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So I was just going to post about my adventure with this lovely lady from today, but then I found out that she had put in (another) complaint about me because "he is always causing trouble" and it got me thinking about all the times I've "been a problem" for this lady. Too many to count, but here are some of the highlights over the years:
I'll start with the very first time I had ever met her, I've known her for all of five seconds. It's a simple task, she wants me to remove "the" table from an office.
Me: I'm sorry, which table do you want removed?
SC: (huff,puff) The one in the corner.
Me: Yes, thank you. Which of the three that are in the corner?
SC: (roll eyes, huff, puff) The round one.
Me: Great, we're getting closer, which of the 2 round ones?
SC: (huge exaggerated sigh) The brown one.
Me: There we go. It makes things easier when you're specific and I don't have to try to read your mind.
SC: (looks as if someone just pushed a turd under her nose)
The jaws dropping to the floor at my sarcasm told me I might have crossed a line. It probably wasn't the best first impression I could have given her, but I had been warned about her and I wanted it established that I wasn't someone who would put up with her shit.
She has a very spotting record in regards to health and safety, at least as far as "expendable" contractors go.
Removing a workstation with live power going into it. I let her know that power is supposed to be disconnected before we work on it, but because I am a certified installation technician (a specific point I wanted to drill into her because she always considers me to be "just" a mover), and I can work on it safely. This is not something I allow incompetents to do, but for a competent and certified installer, it's as safe as plugging an appliance into a wall outlet. The problem arose however when I was left with the feed coming down from the ceiling.
Me: Okay, so you will have to get an electrician to come in to disconnect this feed.
SC: Just throw it into the ceiling.
Me: What?!?
SC: Just throw it into the ceiling, it will be fine.
Me: NO! It will not be fine. This is a live electrical connection, it can't just be left open in the ceiling.
Long story short, I taped up the connection, put multiple warning labels around it along with a perimeter, and re-advised her that it must be disconnected promptly. I also sent detailed emails that I made sure got forwarded to her and her boss explaining the situation and the prompt attention required. This was me "causing trouble" again because even though she had stuffed the feed into the ceiling as soon as I walked away, she was "going to take care of it".
Once again up in the ceiling to work on electrical. Apparently it's just unplugging a clock so I suppose we can do that, we just need a ladder. Rather than going to the dock to get a good ladder, she takes us to her storage room where there is an ancient rickety old wooden ladder. I point out the loose rungs and overall decrepit condition of it but she is insistent that it's fine. I should have stuck to my guns and insisted on a better ladder, or better yet told her that if it is indeed "fine", she can climb her lazy ass up it. But instead I caved and told her we'd use it.
SC: Okay, you go do that. CW, you come with me so we can look at the next task.
Me: Uh, NO! I need CW with me to hold the ladder and to catch me when this piece of shit disintegrates
SC: MMMMFHHHH!!! FINE! CW, you go do it. Homer, you can go take apart that workstation.
Me: HUH?!? That is not going to happen. I am trying to work with you here, but this task requires both of us to ensure the ladder remains steady.
SC: You don't need two guys to unplug a clock.
Me: I formally disagree with your opinion.
SC: I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR OPINION! CW GO DO IT NOW!
Me: Okay, be very careful about what you say next. One more order like that and I will issue a formal stop work order. MMM's joint health and safety committee will come in, and I can guarantee that at least one member of MMM's joint health and safety committee (points to self) will deem it unsafe. At which point a representative of the Ministry of Labour will have to be called in to evaluate the situation.
SC:
Me: Or the two of us can go handle this and be done in five minutes....
SC: .....
Me: Your choice, which of those two options sounds better to you?
SC: FINE!!! JUST GET IT DONE!
After this incident, it was "requested" that I no longer go to this site. I had half a mind to lodge a complaint about this "punishment", but it was too much of a reward to complain about. This of course didn't stop her from continuing her reign of terror. She needs a fireproof cabinet moved. These things are listed at 500 lbs when empty and this one is fully loaded, so it's tipping the scales at 750-1000 lbs. The guys give it a try but apologetically explain to her that it's too heavy, it must be emptied. But she's insistent that it's possible and that it must get done. I'm not sure how it escalated to this point, but the guys invoked their right to refuse unsafe work, she refused to accept this, telling them that they cannot do this, leading to a call to me.
