Idiots you work for

[Sabbatical II]

I've only ever worked with people who are smarter than me! I last went to work in March and made so many mistakes that the manager asked me to stay home and promptly replaced me with a young girl. However, owning the company means I still get the same pay for playing on my boat as if I went to work. It does ease the pain.

[terminalcitygrl]

I used to work for self-important politicians. The time wasted, the expense accounts abused, the decisions made in blatant self-interest, it could be quite appalling. Luckily there were a few who were decent, exceptional people.

[carstenb]

Why terminalcitygirl - do you mean to imply that there are politicians that are not altruistic, honest, humble and self-sacrificing? People who consider themselves to be servants of the people?

Shocking, I say, Shocking! My faith in mankind is completely destroyed.

[Mr B]

I was installing a stillage on the fourth floor of a new building,

That means 4 steel beams welded horizontally to four vertical columns to take the base of a 12 story tower crane,
The welding inspector came in about a week after I started and had a look, he was very happy with my progress and welding procedures, the 3 other welders on the site were terrified of him as he gave them a hard time, They had nothing to do with my job,

I just told them to learn how to weld properly and he would leave them alone, There is a bit more to welding than running an electrode, Hahahahahaha

Being on the fourth floor by my self, nothing to do other than to watch a little puddle of weld metal being laid, I had already done the layout and welded the beams to the columns, I was now welding the crane base into position,

the mind was wandering to keep me amused, and to kill the time, I started to calculate the crane and its lifting weights,

I am an Engineering Blacksmith by trade, fully Qualified Practising Engineer in my own right,

So away I go, all this is in my head, I dont need computers to work it out,

2 ton per section, 12 sections, 18 ton crane deregulated to 12 ton to comply with the site restrictions, weighs 25 ton, has counter weights, approx 20 ton,
Getting old, so I forget exactly now, I used to know all these weights out of my head,

Has 60 Metres of Boom, so we have approx 100 ton sitting up there, blowing around in the breeze,
Has ties every 3rd floor to stop the sway,

Now the problem being, its not in the middle of these beams I have welded in, its all over on one side making it rest on one column only, The hole in the concrete floor for the crane tower was put in the wrong place,

12 ton dropping on the hook, the crane driver hits the brakes, 12 ton at 60 metres radius, thats 112 ton sitting on one column,
then the leverage of 12 ton at 60 metres scorching to a stop, we are looking at over 180 tons here,

250 ton press will snap off a 4 inch square billet of steel. let alone one universal beam welded to a column, with a minimum 180 tons pressing hard on it,

The Engineer comes in for a look, he's very happy with my progress,

I say to him, I certainly hope you have done your home work on this set up, He said he was,

I explained to him what I had worked out, and it was my true belief that the crane would fail at the column taking the weight, with out question, he was going to have a crane down in Collins st and the building across the road would bear the brunt of it,

Collins st is a main street in Melbourne and has wall to wall people all day every day,

He scoffed at my calculations and away he went,

Well aware that I would be held totally responsible if it did crash down, I jacked my welds up to the maximum size allowed, which were a lot bigger than the ones on the Architechs drawings for the stillage,

Every weld I put in was superb, best of my ability and fully up to Xray standards, They would not get me on my welding or welding procedures, even the mechanical tests after wards on the failed sections would not fail me, I was totally in the clear on that aspect,

A week later after the Engineer left, all these stiffening plates arrived for me to weld in, they were not on any structural drawings for the job,

16 mm plates to be welded top and bottom and in the webs, all extra's to be added to this one column,

Seems like the Engineer had actually listened to me and went home recalculated the crane and supplied the extra steel to counter the problem I pointed out,
They usually just shrug off my suggestions as I am working only as a Boilermaker/Welder, so what would I know, They are The Engineer with their heads up their arse's. they learned it out of books, which I am fully qualified to write for them,
I just hate paper work and sitting in an airconditioned office, I prefer to work with my hands, I am an achiever,
I actually make it, Thats my claim to fame,

A week after the crane was fully operational, I went back for a look see, The horizontal beam where it came off the column had a permanent deflection at the edge of the column, of about 3/8 of an inch,

Yes it would have sheared off with out doubt if the Engineer had not listened to me and ordered the extra steel, and I welded it all in,

The frightening part of all this,
How many people would be dead if it had failed, And dead with out doubt, would be at least 20 people in the street, the crane driver would have went down with it, the rigging crew would have worn it, as it would have crashed down onto them before they could have run away,

And dont start me on the Titanic and the Idiots that cheated on that one, killing a few thousand,
to save 10,000 pounds in the construction of it,
Saving money does not allow you to kill people,
I am also a fully qualified shipwright,

My blood is boiling, I need a good cup of tea and a lie down,

[Thames 4 Blood]

I have worked for one boss who was NOT an idiot... What a breath of fresh air that was and I learned so much! After that I could never go back and have been self employed for the last 15 years. I hope I am not an idiot to work for... Who knows? At least I know my colleagues would have the confidence to tell me!

