My Lovely Boss
Without Prejudice
At John Sands I was growing restless, there was never enough to do either and I hate being paid to do nothing. I raised a few Credits, marked payments, finishing my days work within an hour every day. My portfolio was all of Victoria and it was all cleaned up.
I missed Helena my best friend who had left for a Guy she met in McKay, she had been my Supervisor at 26 years old and she was treated badly by the "Old Dears" who had been there for years nearing retirement, and they were not happy that Cedric Bywater our big boss had put her in Supervisor position.
But she was cool. smart, sophisticated.And she promoted me to Credit Supervisor Victoria. And I had two other people to train and temps over Christmas that year and then it was so quiet we had nothing to do.
I did a small Purchasing Job but it was not a manufacturing environment and I missed the cut and thrust of the manufacturing environment. A manufacturing environment is desperately needy, a monster that needs fed all the time, the huge runs and operations making things, such as Raw Material, urgent, More urgent and extremely urgent and you spend all day negotiating price and availability, and schmoozing Suppliers to get what you want, NOW.
Peter Vexler my first boss in Purchasing taught me well.
He said,
"Everything comes back to Purchasing, everything"
and he was so right. In trays mounting with Account's Payable queries on price and quantities and desperately urgent requests from men on the Shop Floor, needing, paint, parts, raw materials, tools, everything. And I had done it before in our own business, no one more demanding than Bob. Every invoice checked for proper discounts and quality.
We had one incident with one Supplier at Maxi Trans when all the bolts started shearing off as the huge Refrigerated Pantechnicons we made drove up the Freeways. And we had to investigate and investigate with the Supplier, who claimed that the bolts were HD as requested and after we had to pull the rigs off the road it turned out the Suppliers, Supplier in China was using a different grade, a weak grade that sheared off under pressure.
We had to recall every Pantechnicon until the problem was resolved and we had to sue the Supplier for the cost, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they had to suck it up if they wanted to keep supplying us. That was the sort of Purchasing where I felt like I was doing something, at BIG's place it was all so remote. And when I was there BIG kept promising it would get better and it never did.
I never went back to Purchasing but would again, loving the dynamics, in manufacturing, especially. The other tip Peter Vexler taught me was the first rule of Purchasing'
"Cover your arse, cover your arse". in other words, write down conversations and prices, get a quote in your hot sticky little hand, and be prepared for every Supplier to lie when it comes down to the crunch. The truck has left meant nothing, the questions had to be asked, when, how long to get here and you had to push and push to get the answer you wanted.
I was so lucky with Peter as he had another temp in my position before I had started. The agency had rung me up for the position and I had refused it as at that time I worked in Accounts Receivable and that was my forte, I thought.
But when the man they had put in Purchasing failed to work out I was asked again and it was better money than Credit so I went on a 3 week assignment and ended up being there for 3 years. I told Peter the truth I only had a little experience from our own business but he was from an Accounting background too and gave me a go, bless his little cotton socks, love you Peter..
He was so softly spoken and diffident with a wry mocking sense of humour. I have never in my whole life seen a desk like his. It was literally stacked three feet high in papers and he knew where everything was, everything. And he had an incredible memory remembering every part or bolt by its code and name. His office would have a line of men outside it at 7am in the morning when I came in and was still like it at 6pm. And the most important thing he taught me on the first day was that if I didn't get the "Stuff" in on time, all the men in Production might be stood down, bloody hell just a tad of pressure!
He gave me a half days training on the in house system on the first day I started work and had to go, making me jump in at the deep end and it was sink or swim as soon as the men knew they could come to me with their requests, sometimes verbal, sometimes in terrible handwriting "a thumb nail dipped in tar" and personal requests where they would stand at my desk, waiting, covered in grease.
We had an old man who was the Maintenance Man for 20 years and one day after I started he plonked a greasy ball thing on my desk and said,
"get me one of those, Girly"
"What is it?". I asked but he was already out the door, my words falling on deaf ears. I looked at it, examined it, and wanted to burst into tears. Peter of course out, I had no idea where to start and chased the man down the stairs into the first factory, there were 3 and I was gob smacked at the enormity of the place and how many there were all beavering away. I grabbed the old Man and said
"Do you want to tell me what this is?" and he laughed, he had been testing me out. Relief flooded through me as he explained and showed me the machine it had come off and I took notes.
He was weather beaten and had fair skin and had scars all over him from skin cancers and he had the most amazing hair sprouting from just about very orifice, his ears and nose anyway, I didn't like to think about the rest. Whenever he was near me all I could think of was getting a pair of scissors and cutting it, did he not look in the mirror ever I wondered?.
Peter made me do all the hard stuff, walking around the plant and counting all the gas bottles with the various gas reps, the 3 monthly stock takes counting bolts and half full tins of paint in sweltering stock rooms and factory floors. Didn't matter if I was in high heels and stockings and down in the bowels of the factory I would curse him, sweat dripping off me and dirt glomming on to me with every movement.
I hated him then. and he would patiently explain to me it was "my job", not his anymore and I could imagine him upstairs laughing, bastardo! And 3 months after I started he decided I was good enough to run Purchasing while he was away in Queensland on holiday with his wife,
I almost lost it then,
"Are you kidding?". I said and he would just gaze at my chest the whole time he was speaking to me, addressing my chest instead of my eyes and said,
"You can do it, Stafford is here and he did Purchasing years ago so he can back you up, I trust you"
Trust wasn't the issue, I was thinking about all the production meetings I would have to attend as well as purchase and expedite and Stafford now worked in Sales and was busier than a one armed wall paper hanger. What the hell, wasn't there someone else????
To be continued .....
