Today at one point I had someone sending me instant messages telling me we would get national attention if I couldn’t ship this order that had been promised on the basis of someone misreading our stock on hand as 57 pcs instead of 0. Meanwhile I was talking to my boss’ boss about an order that was going to get his boss’ boss’ attention if we didn’t find some way to ship it sooner than December.

I should have told the crew down in shipping that I didn’t have time to help out today but I have been telling them that a lot and I would rather it be my boss who tells them that. Because my boss is the one who agreed I had enough free time to help in shipping. So generally speaking I think it would be better for me to take care of friends that I work with and let the boss’ work get late until he decides not to promise them that I can help them.

I was so freaked out by all the stuff I absolutely had to do today that when I got it done an hour before I was supposed to leave I didn’t know what to do. There was still lots I could do, to be sure, but nothing I could think of that I could get a proper start on with my brain quivering like a mouse on crack and only an hour left.

If I think I am at a disadvantage I am diffident and retiring and meek and timid. If I think I have the upper hand I am confident and demanding and assertive.

When my boss was talking to me (or I should say, my boss’ boss), he said, “Let’s face it, you don’t have that many things to improve on, really only one thing, and that is your ‘soft skills.'” He has always been good at talking me up and I have always admired his discernment. But I am not entirely sure that was the best thing to tell me. It only encourages me to be more presumptious and condescending to those multiply-flawed individuals I work with.

To give you an example, I am tempted to think he is telling me (not in this phrase, but in our other conversation) that he values my contribution to the team more than my supervisor’s. Now the only reason I write this out so baldly is because I have already decided it is false; it is vanity run wild.

With such streams of thought running through my head you can begin to imagine my attitude when, while my boss is enjoying his vacation, it was announced that one of our largest customers is dissatisified again and requires immediate and sustained mollification. We–my boss’s team and some others–have a call every week to monitor the status of this particular customer and I suppose we weren’t taking it seriously enough. There hadn’t been any plan to hold this call in his absence, but I took it upon myself to inform the entire group that we would be having the call in spite of his absence.

As I was reminding one of my coworkers to join the call, she replied, “Yeah, yeah, coming, Boss Jr.” Ah, now there is a prick of different sort.

Since telling my boss’ boss two weeks ago that I needed to talk, I finally got the chance. The last week of October was plantwide physical inventory and this week was the usual reporting rush.

Knowing that I was going to go over my boss’ head made me more blunt with him this week. Yesterday I sent him an e-mail wherein the entire e-mail said “Please have more confidence in me.” I got the word “please” in there but it really takes a lot more window-dressing to say something nicely. And he didn’t have any idea what I meant. I thought that when you’ve just reminded me for the third time to do something which every employee is required to do every year–and I am not yet late–that my meaning would be clear. But such assumptions are acid to communication.

I also sent him an e-mail this morning telling him that he doesn’t appreciate what we do when he just tells us to do better. When he asked if I wanted to talk about it I told him the team conference call would be a better time and he brought it up then. And of course he thought he makes it abundantly clear how much he appreciates everyone, and I tried to explain that it doesn’t matter how much you say “you’re great you’re wonderful” about nothing in particular if when you are actually making a request you just say “I need this ASAP” and don’t ask if it is possible or what other top priorities might be dashed to pieces in rushing to this new task.

Now the proof is in the pudding, as they say, and he will be on vacation until next Friday, so we will see what comes. But today’s call, with the whole team chipping in, went so much better than I have been dreading for two weeks, that I am glad I finally found some way to broach the abysmal communication gap.

I think it helped to talk to his boss earlier in the day and unload all of the different dysfunctions that have been piling up. It helped me keep more to the point when I was talking to my boss and not to dump everything all at once on Friday afternoon before he went on vacation.

And I am so glad it is Friday because I am sick and tired. I even said no to Friday night fun because I need to sleep more. Hibernation sounds good.

Today I finished my last report that’s due at the beginning of the month. The three big reports went exceptionally well this month, and the little fourth one that I did today, as an afterthought, was not sorely missed sooner.

It’s still been a tough week. I have been busy and I have been sick; I got sick I think largely because I have been (outside of work, and by my own choice) too busy. I have barely been able to keep a lid on the most basic part of my “ordinary” job, expedites. In fact today I got a message from one of my boss’s colleagues asking why I had so many and would I please clean them up? I wasn’t sure why G.J. was asking about this but it turns out she is temporarily taking oversight of the expedites as my boss is so busy managing the daily emergencies coming out of that other factory that’s being shut down.

