Temperament and
Personality:
The Glitchworks
Our
personalities are comprised of an uncountable number of factors and
influences. The following story illustrates the crucial role temperament
plays.
It had been a long six months and Al was finally sitting in the company
president’s waiting room. In fact, imagining this very event had kept
him from giving up many times. At precisely five o’clock the secretary
announced, “Mr. Nelson will see you now.” Mr. Nelson greeted Al at the
door and offered him a firm handshake. Nelson was in his early fifties,
tall, slim, tanned and obviously sure of himself.
“Please sit down, Al. Would you like a drink?” As Al reached for the
cold beer, Mr. Nelson said, “I want to congratulate you for fulfilling
your duties over the past six months. I know it’s been a challenge
because I set up the Glitchworks myself. It was a tough time for the
company back then. We were having difficulty meeting federal regulations
and completing warrantee work. I scoured the company for the most
finicky mechanics and brought them together in one hangar. I was puzzled
at first that their managers didn’t seem to mind losing them, but I soon
found out why.
“The Glitchworks team had glitches of their own. They were very
difficult to handle. Nevertheless, when they did work together they
enhanced our reputation and saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But after the sixth manager quit, we implemented the program you signed
up for. As you know, a year in the Glitchworks is the doorway to
promotion at the Angel Aircraft Company, and we always honour our
obligations.
“So far each manager has left an impression. In fact, I felt your
decision to hang an old airplane engine from a swing set out back was
particularly brilliant. I’ve seen and heard all of your staff hit it
with the sledge hammer at one time or another. If I recall correctly,
even you’ve clobbered it a few times. Whenever I heard the clang and saw
the engine swinging, I warned head office not to bother you that day. I
knew something was up. On the other hand, I’ve had a bit of trouble
signing the invoices for your team’s monthly visits to ‘Pete’s
Paint-Ball Palace’. However, your reports have convinced me not to
interfere.”
The intercom buzzed and Mr. Nelson excused himself to accept an
important phone call. Al reviewed the morning’s events. The Glitchworks
was located in a hangar just off the assembly line. If an airplane had a
defect that eluded others, the company expected this group to find and
fix it. Period. Getting them to work as a team had been Al’s task for
the past six months.
During this time, he had developed a number of strategies to manage his
stress. He usually eased into the day by calling on Kathy in the Parts
Department. Al liked her. She was punctual, cheerful, and usually very
professional. She was able to hunt down even the rarest parts and
gracefully persuade the supplier to ship them immediately. As a result,
the mechanics rarely had to wait. This was a good thing as frustration
caused them to act even weirder.
That morning, Kathy had greeted Al with a grin and chimed, “Half way
through your first year, eh? I’ll bet you’re gonna be happy to get out
of this loony bin.” Al nodded, and after a few minutes of chit-chat
proceeded onward toward the executive jet that was in for repairs. Al
considered his group of mechanics. To add a bit of humour, he had
secretly renamed them to match their most obvious characteristics.
“Felix,” who acted like one of the original “Odd Couple,” was
re-organising his work bench as usual. The cleaning staff, though
acutely aware of Felix’s sensitivity to order, could never quite clean
his area without disturbing something. They were acutely aware because
Felix had tacked up a few large orange signs which blared, “CLEAN WITH
CARE.” Many times Al had had to assure a steaming Felix that the
cleaning staff were not deliberately trying to mess with his head or his
stuff.
Al had noticed after the first few paint-ball battles Felix stopped
replacing the signs when they went missing. Al had hoped spending time
covered from head to toe in paint would relax Felix’s attitude toward
messiness a little. This morning Felix was so absorbed by the task at
hand he didn’t notice Al walk by. “Just as well,” thought Al.
As Al neared the jet he could see “Clint” sitting in the cockpit. Al
climbed the steps and looked in. Clint was mesmerized by a large bundle
of coloured wires he had pulled from under the dashboard. The plane had
a short circuit that caused various gauges to dim as it landed. No one
could find the problem and the customer wouldn’t accept the jet back
until it was fixed. Clint had the patience to check each wire, inch by
inch. It took a lot to ruffle Clint’s feathers. However, when he did get
angry he liked to throw tools which sometimes bounced off other aircraft
or nearly hit people.
One day, not that long ago, Kathy had sprinted into Al’s office, struck
his desk violently with a hammer and screamed, “This nearly hit me. If
you don’t do something about Clint I’m going to quit!”
Al sprang to his feet and said, “Ok already, relax, I get your point.”
“You better”, she said, “or I’m outta here.” Al had been trying to
convince Clint to take an anger management course. However, the freshly
dented desk meant it was time to implement “Plan B” which happened to
give an old radial engine a new lease on life. From then on whenever
Clint “saw red” because he barked a knuckle or banged his head, Al would
order him to go outside and hit the engine with a sledge hammer until he
“vented” his anger. He always returned calm, cool, and collected.
In addition to having a violent temper, Clint was also a world class
slob. His work area had been dubbed “Tornado Town” for good reason.
Nevertheless, Clint knew instinctively where everything was and
obviously kept an internal filing system. It was not surprising that
Clint and Felix did not get along very well. Clint hated Felix’s high
strung nature and devotion to order, while Felix loathed Clint’s
sloppiness. Usually Al was careful to keep them out of each other’s way.
However, this wasn’t as critical anymore. Blasting each other with
paint-balls had lightened things up between them considerably.
“Mouse” was out of sight as usual. Al only saw him once or twice a day
to review work orders. Mouse viewed other people as just another
irritating fact of life. He hated having his work interrupted and
conversations were out of the question. Mouse preferred to crawl deep
into an aircraft’s fuselage to inspect hydraulic connections with a
dental mirror and flashlight. For some strange reason he actually
enjoyed looking around corners and behind things. Mouse was appreciated
by the others as they hated spending time in dark confined places.
Mr. Nelson hung up the phone. “Where was I?” he asked, “Oh yes, the
Glitchworks. What do you think of the experience so far?” “Well sir, I
never thought I’d say this but I think I’d miss working with this team.
They may be weird but they’re great at what they do. They’re precise,
dedicated and genuinely concerned about the people who fly in their
planes. Except for the occasional bout of “cranial vapour-lock,” you
couldn’t ask for better staff to manage. I also have one major challenge
left. I still haven’t figured out what type of “cheese” I need to get
Mouse out of his hole. He got wind of the birthday cake I bought for him
and called in sick that day. You know sir it’s these sorts of problems
that keep me going. I have a feeling my next job won’t be nearly as
challenging and I still have a lot more to learn.”
Mr. Nelson smiled and nodded. “I knew I had the right man when I asked
you to run the Glitchworks. Only a special person can see what is
special in other
