The flight crew on the commercial airliner I just arrived on has a pre-flight checklist.

Presumably they have taken off dozens if not hundreds of times this month, yet they still rely on a physical check list.

I dont know why so many workers are so reluctant to use checklists. Maybe its ego, or maybe its optimism?

Yes, things may not be black and white here. I still think you can't just go fire someone for a single mistake. A check list, signs, procedure with checks and other controls are a good idea. We don't know the history of the mechanic described by Fred in the OP. If he messed up a motor after many years on the job, I doubt anyone would fire him. First week on the job, sure.

G

Wayner makes a good point: I have a buddy who owns his own '67 Cessna aircraft. He's taken me up a few times. After the pre- flight walk around, he removes this little spiral booklet which is the factory step-by-step guide you use before lighting the engine.

I asked him seeing that thing was tattered and shopworn how often he used it. He said only every time I sit in this seat. The reason why its so worn is because it gets used.

I've woken up at night a few times thinking about a job. Are the cams timed properly, did I tighten that bolt, did I get all the air out of the clutch... lots going on sometimes. I remember dropping a nut into a an engine once. No way I was charging for that, I spend a long time with a magnet and a mirror, I found it. No change that would happen again.

I could have written this post. My snap-on magnet on copper wire has lots of miles on it. :)

I'm impressed you can decipher my typos. Thinking back I broke things, made mistakes and generally was a PITA starting out. I've screwed up since too. The training point is good, although I havent seen that in many places.

I have no experience with planes but when I started sailing we used a checklist. I still should. It sounds so simple and you do it so many times you think you know better. Yet more times than not I forget something and kick myself for it later. A simple check the work order before you start the car might be enough to catch many/most simple things.

who doesn't check the dipstick after running 20-30 seconds after a change? I don't care if the car takes 6 quarts and I can see 6 empty quarts on the cart, still gets checked twice.

I have five 100w and 50w amp heads that will burn up their transformers if turned on without being plugged into a speaker load. I only have one speaker cabinet in that room, but with a long cable in it to be able to move between the various amp heads. It's like a checklist when firing these up, and I usually remove the power cable from the IEC plug as soon as I remove a speaker cable from the same head. Flipping that standby switch at high volume can be an expensive mistake if no speaker load is connected.

BTW, my employer recently threatened us with docking us a day of PTO if we were in any way unprepared for these internal weekly conf. calls. Per FLSA that's probably legal, since we're all W2 and salaried. But I just learned of one guy who was told at the end of the work day that his meeting prep was unsatisfactory and he was thus not getting paid for that day. But I guess you have to choose your battles. Ain't worth losing a job to fight that.

The labor board might be interested if that happens. They can threaten all they want, if that guy has earned PTO - company better show how they can take it.

Ownership brings profits in accordance with risk. If the mechanic is compensated with profit sharing or works on % he should share responsibility; if he is an hourly employee it is on the owner...... My opinion......

Any shop owner who tries to pull that on an employee is an undermining dick.

Andre the Giant;''I don't think that word means what you think it means.''.

Generally, if you are doing substandard work that hurts the reputation of the shop, that would be considered undermining. I've seen plenty of that in my career, and plenty of guys who were never really all there, just because they had no real stake in the game, and could always count on a steady paycheck regardless.

I would have probably fired his MFA.

We really have no idea what actual arrangement has transpired. But yes, it is always the business owners responsibility to take care of the customer. The real question is, who is spreading this story, and why ? Because I have heard some stories in my time that were extremely favorable to the teller, but not always very accurate. Even Solomon the wise had to hear the story from all sides before making judgement.

Switching underhanded to undermining makes for an interesting slip though.

The shop guy might want to acquaint himself the term bottom line mentality, how undermining works in that context and how it plays out with other employees. What he's trying to do to the employee at issue makes him a dick. The effect his demand has on the others is undermining, short-sighted and self-defeating...MFA or otherwise.

Self defeating makes more sense. In my business, I used to say it is only a mistake if you don't fix it, but in some cases it would have been better to let some people go sooner, rather than give them multiple chances to become something that they were not.

Once again, I cannot speak to this actual circumstance, as I do not know what was agreed or offered by either party. I have seen guys fired rather than have the business owner man up to his own mistakes, and I have seen guys kept on who were really dragging a business down.

As an employee, I have certainly offered to rectify my own mistakes. As an employer, I have had guys offer to rectify their own mistakes, even though I have never taken them up on it.
Those are the guys you want to keep. In this circumstance, I don't think we know everything, even though we may know the law, and what seems right.