# Braaaad is Befuddled! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 10, 2005, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798 "2005-03-10T06:19:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/1 "2005-03-10T06:19:40Z")
In other news, the Pope is Catholic and bears shit in the woods. This morning, we walk into the shop, and _Braaaad_ is already in there, nosing about, his clipboard in hand (Hey, coach! Where’s your stop watch?). Naturally, we all realize that this is a _bad_ thing, since when _Braaaad_ starts poking around at work, he tends to foul things up. In an effort to minimize the damage, I ask _Braaaad_ what’s he’s looking for. 'I’M LOOKING FOR PART 21135! DO YOU KNOW WHERE IT IS?" “Uh, yeah, _Braaaad_, they’re right over there on that cart, with the print. You know, with the part number scribbled across the top of it in big numbers.” “AH, YES. WE HAVE TO SHIP THESE PARTS TODAY! ARE THEY READY?” Now, the parts as they sit on the cart are raw castings. They’ve been sandblasted to get the ceramic off of them, but that’s it. It should be obvious to anyone who’s spent any time in a foundry what a raw casting looks like. Now, I don’t expect _Braaaad_ to have a clue what the finished parts should look like, but he ought to be able to tell if they’ve been machined. I should also point out that these parts are of an odd shape. They look sort of like a deformed coffee mug with a square rim. They’re replacement parts for late 60s/early 70s Mercedes climate control systems. The original parts are some kind of phenolic plastic that tends to crack after a while, since that means you wind up with anti-freeze all over the inside of your nice Mercedes, restorers have taken to using aluminum parts instead of the original plastic. Given the odd shape of the parts, there’s no way that they could have any of the machining they need done on the lathe. It’s got to be done on the milling machines and/or the drill presses we have. All of which are quite obviously tied up running Honda parts. Pete, being the shop supervisor, proceeds to explain to _Braaaad_ that there’s simply no way we can run those parts if he expects us to get out the 400 Honda parts today. _Braaaad_ seems puzzled by all of this. Pete relates how it takes all of our time to machine the Honda parts and that we haven’t had time to work on anything but Honda parts for the past month. Pete then shows _Braaaad_ all of the _other_ work that has been piling up in the shop that we haven’t been able to do. “WELL, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT IF WE CAN’T GET THE WORK DONE. THEN WE NEED TO SEND IT OUT TO SOMEONE ELSE FOR THEM TO DO IT. AM I RIGHT?” I can’t really duplicate the patter which went on between Pete and _Braaaad_ at this point, but suffice it to say, if you’ve seen _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_ and recall the scene where the valet is telling Hunter that he can’t park his car there, and Hunter keeps insisting that it looks like a reasonable place to park to him, you’ll have some idea of what it was like. Pete, BTW, has the role of the valet, and _Braaaad_ has the role of Hunter. Pete, of course, _can’t_ out-source a job without _Braaaad_’s permission. Up until this very moment, Pete hasn’t been able to make _Braaaad_ understand that there was a backlog of work in the shop. And I really should give Pete some credit here. Ever since we started running the Honda job full tilt, Pete has really worked his little Puma heart out. He’s spent most of his time at one or more of the machines, running the parts as fast as he can. Okay, how big of a dipshit do you have to be to not realize that if _everyone_ in the shop is spending all their time cranking out parts for one particular job that they’re not going to be able to do anything else? And we’ve pointed out to _Braaaad_, in the past, not only how long it takes us to run the Honda parts, but also that we’re shaving four ounces of metal off of each one. Yet, it’s never sunk it. Nevermind that we’ve got **fifty five gallon drums filled with metal chips in the shop** , it all slips past him. Until today. As Pete’s explaining all of this to _Braaaad_, and hoping to get _Braaaad_ to agree to out-source a bunch of the shit we’ve got, the mold maker starts whining to me. He’s upset because he’s been informed by the foundry supervisor, Mullet Man, that he’s going to have to put in as much over time as Pete and I are. This pisses the Mold Maker off to no end. “I’ve got a family! I can’t be spending all my time at work!” :rolleyes: Geeze, ya little bitch, while I’m sure everyone would agree that the _more_ time Pete spends away from his family (thus lessening there being any _more_ Puma’s [Pete’s already got 3 kids] in this world) is a good thing, I’d sure as shit like some time off so that _I_ could start a family (or at least get a little nookie), but I’m not bitching about having to work the overtime. I don’t bitch, not simply because I need the money, but because, well, _it’s my fucking job to work overtime if the company needs me to!