He is so busy dealing with the emergencies from the Ex-Plant that he felt it necessary to give me one of his daily tasks. I have heard that my presence has been sorely missed in shipping–I told them I would not be able to help for the first few days of the month, but I suppose I will have to get back to it. Right at the end of the day two people were pinging me on instant messanger, I was on the phone and my cell phone was ringing. The cell call was not work related so it doesn’t really count but it captures the feeling I have of being needed in at least three places at once. I feel sure that when my boss gets back from being on vacation next week he is going to want to know why something isn’t done. My guess is something to do with the late shipment analysis.

The recession is over. This is how I know:

1. Certain product lines that died when things got bad are picking up. Now that we finally have our sales forecast adjusted to a realistic level, it’s too low. Customers are getting exceptionally long lead times for items they waited until the last minute to order. No plan, no components; no components, no tools.
2. After spending about nine months on the ground, as far as work is concerned, I have flown twice within two months’ time. Not for any particularly good reason either time, and especially this last time. The travel restrictions are easing (unofficially).
3. We are hiring. Temporary workers. Just for November and December.

While I don’t seriously beleive that all the world’s troubles are behind us–and might even suggest that nothing is more dangerous than a bomb that hasn’t gone off yet–if you a reporter you may feel free to report this a conclusive absolute proof that we have had a total recovery.

Today we completed our physical inventory (first count) in record time. Tomorrow we will find out if we completed it with record accuracy or not.

Our inventory control is gradually improving–I think it is. I didn’t run into any pallets where every half the boxes were opened with some indeterminate quantity removed, or any area that basically amounts to a gigantic industrial-sized junk closet. But the ideal of having an actual count for every item still remains a dream.

Some parts weigh in the thousandths of a pound. Actually I think some were in the ten-thousandths. Some weigh several pounds a piece. You can scale count the smaller parts but you have to get a large enough sample size to meet the sensitivity of the scale counted out by hand.

A stray staple can throw off a part count. A breeze on the scale can skew it. The plastic bag holding the parts can weigh as tens of parts, easily; if the count of pieces inside the bag is not marked (and how knows how accurately) by the supplier, we have to come up with some way of identifying the number.

Take a roll of stickers, for example. I personally weighed a complete roll of stickers that I was told numbered five hundred, and then another partial roll that came up as 155. But this certainly gave the wrong count of stickers. The equation would be:

R + (W*X) = Wx
R + (W*Y) = Wy

where R is the weight of the cardboard tube, W is the weight of 1 sticker, X is the count on the first roll and Y is the count on the second roll. Wx is the total weight of the first roll and Wy is the weight of the second roll. But the method we actually used to count assumes:
W*X = Wx
W*Y = Wy

Does it really matter? Shouldn’t we just keep enough buffer on hand of these tiny parts so that ten, fifty, or even 200 piece discrepencies don’t matter? Well, we are not going to be 100% accurate so we do need to keep a buffer stock. But without any good way to keep track of where the actual count is headed, all you do is gradually eat up your buffer without knowing it. And then you shut down your production for lack of an item that costs fractions of a penny per piece. It’s happened. More than once.

After we finalize this inventory count we are supposed to begin a cycle-count program on all stock to help us better track our counts. This may help, especially if it drives us to improve our control so that I can’t pretty much pick any 10 square feet of the assembly area and pick up a half dozen parts off the floor from under benches and racks.

Today I got into all kinds of trouble. The smell hasn’t reached me yet but I know I stepped in it.

Last week I was approached by someone who does not work for my boss. This person was concerned about someone who does work for my boss, and wanted to know if everyone who works for my boss is as miserable as said acquaintance. To which I could glibly answer “yes.”

The questioner was very concerned about the friend and said that a major change of personality had gradually taken place coinciding with the change in supervisors. I do not talk to this coworker regularly but what I have heard substantiates at least that this colleague is not happy. Like me and the other colleague I have talked to. The last one of the four of us is more cautious and timid and the type that will please at any cost, but I would feel comfortable saying this last wouldn’t own to any special appreciation for our boss.

Bad bosses can be a fact of life, and as far as bad bosses go I don’t rank mine as exceptionally bad. But we all used to report to my boss’ boss. And neither my inquiring friend nor I think that he would be comfortable knowing that we are all unhappy. But who can tell him that we are all unhappy? My friend was sworn to secrecy. But I have a feel for the mood of the team independent of this intelligence.

So here are some things to never do. Never speak on behalf of your coworkers. Never go to your boss’ boss without having first addressed your boss. Never bring up a subject because a friend of a friend said that something bad was happening which the friend won’t own up to. And now I have done all that.

I couldn’t think of a way to tell my boss that everyone is miserable and fed up with attempting to get through to him. But that’s a pathetic excuse and my boss’ boss will not buy it. He will tell me to go talk to my boss.

