1st Gen Lunchtable Thread - General Discussion

So this guy, (we'll call him J) has been at the company for over 30 years. He was hired as a delivery driver at 19 and then became the company's only panel builder after driving for 5.

J has personal anxiety demons where he's hell bent on the idea that everyone is out to get him.. bad enough he accused our supervisor of hacking into his Xbox live account and force quitting the game on him when he had a week or so of connectivity issues. These issues have caused him to rage "quit" at least once every 4 months for the 29 years he's been a panel builder. Normally these episodes play out thusly : J has a crazy notion of some slight against him that builds up in his brain, he verbally attacks someone at work because of it, walks off in a huff and goes home for the rest of the day. Just to come back the next day and act like everything is peaches and creme. One example from when I first started was how he was all concerned about the company treating me right and how I was a good addition to the team and he didn't want to lose my help in the panel shop.. I told him they're treating me great and at raise time I got a sizeable raise (mind you that raise still had my base pay at a lower dollar amount than what I used to make at my previous job and he knew it) some switch flipped in his brain and he tore all his company certs and plaques off his wall as well as build notes from a couple jobs and threw them in the dumpster outside all while yelling "this doesn't mean shit to anyone anymore!"

The company has put up with this attitude for so long because we're small and very family oriented and he's been there forever. The current owners dad is the one that hired him all those years ago and she's sentimental because she grew up with J being apart of the furniture so to speak.

J took a 5 month break last year because he broke his hand in a bar fight over a dispute with a chair. And took 4 months off this year when the pandemic started so he could be with his parents. So he comes back to work and is making jokes about himself being the new guy and that he can't build on deadlines anymore because of how slow he is blah blah blah. Fast forward to Thursday and he blows up on me outta nowhere when I first show up to work (430am) claiming that he knows I want rid of him and that management is forcing him out. I respond with "no you're wrong, no one here thinks that" and he rage quit. Only this time he didn't show up to work Friday, which really pissed me and the other builder off cause we're getting busy and he used to always complain about how back in the day he had to pick up all the slack from the new guys who don't work as hard as he does and now he's pulling that same shit

So he got 'fired' because boss lady won't allow him to come back to work.






Lol reading through that it sure reads very anticlimactic ... I guess it's a harder hitting story when you know the guy

 

That's awesome man! It makes a big difference when you enjoy what you do

 

Or the fact that Europe uses brown for 24v and solid blue for 0v? I hate building to those specs cause I always have to rethink what spool I'm pulling from lol

 

He's lucky they gave him so much slack over the years to begin with, given all those other incidents. That shit would never fly where I work, although it's funny because I've seen the owner of this company go crazy on people before in ways that would make any other HR department have a heart attack lol.

 

More automation=less people to pay=more pay for those that get to stick around.

Its a winning situation for all parties. Unless youre lazy.

 

When I did dish network installs the main box sends 10v to dish through the RG6 cable... the guy who taught me how to diagnose service calls told me lack the end of the cable like a 9v battery to be faster with my diagnoses lol

 

Yea he's never worked anywhere else his entire life.. he's gunna have a real rude awakening we he learns how much BShe got away with at our company

 

I'll have to look at our french machines next time Im working at them. Though I dont think any of them have 24v circuits. All 110 or 240 single phase.

 

That's the way it should be! Im tired of lazy people being rewarded

 

Sounds like he needs to be medicated tbh, maybe bipolar or something like that. Just from what I read. Manic episodes and paranoia

You can call me Dr. Fill

 

I say europe but thinking about it those particular panels all go to the UK so it could be specific to them

 

That's the crazy part .. he was on medication, but no counseling. Because he felt that was pointless

 

oof yeah with stuff like that you gotta keep up with the Dr, those kinds of meds can stop working or dosage needs to be adjusted, etc.

I think psychiatrists (not therapists) are largely pill pushing a-holes, but in some cases people genuinely need it.

 

This reminds me, you ever work with Automation Direct PLC's? I was always told they were hot garbage, but my boss wants me to use one on an upcoming project. This thing is stupid easy to link up to and program. I actually enjoy working with it.

In the time it takes me to get my PC to link up to and recognize an Allen Bradley, I had my first program already running in this Chinese PLC. Not too shabby.

 

I have used Automation Direct PLCs and I have mixed feelings about it.. You're absolutely right in that they're much easier to deal with as far as loading and running programs is concerned and the price point is fantastic if you're doing a one off kinda build but their built with cut corners. Thinner conformal coating and cheaper components on the boards make them much more susceptible to failures caused by the environment they're in.. I've had a few with odd phantom failures as well, an instance happened where a Phoenix Contact Quattro power supply was too advanced i guess? Idk why but it would blip out saying it lost 24v input and we had to switch out to a cheaper more utilitarian rhino power supply.

That Phoenix one worked just fine when installed in a panel that used an IDEC PLC though so I know that wasn't the problem

 

I can tell you with my own personal mental foibles that yes psychiatrists want to push a pill to fix the problem while a psychologist will help you with counseling to try and mitigate the problem with words and training you to reevaluate your thinking

I quit taking my anti psychotic meds years ago and have much better luck with a counselor and the personal fortitude to realize my thinking is whack


I was grade A level of crazy too lol I used to believe I was the next John the Baptist and it was my mission to find the next messiah

 

Yeah I agree completely, medication is usually only half (or less) of what's needed in most cases. Regular therapy does wonders and for some that's the all the medicine they need.

I never had any kind of issues with mental illness of that magnitude, but never properly dealt with the depression I had as a teenager that followed me into early adulthood and led to all kinds of fucked up self-medicating that nearly killed me at one point. Without therapy I wouldn't have made it out that hole. That being said, there are some awful therapists out there lol. But that's another topic

Anyway this subject took kind of a heavy turn, um...what's Dallas' LT progress at?

 

Fuck today is dragging, spending 8 hours updating the company website makes for one helluva long day.

 

You ever hide ASCII pics in the source code?



Or little tiny penises in the photos? That would make updates more entertaining at least