Boy, am I glad it's Friday today! I was still busy counting and packing this one product ... when production suddenly changed course! Mid-cycle, just drop everything and let's change to another product. Sigh.
I took a walk down the road to get the information for my milk farmer - no problem whatsoever! I hope I don't miss him today - but if so, I can give it to him on Monday.
Around eleven, I spontaneously decided to go to The Orchards Spar to get some fruit for my smoothies ... turns out they are closed today: Stock taking! Sigh. So I tried the Rosslyn Spar, but they only had Bananas. I could have got those off one of the street vendors! Ah, well. I tried.
When I got back, I found a mail from a fellow manager, telling me how the store will work from now on! Hello? WTF? How about I send you mail, telling you how Production will work from now on?
Anyway, this is the fourth time this year I received those same instructions! First, when I just started and it was up to my storeman to follow them ... he did his best, but - predictably - it fell apart, since it's a mindless quick-fix with no substance. They re-installed this activity (can't call it a method, let alone a system) a few months later ... same result. Then I got instructed via some colleagues on the same activity ... when I approached the originator of the instructions, to ask just what I'm expected to do ... he started shouting at me. That 'Episode of The Office' incident.
Anyway, this is the fourth time this year I received those same instructions! First, when I just started and it was up to my storeman to follow them ... he did his best, but - predictably - it fell apart, since it's a mindless quick-fix with no substance. They re-installed this activity (can't call it a method, let alone a system) a few months later ... same result. Then I got instructed via some colleagues on the same activity ... when I approached the originator of the instructions, to ask just what I'm expected to do ... he started shouting at me. That 'Episode of The Office' incident.
This time, I'm simply ignoring it. Let's see what happens ...
For those of you who want the details: basically, they bring in goods bought for a specific project and then someone books it out for something else, and when it's needed for that project, it's gone. So they want control. And the way they've decided that will happen is, that everyone must book everything in and out ... and when I say 'book' I'm talking about a record sheet. On paper. See what I mean about 'can't call it a method, let alone a system'?
In addition, there's loads and loads of production material, tools, jigs, etc. all over the factory. So, the 'quick fix' is - yet again - that EVERYTHING must be booked into the store every evening and booked out again in the morning. At the same time, THIS MUST NOT DELAY PRODUCTION! Do you see a problem here? I'm supposed to check the quantities, record everything ... and then issue everything ... instantaneously! Six to ten people, all coming to the store with multiple items (raw material, work in progress, tools, etc.) all at the same time, just before end of shift. And the next morning, they must all have everything issued by start of shift. And, of course, this must not incur any overtime!
Can you see a teeny bit of a problem here? Now, could you perhaps explain that to 'the powers that wanna be'?
Sigh. As I was busy typing this, the power went out! That was at half past four Friday afternoon. Now, we know that there's load shedding going on (for my non South African readers: load shedding = rolling power outage to reduce usage, as supply can't meet demand). Strictly speaking, this should be scheduled, as in: announced in advance so everyone can prepare, as needed. Yeah, not happening. Which means that nobody can know whether, when and for how long they may sit without power.
We had no choice but to assume that the power outage was due to load shedding. It wasn't. It was due to cable theft! If it had been load shedding, we'd only know by half to midnight. Load shedding can take anything from an hour and a half to six hours ...
And therefore, we could only report it this morning. That's when we found out the cause and that we could expect power to come back on maybe by six tonight! As in Saturday night!
The biggest problem with a power outage is: no water either! Since we have a borehole, and water is pumped (with electricity) into a tank, and from there it's pumped (again with electricity) to the taps. And - crucially - to the toilet cistern!
Fortunately I had showered before the power went out - small blessing. And, of course, with a gas stove, dinner and coffee were not a problem (I always keep at least one 1,5 l bottle of spare water).
I, of course, had another problem last night: no audio book! Why is that a problem? Well, when I have something on my mind, some unresolved issue, I focus on the story of the audio book, allowing my mind to rest and me to sleep!
The instructions I received via e-mail will have repercussions ... although I tried to shrug it off, I don't like to walk - as we'd say in German - into an open blade! It means something along the line of not wanting to be caught off guard by a knife in the back.
So, how do you prepare for an attack, that will maliciously be planned to catch me off guard? I like to be prepared, I absolutely hate being caught off guard. I prefer to defuse rather than counter aggressively - yet, when I'm caught off guard, I reciprocate ... and that never ends well. At least, not for me.
