When I first started working in a production facility in Florida, they put me on the second shift as an assistant supervisor. The department I worked in performed an operation that put a coating on racks of parts and then moved them into an oven for a predetermined period of time. That process was usually repeated six or seven times. My job was understanding the process, which included mixtures of chemicals and acids (which was alien to me) and pyrolysis ovens with motorized transport systems, working with a material handler who was responsible for getting everyone their work and chemicals and several oven operators in three different rooms who had various levels of skill and tenure.
Martha was the best oven operator in the department. Any lot cards detailing unusual processing steps or needing chemical solutions changed up during the process went to Martha. R.B. was the newest operator and even though he had the most straight forward lots to process, it seemed I was always working with him and the material handler on some aspect or other of a lot he had processed. In varying degrees, it was the same way with the other operators, I spent time with the ones who were having issues with the process so I could understand the problem and decide whether or not the operator needed training or somebody upstream needed to learn how to fill out a lot card.
One night, some months into this job, Martha asked if she could speak with me. Her son was graduating high school and she wanted to be at the ceremony which was going to be held on an evening and during the time she was typically working. I had already figured that out about second shift for myself. You are pretty much out of touch with your own world, home during the day when your friends are working, working in the evening when everyone is getting together. Anyway, I was expecting her to request the night off for the graduation. It happens all the time on second shift. But she asked me for a transfer to third shift, which surprised me. Even though she did have a perfect attendance record, and people with perfect attendance don’t think like other people do, it made no sense to me that she would actually want to change shifts after years on the job. It was getting near the end of the shift and I told her I would check with the Personnel department tomorrow and get back to her tomorrow night.
The next evening, early in the shift, I went to see her. I told her, “Martha, you are the best oven operator that I work with. Your work is always excellent and your attendance is as well. I really would not want to lose you from this shift but I would be a sore loser if I didn’t give you the opportunity because you certainly deserve it. So if this is what you really want to do, I will not only put you in for the transfer but I will personally recommend you to the third shift supervisor myself. I would like you to do something for me, though. I would appreciate it if you would tell me why you want this transfer.”
She paused and looked at the floor. Then she straightened up, looked at me and said, “Well, Mike, seem a lot like it’s you. I do my work and you never say nothin’ to me. You talk to everyone else and always bother about everything, but you don’t even check my work. You never talk to me.”
While that came as a shock to me, I was so grateful that she told me that I explained to her how it had happened, and that I never intended to take her for granted, which obviously I had. The outcome of our conversation is that I apologized and she agreed to give me a second chance. When I was promoted to a first shift position several months later, she was still doing the best job on second shift as she had for years before I got there.
