cheesy
10-12-2016, 09:42 PM
I don't go to bars and this has always been the best place to blow of steam when I need to.
If I was made of money, today would have been the day I walked off the job. I blew up about a demo I need to do tomorrow. Not the demo itself, but the beat up POS I had to prep to do the demo with.
I had wanted to use a crane that only had 140 hours on it and told all involved it would be ready by noon today. On Monday, a rental return came in and my boss decided we would use that one instead.>: 945 hours on the clock and in serious need of service.
I wasn't too miffed at the time but I was so busy on Monday with being short handed, helping helpless staff, and fielding phone calls that it took me fours hours to get the first wire soldered into place.
I started wiring in earnest yesterday, which only took a couple of hours and spent the rest of the day repairing damage to the boom. I was starting to simmer then.
Today was supposed to be the easy day. Check the hydraulic level. Attach the demo unit to the boom, plug in the hydraulics, the electrical and be done with it. Yeah, right. First thing I notice is the hydraulic tank is low. Really low. I used all the oil I had in the shop, seven gallons, and that didn't budge the low level. So, I ordered ten more gallons to be delivered in an hour. Next, one of my minions has banged into the demo unit with a fork truck and busted a coil and Hirschmann plug. I know which one because the other guys would have told me and fixed it. Not happy about it but I have spares so it's done in 20 minutes.
I get everything attached, turn on the flow and power and not a freaking thing happens. Now I'm starting to get pissed. No flow means a bad coil and resister in the crane. No power needed checking. I find the male plug on the demo unit is wired wrong. At this time my boss comes out(I should say I'm doing this outside, it's raining, and the temp is dropping)and wants to know why the plug is wired wrong and if I'll be done by noon, because the trucks are here to pick up the machines. I lost it. The F-bombs fell like rain. He had the gall to tell me I had no reason to be pissed off...until my 15" adjustable bounced off a steel door and I started to really roar. He got the hint and left and I told everyone that didn't work in the shop to get the hell out of the shop and let me fix this POS.
It went downhill from there. The GM came out to speak with me about my 'behavior' and I told him with a calm in my voice I did not feel, to get the hell away from me or I will start my retirement today and you idiots can set up and do the damn demo yourself. He left. Then it started to rain harder.
The resister and coil is usually a 10 minute job. Because it was rusted in place, it took an hour. I also managed to cut the crap out of myself and had blood running down both my arms. Our PA stepped out for smoke, saw the blood, and tried to get all helpy. I like her and had to tell her to just please go away.
It took another forty five minutes to suss the plug. I have now worked through my lunch and two hours beyond. It is still raining. I plug everything back in and...it works. Yay! It's running backwards but that's just swapping two hoses. But, I see a tooth missing from the chain. It took 15 minutes to find a replacement and another 10 to install it. The mood is not getting any better.
I now need to get the plug mounted to the boom and fill the hydraulic tank. I center punch and drill the first hole. I start the tap and turn it back to break the chip and break the tap instead. It's still raining and I'm about to lose it again. Relocate the plug and try again. Got lucky and didn't break a tap but one of the drills walked and I ended up having to take a rattail to slot one of the holes in the plug. Done. Rain has let up a bit.
I hoist a 5 gallon bucket of hydraulic oil up to the deck and climb up myself. I pull up the spout and then pop the seal on the bucket and end up just getting the ring. After a few minutes of questioning my sanity, I manage to get the spout open and dump the entire contents into the tank. The oil level is just visible in the sight glass. So I dump the other five gallon bucket in. The tank level is now where it is supposed to be and it only took seventeen gallons to get there. Not only do I despise some of our salesmen, I'm not too fond of some of our customers.
I get the equipment loaded and sent off to the demo sight. It is now 4:15 pm. Quitting time is 15 minutes away and I still haven't eaten since a cookie with my cuppa at 7:30. I will be glad to get away from this place.
Heading home and not one block from the shop, a semi runs a stop sign. The Ural and I jump a ditch and slide sideways through a parking lot. The trucker stops and because of the mood I'm in, I want to kill the guy. One of the women from accounting was behind me when it happened and stopped me from making my day even worse. She is a retired Army Sergent from the first Gulf War and not someone mess with. Man, did that trucker get an upbraiding, though. I think she was still tearing him a new one by time I got home.
So, that was my day. Told management that the strobe light, brake lights and turn signals on the crane didn't work and I didn't care. It was their call to use that machine, not mine.
