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That week in Wichita when everything went sideways at the anvil
Back in 2011 I had a week that still haunts me a little. I took on a rush job for a ranch gate hinge set, 12 pieces, and my old coal forge decided to act up on day two. The fire kept burning uneven, so I spent more time babysitting the blast than actually swinging a hammer. Then my striker called in sick, and I thought fine, I'll just work slower. But on day four I dropped a finished hinge on the concrete floor and it bent the eye, mangled beyond saving. That was a $300 mistake counting materials and the customer's deadline was firm. I ended up working two nights until 11 PM with a neighbor kid who had never held a hammer before. He did okay, and we got it done, but I swore after that week I'd never take rush jobs without a backup plan again. Has anyone else had a job spiral like that where every little thing just stacked against you?
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jana76922d ago
Man, I gotta disagree with your takeaway there. Rush jobs don't need a backup plan so much as they need you to say no sometimes. A firm deadline plus 12 pieces plus one forge is a setup for exactly what happened, and no neighbor kid was gonna fix that math. The dropped hinge wasn't bad luck either, that's what happens when you're running on no sleep with a fire you can't trust.
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