Me: Yeah guys, if you consider the work to be unsafe, you have every right to refuse to do it. If SC has a problem with that, she can call me and I'll lay the law down on her..... Actually, don't let her call me, I'll wind up saying something I shouldn't
CW: You're on speaker Homer.
Me: .... Would have been nice to know that beforehand guys! ..... Hi SC, do you need me to explain this fundamental law to you?
SC: .....
Me: SC?? Are you there?
SC: .....
Me: Allrightythen. So if you are still insistent that it can be done, I can come there to evaluate the situation then we'll see if Ministry of Labour involvement will be required.
SC: FINE! We'll empty it! Are you happy with that?
Me: I'm always happy. Just be careful guys, if you have any further difficulties, call me right away.
Next on the list, there is her spotty attendance in the office. This is none of my business, it's between her manager and herself, but my understanding is that she's supposed to be there from 7:00-3:00. Often I would see her walking in at 11:00, but she's "just coming back from a break". Often I would see her leaving at 2:00 or earlier because she's "been there since 6:00". As far as I know, she did not have a work from home arrangement. She was able to get away with not being at her desk because the nature of her job had her throughout the building throughout the day, "Oh, I wasn't at my desk when you were looking for me, yeah, I had to go check out something on the 4th floor". Again, none of my business, but as a casual observer, she was clearly abusing this. My suspicions were confirmed one day when her boss asked me if I had seen her in the morning leading to this scream when she finally rolled her ass into work:
SC: WHY DID YOU TELL BOSS THAT I WASN'T HERE THIS MORNING!?!
Me: Uh.... good morning SC. WTF are you saying?
SC: YOU TOLD BOSS THAT I WASN'T HERE? WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?
Me: Boss asked me if I had seen you, I told him I had not.
SC: YES EXACTLY!!! FOR YOUR INFORMATION I WAS WITH SUSAN IN THE FINANCE DEPT ALL MORNING!!!
Me: Good for you. AS I SAID - I did not tell boss that you weren't here, I told him I did not see you. I can't exactly say that I've seen you when I have not. JUST AS I CAN'T AND DID NOT TELL HIM THAT YOU WERE NOT HERE.
SC: DON'T EVER TELL HIM THAT AGAIN!!!
Me: I will give an honest answer to any question that your manager asks. If you have a problem with that you can take it up with him!!!
SC: I WILL BE TALKING TO YOUR OFFICE ABOUT THIS!
Me: Please do. I will certainly be talking to them about this as well.
Again, none of my business, but if someone asks me a question, I'm going to give an answer. I mean, you would have to be a complete moron to try to cheat a system in a secure building where every person's entry and exit is recorded by their swipe cards, but clearly this woman is not the brightest bulb in the pack. Regardless, I'm sure it was just pure coincidence that following this exchange, now we did actually see her first thing in the morning, she no longer disappeared for hours at a time on "breaks", and stayed until 3:00-4:00.
Our next health and safety adventure involved a railing. There's a railing going down a handicap access ramp that has come loose. Now if this were a personal project, no problem, I fixed my Mom's railing and when I was done you could drive a car across it without it moving, but professionally, no, not a chance. This is something that has to be done by someone certified and insured in that specific field. Naturally she does not see it that way - "what's the big deal?!? Just put a new screw into it!" She was not amused when I handed her a screw and my screwdriver and told her to go nuts. Naturally this led to yet another complaint against me, naturally it was left as a vague "refused to do the work". Once I explained myself to my MiM, they thanked me and set her straight. I simply can't get over that a facilities manager would have such a lax attitude towards the safety of the people that it's her responsibility to protect, yet somehow she remains employed.
