And then there was one...

One of the things I bring up in the forthcoming "why I blog" anniversary post is the need to present the dumb dealings at work in a humorous enough was that you get a good laugh out of what's happened several hours (usually) before I do.  Today is one of those days.

Now, mind you, we are a bit slow right now because our main customer is having issues with other suppliers.  So it really was a low-impact day for the most part.  Except for three things, two of which belong in the "there are those who do things right, and those who make mistakes, and thankfully I'm in category one" file.  The first one came my way about 8 o'clock- a special job sheet with three late "dealer service" (AKA somebody ordering from an old old catalogue) orders.  The first one I cut successfully, but when I tried to issue the yardage used, I got the message, " This order is firm.  You may not issue fabric."  Not having any idea what a firm order is, I e-mailed the boss and went on to item 2.  It was not a complete cover, just the bow part, and the marker (what the computer uses to tell the Gerber what to cut) did not exist.  So I called the engineer, and left him to sort that one out.  The third one, when I scanned it, said, "The 2-up marker for this part does not exist.  sending the standard marker instead" (which apparently meant- as I learned later- that the job was calling for me to cut 2 covers, and the computer only has markers for one). So another call to the engineer, who never heard of "2 ups" and was completely baffled.  I asked him whether to cut one or two, and he said he'd get with the boss and let me know.  In the meantime, boss e-mails me back about item one, saying, "This has to be fixed by engineering before you can issue fabric."

So then engineer turns to the super, and she says I have to make 2 of them.  While he's doing that, I find the boss and show the item in question to him, and he says, "the engineer should know.  What did he say?"

"To ask you."

"Um, I'll go check on it."

Moments later, the engineer, who's talked to the super, IMs me to cut two, which I was doing when boss brings out a rush order in navy blue.  I'm cutting the rush order when engineer emails me that item #2 is now in the system.  About an hour later, boss emails me with the job number for the one I cut two of, along with a copied message he got saying they only wanted one.  An hour or so after that, super comes out with a new rush order for the same item in another color.  She says the boss didn't have her check the order against the email request, and thus he gave me the order in the wrong color.  Did I mention that a few days back they cut my stock table to 1/3 its former size to put the cut covers rack closer to me?  Or that on that smaller table I already had several items left over from when the Gerber was down and the other plant sent us stuff we didn't use?  Or that just as I was seeing light at the end of that tunnel, here come these two items that nobody wants?  Okay.

In trying to cut the second rush (out of sand, which is infamous for having oil spots that we can't use), I hit a point where the fabric cut off- the result of a flaw the manufacturer actually caught.  Seven lousy yards later, there was another break.  Why bother to roll a lousy 7 yards on the roll?  Oh, well, says I, I can get 2 panels out of it.  Except that as I was folding the second panel, I learned that the good side (we cut bad side up so the sewing marks are on the bad side) was covered with something that resembled a greasy chain belt being dropped on it.  Make that seven yards, only five usable.  That's that Chinese quality, BTW.

Soon later the second-shift engineer and proto guy come over to have me show them the basics on the gerber so they could use it in a pinch.  During the show and tell, I was showing them how to change the blade when I made my mistake- for whatever reason, I fling my hand in the direction of the tool holder and sliced a good deal of my left pinky knuckle.  Took 2 bandaids to shut it off.  Super tells boss, boss asks if I've had a tetanus shot.  Who the hell knows?  So an hour before the end of the day, off I go to clinic.

Along the way, I'm driving beside a lady who sees traffic slowing in front of her and found running me onto the curb was a better option than just slowing down, or God forbid, give more than a cursory look in her side view mirror.  Surviving that, I arrive at the clinic at 2 PM to get a simple shot- and come home 2 hours later after a piss test, 4 stitches, and a lecture on my blood pressure, and an invitation to come back in ten days to remove the aforementioned embroidery.  Oh, and now I know when my last tetanus shot was. 

Hopefully I live through the rest of the night, and will be back with #1,000 tomorrow.  Just gotta make sure I keep clear of Laurie when she's using a knife.