when is enough enough

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Hi everyone, I have been in the custom cabinet industry for 12 plus years. I have worked almost every area of the shop from building, face frames, assembly, custom islands and other custom pieces as well as install. I now have worked in the office for about 5 years. I do drafting, engineering, field measuring, work with customers/builders, answer shop questions, etc. I really have enjoyed it up to this point. There is so much negativity and disrespect throughout the office and the rest of the building that sometimes it can just drain you. The first thing we hear about in the morning is something negative about a minor issue with a job. A minor issue with a 30k job really isn't that bad of a thing is it? I understand we want the jobs to go perfect but in reality they all can't go perfect, but there are just so many variables when it comes to custom cabinets. We should just address the problem and fix it in a short manor instead of sitting and dwelling on it. I still hear about a couple of marble tops I ordered wrong a couple of years ago(I ordered the wrong bowl style). Nobody feels worse about that than I do. Has anyone ever worked in negative work enviroment on a daily basis, it can start to take its toll.

Paul Downs

Maybe you should look for another place to work.

David

I hear ya Paul. It takes a lot for me to vent on a social website. Do you not agree though that you're bound to have a couple issues with a fairly big project? Ya we would love all projects to go perfect but that's not reality.

Michael Mezalick

In my opinion, if a person says that he expects to have problems, than he is opening the door to those problems.
He is also setting up that reason as an excuse.
Once a person starts making excuses, there is no stopping it.
It’s a very slippery slope..inch by inch becomes a mile...

We all understand that nothing is perfect, so, to the people who are reminders of the past mistakes, maybe they are trying to say something ??
Look at their comment from a different view point.
Are they trying to make you better or just being a PITA....
If it’s that later, you may need to learn how to let things roll of your back..
Let go of the guilt of the mistake,,breath in, breath out, move on.
You will almost never change people’s attitude.

If you can, have a positive only day in the office....nothing negative,,those bad issues can wait for tomorrow..
Make fun of your past mistakes,,it will quickly disarm those that enjoy the poking.
And in the end, if it too bad, leave,,,no one could fault you for that. Just call it "Irreconcilable Differences"
Michael

David

Thanks for your response Michael. I think we all come in everyday trying to be positive but when your leaders pull you down on a constant basis it is very hard to stay positive. The worst thing about it is taking that negativity home to family. A lot of our projects do go very well but we never hear about those. Not a good job, way to go or anything and that's actually what keeps employees motivated and wanting to do better. There has to be positive energy in the workplace for everyone to succeed.

Michael Mezalick

[X] View Member Profile Name: Michael Mezalick Company: Mezalick Design Studio, LLC Member

True David,
So ???,,,why not be that positive person.??
Why wait for someone else ???
You give the high fives and pats on the back....even to the bosses.
I would love to hear one of my employees tell me I did a good job..
All I hear is how hard it is and they want more money...
Kill them with kindness....
They will either love you or hate you.
Simple? yes,,Easy ? Not always..

David

Good point Michael. Everyone does need to hear that every now and then.

David R Sochar

Member

There will always be problems with projects - 30k kitchens, space shuttles, apple pies, etc. How you (and those around you) handle them says everything about your character and your ability to derive satisfaction from your job.

Learn to accept them and develop a method for handling them. Your company has a process for order development, cabinet building, delivery, etc. You need one for problem resolution. Treat it like anything else you have to do.

As I like to say, "Guys, this is why we call it work". They all love it when I say that....

This is likely a leadership issue that management is unaware of or perhaps responsible for. It is, as you have related, unproductive and detrimental to the company as a whole, much less individuals.

If they persist in their desire to wallow in their self-created mire, then it is time to tune up the resume.....

David

Very good post David Sochar, in fact I read it a few times. You make a lot of good and interesting points. Well said!!

Adam

It is unfortunate that you are working with people who are focusing on the negative side of things. It is almost human nature.

If someone was making light about a costly mistake I made more than a year ago simply because they have nothing better to say. I would take them aside and have a chat. Put an end to it.

Michael had some good suggestions except the line about how expecting problems causes them, blah, blah, blah.

Complete rubbish. He is talking about his employees and not himself. You have reasonable expectations of what can go wrong in a project.

Many people never realize that they learn very little from their successful projects. They think they are smart and worked really hard. At the end of the day life is chaotic. Somedays we get lucky and our mistakes go unnoticed, other days not so much.

Every time something goes wrong we have the opportunity to learn from that experience.

David

Good post as well Adam. I go into every project, which most of them are high end complicated projects looking to do my very best and the projects do go very well.

It just so happens that the mistakes that get brought up a year or two later are by my boss(owner) so it's a fine line taking that up with them.

I think all we ask for as workers is a positive working environment, good leadership from our bosses, the tools to do our jobs to the best of our abilities, to be told good job once in a while, and also to get criticism but in a positive way.

Michael Mezalick

Adam,
Let me rephrase what you misunderstood.
If a person can anticipate problems on a job, they are a good manager.
If a person uses the excuse that since there‘s going to be problems anyway, why worry that the project can’t be the best possible, in my opinion, that person is not helping with the success of the project.

Michael

cabmaker

David,

You have an opportunity here to be part of the solution. You can sit back and complain (like you say your boss does) or you can help develop some systems to minimize mistakes in the future. At the very least this effort would demonstrate that you agree even small mistakes are bad mistakes.

Make a list of all the mistakes your boss brings up. Try to codify them into "TYPES" of mistakes. Sometimes the problem is that your system relies too much on brute memory or powers of observation. Sometimes it comes from inadequate training or weak methods. Sometimes it is ambivalence on the part of the worker.

Produce a multiple choice list of all the TYPES of mistakes then as they occur indicate which type of mistake you think it was. This will be a real eye opening experience for you.

You could also just complain about your boss and imagine how you would run the shop if you owned.

mark

As others have said: do what's in your power to correct the problem (your problem, not the job inaccuracies.) Your problem, as I read it is that you don't get much satisfaction from your job.
Then, determine what you need from your coworkers, boss, etc. in order to eliminate the inaccuracies. Have a sit-down with your boss and go over your results.

Jay

Member

David, perhaps it is time to show you can do it better. Start your own operation and be that way towards your employees! If not, suck it up and be the best employee period.

cabmaker

David,

Here's a great article about the culture of celebrating mistakes. You should read it then maybe download it for your bosses to read. It could be that all you need is a platform like this to start a dialog about how your company should process lessons learned from mistakes.

http://www.fastcompany.com/58345/no-satisfaction-toyota

10/7       #17: when is enough enough ...

David