Quote:
Originally Posted by vash
He asked the guy in the next office the exact same question yesterday. It isn’t my project. I’m busy as hell. My own projects. My plan sheets and some s are strewn all over my desk.
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Got it.
I only said it because I was once an apprentice fleet mechanic with limited experience working for a major company. There was no documentation or manuals around and everything was kept tight because everyone wanted to be the only expert in their very limited field. There was really only a few types of things done in the shop to keep the trailers rolling. Working together sometimes makes it easier but that didn't happen. Everyone went out of their way to make it difficult for the next guy and do the minimum possible.
I was yelled at so many times for following the book and 'changing parts that don't need changing' i.e. the worn out frozen roll pins for the brake pads which keep the full pad on the drum. What does an apprentice do then? Piss off co-workers or set yourself up for getting canned by looking really bad on paper and sending out half-assed vehicles?
This apprentice was usually doing double the work unsupervised while the regular social club crew drank coffee, and even was unsure of what I was doing at times. I asked questions and bothered people. Moving vehicles are not something a shop would want to get wrong but this shop did not seem to care.
So after several years of changing trailer brakes the cool assistant manager (who was getting the boot) asked me if I knew the difference between Q and Q+ brakes. I did not because nobody told me. It turned out those twenty year veteran slackers did not know either because nobody told them. Everyone was wrapped up in office politics instead. Well it turned out those two types are mostly interchangeable, but can cause brake failure when the parts are worn out. Yeah. Brake failure in a tractor/trailer is something I'd like to avoid. Just simple communications would have gone a long way at that shop.