I didn’t know why I needed to travel there before the trip, I didn’t know why during the trip, and I don’t know why afterwards. I was dreading it but now I’m happy I went because I got to do no work and talk to people and eat at expensive restaurants without paying. (Apologies to family members who don’t get it.)

It’s not quite true that I did no work. At some points it was very nerve wracking. But more often it was surreal. Here’s the trip in a picture: I was asked to come down by my boss, and the trip was coordinated by one of his colleagues, because someone at The Big Place asked for help. Something was wrong with the intracompany orders going between The Big Place and The Center of the Universe. So we were all there together at The Big Place: Me, my boss, and his colleague G.J., and L.M. from the Center of the Universe, and sundry appointed people from The Big Place.

Nobody knew why we were there. G.J., my boss, L.M., and the highest-ranking representative of The Big Place were to various degrees engrossed in their laptops. Nobody knew why we were there. I can forgive everyone except my boss who told me I was needed there and was completely engrossed in his laptop the entire time.

Now that meeting was only the first reason why he had called me there. The second reason was unrelated and we had a meeting about that, too, myself and G.J. and my boss. And after that one he actually told me that he had paid no attention during the meeting so let’s have another one. Remember, he’s the one asking me to come there and authorizing the expense of hundreds of dollars for each of: my flight, my rental car, my lodging, and my overtime.

How can I put this? My boss….challenges my preference for viewing things rationally.

Oh, are you wondering why we all went to The Big Place? Haven’t heard? Two hours of asking questions revealed that they had no lack of understanding what they were supposed to do or how to do it, they just didn’t want to take the time and the ownership.

And it fell to me to diplomatically ask questions until this became evident. Yeah. Me. Diplomatically.

Go figure.

Today I am still working. I have come home and I have done some things for myself but now I am back, connected by VPN to the corporate network and remotely accessing a PC hundreds of miles away. My boss has been asking and asking when I am going to get this fixed and if it works yet and if we should just scrap the whole project. I think mainly he wants to have something that works when I am there next week and we are talking to the important manager who is questioning the results the current late-shipment analysis is giving him.

Here’s how this works. First, it takes a long time to run. Yesterday when I ran it, it took over two hours. I changed some things so today it takes only about half an hour. When it does something wrong I do not usually know where along that half-hour cyle things went wrong. I have to investigate.

Investigating something requires sustaining and modifying a hypothesis. You pretty much have to do this in your head. If you could write everything down you would already have the problem fixed. But if you are formulating a possible explanation of what went wrong, you have to keep in mind why you think this might be the problem, how you are trying to test it, and, as you test ideas, what you have already shown to be false.

This requires concentration. In other words, you can’t do it when your boss is asking you to help out someone who is buried in work hundreds of miles away (in the other direction), and other people are asking you to guarantee doubtful things that it is your job to make certain (expedites), and people are calling you on the phone asking you to sound certain about doubtful things (intracompany orders). In other words, it is pretty hard to do any work at all on the late shipment analysis while I am at work.

Not that I haven’t tried; not that I haven’t made progress. But it is hard to make much progress when your re-test cycle takes that much time; it’s hard to jump right on it and try the next idea and hard to keep engaged long enough to try more than one or two ideas each day.

And on Monday I leave. So Friday, I work.

Yesterday I heard something awful. But let me start at the beginning of the story.

Once upon a time L.G. lived in another country on another continent. He worked for Acme and Acme appreciated his work. The company decided to bring him over to the USA to work in the plant that I am now at. L.G. got an engineering management position. Acme liked his work, and shortly they gave him responsiblitly for the entire plant.

In the space of two more years Acme gave L.G. responsibility for manufacturing operations around the globe, including China, France, India, and Russia. For about four years L.G. held this position. But then something odd happened. L.G. took the position he had before. He came back to lead our plant once again. What did this accomplish? Well, it put a buffer between himself and his former boss, I.D. A man who used to report to L.G. was now his boss, and reported directly to I.D.

Then something strange happened again. After less than two years L.G. decided to leave Acme. He decided this very suddenly one week after a visit from his boss. In fact it happened that in the time I.D. held his position, everyone two levels down from him at some point suddenly decided to leave Acme.

L.G. was the last to go. Shortly after that I.D. suddenly decided to leave Acme.

Meanwhile L.G. got another job working for Superhero company. It was a state or two away from where he worked before but it was a job with at least as much responsibility as he had here. It was the kind of job where he could choose not to relocate his family because he could fly back all the time to see them.

And yesterday I found out that Superhero company hired I.D. for a position up the chain from L.G.