Those are the highlights of the past years working with this person, which leads us to today. As you might guess from someone this disorganized and scatterbrained, her planning "skills" are extremely poor. She is constantly adding tasks, and changing tasks and doing various things that add time to any given project. This was fine when we were charging her by the hour, but since covid hit and they have virtually no staff on site, we are there on a fixed price quote for a fixed specific task. Naturally, every time we go, she has "one more thing" to add on. Today was no different, I am there to move some "shelving" and that is my only task. The problem starts when I see the "shelving", it is not shelving, it is racking (20 foot high, heavy density warehouse shelving that is used to have forklifts place skids of product on). This is not a problem of semantics, these are 2 completely different beasts requiring completely different skills, manpower and hardware. Fortunately my daily carry is a Home Depot on wheels, so I actually do have what I need, and working a little harder than expected can get the job done. But I let her know that this is not "shelving", and the quote may have to be adjusted to reflect the extra time and materials that are required. The only thing she heard out of that was that we can do the job, so she wants to know if I want to see the next task. Umm, excuse me? There is no "next task" the only thing on my workorder is this "shelving". Well she has a workstation that has to be reconfigured, she talked to my MiM about this, so I have to do it. Okay, no problem, unfortunately if it's not on my workorder, I can't do the work. I ask her to call my MiM to clear things up and in the meantime, we'll get started on the "shelving". After a few of her huffs and puffs didn't change my stance, she huffed and puffed away, I assume to complain to my MiM.
Things went as well as they go from here but I hit one snag. It is impossible to remove lag bolts from a concrete floor, so they have to be grinded off. As much as I have with me, a grinder is not one of those things. It's not that big of a deal, just 4 bolts sticking out of the ground. But all of a sudden, now she is all about health and safety, this is a tripping hazard and must be dealt with immediately. The only solution is to go back to the shop to pick up a grinder, leading to this exchange with my MiM.
SC: Okay good. I will send Homer away, I'm sick of dealing with him, he's always causing trouble for me.
MiM: Ummm excuse me? That doesn't sound like the Homer we know. Anyways, he's the installer, if you expect that workstation to be reconfig'd, he has to stay there.
SC: What do you mean?!? They can both do that.
MiM: No, you ordered an installer and a mover, the mover can't do the installs.
SC: They're both movers, what's the problem?
This led to a detailed discussion explaining how the guy that walks in with a 100 lb, 1,000 item toolbox the size of a small condo, who takes charge, evaluates everything and does most of the work; yeah, that guy is a little different that the one who walks in dazed and confused, staring at the ceiling and/or floor and is easily distracted by shiny things. I might be paraphrasing a bit here, but you get the point. Unfortunately, the SC did not. She could not figure out that no work would get done if I left but finally had to accept that reality. We wound up leaving and now some poor unfortunate soul gets the distinct pleasure of returning with a grinder to finish that end of the job.
I'll start with the very first time I had ever met her, I've known her for all of five seconds. It's a simple task, she wants me to remove "the" table from an office.
Me: I'm sorry, which table do you want removed?
SC: (huff,puff) The one in the corner.
Me: Yes, thank you. Which of the three that are in the corner?
SC: (roll eyes, huff, puff) The round one.
Me: Great, we're getting closer, which of the 2 round ones?
SC: (huge exaggerated sigh) The brown one.
Me: There we go. It makes things easier when you're specific and I don't have to try to read your mind.
SC: (looks as if someone just pushed a turd under her nose)
The jaws dropping to the floor at my sarcasm told me I might have crossed a line. It probably wasn't the best first impression I could have given her, but I had been warned about her and I wanted it established that I wasn't someone who would put up with her shit.
She has a very spotting record in regards to health and safety, at least as far as "expendable" contractors go.
Removing a workstation with live power going into it. I let her know that power is supposed to be disconnected before we work on it, but because I am a certified installation technician (a specific point I wanted to drill into her because she always considers me to be "just" a mover), and I can work on it safely. This is not something I allow incompetents to do, but for a competent and certified installer, it's as safe as plugging an appliance into a wall outlet. The problem arose however when I was left with the feed coming down from the ceiling.
Me: Okay, so you will have to get an electrician to come in to disconnect this feed.
SC: Just throw it into the ceiling.
Me: What?!?
SC: Just throw it into the ceiling, it will be fine.
Me: NO! It will not be fine. This is a live electrical connection, it can't just be left open in the ceiling.
Long story short, I taped up the connection, put multiple warning labels around it along with a perimeter, and re-advised her that it must be disconnected promptly. I also sent detailed emails that I made sure got forwarded to her and her boss explaining the situation and the prompt attention required. This was me "causing trouble" again because even though she had stuffed the feed into the ceiling as soon as I walked away, she was "going to take care of it".