_ But not the Mold Maker! No, he thinks that he’s only supposed to work on molds. Thus completely ignoring the fact that he spends most of his time running parts, even before we started the Honda job. Since we started the Honda job, the Mold Maker’s not worked on _any_ molds. (He’s also hourly like the rest of us, so it’s not like he’s a salary slave.) I do my best to tune out his rantings about how he’s going to kick Mullet Man’s ass. The Mold Maker’s about 5’ 4", 165 lbs. Mullet Man’s 6’ and probably weighs in at around 200 lbs. The Mullet Man, when he gets pissed (which is fairly often) _punts_ 75 lbs pans of parts around without hesitation, while the Mold Maker often struggles to pick up 40 lb molds, my money’s on Mullet Man. Of course, this isn’t the high point of the “entertainment” for the day. Merely the prelude. Because the Mold Maker’s mill got torn up by the constant fly cutting of the Honda parts (necessitating over $500 in repairs, and it’s _still_ not working right), the Owner had Pete order $500 worth of specialized tooling so that we can fly cut the Honda parts on the CNC mill (since, you know, it makes more sense to tear up a $20K machine, than a $10K machine, and both those options are preferrable to _fixing_ the mold so we don’t have to fly cut the Honda parts to begin with), these had showed up yesterday, so the Mold Maker wrote a quickie program to run them on the CNC program, and while he was ranting about having to work a whole extra two hours a day, plus half a day on Saturday (The horror!), he set the CNC machine up to fly cut the Honda parts. I busied myself running the part of the Honda job that was formerly done on the CNC on the Mold Maker’s machine. It’s times like this that I wonder if I’m an asshole, and am being overly sensitive to legitimate gripes of other people, or if I’ve just been cursed to be surrounded by jack asses. One of these days, I’m going to flip a coin to decide the matter. What I’m going to do when I get the answer, I haven’t decided yet. I don’t know what Pete was doing, but eventually, I saw him fapping around the shop. I did my best to tune everything out, so I’ve got no idea what all happened in the shop. I do know, I saw Pete working on the Mercedes parts, also showing them to Roger, who is a machinist we some times outsource work to. At the end of the day, Pete had about 12 of the Mercedes parts done (it’s been so long since I’ve done the Mercedes parts, I can’t say if that was a good number or not), and he’s describing to _Braaaad_, who’s come back into the shop at this point, what all we have to do to the parts. When Pete describes a particular operation to _Braaaad_, _Braaaad_ looks at Pete and asks why that isn’t into the casting to begin with. “That’s something I can’t answer.” Pete replies. _Braaaad_ shakes his head and says, “THE WAY WE DO THINGS IN THIS PLACE BEFUDDLES ME SOME TIMES.” I immediately offer _Braaaad_ my hand and say, “Hi, I’m [Tuckerfan]. Welcome to [Amalgamated Moron Manufacturing Co.]. Glad to have you aboard.” _Braaaad_ shakes my hand, and walks out, still shaking his head. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/2 "2005-03-10T07:34:24Z")
Well that’s five minutes of my life I’m never getting back. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/3 "2005-03-10T07:49:48Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Well that’s five minutes of my life I’m never getting back. Yeah, I saw the guy with the gun to your head, making you read it. **Tuckerfan** : I agree: coworkers suck. ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/4 "2005-03-10T07:51:54Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Well that’s five minutes of my life I’m never getting back. Awww, Such little respect. I for one, **Tuckerfan** love your rants about your workplace. I wish you’d post more photos, honestly. I already know what Pete looks like, but I wanna see Braaaad, and MulletMan. I love these stories. Probably in the same way I love to watch American Chopper. Honestly, if there was a TV show showing what goes on at your shop, I’d watch. Keep them coming. I wanna see how this Honda stuff pans out. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/5 "2005-03-10T08:24:31Z")
