Imported Poems

I hate writing about the mundanities of life - it takes so much time and pain (the arthritic/carpel kind) that it doesn't seem worth it. But, I'll do it this once, I suppose.

Remember my arch-nemesis, the evil foil, Mr. Assistant Supervisor? Well, he's been removed from his position as asst sup. Here's why.

It's protocol to have water on hand for us 2nd shift unloaders. It's a hot and thankless job, unloading 2000 piece trucks in the heat. One Monday, I requested to get this beverage and was denied - several times. The guy unloading freight onto the assembly line (granted, he's slow and lazy, but still) requested water. He was denied, despite the fact that he was sweaty.

My general attitude towards management is tolerance. I find in most cases mgmt is impotent at best and at worst, the cause of utter destruction in the workplace. Therefore, I will not invoke this structure unless absolutely necessary.

I deemed putting an employ's health at risk a compelling argument for invocation. I went to the Supervisor and told. I expected him to chastize the assistant and call it a day - but NOOOOH. He went to upper management and told them. The lazy unloader had already beaten him to it, however, as management was aware of the situation.

Asst Sup was called into the office and rebuked. Not surprisingly, my Supervisor did not feel obligated in any way to maintain my anonymity. The only name associated with the case was mine.

In an act of revenge, the Asst Supervisor mentioned I cursed that same day. Now, everyone back there, including the Asst Supervisor and the Supervisor, curses. Heck, that day the Asst Sup cursed - but I don't go around telling on people who curse. That's retarded, IMHO. So, I was called on the floor regarding it.

I took the spiritual route and withheld my counter-claims, acknowledged my wrong-doing and took responsibility for it. This is the spiritual path. In contrast, my supervisor lied (despite two witnesses), saying there was water in the cooler and he denied no one any water.

When we were asked regarding problems in the back, I mentioned that I had cursed not at people, but at the assembly line (this is true) - saying "I believe management should spend 3 hours pushing freight down an anachronistic, broken assembly line. If we can't replace the whole line, can we at least replace the worst part?"

In the end, the assistant supervisor was removed from his position of authority, and managment is ordering a replacement for the worst of the line (2nd shift had been complaining about it for some time, but I guess approaching it from a logical, dispassionate point of view coupled with throwing in a big word which confounded management was what was required to accomplish it).

I can only presume from all of this that I came out "smelling like a rose" from the debacle. Unfortunately, this has only served to increase the hate of the former Asst Sup. If he could kill me and get away with it, he would. I can see it in his eyes.

Of course, his decisions caused this to happen to him, not me - every decision, from his choice to refuse water to his choice to prevaricate about the incident. I suspect the lying part is what sealed the deal, but he is either too dense or perhaps will not allow himself to admit it - it's so much easier to blame others for our fall, rather than to blame ourselves.