Users And Manipulators

Discussion in 'Other Reminiscences' started by Frank Sanoica, Jan 17, 2018.

  1. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    Try to explain it with as little detail as possible, but, you know me! Offered my former position back, after we lived in the mountain cabin a year, no prospects visible, I accepted, and we moved lock stock and barrel back to Phoenix, to live in a rental home May, 1984.

    I had been hired by Penn Athletic Products, maker of tennis balls, from my job in Indiana with Dana Corp. in 1979. My new wife and I were moved at Co. expense to Phoenix, a start on the right foot! My position as Project Engineer, R&D, involved designing and building cost-saving machines for use in the Plant which was next door to the R&D building; our group had 4 Engineers and a skilled machinist. Laid off in December, 1982, after I had conceived and built a complex machine having double-payback qualities: it sped up production, and eliminated one phase of hand-work which resulted in extensive hand/wrist injuries. 16 of them were built and installed in the Plant during my lay-off.

    So, when they called me back, I smelled a rat. The position was Project Engineer, Production, in the Plant. The human resources mgr., whom I knew well from before, claimed they had budgeted for an additional Engineer, and they wanted to give me "first shot" at the position. More likely, I thought, they had been unsuccessful at keeping the "Felt Strippers" operational; who else but the designer might be able to bail out the problems?

    The "user" was a maintenance mechanic, John, who had been transplanted to Phoenix from the original Plant in Akron. While we worked in R&D, we learned of his psychological prowess at controlling the work scene in such a way as to make other maintenance guys look bad, in order to enhance his own image. We knew, as the workers also knew, it was no hoax. John had hoodwinked management for years, even being promoted to "Master Mechanic", but his co-workers saw through his facade, where management had failed to. My supervisor in R&D, Bruce, hired by Penn from Dana nearly a year before I was, told our R&D manager that if John was not excluded from ever working on our machines, he would not guarantee their success! Such did John's reputation precede him.

    Over a few month's time John had "chiseled" away at my own work image, but not enough to cause real trouble. The final straw came this way: I had been assigned over a week-end shut-down to install an automated system in the Cement Room, a solvent-fumed area highly vented, accessed by a big doorway. Work that weekend required that two scissors-lifts be rented, one for John's crew, one for me. Starting work Saturday morning, John said, "Take your pick" (of the two lifts). Little did I know he was gambling on an ultimate "set-up". I found later that the lift I picked was too high to enter the Cement Room, but John's lift would fit; I approached him, still totally unsuspecting, and asked to switch lifts. The answer, straight-faced and determined as could be: "Uh, uh, your lift is unsafe. I won't let my men use it!" (!!) Get the impact? Weekend, replacement for my lift not available until Monday, when my assigned job could not be carried out with the Plant up and running!

    My boss, the Plant Manager, absolutely refused to believe John had conned me this way! He inferred that being an Engineer, I should have been able to work around the situation. I went home. Monday morning I went immediately to the HR mgr., who incidentally was a new hire, they had fired the guy who had hired me back. Told him "I quit". Totally flustered, knowing he would be reprimanded if he could not talk me out of it, thinking to cover his own "behind", asked what was wrong? As luck would have it, John happened to be sitting there in that office, and I pointed at him. "There's the reason why". Lucky for him he remained stolid. A grin might have cost him his teeth! I walked out the door refusing to lower myself and my dignity to remain a part of such sewer-level tactics.
    Frank
     
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  2. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    I have never seen a job with multiple personalities involved that did not have someone who feathered their own nest with someone else's feathers.
    We hope that management will see through the façade of the extrovert (generally speaking) and place the kudos upon the real thinkers and workers but alas, there are few instances that I can remember when that happened.
     
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  3. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    OMG @Bobby Cole , you couldn't be more right.... and I love that phrase, .. ''feathering their nest with someone else's feathers.'' I'll remember that, it couldn't be more apt..
     
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  4. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    That was well put, Frank, and I can imagine the frustration it caused. My story is not so well planned out, but frustrating nevertheless. When I resigned from teaching paramedic school at the college, I took a year off while I tried my hand at making a living producing software. I had money in the bank but, so as not to spend it, I went to work part-time with the EMS service that I had once directed since I still lived in that town, and I still enjoyed doing EMS calls. One day, we were called to a motor vehicle accident and, although we didn't need any help, the guy who currently held the position as director drove to the scene, in uniform and driving the city vehicle, although it wasn't a workday for him. I could easily smell alcohol on his breath, so I told him quietly and privately that I knew he had been drinking, and it would be best if he let us handle it. Had one of the state troopers or city police who were on the scene smelled it, he could have lost his paramedic license, his drivers license, and his job.

    He left, and I had no intention of ever bringing it up again. He was off-duty, and probably came out to see if we needed help, but that was the wrong thing to do when he was drinking. The next week, I found that I was no longer on the schedule to work. Since I was working part-time, it wasn't like I was fired but I was no longer scheduled to work. My guess is that he felt uncomfortable around me because he knew that I knew, and probably thought I'd hold it over him. I wasn't the only one who knew because, although I hadn't mentioned it to him, my partner had noticed too.
     
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  5. Shirley Martin

    Shirley Martin Supreme Member
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    @Frank Sanoica , I hope the whole place fell apart after you left and he had to fix it.
     
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  6. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Ken Anderson Most similar story, Ken. I wasn't sure that it was clear how twisted the facts were made by my co-worker. Known to do this as S.O.P.
    Frank
     
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