If I was made of money, today would have been the day I walked off the job. I blew up about a demo I need to do tomorrow. Not the demo itself, but the beat up POS I had to prep to do the demo with.
I had wanted to use a crane that only had 140 hours on it and told all involved it would be ready by noon today. On Monday, a rental return came in and my boss decided we would use that one instead.>: 945 hours on the clock and in serious need of service.
I wasn't too miffed at the time but I was so busy on Monday with being short handed, helping helpless staff, and fielding phone calls that it took me fours hours to get the first wire soldered into place.
I started wiring in earnest yesterday, which only took a couple of hours and spent the rest of the day repairing damage to the boom. I was starting to simmer then.
Today was supposed to be the easy day. Check the hydraulic level. Attach the demo unit to the boom, plug in the hydraulics, the electrical and be done with it. Yeah, right. First thing I notice is the hydraulic tank is low. Really low. I used all the oil I had in the shop, seven gallons, and that didn't budge the low level. So, I ordered ten more gallons to be delivered in an hour. Next, one of my minions has banged into the demo unit with a fork truck and busted a coil and Hirschmann plug. I know which one because the other guys would have told me and fixed it. Not happy about it but I have spares so it's done in 20 minutes.
I get everything attached, turn on the flow and power and not a freaking thing happens. Now I'm starting to get pissed. No flow means a bad coil and resister in the crane. No power needed checking. I find the male plug on the demo unit is wired wrong. At this time my boss comes out(I should say I'm doing this outside, it's raining, and the temp is dropping)and wants to know why the plug is wired wrong and if I'll be done by noon, because the trucks are here to pick up the machines. I lost it. The F-bombs fell like rain. He had the gall to tell me I had no reason to be pissed off...until my 15" adjustable bounced off a steel door and I started to really roar. He got the hint and left and I told everyone that didn't work in the shop to get the hell out of the shop and let me fix this POS.
It went downhill from there. The GM came out to speak with me about my 'behavior' and I told him with a calm in my voice I did not feel, to get the hell away from me or I will start my retirement today and you idiots can set up and do the damn demo yourself. He left. Then it started to rain harder.
The resister and coil is usually a 10 minute job. Because it was rusted in place, it took an hour. I also managed to cut the crap out of myself and had blood running down both my arms. Our PA stepped out for smoke, saw the blood, and tried to get all helpy. I like her and had to tell her to just please go away.
It took another forty five minutes to suss the plug. I have now worked through my lunch and two hours beyond. It is still raining. I plug everything back in and...it works. Yay! It's running backwards but that's just swapping two hoses. But, I see a tooth missing from the chain. It took 15 minutes to find a replacement and another 10 to install it. The mood is not getting any better.
I now need to get the plug mounted to the boom and fill the hydraulic tank. I center punch and drill the first hole. I start the tap and turn it back to break the chip and break the tap instead. It's still raining and I'm about to lose it again. Relocate the plug and try again. Got lucky and didn't break a tap but one of the drills walked and I ended up having to take a rattail to slot one of the holes in the plug. Done. Rain has let up a bit.
I hoist a 5 gallon bucket of hydraulic oil up to the deck and climb up myself. I pull up the spout and then pop the seal on the bucket and end up just getting the ring. After a few minutes of questioning my sanity, I manage to get the spout open and dump the entire contents into the tank. The oil level is just visible in the sight glass. So I dump the other five gallon bucket in. The tank level is now where it is supposed to be and it only took seventeen gallons to get there. Not only do I despise some of our salesmen, I'm not too fond of some of our customers.
I get the equipment loaded and sent off to the demo sight. It is now 4:15 pm. Quitting time is 15 minutes away and I still haven't eaten since a cookie with my cuppa at 7:30. I will be glad to get away from this place.
Heading home and not one block from the shop, a semi runs a stop sign. The Ural and I jump a ditch and slide sideways through a parking lot. The trucker stops and because of the mood I'm in, I want to kill the guy. One of the women from accounting was behind me when it happened and stopped me from making my day even worse. She is a retired Army Sergent from the first Gulf War and not someone mess with. Man, did that trucker get an upbraiding, though. I think she was still tearing him a new one by time I got home.
So, that was my day. Told management that the strobe light, brake lights and turn signals on the crane didn't work and I didn't care. It was their call to use that machine, not mine.