Once again up in the ceiling to work on electrical. Apparently it's just unplugging a clock so I suppose we can do that, we just need a ladder. Rather than going to the dock to get a good ladder, she takes us to her storage room where there is an ancient rickety old wooden ladder. I point out the loose rungs and overall decrepit condition of it but she is insistent that it's fine. I should have stuck to my guns and insisted on a better ladder, or better yet told her that if it is indeed "fine", she can climb her lazy ass up it. But instead I caved and told her we'd use it.
SC: Okay, you go do that. CW, you come with me so we can look at the next task.
Me: Uh, NO! I need CW with me to hold the ladder and to catch me when this piece of shit disintegrates
SC: MMMMFHHHH!!! FINE! CW, you go do it. Homer, you can go take apart that workstation.
Me: HUH?!? That is not going to happen. I am trying to work with you here, but this task requires both of us to ensure the ladder remains steady.
SC: You don't need two guys to unplug a clock.
Me: I formally disagree with your opinion.
SC: I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR OPINION! CW GO DO IT NOW!
Me: Okay, be very careful about what you say next. One more order like that and I will issue a formal stop work order. MMM's joint health and safety committee will come in, and I can guarantee that at least one member of MMM's joint health and safety committee (points to self) will deem it unsafe. At which point a representative of the Ministry of Labour will have to be called in to evaluate the situation.
SC:
Me: Or the two of us can go handle this and be done in five minutes....
SC: .....
Me: Your choice, which of those two options sounds better to you?
SC: FINE!!! JUST GET IT DONE!
After this incident, it was "requested" that I no longer go to this site. I had half a mind to lodge a complaint about this "punishment", but it was too much of a reward to complain about. This of course didn't stop her from continuing her reign of terror. She needs a fireproof cabinet moved. These things are listed at 500 lbs when empty and this one is fully loaded, so it's tipping the scales at 750-1000 lbs. The guys give it a try but apologetically explain to her that it's too heavy, it must be emptied. But she's insistent that it's possible and that it must get done. I'm not sure how it escalated to this point, but the guys invoked their right to refuse unsafe work, she refused to accept this, telling them that they cannot do this, leading to a call to me.
Me: Yeah guys, if you consider the work to be unsafe, you have every right to refuse to do it. If SC has a problem with that, she can call me and I'll lay the law down on her..... Actually, don't let her call me, I'll wind up saying something I shouldn't
CW: You're on speaker Homer.
Me: .... Would have been nice to know that beforehand guys! ..... Hi SC, do you need me to explain this fundamental law to you?
SC: .....
Me: SC?? Are you there?
SC: .....
Me: Allrightythen. So if you are still insistent that it can be done, I can come there to evaluate the situation then we'll see if Ministry of Labour involvement will be required.
SC: FINE! We'll empty it! Are you happy with that?
Me: I'm always happy. Just be careful guys, if you have any further difficulties, call me right away.
Next on the list, there is her spotty attendance in the office. This is none of my business, it's between her manager and herself, but my understanding is that she's supposed to be there from 7:00-3:00. Often I would see her walking in at 11:00, but she's "just coming back from a break". Often I would see her leaving at 2:00 or earlier because she's "been there since 6:00". As far as I know, she did not have a work from home arrangement. She was able to get away with not being at her desk because the nature of her job had her throughout the building throughout the day, "Oh, I wasn't at my desk when you were looking for me, yeah, I had to go check out something on the 4th floor". Again, none of my business, but as a casual observer, she was clearly abusing this. My suspicions were confirmed one day when her boss asked me if I had seen her in the morning leading to this scream when she finally rolled her ass into work:
SC: WHY DID YOU TELL BOSS THAT I WASN'T HERE THIS MORNING!?!
Me: Uh.... good morning SC. WTF are you saying?
SC: YOU TOLD BOSS THAT I WASN'T HERE? WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?
Me: Boss asked me if I had seen you, I told him I had not.
SC: YES EXACTLY!!! FOR YOUR INFORMATION I WAS WITH SUSAN IN THE FINANCE DEPT ALL MORNING!!!
Me: Good for you. AS I SAID - I did not tell boss that you weren't here, I told him I did not see you. I can't exactly say that I've seen you when I have not. JUST AS I CAN'T AND DID NOT TELL HIM THAT YOU WERE NOT HERE.
SC: DON'T EVER TELL HIM THAT AGAIN!!!
