Work rants

Okay, so I admit that I don't work well under bad leadership. I know this is a weakness of mine. I just have a hard time following non-leaders. Shouldn't that make perfect sense? You can't, can you? And doesn't the Bible say that if the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into a pit? Well, blindness may not be the problem, but if you aren't being led well, should you just walk into a pit when you do see it? Is that what is meant by submitting to those in authority?

If someone tells you (when faced with a problem on the job) to "figure it out," I assume that means to assess the situation, hypothesize about solutions, look around, be creative, and do something that works. But apparently, that's not what it means. What it really means is: know intuitively how I do things, and always figure out what I would do, even if it's not the best way, or is just one of several possible ways to solve a problem--bottom line, "my way or the highway," is a fair linguistic equivalent. So far, "figuring it out" has been thwarted and discouraged at every turn, and finding solutions on my own (rather than sitting around doing nothing until the boss returns) has been patronizingly corrected and put down as the wrong way of doing things.

So, yesterday, I was given a diagram and instructions and asked to cut some things. I did one cut wrong, but we figured out another way to get our pieces. But I was told the wrong thing, so, because I followed instructions, we had to do some pieces over. I was lectured about making mistakes and how costly they are, which seemed a good time to point out a mistake he'd made and make a suggestion of how to fix it. We did, but today he realized he'd done ALL of his pieces wrong yesterday, so he had to redo them all, and then I had to redo another of his that he did upside down. Another problem was that he wrote the wrong dimensions on his list. Luckily I "figured that out" and just did it right.

Now, I do feel bad about messing up his machine earlier this week. The machine holds down boards while drilling multiple holes in them. It's a very precision-oriented machine. Well, while using the right side of the machine to drill, the left side drilled right into the thing that is supposed to hold pieces down on the other side! It gouged this metal holder, bent the drill bit, gouged the table surface, and threw the whole machine out of balance by 1/64 inch--which is a lot for the precision we work with! I was almost scared when it happened. I had no idea how the boss would react, or how bad the damage was. Turns out, he took it well, and was glad that I owned up to my mistake. (I told him about it as soon as he arrived).