Gyrogami Blog - Precious Metals, Jewelry, Artwork

Fly on the Wall

Blog Index

Categories: Experiences and daily life; Human nature; Ethics and laws; Commerce and business

Word count/read time: 638 words; 3 minutes

Everyone has their panties in a twist over airplane problems. Travelers are still treated like cattle and employees' new "powers" have made it worse. I do not feel safe and it has nothing to do with flying in a plane.

Boeing has suffered. Their business philosophy is the ideal capitalistic paradigm: Squeeze maximum profits at the expense of everything else. Floor personnel warned the suits about manufacturing problems for over a decade.

To make it worse, top executives' pay was essentially based on legally cooking the books. Just one of the countless damning articles can be found here. Or this one which basically says the executives laughed all the way to the bank while screwing everyone else. Naturally, this resulted. NOTHING will happen to them though they should be forced into abject poverty for their greedy mismanagement. That is, if they survive walking the gauntlet of employees they wronged and families who lost loved ones.

Their CEOS received multi-million dollar packages for essentially ruining the company. Some countries have a cap on CEO salary. However sensible, the lobbyists will ensure otherwise. Politicians know stepping out of line would be career suicide. Besides, they will be the ones voting on how to bail out Boeing when the time comes.

Something similar happened while I worked at a machine shop supplying the nuclear, oil, medical, and aerospace industries. The incompetent quality control guy, I'll call him Tom, let anything pass. There is no payday without shipping parts even if defective. Maybe they will come back, maybe not, but at least the customer has something.

I spoke up repeatedly but wasn't well-received. My last attempt skipped over Tom's head and went directly to the boss, I'll call him Mike. I insisted that this part, along with hundreds of others, was bad, and it had been happening for months. Mike said we'd consult Tom to straighten it out.

Tom initially OKed the part. The mental high-fiving between the two was comical. I said to check again and further specified where to look. Tom picked it up again, inspected it again, and said it was OK again. Tension grew as they both wanted to squash me.

End of story, almost. Tom refused to acknowledge the defects. I demanded a third inspection. After Tom said it was OK a third time I pointed to the screaming flaws at which point he said, "Well, that is something different. It looks like (blah blah blah). No, this doesn't pass inspection."

Mike and Tom weren't happy. I was to blame, naturally, even though I didn't make the parts. (The crack and weed junkie on night shift did; most of his parts were defective but nothing was done about it or his drug usage in the building during work.) Mike told Tom to check all suspect parts. Tom put them on a cart, didn't check any, and shipped them.

One worker, who was being groomed as the next boss, said that if the customer doesn't return defective parts then no harm, no foul. I resigned shortly thereafter. (Prior to working there, one customer sent back thousands of the same parts three times so complaining didn't help either.)

This happens in every industry. It's annoying when a TV or make-up case fails but planes, trains, and automobiles ain't a laughing matter. How many Toms and Mikes work at Boeing with 150,000 employees? A conservative estimate also ends with just as many zeros.

Boeing's outgoing CEO assured everyone it would end. That he would implement new inspections. Yeah, dolphin-friendly tuna, free-range chickens, check's in the mail. What else was he supposed to say, really?

Jewelry's problems include fake precious metals, counterfeit goods, manufacturing lies, conflict minerals and gemstones, mining destruction, price fixing, etc. Is honesty merely a happy coincidence since it does not generate revenue? Just ask Tom or Mike.

Posted by M: April 9, 2024

Please email any thoughts or comments regarding this post.

Previous Entry . . . . Next Entry

Comment Section

NOTE: Your comments will be included in this section as long as they aren't illegal. This section is censor-free so show me your intelligence or ignorance and everything in between!

2025