Author Topic: Management  (Read 1801 times)

House of Mustard

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Management
« on: August 23, 2004, 06:46:46 PM »
So, the phrase "don't confuse me with the facts" gets thrown around all the time, in a joking fashion.  I've never run into anyone who actually thinks that way, until I had a meeting with management last week.

Our inventory (I work at a lumber yard--with about 11 million dollars worth of product in the yard) has been off fairly regularly lately.  We go out and count once a month, and we're routinely missing one or two thousand dollars worth of stuff.  It's a tiny percentage, given the total amount, but they want to find out where it is.

So, everyone who has a job that affects inventory management (including myself) has to go in front of the bosses.  My job was scrutinized, and, supposedly they were going to streamline the processes and make everything run smoother.  Supposedly.

The problem, they said, is that not all of the work is getting finished on time.  This is true.  (That's because my counterpart, Jennifer, and I are doing the work of three employees.)

So, this is management's solution: Instead of the current 48-hour turn-around time on all my work, they want it done in 4 or 5 hours.  This, they say, will solve all the problems.

"So," says I, "if it can't be done in 48 hours, how do you expect me to get it done in 4?"

They replied: "Well, let's just try it and see how it goes."

Me: "You're loony."

(That's not verbatim, but that's the gist of it.)

Anyway, if you don't see me much on the forum for the next little while, this is why.
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Entsuropi

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Re: Management
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2004, 06:56:08 PM »
I... see...

Well, try to weather the storm as much as you can.
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Fellfrosch

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Re: Management
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2004, 07:36:50 PM »
Yes, it takes something special to be management. And by "special" I mean in the "Special Olympics" sense.
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Mad Dr Jeffe

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Re: Management
« Reply #3 on: August 23, 2004, 08:40:56 PM »
That attitude is rampant in the Coast Guard,...
We have less personnel than the NY City PD, and have a patrol area roughly the size of 1/4 of the globe. Keeping in mind that almost half of our 35,000 man force is doing admin and maintenance it should come as no shock that we are severely undermanned for the job we have to do in the field.

So instead of arguing for more money so we can add personnel and fill holes in Patrolling, Container Inspections, Oil Spill and Chemical disaster Emergency Response, and Safety Inspection Personnel we tell Congress, every year that we can make do with less. We tell our crews that they have to do more with less at the same time...

And 3 years in a row we've run out of money for fuel and supplies almost 6 months before the Fiscal year restarts.

Because the reality of being understaffed is that you can compress a lot into a short time and even succeed at that job for a short time, spectacularly even. But in the long run productivity actually suffers and jobs get done haphazardly.
« Last Edit: August 23, 2004, 09:02:39 PM by ElJeffe »
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fuzzyoctopus

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Re: Management
« Reply #4 on: August 23, 2004, 08:54:23 PM »
Which is honestly why I would love to get promoted.  Not only would I do more work than most of them do, but I'd be able to do things like go to mandatory 3-hour long lunch meetings at the Olive Garden, paid for by the company, during the busiest part of the day, while people in MY job work like crazy.

Not that anyone I work with would EVER do that....
« Last Edit: August 23, 2004, 08:55:52 PM by fuzzyoctopus »
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EUOL

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Re: Management
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2004, 02:30:09 PM »
Hum.  Looks like it's time to quit and write full time.  You don't need this 'money' thing that people always talk about.  It's overrated.

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