Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

I had one episode where I was sent by my trainer to check on an order. I went to testing and asked how the order stood. The Swedish employee was the manager there, an old-timer who knew his business. He said he need one more to complete the order and complained at the process that was in use. He said at one time if any thing failed to pass inspection, the factory whistle would go on and everything would stop as employees gathered in the inspection area to determine what caused the defect and make corrections. The defects were not often but on long well performed work and material.

I reported to my trainer that one valve would complete the order. The financial officer had concluded an inventory of all products and there were no 2 1/2 valves in store or stock.

My trainer said go down to inventory anyway and look around. I did. I went all over the stock room. It was huge and not well lit. I climbed each storage section. Nothing on the top. About my fifth climbing of shelves I saw one lonely valve. There were none on any other shelves that I could see. I went to get it and I measured it and returned to the trainer and told him that I may have found one. He told me not to take it for granted. He said go to the engineering department. Get a copy of the the
2 1/2 valve go down to stock, measure it. If t is what it should be take it up to engineering see the chief and let him verify it. We supposedly do not have that size valve in stock.

So I did as I was told, I put the valve in a tray and pulled it to the elevator. They were heavy. The chief looked at it and said  it looks like it's what you're looking for and he took the copy and measured the valve to the copy. All the numbers fit.

I took it to the Swede and the moment he put his eyes on it he said, "I don't know why I should test this old timer. It will pass." And it did. and I took it to shipping making sure it was put in the right order bin for shipping the whole unit that day.

Two days later I was called by the manager of the unit I was attached. He told me that the finance officer was upset that a shipment went out with the wrong order to one of its most important customers. I told him what I did before the order got shipped out. That the Chief Engineer said it was the old-timer Swede as they called him. Took one look at it and said it didn't even need to be tested that it would pass and he did test it and it passed.

The manager said, "Well we have an appointment with him in his office so let's go downstairs and enjoy telling him he's not as smart as he thinks. And you think that for him in your minds." He was not a well-liked man. things were booming money was coming in, but he would not go for salary increases. And he had an assistant that was always messed up with pay checks.

My manager, trainer, and I went down. The Financial Officer started with me. He said we had an inventory taken. It lasted a night and a day. Everything was counted and listed. There were non 2 1/2 inch valves in stock. None at all. Yet you shipped one out.

I replied, "I did not ship it out. The shipping department did that." Then I explained how I made a search in the stock area by climbing the bins and as I was about to get down, I looked across the bins and I saw a valve on one in another row. I went to it saw the valve and  brought it down. It looked like a 2 1/2 inch. I then went to my trainer and told him that I thought I had found one. I was instructed to get a copy of a 2 1/2 inch valve and measure it against the copy. Since it was the same measurement I took it to the Chief Engineer who measured it and said it was a 2 1/2. The financial officer also asked me you can read plans. I said yes. When he [ed: engineer} said it was what it appeared to be, I took it to the Swede. And when he saw it, he say ahhh, that's what we made. I don't know why it should be tested. Its just like what we used to make. But I tested it and it will pass, it will not leak.

That being said, he accepted defeat and we left. On pay day my manager brought me my pay check. He said it's not an increase, it's a bonus. You're doing a good job. Keep it up. The next opening that shows up you will be promoted.