Thread: Elbow grease

It's time I apologized to everybody - I (now) know what elbow grease is, but felt like goofing off a bit and entertaining (some of) you.

Before I did some research, I really did not know what elbow grease is - I have been in the US for several years, but was born and raised in Eastern Europe, so English is not my first language. For a while I was indeed wondering where I can buy this magic ingredient.

Cheers
Ivo

PS Marcus83: 4 gallons in the tire thread??? Wow, good one

Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

If it was just a summer job, then it wouldn't really matter what you did. Unless you do piecework or commission, you are paid the same whatever you do. A boss who liked to give me menial tasks whenever she was pissed at me inadvertently taught me that lesson. Pushing the broom around the warehouse, I realized that it didn't matter whether I was negotiating with our customs brokerage firm, replacing toilet paper rolls, drafting SOPs, training the staff, sweeping the floor or reorganizing internal communications. I was still getting paid $11 per hour. If my work suffered because of her peevishness, well I was only following my superior's direct orders and I always had that explanation ready when the director of operations would come in and ask why we were not sending a truck to the US that day. "I am sorry _____, but ______ ordered me to sweep the floors so I could not prepare the invoices or the customs declarations on time." (in a sweet and reasonable tone)

To me, it did matter. I had the satisfaction that I put in a day's work for a day's pay. There were 6 of us they hired that summer. Only a couple of us had any work ethic. Maury Buford when on to punt for the World Champion Chicago Bears.

In my opinion, regardless of how menial or unimportant a task may seem, there is no reason not to the work properly.

RT

If I'm working for a good company and/or a cause I believe in, I actively get involved in the process. If I am having serious problems over there, I'll just show up on time, do what I'm told, do it right and not offer any input.
In any case, I will do what I am paid without slacking. The mistake that my old boss was making was that she didn't look ahead. Here's how a typical day went:
-She sees that I caught up with my work and I am actually tidying up my work area, stocking up on invoicing paper, catching up with my record-keeping and sweeping.
-She calls me and says "since you already have a broom in your hand, why don't you do the rest of the warehouse?"
-I start sweeping the warehouse
-Work starts piling up as soon as I start sweeping, but she waits until it REALLY piles up.
-She calls me back to my post.
-By that time there is a mountain of work and the whole distribution system chokes up.
-At the same time I have to process the customs papers for the truck going to the US (a separate duty)
-She has to call in someone else to clear the invoicing backlog while I do the customs papers. The distribution is still idling.
-Problems come up with generating the customs invoice (IT, purchasing and CS related)
-Distribution is still idling.
-I finish the customs invoice and start working with the other person on clearing the backlog.
-The final bell rings
-She expects me to stay for overtime to correct her judgement errors. Yeah right, 40 hours a week in that dump was more than enough for me.
No wonder that company has a high-traffic revolving door in the HR department.

we sent an apprentice to the cake shop for morning tea ,one bloke ordered a randy tart, the female shop keeper was not impressed to say the least
Kind regards Peter

Originally Posted by Aussie

When I was a mechanic we used to send the new apprentices out to the auto parts store for a "long wait" for a distributor. Needless to say the salesman would let them stand there for half an hour then tell them that they now had a long wait and to go back to work

They could never find the left handed spanner or the sky hook either

One time on break, this lady casually mentioned that her car was making a strange noise. Being the "nice" guys we are, we offered to take a look. We ended up convincing her that the muffler bearings needed replacing. Her left rear turn signal needed blinker fluid, because it was not as bright as the right. Actually she had a very small power steering fluid leak, and was slightly low on fluid.

She was madder than a hornet the next day. I guess her husband really was laughing at her. Nice lady she finally got over it.

Ray

My first real job was roofing. I recall sending folks out for the shingle stretcher, similar to the shelf stretchers I assume. And if the roof was really hard, we'd send the guys down to the truck to find the nail sharpener to make the job a little easier.

Can't stay...bye bye, now...

Originally Posted by urleebird

Paratroopers are forever sending the cherries (new guys) to the supply room to get canopy lights for the night jumps. I never did stuff like that, myself...

C'mon...you never sent a private for a box of grid squares?

Originally Posted by urleebird

Paratroopers are forever sending the cherries (new guys) to the supply room to get canopy lights for the night jumps. I never did stuff like that, myself...

I thought they were referred to as FNG's?

I work in aviation in the Navy. We send the new guy out to get 50 feet of flight line. Works every time.