Juggling Hats

One of the owners of my place of business' favorite things to have is a multi-talented employee.

It only makes sense. Any employee that can do more than one thing proficiently is just like having more than one employee. From a business standpoint, it's like getting a two-for-one special.

Part of the problem is identifying somebody's talents. When they hire on, the hiree may not think to mention a particular talent, in their mind not associating it with the job in front of them. They may be hired (as most people are) to perform a specific job and that's it. After they are hired however, it's up to the employer to be able to spot their particular forte' and make use of it. Some employers could care less about extra talent while others may milk it.

I was hired right off the bat as a "production worker." Phil, who co-owns the company with his brother Bernie, does the hiring and is in charge of the day-to-day operations of most of the company. Bernie, on the other hand, is the money man. When Phil interviewed me, he told me right off the bat that it was "grunt labor" and that I was overqualified. Looking back on it, he probably felt that my coming from Boeing meant that I was "ruined" as far as a work ethic goes. Boeing employees are not exactly known to be barn-burners. One of the things that did clinch the deal for me being hired was my 10 years in as a delivery driver for The Peterson Company. One of the things they've always had trouble with where I work is trust. Who to trust? Especially when it comes to a big truck and the product that may be within it's cargo area.

Of course I was hired, and during the first two years where I work, did a lot of driving. This was in addition to fork lifting, and shipping and receiving of things. I did quite a number of little things not worth mentioning as well, such as assembly work.

Anyway, in the last two years I've been running the high-speed press (which is a HUGE trust issue to them at $750,000 dollars) there has been a young guy about 21 or 22 doing my old job. It looks like I may be sporadically getting the driving part of it back. As of yesterday, he lost trust when he crashed their truck on the way back from a delivery. He wasn't paying attention and/or following too closely and wiped out the front end on the truck. He wasn't hurt, but the truck never came back.

I'm sure they'll keep him, but he will be wearing one less hat, and I'll have to dust one of my old ones back off again from time to time.