Me: I will give an honest answer to any question that your manager asks. If you have a problem with that you can take it up with him!!!
SC: I WILL BE TALKING TO YOUR OFFICE ABOUT THIS!
Me: Please do. I will certainly be talking to them about this as well.
Again, none of my business, but if someone asks me a question, I'm going to give an answer. I mean, you would have to be a complete moron to try to cheat a system in a secure building where every person's entry and exit is recorded by their swipe cards, but clearly this woman is not the brightest bulb in the pack. Regardless, I'm sure it was just pure coincidence that following this exchange, now we did actually see her first thing in the morning, she no longer disappeared for hours at a time on "breaks", and stayed until 3:00-4:00.
Our next health and safety adventure involved a railing. There's a railing going down a handicap access ramp that has come loose. Now if this were a personal project, no problem, I fixed my Mom's railing and when I was done you could drive a car across it without it moving, but professionally, no, not a chance. This is something that has to be done by someone certified and insured in that specific field. Naturally she does not see it that way - "what's the big deal?!? Just put a new screw into it!" She was not amused when I handed her a screw and my screwdriver and told her to go nuts. Naturally this led to yet another complaint against me, naturally it was left as a vague "refused to do the work". Once I explained myself to my MiM, they thanked me and set her straight. I simply can't get over that a facilities manager would have such a lax attitude towards the safety of the people that it's her responsibility to protect, yet somehow she remains employed.
Those are the highlights of the past years working with this person, which leads us to today. As you might guess from someone this disorganized and scatterbrained, her planning "skills" are extremely poor. She is constantly adding tasks, and changing tasks and doing various things that add time to any given project. This was fine when we were charging her by the hour, but since covid hit and they have virtually no staff on site, we are there on a fixed price quote for a fixed specific task. Naturally, every time we go, she has "one more thing" to add on. Today was no different, I am there to move some "shelving" and that is my only task. The problem starts when I see the "shelving", it is not shelving, it is racking (20 foot high, heavy density warehouse shelving that is used to have forklifts place skids of product on). This is not a problem of semantics, these are 2 completely different beasts requiring completely different skills, manpower and hardware. Fortunately my daily carry is a Home Depot on wheels, so I actually do have what I need, and working a little harder than expected can get the job done. But I let her know that this is not "shelving", and the quote may have to be adjusted to reflect the extra time and materials that are required. The only thing she heard out of that was that we can do the job, so she wants to know if I want to see the next task. Umm, excuse me? There is no "next task" the only thing on my workorder is this "shelving". Well she has a workstation that has to be reconfigured, she talked to my MiM about this, so I have to do it. Okay, no problem, unfortunately if it's not on my workorder, I can't do the work. I ask her to call my MiM to clear things up and in the meantime, we'll get started on the "shelving". After a few of her huffs and puffs didn't change my stance, she huffed and puffed away, I assume to complain to my MiM.
Things went as well as they go from here but I hit one snag. It is impossible to remove lag bolts from a concrete floor, so they have to be grinded off. As much as I have with me, a grinder is not one of those things. It's not that big of a deal, just 4 bolts sticking out of the ground. But all of a sudden, now she is all about health and safety, this is a tripping hazard and must be dealt with immediately. The only solution is to go back to the shop to pick up a grinder, leading to this exchange with my MiM.
SC: Okay good. I will send Homer away, I'm sick of dealing with him, he's always causing trouble for me.
MiM: Ummm excuse me? That doesn't sound like the Homer we know. Anyways, he's the installer, if you expect that workstation to be reconfig'd, he has to stay there.
SC: What do you mean?!? They can both do that.
MiM: No, you ordered an installer and a mover, the mover can't do the installs.
SC: They're both movers, what's the problem?
This led to a detailed discussion explaining how the guy that walks in with a 100 lb, 1,000 item toolbox the size of a small condo, who takes charge, evaluates everything and does most of the work; yeah, that guy is a little different that the one who walks in dazed and confused, staring at the ceiling and/or floor and is easily distracted by shiny things. I might be paraphrasing a bit here, but you get the point. Unfortunately, the SC did not. She could not figure out that no work would get done if I left but finally had to accept that reality. We wound up leaving and now some poor unfortunate soul gets the distinct pleasure of returning with a grinder to finish that end of the job.
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