what's the dumbest thing your boss ever did

[emarsh]

At the station where i worked, we needed to pour some additional concrete sidewaly to enable us to get maintenence carts and material past a very large transformer. So I set up some forms and made calculations on how many yards it would take and called to get redi mix pricing. My boss decided that he would instead have a helper come in on overtime on a Saturday and take the half ton pickup truck and get 40 60# sacks of concrete mix (thats 2400 pounds in a half ton truck!) and come back and mix it up in the bucket of the tractor we had. I later asked the helper how long it took him to load up the bags and how he stopped the city owned vehicle with all of that weight? He said he thought it was going to break an axle or something, but he made it safe back to the station. By my calculations, he had already spent more $$ on the mix and his labor before he even got back then it would have cost for the ready mix truck quote that i had got; and he had not even begin to mix this up by hand yet. Dumb move boss! Believe me, as I think about them from time to time, i will add more horror stories, and I will ask you to judge if the idiot boss i had was indeed, competent or not?

 

[Shovelhead]

Dumbest thing the "Boss" ever did?

You mean, other than hiring me, and giving me access to the internet at work... ... . :-laf

 

[nickleinonen]

my boss didn't do a very bright thing today...



i was getting ready to change out a broken hand brake chain on a locomotive [broken suspension springs above the traction motor caused it. wheel cut through the chain] we were going to zip tie the new chain to the old chain to use it to fish the new chain into place. well, my boss wants to see the broken chain while i was unloading some stuff off of a transport that came in [4 wheel sets] and he pulled the chain all out and onto the deck plating... now a 45 min job turned into something that the next shift has to finish up.

 

[lgibson]

Back in my excavation days, 1995 in Las Vegas, the company I worked for was doing ground work for the Monte Carlo hotel/casino. We had just finished tearing out the old buildings and driveways. My boss just bought a wood chipper. Not any wood chipper, but one that was diesel powered and 30 foot opening on the funnel. It stood over 20 feet high and its teeth were the size of cinder blocks.



Well he thought it would be easier and faster to use the chipper to bust up the concrete. So on Friday evening he goes out there and gets the large excavator to dump in the waste. This waste consisted of concrete with re-bar, wood, cast iron sinks, trees, and just about everything else. The chipper was running close to full rpms when the first load gets dropped into the chipper. All He!! broke loose. Re-bar was shot out like a bullet and a few employees cars were pierced. One piece of re-bar went all the way though a van and lodged itself into a car's engine. A chunk of concrete about 3 feet squared flew 100 feet into the air and landed on the hood of a, just off the lot, Lincoln Town car that was being driven on the strip.



No one was hurt too bad. There were a group of tourist that did get hit with small pieces of gravel size concrete. Overall the boss was very lucky no one was killed. If he would have done that earlier when the main construction crew was there, it would have been real messy. The thing is he did not learn his lesson. After all this he used the thing only at night and loaded it up with concrete then he put trees and wood in it before running it. He did this a couple of weeks before he was told that thing had to go. In fact he was told not to use that thing from every job forman at every site he got the contract for. The companies name was "Break-em Excavation" and the name fits.

 

[Whitmore]

I used to have a shift forman , he was over 7 guys and he didnt know his job well at all, he didnt have any leadership qualities , didnt know how to build trust or confidence, nobody liked him and he had the worst record as far as production, compliance and human resource issues, he was a major suck up to the operations supervisor ... ... ... ..... I would have to say the stupidest thing he ever did was to show up to work :-{} #@$%! #@$%! #@$%!

 

[WDaniels]

Whitmore,

BINGO!!! But you forgot one other thing. "Woke up and started breathing"!

WD

 

[emarsh]

another time I wanted to change the fine water make up filter, the pressure differential was at 8 PSI and ready to alarm. This would have meant that someone would have to stay late on overtime and change the 10 micron filter. This was on a water make up system that had a pump come on once or twice a 8 hour shift and I was concerned about the inrush to the filter on pump start up. Well the boss says it's nothin to worry about, and since "a dirty filter cleans better than a new filter", we should not worry.

 

[The patriot]

Well, now I know where all my old bosses go. :-laf

You could literally write a book on the stupid things that go on where I work.

My boss wanted to buy those magnet things to put around our fuel lines to "save fuel". I was ROFLMAO when he told me.

Once when we were on gas (I operate a steam plant) we were having emissions problems. He asked me to take a sample of the gas, and handed me a bucket. I almost busted a gut on that one. I asked him if he wanted me to take a sample of the steam we were making, and the air we were using for atomization too. He said "yes, good idea". :-laf

He was a real @ss***e (you know the kind that managment dont even like) and didnt like to be laughed at. I couldnt help myself.

Eric

 

[Archive]

a few years ago, after getting laid off from the utility company as a painter, I took a job working for a contractor that was painting a brand new co-generation power plant.



I guess it was the first time this company had ever painted a power plant ( I had 15 years experience in that field).



The foreman told me to get up on the scaffold and "paint out that big tank with the pipe coming out of the backside".



We were using a solvent-based two component based epoxy material.....



solvent based= highly flammable





turns out that "that big tank" was one of the mufflers from this natural gas-fired power plant.



I tried to explain to this bone-head that the mufflers are not normally painted and if so, they needed to use a HIGH HEAT material to coat it.



He told me that HE WAS THE BOSS AND GET UP THERE AND PAINT IT!!!!



I did what I was told and then came down for lunch... ...



we got an extended lunch as they fired off the burners, and before long the fire department was out extinguishing the entire top of the power plant.











as for my current employment, let me just say that the entire management staff is under investigation and that heads may roll... ...





big jake

 

[emarsh]

I went on a out of town training seminar on pumps & seals and stopped on the way down at Mc Donalds for a hamburger. On the days that you travel you are entitled to lunch, along with other meals, to be re-inbursed by the company. So I turned in for it, I think it was $3. 71 if I remember correctly. The way it works is you are issued a lump sum of what the costs should be, then you return the unused funds by a money order. So I turned in for all of the expenses, but the superintendent says that I an NOT entitled to lunch on the way. So I said fine, but that I would have to get the post office money order canceled and a new one re-issued, less the $3. 71. I was on company time at a rate of nearly $30 per hour, the post office was about 25 miles one way (over an hour after waiting in line at the post office). Well you do the math, that hamburger cost the company big time. And yes I was entitled to it, I checked before I left with the travel & expense clerk, oterwise I would have never put in for it. I offered to pay cash, but that was rejected! Of course I took a company vehicle too!

 

[Scot]

We were sitting in a staff meeting many years ago with the former fire chief and he had a brain storm or atleast a brain drizzle. What we need to do is put someone on top of the tallest metal water tank in the city during bad weather as a "Storm spotter. " The room broke out in laughter thinking it was a joke. It wasn't!



Uh chief, will his radio call sign be Sparky or just Rod?