High Jinx - Cigarette Damage
As you've read from other pages in this section there was always
a high probability that damage was going to be caused in the
departments.
Usually the damage was to other people, the
Birthday Treatment &
Friday "Rag Fight"
would usually cause a few casualties to both departments but now
and again equipment and computers would also take damage.
As with civilian casualties there is always the chance of damage
to property during war and at one place of work this was no
exception. However it is worth noting that the majority of
damage to equipment was not caused by the battles, just plain
stupidity really.
Cigarette Damage X2
Before I moved from being a salesman to being
a member of technical support the technical department was
actually based on the same floor as the showroom.
All that separated them and their safe room from
the rabble in the showroom was a double-door.
Before the days of "political correctness" and
the major "Health & Safety" clamp-downs smoking was allowed in
the building and more importantly inside the
technical/engineering department.
Walking out from technical into the showroom was
sometimes very embarrassing as if you weren't quick through the
door you'd take out a massive cloud of smoke with you, very
unprofessional really.
A fair amount of damage was simply caused by
leaving a burning cigarette somewhere while work was been
carried out.
One of our technicians who liked a smoke in
the department became famous for leaving cigarettes somewhere
and finding them some time later after they had started to burn
through a desk or table somewhere.
Quite what possessed him to leave one balanced
on the front of somebody's computer one day we just don't know.
However the resulting burnt and melted case was
really not something we could hand back to the customer. The
technician was forward thinking however and swapped the case
over for one of the machines we had in the showroom to tempt
customers to part with their cash.
For some two months we had to describe this case
as a "manufacturing defect" to customers as we gave
demonstrations - although most of them replied with
"Manufacturing defect with a fag by chance?"
Cigarettes Cause Fires? No Way!
I'm sure everyone was seen the "public notice"
advert on television about smoking and what not to do with
cigarette butts.
Don't fall asleep while smoking, don't throw the
butt into a bin filled with paper, the list is endless and I'd
always thought of these adverts as a waste of time - who would
be stupid enough to do something like that? <Blush>
When engineering and technical moves to the
first floor they also lost the ability to smoke indoors.
There was a fire escape in engineering and it
soon because the trend to stand on there for a cigarette.
You were still in essence "in the department"
should the phone ring or a customer arrive, however you were
also "outside" so nasty health & safety officials moaning about
things.
I was having a cigarette on the fire escape. I
was in the department by myself, everyone else was either in
stock control or doing shop runs and typically the phone rang
and I had to grab it.
Fearing a long call I took my cigarette in
with me, it was wrong, I shouldn't have done it but nobody was
around to tell me off
As the call went on and on more people arrived in
the department and I also finished the cigarette.
The only place I could find to put it out was in
the bin, so I carefully stubbed it out on the side of the metal
bin and continued with the call for a few more minutes and then
returned to the technical department.
Of course this really wouldn't be a story if
the cigarette was out properly and not smouldering away at the
bottom of this bin filled with paper and other flammable waste.
What happened next was a terrible series of
events. First we had a visitor from head-office, none other than
the managing director and he was getting a tour of the building.
As he arrived into the engineering & technical
department three major things were happening.
First the bin was on fire and quite
impressively too, an engineer was breaking out a fire
extinguisher on the flames.
Secondly we had a customer in to collect his
machine for the third time in as many weeks. He was making a
very vocal song and dance about our inability to sort out his
problems and how he would never buy from us again.
Thirdly one of the technicians having fallen foul
of the Cardboard in the phone
gag was at the time shouting down his phone at a customer
thinking they were totally deaf.
Our manager and the managing director from
Head Office took one look and then announced "We can see you are
busy, we'll come back later".
I guess heads could have rolled over that, they didn't but I still feel we were rather lucky.
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