We had a kid move some shelves and cabinets in our small shop so the landlord could dig up the floor for plumbing repairs. One of them was the flammable cabinet. Told him to empty the shelves into boxes, label them Top, Middle Bottom. Cabinet was moved about 5-10 ft in plain sight. Boxes next to it.
Next day, before we put the cabinets and shelves back (wondering if the landlord was going to repaint the floor), had one of the other guys in the shop "clean up" a rough cut hole in an aluminum fixture plate with a file. (Another guy had made the cut). Went back to look at it and and you could see the "sharpie" markings hand-drawn around the hole indicating roughly what material needed to be removed. Asked him why he didn't clean off the Sharpie mark. His answer? "They moved the paint cabinet". Huh? Now, it's a bright yellow cabinet with "Flammable" all over it and if you were standing where it had been before, it would be darn near impossible not to see it. I must have looked at him kind of funny because he then said he "didn't know where they put the thinner". Now you'd think a person who knew the cabinets were being moved and watched the kid empty the cabinet into boxes, would take a little initiative and open up one of the 3 or 4 boxes to FIND the thinner. But he's the kind of guy who would do exactly what you tell him and no more (and admit to it). He'd sit at his bench with plenty of work needing to be done and wait for you to come up and tell him precisely what to do next. Well, work got slow and we had to make a decision on who to lay off. Guess who?
Next day, before we put the cabinets and shelves back (wondering if the landlord was going to repaint the floor), had one of the other guys in the shop "clean up" a rough cut hole in an aluminum fixture plate with a file. (Another guy had made the cut). Went back to look at it and and you could see the "sharpie" markings hand-drawn around the hole indicating roughly what material needed to be removed. Asked him why he didn't clean off the Sharpie mark. His answer? "They moved the paint cabinet". Huh? Now, it's a bright yellow cabinet with "Flammable" all over it and if you were standing where it had been before, it would be darn near impossible not to see it. I must have looked at him kind of funny because he then said he "didn't know where they put the thinner". Now you'd think a person who knew the cabinets were being moved and watched the kid empty the cabinet into boxes, would take a little initiative and open up one of the 3 or 4 boxes to FIND the thinner. But he's the kind of guy who would do exactly what you tell him and no more (and admit to it). He'd sit at his bench with plenty of work needing to be done and wait for you to come up and tell him precisely what to do next. Well, work got slow and we had to make a decision on who to lay off. Guess who?