Love Janette
At John Sands I was growing restless, there was never enough to do either and I hate being paid to do nothing. I raised a few Credits, marked payments, finishing my days work within an hour every day. My portfolio was all of Victoria and it was all cleaned up.
I missed Helena my best friend who had left for a Guy she met in McKay, she had been my Supervisor at 26 years old and she was treated badly by the "Old Dears" who had been there for years nearing retirement, and they were not happy that Cedric Bywater our big boss had put her in Supervisor position.
But she was cool. smart, sophisticated.And she promoted me to Credit Supervisor Victoria. And I had two other people to train and temps over Christmas that year and then it was so quiet we had nothing to do.
I did a small Purchasing Job but it was not a manufacturing environment and I missed the cut and thrust of the manufacturing environment. A manufacturing environment is desperately needy, a monster that needs fed all the time, the huge runs and operations making things, such as Raw Material, urgent, More urgent and extremely urgent and you spend all day negotiating price and availability, and schmoozing Suppliers to get what you want, NOW.
Peter Vexler my first boss in Purchasing taught me well.
He said,
"Everything comes back to Purchasing, everything"
and he was so right. In trays mounting with Account's Payable queries on price and quantities and desperately urgent requests from men on the Shop Floor, needing, paint, parts, raw materials, tools, everything. And I had done it before in our own business, no one more demanding than Bob. Every invoice checked for proper discounts and quality.
We had one incident with one Supplier at Maxi Trans when all the bolts started shearing off as the huge Refrigerated Pantechnicons we made drove up the Freeways. And we had to investigate and investigate with the Supplier, who claimed that the bolts were HD as requested and after we had to pull the rigs off the road it turned out the Suppliers, Supplier in China was using a different grade, a weak grade that sheared off under pressure.
We had to recall every Pantechnicon until the problem was resolved and we had to sue the Supplier for the cost, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they had to suck it up if they wanted to keep supplying us. That was the sort of Purchasing where I felt like I was doing something, at BIG's place it was all so remote. And when I was there BIG kept promising it would get better and it never did.
I never went back to Purchasing but would again, loving the dynamics, in manufacturing, especially. The other tip Peter Vexler taught me was the first rule of Purchasing'
"Cover your arse, cover your arse". in other words, write down conversations and prices, get a quote in your hot sticky little hand, and be prepared for every Supplier to lie when it comes down to the crunch. The truck has left meant nothing, the questions had to be asked, when, how long to get here and you had to push and push to get the answer you wanted.
I was so lucky with Peter as he had another temp in my position before I had started. The agency had rung me up for the position and I had refused it as at that time I worked in Accounts Receivable and that was my forte, I thought.
But when the man they had put in Purchasing failed to work out I was asked again and it was better money than Credit so I went on a 3 week assignment and ended up being there for 3 years. I told Peter the truth I only had a little experience from our own business but he was from an Accounting background too and gave me a go, bless his little cotton socks, love you Peter..
He was so softly spoken and diffident with a wry mocking sense of humour. I have never in my whole life seen a desk like his. It was literally stacked three feet high in papers and he knew where everything was, everything. And he had an incredible memory remembering every part or bolt by its code and name. His office would have a line of men outside it at 7am in the morning when I came in and was still like it at 6pm. And the most important thing he taught me on the first day was that if I didn't get the "Stuff" in on time, all the men in Production might be stood down, bloody hell just a tad of pressure!
He gave me a half days training on the in house system on the first day I started work and had to go, making me jump in at the deep end and it was sink or swim as soon as the men knew they could come to me with their requests, sometimes verbal, sometimes in terrible handwriting "a thumb nail dipped in tar" and personal requests where they would stand at my desk, waiting, covered in grease.
We had an old man who was the Maintenance Man for 20 years and one day after I started he plonked a greasy ball thing on my desk and said,
"get me one of those, Girly"
"What is it?". I asked but he was already out the door, my words falling on deaf ears. I looked at it, examined it, and wanted to burst into tears. Peter of course out, I had no idea where to start and chased the man down the stairs into the first factory, there were 3 and I was gob smacked at the enormity of the place and how many there were all beavering away. I grabbed the old Man and said
"Do you want to tell me what this is?" and he laughed, he had been testing me out. Relief flooded through me as he explained and showed me the machine it had come off and I took notes.
He was weather beaten and had fair skin and had scars all over him from skin cancers and he had the most amazing hair sprouting from just about very orifice, his ears and nose anyway, I didn't like to think about the rest. Whenever he was near me all I could think of was getting a pair of scissors and cutting it, did he not look in the mirror ever I wondered?.
Peter made me do all the hard stuff, walking around the plant and counting all the gas bottles with the various gas reps, the 3 monthly stock takes counting bolts and half full tins of paint in sweltering stock rooms and factory floors. Didn't matter if I was in high heels and stockings and down in the bowels of the factory I would curse him, sweat dripping off me and dirt glomming on to me with every movement.
I hated him then. and he would patiently explain to me it was "my job", not his anymore and I could imagine him upstairs laughing, bastardo! And 3 months after I started he decided I was good enough to run Purchasing while he was away in Queensland on holiday with his wife,
I almost lost it then,
"Are you kidding?". I said and he would just gaze at my chest the whole time he was speaking to me, addressing my chest instead of my eyes and said,
"You can do it, Stafford is here and he did Purchasing years ago so he can back you up, I trust you"
Trust wasn't the issue, I was thinking about all the production meetings I would have to attend as well as purchase and expedite and Stafford now worked in Sales and was busier than a one armed wall paper hanger. What the hell, wasn't there someone else????
To be continued .....
Love Janette
