I'm not fixing anything again!

[Knightmare]

When I came in Friday afternoon, I saw that the paint desk was in disarray. Okay, it looked like a bomb went off. Just a general mess everywhere. A dispenser was taken apart and the sample machine was moved with cords all over the place.
Me: "What's wrong? What happened?"
WOS: "The motor in 107 is out in that dispenser, the sample machine took a dump and we have two labelers that don't work."
Me: "What? How? Everything worked perfectly when I closed last night!"
WOS: "I don't know, dude. We only have one machine that works right now. I called the company and they have someone coming out today."

So I get to work fixing the machines. It's a holiday weekend and we'll be busy.
I fix the sample machine. It's running perfectly.
I fix the 107 dispenser motor. It was clogged, so I purged the line for 5 minutes. Easy fix.
I fix one of the label makers. Some genius just didn't have the power cord in all the way.
The other one, however, was going to be tougher. The power cord had 3 breaks. We need a new cord.
I call the zone manager and tell him what's up. He says that I can repair it. Just take what I need from the shelf and make it work.
Sweet.
I grab the stuff and get to work. After 20 minutes, I still can't the the labeler to work, even with a new power supply. I know the labeler works because I switch the other cord to it and it works perfectly. And I know the polarity on the new cord is correct. I've repaired power cords hundreds of times.

So, 3 out of 4 isn't bad.

Anyway, my manager comes back from lunch just as I'm finishing up. I tell him the good news, that I've fixed most of the problems, and all we have to do is change power cords between two labelers.

Do I get thanks? No. I get yelled at!
He didn't want anything fixed, so he could get a new motor for that dispenser. He wanted new label makers.

My face is while he's telling me this. Not that he wants new stuff, but that he's actually mad I fixed the machines.
After he's done explaining, I smile and say "Okay then. I won't be fixing shit around here anymore. Something gets broken, I'll just write you a note about it."
And I walk away to help some customers.

FOUR HOURS LATER, the repairman from the company shows up. I'm at lunch. So when I get back, D. tells me that the motor was fine, all the machines checked out in perfect working order. All we need was a new power cord, which is now on order.

I felt a little twinge of satisfaction.

How stupid would it have been for four guys to work from one paint dispenser?

Anway, when the sample machine had software problems yesterday, I didn't fix it.

[powerboy]

I hate when crap like that happens. That happened to me once, while at my last job. I went to use the power saw. I notice that the cord is shot to hell. Since I have repaired quite a few of power cords in my life. So I fixed it, and I got in trouble for it. it took me a few minutes, after I got everything I needed for it. Otherwise it would have taken hours for it to get done. Plus, we only had a few extra cords, since, ours would always get taken, so it was not like I could grab another one.

[Sliceanddice]

um.... i have a feeling your boss really wanted those new machines.
You said they where mostly easy fixes right...

[protege]

Ugh. That just sucks. Sounds like some of the crap I had to deal with at camp. Things would break, and it would take *forever* to get them repaired. For example, my LeNature drink cooler sprung a leak one afternoon. Boss came in, saw it, and bitched about the puddle on the floor. When I told him it was leaking, he said he'd take care of it, and order a new hose. A week went by. By then, I was hauling ice every day just to keep the drinks cold. Not sure why, since those things were nasty, expensive, and didn't sell very well--at the end of summer, I still had *exactly* what I started with but I digress Anyway, we fixed the cooler ourselves. Instead of waiting on him, we cut off the damaged section, and moved the union further up. End of problem. At least he didn't complain about that.

He did, though, complain when the store's sink sprang a leak. Again, he delayed getting that fixed. Rather than slip on the floor, I simply wrapped the pipe with duct tape, filled out the repair request, and went on to more pressing matters. Not a happy ending to this though--even though the 'repair' worked, and couldn't be seen across the counter, he had to complain about it...and insisted the tape came off. I sure hope appearances were worth it...when the entire wall below the sink was rotten (gotta love wood damage!), I bet he was pissed. Oh well, not my problem

[Andara Bledin]

*shakes head*

Your boss just doesn't get the fact that if they were simple repairs for you, theywould have been simple repairs for the tech, too, and he still wouldn't have gotten new anything.

^-.-^