North Korean Rocket Engineering and You.

[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.

[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]

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

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. 

[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.

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.

[LMNO]

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

[hooplala]

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

Agreed.

[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.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

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?

[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?