Conflicts

So you're wondering how the interview went... or maybe you're just wondering why the hell it takes me so damn long to post. I'll tell you about the interview.

I was a bit over dressed, wearing new black jeans, and dress shirt. My interviewers were wearing pullovers and jeans... and quite possibly, diapers. Heheheheh... I'd lay money that one of them was 21, tops... Now that's not really a problem. Keep in mind, I went into the Marines when I was 24, so it's nothing new to me, having a youngster in a position of authority. I just figured that my interviewers for this job wouldn't be fresh out of Romper Room U...

There were groups of 8 - 10 people getting called back at a time, where we were sent to a training room. Commercials for this company ran non-stop on a small 20 screen. After a bit, my name was called, and I was walked back to their chow hall, where each table had an interview going on. They're hiring 300 people, so I guess it's a little easier this way...

As I said, my interviewers were a couple of young dudes. One hardly spoke, at first, and the other was supposed to be the interrogator. Once we got started, the questions pretty much alternated.

About a quarter of the way into it, I noticed that one of the interviewers, who had been smirking off and on, kinda rolled his eyes about something I said as to quality of work. Believe it or not, I got a little pissed, but I tried to play it cool. I looked him in the eye for every question and it's answer, even if the other guy asked it. I was as pleasant as I could be, but I think I made him a little nervous... he wouldn't keep eye contact. I could see his partner out of the corner of my eye... he was grinning. I looked over at him, and grinned back, and it was cool from then on. I don't know what the hell that was about, but I either did good, or I screwed up.

A couple of questions had me chuckling to myself, especially one about confrontations with your boss or supervisor...

When I was still making paper machinery, we had a new boss come on to the floor. He had been one of us, but a layoff was in the works. The company approached him with a supervisor's job, to keep him working. He reluctantly took it, which turned out to be a good thing... he would never have been called back.

Anyway, Flip wasn't one of the hardest working guys on the floor... hell, he was actually one of the hardliest working guys. But he was excellent when it came to organizational skills. He proved to be a damn good boss. However, with his past rep, some of the guys, from his old floor, refused to do any work he assigned them. He ended up with a core of about 5 people who would work for him.

Flip was cool in the way he got the work assigned... he actually asked you to do it, or if you thought you could get it done for him that night. I used to bust my ass for him, and in return, I got to work by myself in one of the isolated bays, stereo blasting. Most areas of the shop were off limits for radio. Like I said, he was cool.

One night, as his core of guys was walking in, we noticed a customer and sales rep talking with him. As soon as we got close enough for them to hear, he started barking at us, "T1G, you clean, deburr, and build these heads... drop the bearings on, and assemble the housings. Buck, you do this, S and K, you two work on this... we need four rolls built tonight. We will get them done tonight." Before the buzzer even rang, he was riding us... totally not like Flip, at all. I even was told to cut the tunes...

Now, to build these rolls, and four of them in one night, is not impossible, but it's incredibly hard work. And, it also involves some luck, as far as taps breaking and such. They were a real bear.

Well, the four of us got all situated, and figured out how we were going to work it. I filled them in on my plans, which didn't include finishing the rolls. We also got rolling on "Little Hitler" jokes. After some serious work, it appeared that we were going to make it, after all.

The bearing fit on the heads were for a shrink fit, so I had tossed them into the oven while deburring, and I made great time. All eight heads were sitting on the floor by the oven, waiting for the bearings to be dropped. The housings were cleaned and waiting for heads to cool, and all would be good... and we still had three hours in the shift. Flip was impressed, though irritated by all of the "Ja's" and "Nein's", and "Mein Furher's" that he was getting. He went into the other bay, and listened for the crane, which would be his signal that I was putting the bearings on... then he'd likely come over and harass us some more.

Heheheh... the bearings weighed about 110 pounds, and the four of us who were working on them never used the crane, unless a bearing cocked on the fit. So within twenty minutes, I had all eight bearings on, my tool box locked up, and was heading for the shower.

When Flip got the call from the bar across the street, minutes later, asking him to see if I had forgotten to punch out, he was incredulous. He asked me three times if I was kidding when I told him where I was... then he blew up. I guess it was a beautiful thing... the other three had been trying to get as close as possible when the phone rang. After promising to raise a brew in honor of "Little Hitler," I cut the call off. There were two and a half hours left of my shift...

The next day, the four of us kept goosestepping and saluting him. He finally apologized for being an asshole... and so did I. The kicker? Those rolls didn't need to be done for another couple of days. They just wanted to see if it was possible...

Anyhoo... that's what went rolling through my mind as I was asked that question. I couldn't hide the smirk. Did I actually use that story? Hell, no!

I told them some other lame ass story about my last boss, and his changing micrometers on probes... to see if you were paying attention. It was his form of training. We got into it one day, and we were both laughing by the time we were done.

How's about you folks? Any "conflicts" for you?

Posted by That 1 Guy at March 28, 2006 02:07 PM