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Mr B

..........

And dont start me on the Titanic and the Idiots that cheated on that one, killing a few thousand,
to save 10,000 pounds in the construction of it,
Saving money does not allow you to kill people,
I am also a fully qualified shipwright,

My blood is boiling, I need a good cup of tea and a lie down,

Too bad they didn't have you working on the West Gate Bridge back 1970

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Too bad they didn't have you working on the West Gate Bridge back 1970

I spent two years welding it up again after it fell down,
I used to ride my bike under the fallen bit going to and from work while doing my apprenticeship in the railways at Newport, 1970

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

............
Anyone else care to share on this "working with an idiot" thread?

I do a bit of contract work on off-shore rigs and you always have to try and fit in with whatever company man and /or the rig boss wants to do.

On one rig, they running the old "spot the hazard" programme like they want to do every now and again. They were making a big fuss about it and insisting everyone of us (100+) had to spot at least one hazard a day. It was all documented and written up and so forth and very occasionally somethings were actually fixed (if it could be done cheaply). We were threatened to be shipped off if we didn't enthusiastically participate.

Anyway I did my best to play the game until one day while working in the ceiling space between the barge control room and a meeting room, I found a reasonably extensive area where old insulation had broken down and there was a large area of exposed asbestos fibres. To make matter worse, the airconditioning was blowing across the surface of the exposed and broken asbestos and into the ventilation grilles of the meeting room.

Now in Australia, asbestos is considered a big no-no in the workplace - anywhere really - so I thinks "here is a real hazard, one worth reporting, one they would surely want to know about" especially as it was clear that no one else had been inside this part of the ceiling space for many years.

I pop in the hazard report the next day and was expecting a nice pat on the back and perhaps even a "well done - good spotting" type acknowledgement.

Silly me, I should have realized the response would "Oh Sh!te, don't let word of this get out about this, we will shut down for weeks if not months" and the sample I provided (to confirm it was asbestos) was discretely chucked overboard.

After that I refused to put in any more hazard reports - big or small - and they never tried to push me to do so ever again.

I would have taken the matter further but the rig left Aussie waters soon after and there as nothing much more that could be done - not at least by a small time Aussie sub contractor.

[rtbates]

Lots of them out there

One of the many reasons why in 24 days I work for no one.

I'll be RETIRED!!

Not since I was 12, and couldn't wait to be a teenager, have I been so excited about a birthday...My 65th.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by rtbates

Lots of them out there

One of the many reasons why in 24 days I work for no one.

I'll be RETIRED!!

Not since I was 12, and couldn't wait to be a teenager, have I been so excited about a birthday...My 65th.

Welcome to the Retirement club, I did last year when I stepped onto my Gemini in Fiji,
Next year I will be 65. I am hanging out to turn 70, Then I can go Snow Skiing for free,

[zeehag]

i get my money to remain away from work--i love it this way--i did gud, now i am off.....permanently. whew.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

So you cleared in there for the rest of Mexico?

Yep, got our visas and temporary import permit. Kind of a boring place to be stuck but we're having fun. It's insane how cheap everything is, except boat parts which are 3x, of course.

[zeehag]

rebel--things become less pricey as you get more south. also more interesting. when do you plan to leave ensenada? in which marina are you staying in ensenanda?? where is next stopover??

[Capt Phil]

Not certain this belongs in the 'working for an idiot' thread but here goes... During a stint working for a Canadian oil company back in the 70's, I noticed that commercial truckers were using a credit card device to access commercial fuel card lock facilities during non-working hours and on weekends.
I suggested to the VP of retail marketing that the credit card might have an application in the retail market so that our customers could access the fuel during times where there weren't attendants available to pump their gas. I was coldly informed that folks would never want to pump their own gas at a service station and blew off the suggestion. Often wonder what ever happened to that useful, overpaid idiot. Phil

[nigel1]

Originally Posted by Capt Phil

I suggested to the VP of retail marketing that the credit card might have an application in the retail market so that our customers could access the fuel during times where there weren't attendants available to pump their gas. I was coldly informed that folks would never want to pump their own gas at a service station and blew off the suggestion. Often wonder what ever happened to that useful, overpaid idiot. Phil

Maybe he took the idea and ran with it