snipped-for-privacy@aol.compost.b> saw a plant hook in the local home depot. It was a simple S-shaped piece of
Don't forget that there's also the low cost of using and disposing of all sorts of toxic waste and poisoning the cheap workers rather than paying to protect them, or their envrionment, which also helps the bottom line. The worker works cheaper, dies younger, the paint need not be low-VOC, the washup goes straight down the drain into the river, and what is this thing you call a fume extractor?
You don't even need a hard hat. I used to work as a delivery person, a clipboard, a package of some kind and maybe some kind of delivery outfit and you can get anywhere. Ken
Fume extractor hell. What are those things called 'safety glasses!?' Remember the machine tool factory in china, all those photos?
Sure, not too long ago in the US all the sewage just went into the river too. Along with the industrial wastes as well.
Jim
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Your sentiments may be taken to heart. The dial caliper story was told to me by a ww2 vet that I had the pleasure to work with for a few years. He had been around the block many times at my workplace and was a highly respected lab tech.
Part of being highly respected meant he talked to, and contributed to, a large number of groups. His immediate boss understood that he helped the company overall even though he did not spend 100% of his time drilling holes or polishing the brass in the lab he spend most of his time in.
He would make his rounds in the building , early in the mornings when the scientists were not in yet. Sometimes it was to BS with his buddies, sometimes to consult on some problem where he could assist a friend.
I have to admit there were some small minded bosses who wanted to see their underlings always with noses hard at the stone, even if there was nothing that needed to be done. *Those* were the real leeches - they could only see as far as their own noses, and were selfish in that if their tech were not working for them right now, they would prohibit him from doing anything else for anyone else. The term 'make work' comes to mind.
Fortunately managers like that were few and far between and were invariably demoted after a time, because their attitude was counterproductive. They never accomplished anything because they were too busy painting the walls or buffing the floor.
Real people managers understand that a lot of business can happen over a cup of coffee in the cafeteria, and can recognize when a worker is lazy. That was part of the 'dial caliper' story - the man who told it to me was a long time veteran of the workplace, and was aware that there are all kinds of dodges to make oneself look busy. He saw, and recognized that sort of behavior in others.
The dumbest thing I saw him do was to quickly cover up the softball score sheets on his desk in the lab, when the manager of the group came in.
Later the manager told me, "XXX makes me so angry. I don't mind that he's doing the scoresheets in the lab. He's a great worker and I rely on him. But what I *mind* is that he covers them up when I walk in! He thinks I'm stupid, and that I can't see what he's doing!!!"
Other rules for getting ahead:
Be in at work before the boss is.
Never interrupt him when he's explaining something.
If you screw up and make a mistake, say so in plain language. Don't make a dance out of it.
And the most important, whenever there is going to be a visit from a big wheel, be sure to be gone when this happens.
Jim
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How about the higher cost of living here? Minimum wage laws? I believe (I'm having difficulty finding any data at all) that American productivity is among the highest in the world,if not actually the highest. That's not to say it couldn't be higher, but the fact that the costs/standards of living in other places are much lower than ours is the major factor in higher labour costs.
On a lighter note about productivity, there is an anecdotal tale here that a US company built a new factory here in UK. It was an exact copy of the US factory to the very last detail. Production started up and the brits couldn't get anywhere near the US production rates. US bosses hammered the brits. The brits scrabbled round trying to improve things. Finally someone remembered that US electric frequency is 60 Hz and UK is 50 Hz. All the pulleys were changed and things worked.
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