No one listens! I cover their butts. I go the extra mile. I knock myself out to be sure everything goes as perfectly as possible. I know how even the smallest detail unnoticed, can lead to great expense and many hours of extra work. It can kill projects. It can end careers! So I stay up until 2AM, or work for free for a day or two, or a week, or do whatever it takes to be sure the job is done right. But they don't pay attention. They don't listen. And then when the doo hits the impellers, they run around like chickens with their heads cut off. And even then, they still don't listen! Dealing with non-engineers can be infuriating. Not only do they not keep their eye on the ball, they don't even know the ball is there. I swear to god, there have been many times that I am the only one who really understands what's happening. Almost no one else takes personal responsibility for anything. They don't invest themselves so as to grasp the full scope of the project. Everyone is just playing hot potato. I've been working in industry for over 30 years. And the longer I do, the less I am able to figure out how anything ever gets done.
I had one customer who worked for a large multinational company. He was always bringing me interesting projects, and we were generally successful, but then, nothing. After a number of years I started noticing this. For no reason, it seemed, things just got shoved under the carpet and we moved onto the next project. I was being paid so I couldn't really complain. But after years of this, I really started to wonder what was going on. Eventually I figured it out. Firstly, he always wanted to spend all of the money in his budget so he could get more next year. So he was fine investing what was required. Once he did his dog and pony show for his boss, and showed him all that we had accomplished, everyone was happy. But, if a project was actually put on the floor, he would be responsible for it. This would bring attention to him and what he does. And he didn't want that. So for ten years or so, we plowed through money and did some cool stuff, but only for the sake of spending all of his money. He never wanted any of it to be implemented. For someone like me, this is heartbreaking. The success of my work is one of the great joys of my life, I put my heart and soul into my work. My projects are my babies. I want to see them succeed.
I am learning. After 30 years I am finally learning. Had a dicey situation yesterday BECAUSE no one listens. The accusations started flying and only because THEY are not paying attention. I learned long ago to document everything! So when they started talking crap, I sent my complete set of notes that document every minute of my time. Not a word since. LOL!
This was perhaps one of the most interesting experiences I've had. One where I won for a change! I was called in to troubleshoot and help finish a new system - an entirely new design for system that would produce a new product. It is known as MOPVC. They had been struggling for weeks with a problem that they couldn't identify. In one of the brightest moments of my career, I walked in and found the problem in about 30 minutes. This was for a huge company. The president of the company was following our work. When he found out what had happened, he ordered the plant manager to keep me there until the system was working. I was not to leave. But then they ran into problems with parts. Special items critical to the process got stuck in customs. So for almost six weeks we were delayed a few days at a time. But in the end it was over 5 weeks. So I got up every morning and signed in at the plant. I then went back to my hotel and watched movies while making $110 an hour. At 5 PM I went back and signed out. I was available in minutes if they needed me but there was absolutely nothing for me to do until they could run the system. So I raked in $4400 a week watching movies for over five weeks. In fact I wanted to leave. My mother was going through some horrific physicals issues and I wanted to be there. But they made a big stink if I tried to leave because we kept thinking the part would be in any day. And the head boss ordered that I stay there. Once the system was up and running, the plant manager turned on me. He told everyone in the plant that they wouldn't be getting their bonuses because of me. He also tried to make it look like I was screwing up. But it didn't work because every man involved knew who solved the problems and made the system work. In fact, I received one of the nicest letters of recommendation that I've ever had, from the project manager. When I returned and sent the bill, they tried to claim I wasn't there the entire six weeks. So I referred them to their own sign in list, which I diligently signed in and out every day. HAH! They had no ammo left and had to pay their bill. For every story like that, I got my ass kicked 5 other times.
