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OT ??? Ever heard to the Stupid Chair syndrome?

i_r_machinist

Titanium
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Location
Dublin Texas
My foreman and I have been having a communication problem with our new supervisor. If we don't agree with what he says, he takes it as a challenge and takes it personally. One of our brighter engineers came in and was informed of the problem. He immediately identified the problem as the "Stupid Chair Syndrome". Its something our engineers have been dealing with for years. It goes like this;
You have what you believe is a great idea.
You tell your boss your great idea.
Your boss does not like the idea and thinks your stupid.
You try another approach at selling your idea.
Your boss gets pissed off and believes you are wasting his time.
You keep trying to sell the idea.

The first rule of the stupid chair is that you cannot help that person in the chair. If you try to help him by chiming in, you are immediately placed in the stupid chair.

The only thing you can do as a bystander is work the codeword "biscuit" into the conversation. Once you hear the word "biscuit", immediately stop talking.

Unfortunately, I had the opportunity to use the codeword this morning, and it worked. I'll go pass the info to the welders here in a bit. I'm not sure if this was something the engineer was taught in college or they just came up with it in that department.
Anybody else do this?


We have yet to reach the apex of stupidity, but it is not for lack of effort.
have fun
i_r_
 
That is a brilliant idea, thanks for sharing - I will implement it immediately. We have around here just plain stupid and what Dilbert called "Idea Squirrel" ; steal your idea and return them as their own.
 
Haircut Threshold
(Haircut Threshold – typically an explanation of the importance of the subject under discussion compared to the overall issue. Example: “It is about like trying to lose weight by getting a haircut.

2 Experts Syndrome
Starting an argument before you know what the first guy said.

Two experts were talking about sawmill band saw maintenance. One said that youcouod really tell the condition of the band saw wheels by looking at them. The other immediately replied that ‘No, you could not’. Before the argument could really get going a bystander asked what kind of wear they were discussing. Turns out the first guy was talking about wheel wear well in the 0.250” range and the second guy had never seen wheel wear over 0.005”. Once they clarified what they were discussing there was no argument.
 
Limy,
I'm not sure that is a good idea. I would have to explain "bollocks" to the knot head. This is the same guy that told me and my working foreman that a 4'x8'x.25" sheet of stainless steel costs $80, and got pissed when we disagreed. My normal response now is "I support management 100%".
BISCUIT OUT!
i_r_
 
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Lol, IR you crack me up.

We had this overweight project engineer once whom we called biscuits...judging by her size, biscuits and gravy was the only thing she couldn't fuck up.
 
Cole,
She works at my plant now, and my ribs hurt from laughing.

The cat that enlightened me is one of those rare few that when they talk, you listen. In his mid 50's, and a panhandle farm boy. This would be a much better place if he was running the show.
have fun
i_r_machinist
 
Limy,
I'm not sure that is a good idea. I would have to explain "bollocks" to the knot head. This is the same guy that told me and my working foreman that a 4'x8'x.25" sheet of stainless steel costs $80, and got pissed when we disagreed. My normal response now is "I support management 100%".
BISCUIT OUT!
i_r_

A guy I knew carried business size cards, one side had the expletive, the other the dictionary definition,....... on hearing something from a suit etc, he disagreed with, he silently handed them a card.
 
Limy,
I'm not sure that is a good idea. I would have to explain "bollocks" to the knot head. This is the same guy that told me and my working foreman that a 4'x8'x.25" sheet of stainless steel costs $80, and got pissed when we disagreed. My normal response now is "I support management 100%".
BISCUIT OUT!
i_r_

Where do I get a 4'x8'x.25" sheet of ss for 80.00.......I'll have a truck load!
 
It's been five years since I posted this, and I thought I had reached an inner state of Zin where I could just breeze throught the stupidity of the mornining meeting, but this morning I realized that the person who had my safe word had retired. I will not go through the details of my well justified tirade, but I will tell you that after the meeting, I coached some of the younger employees on the stupid chair phenomena and the use of safe words. Two other employees got in the stupid chair with me, as we were all involved in the initiating event.
Since the meeting, I have had one supervisor apologize, one supervisor thank God he was not involved, three offers for biscuits and gravy breakfast, and one offer of a hug.
I'm going to go crank up some Fernando Del Sor in the shop and chill.
Biscuit Out...
Please pass on this bit of wisdom to the younger generations.
 
I worked 3rd shift at a large company that had a problem. Three induction melting furnaces were connected to the same cooling system. They would loose 2-4 hours of production each shift because the furnaces would overheat. They had a 10 horsepower pump on a closed loop system supplying the cooling water. You could hear the pump cavitating so I raised the level of the system about half a foot and it quieted down and ran all night without overheating. I showed the superintendant and when they had a meeting the next day he told top management of my discovery. They went off on him that it was too high and had the level lowered. I would come into work, raise the level and a half hour before I went home I would lower it again. They said the reason it would run all night was because the city water pressure was higher at night. It was a closed loop system.
 
they have management movies where the team discusses something and one person totally disapproves of anybody's ideals but their own. usually movie is about considering others ideals and often when tried they might be better, sometimes they are not. but point is the team often see things differently and as a group will improve things faster.
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....when only one persons ideals are tried often things get in a rut. nobody wants to say any continuous improvement or kaisan ideals. the whole point of a kaisan is to get group together and to try group improvement ideals that normally are never tried cause normal boss or leader keeps stopping any ideals from being tried
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in my experience some kaisan ideals do improve things. others maybe not improve much. a few make things worse and then you know or have data on how it works not a opinion
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its like husband and wife and one always wants to do things same way. maybe other stops offering other ideals rather than argue. sometimes it ends up in a divorce
 
I worked 3rd shift at a large company that had a problem. Three induction melting furnaces were connected to the same cooling system. They would loose 2-4 hours of production each shift because the furnaces would overheat. They had a 10 horsepower pump on a closed loop system supplying the cooling water. You could hear the pump cavitating so I raised the level of the system about half a foot and it quieted down and ran all night without overheating. I showed the superintendant and when they had a meeting the next day he told top management of my discovery. They went off on him that it was too high and had the level lowered. I would come into work, raise the level and a half hour before I went home I would lower it again. They said the reason it would run all night was because the city water pressure was higher at night. It was a closed loop system.
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sure a lot of night shifts have less problems cause trying things different and when they tell others get told their ideal in no good or wont work even though you have tried it before and it worked.
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same with programs often changed program and did not save cause head programmer dont like the ideal. even when a better program. sometimes its more head guy feels threaten by others ideals. usually not a good ideal to piss them off
 








 
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