WHEN are you gonna quit? Enough already. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/6 "2005-03-10T09:13:02Z")
> [@Merkwurdigliebe](#): > > Awww, > > Such little respect. O.K., sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/7 "2005-03-10T13:00:10Z")
> [@Merkwurdigliebe](#): > > I love these stories. Probably in the same way I love to watch American Chopper. Honestly, if there was a TV show showing what goes on at your shop, I’d watch. “Tuckerfan’s Mind: Extreme Makeover”? 😃 Divorced of the fabrication of car parts aspects, this is a perfect illustration of the difference between conceptualization and actual processing. No doubt Braaaad actually thinks he’s “providing valuable management services.” ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/8 "2005-03-10T13:04:20Z")
> [@Merkwurdigliebe](#): > > I for one, **Tuckerfan** love your rants about your workplace. I like 'em too. Ignore **blowero** and **NinetyWt**. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/9 "2005-03-10T13:20:41Z")
You’ve really turned Braaaad into a character of your own. Maybe you can start a webcomic about him? I can see it now: The Adventures of Braaaaad. “Episode 1: Braaaaad Gets Fucked Sideways with a Boat Anchor!” “Episode 2: Braaaaad Fellates a Platypus!” And so on. I think that would be great. I’d read it. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/10 "2005-03-10T13:25:30Z")
I love these rants. If’n you all don’t like 'em, don’t read 'em. Not like there’s any lack of crap to read on the Great and Wonderful World Wide Web. Still, I miss the sound effects. More sound effect, please, Tucker. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/11 "2005-03-10T13:54:09Z")
I’m with **Merkwurdigliebe** on this. If this were a tv show, I’d rearrange my entire life just to be home the night it shows. I have become addicted to **Tuckerfan’s** tales of workplace woe. I’m also strangely attracted to Mullet Man after reading that description of him. _ROWR_ ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/12 "2005-03-10T14:03:04Z")
Keep the stories coming! Having worked in manufacturing (from the Purchasing side) I have seen fools like Braaaad muck things up and end up costing the company buckets of money because of a lack of comprehesion. It is amazing that quality parts can still be manufactured here in the US with bumbling idiots like Braaad overseeing production. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/13 "2005-03-10T18:44:05Z")
> [@Metacom](#): > > I like 'em too. Ignore **blowero** and **NinetyWt**. 😛 Geez, I _said_ I was sorry. I guess no good deed goes unpunished around here. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/14 "2005-03-10T22:48:59Z")
God _damn_, but I miss working in a shop. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/15 "2005-03-11T00:41:05Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Geez, I _said_ I was sorry. I guess no good deed goes unpunished around here. Wow. Both of us on the same end of the stick for once. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/16 "2005-03-11T00:45:26Z")
I see that the overtime has cut into your sound effects and pics in you rants, but I can deal with that. Just keep this little soap opera churning. I’m totally amused. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/17 "2005-03-11T05:05:56Z")
It’s nice to know so many people get such enjoyment out of my suffering. (Now, if they’d just send money, I could afford to keep this crappy job.) I’ll try to have you an update tomorrow on the situation at work. I will say that the Mold Maker’s milling machine completely died today and _Braaaad_ came up with a “creative” solution to the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/18 "2005-03-11T05:14:27Z")
Oh, man, how am I supposed to sleep now? (Did the “creative” solution involve bubblegum?) ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/19 "2005-03-11T09:27:40Z")
I bet it was duct tape. Lots of duct tape. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798/20 "2005-03-11T17:37:05Z")
Or a hammer. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braaaad-is-befuddled/293798.md?page=2)