When I was a young and naive process engineer I was snapped up to be a shift supervisor in a mill. this was a fabulous experience and opportunity to learn and grow. I felt lucky to have been plucked from technical to operations, into the hurly burly and 24/7 production pressure, and the overtime was good too. I worked a lot, including one period where i did something like 27 12 hour night shifts in a row. I miss a whole season doing this some how. Snow on the grown when i started and green grass when i finished. it was a good experience. One interesting aspect of the job was the daily grilling, after each night shift you would give the superindent all the log sheets which he would study with his two assistants while you discussed the night shift with your day shift partner. Then you would go down the hall to the bosses office for an inquisition… any detail that was missed by your crew would be hammered on. You knew if you missed something, or needed to do something at night you better do it.

So I wanted to get the most out of this experience as a supervisor and make the best contribution I could for the company that had shown confidence in me. What else can I do to do a better job?? So i asked my boss, ” What can I do to do a better job??”

My boss who was a man of hard scrabble back ground and who was glad to have his job in the mill out of the cold and hard labour paused. His favorite stories where how he got his 18 wheeler over the pass and out of the valley before the big snow storm blew in, carefully considered this question or how equipment blew up or was destroyed by mistakes over many years. He tilted his head back and through half opened eyes, strained by years of struggle said, ” You just gotta survive”.

Very true.

He was fired as a scapegoat a few years later.