The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say

Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say

kwatt wrote:It’s actually quite sensible Martin. 😉

I don’t quite see it in the same light, don’t quite appreciate the idea of belittling others over their mistakes. If “muppet” be an appropriate phrase and label to wear then indeed each one of us has at some time worn that label of recognition, I agree.

From those that drill great holes in the back of washing machine cabinets in order to access the motor bolts. To others that randomly throw away sump hose balls because they simply don’t appreciate there value. The army of so called fridge engineers that disconnect faulty defrost heaters ‘cos access to them is difficult and then tell customers that manual defrost is is far more effective and should be carried out instead. Not to mention the shorting out of thermal cut-outs on tumble dryers and ovens, a regular practice by many across the country.

The greatest of all, the more high ranking “muppets” without doubt are the ‘dual fuelers’. Those amongst us that mess around with gas appliances, the proverbial range cooker where they strive to ensure that at no point do they touch the gas side of the appliance. Apparently sanctioned by the likes of Gas Safe and Corgi in so doing but nonetheless muppets to a man if anything should go wrong for even attending such an appliance without full qualification.

So yes, perhaps you’re right Ken, maybe it is sensible to highlight the many errors, cock-ups, blatantly dangerous and stupid practices that are carried out by “appliance engineers and glorified part fitters”. It won’t help the cause any, won’t exactly change the opinion others already have of our lowly profession. But lets bring out the dirty washing and see how it goes anyway. 😐

Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say

kwatt wrote:The trick is to learn from the bitter experience of others and not repeat the errors. Or, are you trying to tell me that that would be wrong?

We’ve all been to the Ministry of Hard Knocks and learn something new every day. So learning off the back of others mistakes is indeed a valuable lesson and should be encouraged.

But, in the few examples you gave, I couldn’t help noticing that the majority are brought about by poor management training. From the outset it is the responsibilty of managers to instill in their staff NOT to make inappropriate comment to customers and other interested parties. An engineer can be branded a muppet for simply admitting the truth by merely saying ” yes we get loads of these that go wrong”. At times when management should instill in his/her staff that honesty is not always the better business policy to adobt.

It’s a war zone out there and the engineer is on the front line taking flack from all sides….. :clown:

Re: The Most Stupid Things Engineers Say

It’s not always saying stupid things, some times just the truth can cause ruptions. Two particular jobs spring to mind:

1. After doing a modification to an early version CTD because the customer had reported a fault the day it was delivered. The customer wanted to know in depth what I’d done and why had I walked in with the part ready to fit in my hand. I trod very carefully and said the absolute minimum but she was very canny and kept trying to trick me but I never fell for it. When I got to the office the next day it was all hell. She’d contacted Comet head office because she had knowlingly been sold a faulty dryer (true) and this was confirmed by the engineer (false) :eeek: :eeek: Of course I had said nothing of the sort but head office wanted a written report.

2. After picking up a job sheet and seeing that 3 engineers had already called in the last four days to this job I knew it was a problem job. On reading the reports and seeing comments customer advisor write ups like “customer extremely angry” and “customer wants and engineer out NOW”. My boss said I still had to go out to the job even though he knew we did not have the parts. To cut a long story short, we did not have the parts but the 1st eng went out, confirmed eeprom and board needed. We had the board but no eeprom in stock advised the cutsomer of the delay. Customer moans and the centre sends out two more engineers in 3 days still with no stock and then I’m the last one. After my initial assessment, I pretend to go back to the car to look for an eeprom that I knew I never had and went back and broke the news to the lady. Oh, that’s ok..phew go away with I thought. Err no. She then promptly locks the door, removes the key and puts it in her bra. “And your’re not going any where until it’s fixed.” Trying to calm the situation I said “Ah well, put the kettle on then.” oh my lord she errupted and for a few seconds I was a bit anxious but not worried because she did not seem the violent type. An hour or so later with my boss threatening the police and a promise of a new machine to be delivered the next day (which I knew was a lie), I was released, no longer a hostage. The annoying thing was, it should have been sorted at the first eng visit but instead the managers lied to her every time just to shut her up and sent an eng out which in effect made the situation worse and I just copped the lot. PS I did get the cup of tea though and she did not get her new machine for another week. Oh and I got grilled and had to write another report for head office for causing the problem – would you believe it??

Doing stupid things a different matter. AFter fitting a and programming a new board to a WMA, I rushed by to the car to grab a can of foam cleaner and some cloths. I sprayed the “foam cleaner” all over the control panel to clean it up….only find I’d picked up a can of white spray paint…. doh… 😳