27 Years and Counting

Lillian woke up this morning and gave a shudder at the thought of going to work. Soon, well, in three years she would be retiring from the dingy old machine shop where she works. Even with all those years in the old shop she was still not very far up the seniority ladder. That’s why she had to play dirty. Jim worked with her for as long as she had been at the plant, he’s a hard worker and a great guy in general. If Lillian could find a way to get him removed from the shop she could be top dog in her department. This was provided that his replacement didn’t have more seniority than Lillian. Yet, she kept her hopes up and her eyes and ears open looking for Jim to make the smallest mistake so that she could have him removed from the department and she could take lead. One day it finally happened, she had conspired to catch Jim and she did. There were four employees in the department, but only three were needed. Since Jim was lead he had to train the new guy, which Jim did by giving him instructions, then sitting back to watch over the guy. As soon as Jim went to break Lillian called their supervisor to tell him that Jim had been on break too long. What a plan, she thought, all she had to do was prove they only needed three people in the department and Jim would be moved, as long as she could prove he didn’t do anything anyway. Soon after the phone call Lillian saw Jim standing at the equipment with the supervisor going over paperwork. She laughed to herself as she figured he was being written up for something he didn’t do, but she could prove otherwise. See, Jim had the new guy filling out the paperwork, so it did appear that Jim did nothing but sit in the break room. Ha, she had gotten Jim good, now he would be removed from the department and she would be top dog. As Lillian was imagining the power of top seniority in the department her supervisor approached her, “Lillian, we have four people in this department, but we only need three. For this reason, I’m going to move you to the paint department until our trainee gets through his on-the-job training and schooling.” She couldn’t have heard him right. She was being moved? Until the new guy finished school, which could be next week, or it could be three years from now! Until he was done she would be in the worst department in the entire shop, the paint department. Reluctantly, she nodded her understanding to her supervisor and packed her tools up for the move. The paint department is where they send the people who cause trouble, that get in the way, that can’t do their job. What had she done to deserve this? Could she survive the paint department for three years, so she can retire? Twenty-seven years and counting.