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North Korean Rocket Engineering and You.

Started by The Good Reverend Roger, July 12, 2017, 02:12:25 AM

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The Good Reverend Roger

So one of our inexperienced guys, working under an inexperienced supervisor (skilled engineer, but new to supervision), managed to mash his finger doing a job that was outside of his training.  And he wasn't trained enough to *know* that it was outside of his training.  7 stitches, an OSHA recordable incident, yada yada.  He has fully recovered, with only a teensy scar.

Now corporate safety is inclined to fire the guy and his supervisor.

The common joke is that North Korea can't make proper rockets because they shoot anyone that fails, under the assumption that you motivate people to succeed by getting rid of anyone who fails due to lack of experience.

Does anyone else see the fatal flaw here, or is it just me?

Any body of knowledge is built on a foundation of failures and mistakes.  You don't learn by success, because whatever you did was right and the assumption of being right is addictive as hell.  No, you learn by sometimes mashing your finger.

And learning should not be punishable by being fired.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Don Coyote

I would have learned a lot less about how to operate CNC machines if I hadn't fucked up tools a couple of times among other shit I learned the hard way working in that industry.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Don Coyote on July 12, 2017, 02:22:54 AM
I would have learned a lot less about how to operate CNC machines if I hadn't fucked up tools a couple of times among other shit I learned the hard way working in that industry.

Yes.  Learning is expensive and painful, but the other option is to not ever do anything.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Wizard Joseph

I think it should only be consistent underperformance or preventable accident that should get you canned, and then only after an attempt at salvage with more focused training. It's not just the retention of knowledge but also the sheer cost of a new hire over properly maintaining an existing employee. Sometimes the axe should fall fast for things like violence, drugs, and sexual misconduct, but those are extreme. Regular failure is just the cost of doing business.
You can't get out backward.  You have to go forward to go back.. better press on! - Willie Wonka, PBUH

Life can be seen as a game with no reset button, no extra lives, and if the power goes out there is no restarting.  If that's all you see life as you are not long for this world, and never will get it.

"Ayn Rand never swung a hammer in her life and had serious dominance issues" - The Fountainhead

"World domination is such an ugly phrase. I prefer to call it world optimisation."
- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality :lulz:

"You program the controller to do the thing, only it doesn't do the thing.  It does something else entirely, or nothing at all.  It's like voting."
- Billy, Aug 21st, 2019

"It's not even chaos anymore. It's BANAL."
- Doktor Hamish Howl

hooplala

One would think it would occur to the corporate management that someone who mashed a finger was significantly less likely to do so again than someone new being put into the same situation.

But what do I know.
"Soon all of us will have special names" — Professor Brian O'Blivion

"Now's not the time to get silly, so wear your big boots and jump on the garbage clowns." — Bob Dylan?

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
— Walt Whitman

The Good Reverend Roger

Well, they're not firing either of them because they got sick of me calling them up with "OH, AND ANOTHER THING..."

My boss has decided that I am autistic.  Not in a "humorous" way, but also seems to think that this adds value.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

tyrannosaurus vex

You could always do what my old company did: never improve processes, never deliver on your impossible promises, but DO create a salaried position whose sole reason for existing was to fill it with an unwitting sucker who you could fire six months later for fucking everything up, then rinse and repeat with the endless supply of such suckers the workforce provides in abundance.
Evil and Unfeeling Arse-Flenser From The City of the Damned.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on July 13, 2017, 03:21:23 AM
You could always do what my old company did: never improve processes, never deliver on your impossible promises, but DO create a salaried position whose sole reason for existing was to fill it with an unwitting sucker who you could fire six months later for fucking everything up, then rinse and repeat with the endless supply of such suckers the workforce provides in abundance.

Our new safety technician just quit.

Not because of this, but because he got a job with the state of Arizona.

This is a man who voted for Trump and hates all aspects of government.

I love Arizona so much I could SHIT MY PANTS. 
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

tyrannosaurus vex

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on July 13, 2017, 03:41:04 AM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on July 13, 2017, 03:21:23 AM
You could always do what my old company did: never improve processes, never deliver on your impossible promises, but DO create a salaried position whose sole reason for existing was to fill it with an unwitting sucker who you could fire six months later for fucking everything up, then rinse and repeat with the endless supply of such suckers the workforce provides in abundance.

Our new safety technician just quit.

Not because of this, but because he got a job with the state of Arizona.

This is a man who voted for Trump and hates all aspects of government.

I love Arizona so much I could SHIT MY PANTS. 

All the most fervent anti-government people I know have been employed by the state at one point or another. I'm pretty sure it's less an administration than an indoctrination program.
Evil and Unfeeling Arse-Flenser From The City of the Damned.

LMNO

the Ron Swanson approach from Parks and Recreation isn't so funny anymore....

hooplala

Quote from: LMNO on July 13, 2017, 01:12:49 PM
the Ron Swanson approach from Parks and Recreation isn't so funny anymore....

Agreed.
"Soon all of us will have special names" — Professor Brian O'Blivion

"Now's not the time to get silly, so wear your big boots and jump on the garbage clowns." — Bob Dylan?

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
— Walt Whitman

Cain

I am OK with North Korean rocket scientists being executed for failure, though.

Faust

And at the other end of the spectrum, is Wernher Von Braun. Too good at his job to be fired, and far too busy to stand trial for war crimes.
Sleepless nights at the chateau

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Faust on July 13, 2017, 04:42:34 PM
And at the other end of the spectrum, is Wernher Von Braun. Too good at his job to be fired, and far too busy to stand trial for war crimes.

I wasn't aware that he had committed war crimes?
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Brother Mythos

I, for one, don't doubt for a second those rascally SS boys at Peenemünde only insisted Wernher von Braun join their ranks because they needed one more to justify building an officers' club. And, I'm sure the SS only promoted him to the rank of Sturmbannführer (Major) because he led them in singing the best drinking songs.

And, who hasn't utilized slave labor to build their secret weapons development facilities? I mean, who would trust those lazy, over-priced, trade union guys to do that kind of skilled construction work?
Discordianism is fundamentally mischievous irreverence.