Sir, EVERYONE Is Replaceable

I’m lower-middle management at a machine shop. I’ve got a welder on shift who works very fast; he produces about ten parts per shift each with a 120-inch weld. I’ve also got a welder who’s a bit slower; he produces five parts on each shift each with a 49-inch weld.

The thing is that my fast worker’s welds all fail ultrasound testing. He does 120 inches of welding per part, and every single part has about an inch that fails ultrasound and needs to be redone. This is part of the time it takes him to do the ten parts per shift.

My guy who does 49 inches on his parts fails a section of weld less than once a pay period.

We have a holiday shift open up doing different parts because a lot of people are going on vacation. There’s a two-times holiday differential pay for the people who stay on.

Both of these guys apply for one of the slots. Obviously, I take the guy whose welds don’t fail very often over the faster guy who fails a weld every part and needs to redo them. He’s not going to be as fast working on unfamiliar parts and is likely to make even more errors.

The faster guy gets b****y about it, complaining about how I didn’t take him for the holiday shift. He complains to me. He complains to his buddies. He complains to my manager.

So, I sit him down and explain that I would be more than happy to take him if he improves his failure rate. He nods along.

The next week, he produces only two parts per shift. This would be… acceptable, but less than ideal… if they didn’t fail ultrasound testing, but he still fails ultrasound testing twice that week.

I approach him about it, and he says, very smugly, that he is working on his accuracy. He practically sneers it at me. It is clear that he is daring me to complain about his reduced speed.

The next shift, I watch him, and he is mostly goofing off. He is making an effort to be more precise… but he is also doing every other task comically slowly.

I confront him about it and threaten to write him up.

Employee: “You need me more than I need you! A guy with my speed and welding experience could find work anywhere. You can’t write me up; I quit!”

Me: “Okay.”

We’re operating a bit slower without him, and his replacement isn’t fully trained up yet, but we certainly didn’t need his attitude.