What I Miss Most About Working In a Job Shop

[rake60]

There are a lot of things that I DO NOT miss about working in a job shop.
I DO miss the guys I used to work with.

You had to leave notes for the guy following you if there was no overlap in the shift.

Duke ran the machine on day shift, I ran it on second shift and Cub was third shift.
Cub was a big boy, 6 foot 6 inches tall and 350 pounds.

As my shift was ending, I was rushing to set a taper in the main boring ram head to save Cub from
having to do it. I told him it was real close, just take a light cut, mic it to check the difference, put
an indicator at the top and bottom of the ram and adjust it to zero in the taper.

I found the resulting note to be so endearing, I scanned it into my computer years ago.
(I did have to smear out a few words.)

Yes, I DO miss those guys!

Rick

 

[Deanofid]

"With Love"... He sounds right cuddly.
How's yer legs, "Kerr"? (cur?)

I got one something like this one Friday;
"Dean, all that has to be done on this lot is weld up the flanges to the clamps.
Dave (the boss) says they have to go out to Deere on Monday morning.
Oh, the flanges have to be faced after they're welded, and the corner holes punched.
The Ironworker is down with a bad seal."

I went in on Saturday to drill the flange holes on these 50 big clamps, then faced them all off.
Monday morning I told Dave they were all ready to go to Deere.
"Those don't have to go out 'til next Monday!"

 

[rake60]

That note from Cub was more than deserved.

He was a mountain of a man who was terrified of bugs. (And I knew that.)

One night I needed help checking a 9 foot + size on inside mics with a set of 120' vernier calipers.
I had found a dead dragon fly that was about 4 inches long and set it on the dumb end of the
vernier where Cub would be holding his end. He squealed and dropped his end of the inside mic when
he saw the dead bug.

On another occasion, I found a huge dead beetle in the oil barrel drain trough.
I put it on top of Cub's tool box next to the print he was working off of.
He walked back to his box and leaned down to look at the print.
Then he picked up a 18" Crescent Wrench and proceeded to beat the crap out of his tool box trying
to kill the dead bug.

Those actions were SO out of character for me!

The story runs deeper. I was Cub's first mentor in machining.
He was a clean up kid at the shop that I had the privilege of training to operate vertical boring mills.
He's still in it working for that shop.
I wouldn't want to be.

Rick

 

[maverick]

20+ years of working with the same core group of 10-15 guys produced a lot of laughs and amazingly no outright fights.
There was a bit of friction now and then,as when the lead mans trademark apron was found floating up in the high bay
under a bunch of balloons. Hint, the welder had helium for the TIG machine. Bob had to shoot it down with paper clips and rubber bands.
The shop has been closed for years but we still get together for a bull session now and then.

Regards,
Mike

 

[purpleknif]

I gotta say the ONLY thing I'm gonna miss is the opportunity to use the boss' machines on stuff that's too big for my home stuff. I work with a bunch of jerks & morons !

 

[rake60]

I happened to run into another guy I used to work with tonight at the hardware store.

He said Boo misses me.
I'll bet he does!
Boo used to get me into all kinds of trouble.

One day at shift change, I was standing there minding my own business, eating grapes out of a baggie.
Boo asked if he could have one, just as the day and second shift foremen walked by.
He threw that grape and bounced it off of the second shift foreman's head.
John turns around, Boo is gone, and I'm standing there holding a baggie of grapes.
:wall:

There was one better!
I guy working near me peeled a banana and offered half of it to his buddy as the foreman walked by.
His buddy accepted the gift, then he shoved the other half in his mouth and threw the peel, wrapping
it around the foreman's neck.

When the foreman turned around there was the guy's poor buddy holding half a banana.

THAT was a good one! Maybe just because it didn't happen to me that time.

Rick

 

[don-tucker]

What i miss most is being able to help myself to any material i needed,including Copper, brass,steel alum,with the bosses permission of course,he told me as long as i didn't back a lorry in ,i could have what i wanted.Great eah!
Just wish i didn't have so much of a guilty feeling
Don

 

[rake60]

What i miss most is being able to help myself to any material i needed,including Copper, brass,steel alum,with the bosses permission of course,he told me as long as i didn't back a lorry in ,i could have what i wanted.Great eah!
Just wish i didn't have so much of a guilty feeling
Don

I miss the stock supply as well.
The shop would allow us to buy anything we needed at their cost.

One day I had a spline cutting process go wrong in the CNC turning center I was running.
The material was a 4 foot long piece of 1" diameter 1018 steel.
I could use that at home, so I bought it for scrap value.

One of the older guys in the CNC department gave me trouble for that move.
"Don't start that S#!T, they'll make ALL of us buy our screw ups!"

That never happened. LOL

Rick

 

[Blogwitch]

Rick,

I miss the stock supply as well.

I have friends calling round from a place I used to work at over 20 years ago, and they always come bearing gifts of throwouts from the scrap bins.

It keeps not only myself, but a few other model engineers, a couple from off here, in expensive raw materials.

Old mates should always be kept in touch with, it saves being lonely in later life.


John

 

[Ken I]

What I miss most...

Getting those "private jobs" done.

Even after leaving my old company for my own business (20 years now) I still manage to get the odd thing done there - as Boggs said - it pays to keep in touch.

As an aside I was doing a series of lectures at the naval dockyards and I needed something turning, one of the students told me to see so and so in the workshop.

So I went in during lunch and asked - since I was wearing a suit - he presumed I was one of the "suits" and gave me a long sob story about how much work he had backed up and wouldn't be able to get to it for a couple of weeks etc. etc.

I said "No - I don't even work here - this is a private job"

His response

"Ohh - No problem - come back at 5 !"

Priceless.

Ken

 

[rake60]

I am the only certified machinist were I'm working now, and word gets around.

One of the floor workers came into the tool room one day and asked if I do "Government Work".
I said maybe, what do you need done.

He showed me a couple of parts that he had bought for his motorcycle that were real close to what
he needed, but they would have to be modified a little to work.

It only took 15 minutes of my time and he was very pleased to have the parts ready to use that night.

I know you at work to WORK!
But, if I can help someone and save them the average $50/hour machine time cost for something quick
and simple, I'll do it.

Rick

 

[SBWHART]

My Dad was a charge hand in a small jobbing shop, and always told me he was head of the "Foreign Office" this I passed on to all in-sundry.

Many years later I found out that in shop talk:- a Foreigner was a job for home.
(for you none UK guys the Foreign Office is a huge government department)

I just wonder how many people thought that my Old Man was a high flying civil servant.

:big: :big: :big: :big:

Stew

 

[rake60]

Then again, maybe the place I'm working now isn't all that different than a job shop.

I guess "My Desk" feels I'm spending too much time in the tool room these days.


Rick

 

[Ken I]

Even though !'m my own boss - SWMBO thinks otherwise - I certainly couldn't tollerate a sarcastic desk.

Next time - shoot it - they're not a protected species.

Ken