No matter what I tried, my mind always returned obsessively to imagining all possible scenario and coming up with an appropriate response.
I tried focusing on something more pleasant ... but I always ended up obsessing some more.
By two in the morning, I'd planned what I'd do Saturday morning without power, what bread I'll bake once the power comes back, a system to organise my seed packets, a solution to the invoicing inefficiency, a means to label the store shelves which allows for varying bin sizes, a means of reporting production material usage ... I think that was all? Because the last time I looked at the time it was twenty past two ...
I was woken two hours later by the alarm system's backup battery beeping it's complaint ... two hours sleep! That's all I got!
This morning I was still obsessing, but at least now the fact that it kept me awake was a good thing.
The power came back at quarter past eleven!
I spent most of the morning coming up with a simple 'in a nutshell' report for my boss giving him some insight into a) why the business is operating at a loss and b) why I haven't achieved more.
I wanted to write this all down before going to sleep - I didn't want to forget any of the grand ideas I had throughout this sleepless night! Now, I'll give sleep a try ...
In addition, there's loads and loads of production material, tools, jigs, etc. all over the factory. So, the 'quick fix' is - yet again - that EVERYTHING must be booked into the store every evening and booked out again in the morning. At the same time, THIS MUST NOT DELAY PRODUCTION! Do you see a problem here? I'm supposed to check the quantities, record everything ... and then issue everything ... instantaneously! Six to ten people, all coming to the store with multiple items (raw material, work in progress, tools, etc.) all at the same time, just before end of shift. And the next morning, they must all have everything issued by start of shift. And, of course, this must not incur any overtime!
Can you see a teeny bit of a problem here? Now, could you perhaps explain that to 'the powers that wanna be'?
Sigh. As I was busy typing this, the power went out! That was at half past four Friday afternoon. Now, we know that there's load shedding going on (for my non South African readers: load shedding = rolling power outage to reduce usage, as supply can't meet demand). Strictly speaking, this should be scheduled, as in: announced in advance so everyone can prepare, as needed. Yeah, not happening. Which means that nobody can know whether, when and for how long they may sit without power.
We had no choice but to assume that the power outage was due to load shedding. It wasn't. It was due to cable theft! If it had been load shedding, we'd only know by half to midnight. Load shedding can take anything from an hour and a half to six hours ...
And therefore, we could only report it this morning. That's when we found out the cause and that we could expect power to come back on maybe by six tonight! As in Saturday night!
The biggest problem with a power outage is: no water either! Since we have a borehole, and water is pumped (with electricity) into a tank, and from there it's pumped (again with electricity) to the taps. And - crucially - to the toilet cistern!
Fortunately I had showered before the power went out - small blessing. And, of course, with a gas stove, dinner and coffee were not a problem (I always keep at least one 1,5 l bottle of spare water).
I, of course, had another problem last night: no audio book! Why is that a problem? Well, when I have something on my mind, some unresolved issue, I focus on the story of the audio book, allowing my mind to rest and me to sleep!
The instructions I received via e-mail will have repercussions ... although I tried to shrug it off, I don't like to walk - as we'd say in German - into an open blade! It means something along the line of not wanting to be caught off guard by a knife in the back.
So, how do you prepare for an attack, that will maliciously be planned to catch me off guard? I like to be prepared, I absolutely hate being caught off guard. I prefer to defuse rather than counter aggressively - yet, when I'm caught off guard, I reciprocate ... and that never ends well. At least, not for me.
No matter what I tried, my mind always returned obsessively to imagining all possible scenario and coming up with an appropriate response.
I tried focusing on something more pleasant ... but I always ended up obsessing some more.
By two in the morning, I'd planned what I'd do Saturday morning without power, what bread I'll bake once the power comes back, a system to organise my seed packets, a solution to the invoicing inefficiency, a means to label the store shelves which allows for varying bin sizes, a means of reporting production material usage ... I think that was all? Because the last time I looked at the time it was twenty past two ...
I was woken two hours later by the alarm system's backup battery beeping it's complaint ... two hours sleep! That's all I got!
This morning I was still obsessing, but at least now the fact that it kept me awake was a good thing.
The power came back at quarter past eleven!
I spent most of the morning coming up with a simple 'in a nutshell' report for my boss giving him some insight into a) why the business is operating at a loss and b) why I haven't achieved more.
I wanted to write this all down before going to sleep - I didn't want to forget any of the grand ideas I had throughout this sleepless night! Now, I'll give sleep a try ...
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