on their
computers?" I asked him, as I fixed his coffee.
"Because they just don't."
"Doesn't sound very efficient to me."
I asked him then what would happen if they couldn't find a
valve.
"The mill will have to produce brown paper in large
bundles instead of what was ordered. Then, when they get
the valve, they'll have to re-pulp all of it because it's
not needed."
I just shook my head.
"That's bad business." I told him.
He had to agree.
Less than three hours later he was back.
"Did you find the valve?" I asked him.
"Yes", he replied.
And for those few hours it took to find a valve, they'll
have to pay him an entire days wages because of call time
and overtime.
*******************
A bit of good news from Jack. He's received another bonus
check, this one for $700, and has been told he'll be getting
a 5-10% raise beginning next month.




Ad: