February 23, 2013 - J

[7:05ish ; I arrive]
8:27 ; J arrives
[9:55-10:09 ; I am not in area to observe]
? -10:21; wandering, went somewhere in his car, returned with food
10:25-10:30ish ; eating said food while working
[11:29-11:50 ; lunch, I am not in area to observe]
12:20ish ; busted on his phone, throws "adult" tantrum* until...
12:35-1:13 ; wandering
1:13-1:30 ; see NOTE 1
2:38-3:00 ; wandering
3:00 and beyond ; see NOTE 2
[3:55 ; I go home]


Here's the general shape of J's work today: He worked two machines, with a fairly slow job on one, and a very slow job on the other. For a change, he didnt do too badly. Not great, but not as bad as he had previously, probably because the Saturday management actually pays attention. I wish I could tell you the count on the slow job, but I didnt check. On the really slow job, I kind of recorded the start or stop times of each run.

Run 1 start 8:32; Run 2 starts 8:55; Run 3 starts 9:13ish; then he had some trouble with the machine; Run 4 starts 9:50; Run 5 starts 10:21; then there's a gap in observation where I wasnt paying attention (so now I'll identify the runs with letters instead); Run A finished 11:20ish; then another gap as I went to lunch; Run C (most likely) finished 12:06; Run D finished 12:21, about when J got busted on the phone. Run E finished 1:18 (machine paused while he was gone); then another gap in my observation; Run H (in theory) finished 2:13; Run I finished 2:30; Run J finished 2:45 (which seems too quick, but which isnt impossible).
That's (estimated) 15 Runs of this job in 6 and a half hours. By contrast, on the previous day, I did 12 Runs in a period of about 3 and a quarter hours, though to be fair, there was no lunch during my set.


NOTE 1: Sometimes, J really is like a twelve-year old. Upon his return from "lunch" or wherever J went after he stormed out after being busted, he rather defiantly used his phone, though being obviously (and by "obviously" I mean "exaggeratedly") careful (and by "careful" I mean "dancing on the line of being caught in the manner of a clever but stupid 6th grade class clown) not to let the management who busted him see him use it directly behind his back. This came to an abrupt halt when the VP showed up. At the time, while watching him do this, I was reminded of meercats or prairie dogs.

NOTE 2: The second shift guy came in and took over the really long runs while J was out at around 3:00, so from that point on he was working only the one machine with the long runs on it. And talking. Talking, talking, talking.


If any of the terms used seem confusing, you might read this.


* You know, "adult", i.e., controlled stomping, hurling things around while doing your job, brusque comments and answers, muttering under your breath, and a general body language that says "Everyone's so unfair to me".