Aug
25
Written by:
Blog Editor
8/25/2010 1:11 AM
Everyone has an unusual tale to recount to other people about their working lives. Sharing those ‘funnies’ and strange situations we find ourselves in are part of what makes working life enjoyable.
Well, we at Plastic Surgeon enjoy sharing anecdotes (discreetly) about some of the things we come across in our working lives too. For example, one of our finishers was called in to repair a shower tray, but it was not as he assumed, in a house, but on a canal barge, so he was presented with an unusual venue to demonstrate his skills on that particular day. It also gave him the new experience of looking around a barge … and some tales to tell after work, as he chatted to friends about how beautifully painted the narrow boat was, how it was fitted out inside, and how he slipped and nearly fell in the water.
Other unusual tasks we’ve undertaken recently include mending damaged freezer units for the Aldi food store chain, re-staining rain damaged timber beams at Reading University and repairing an outdoor green diesel tank in Devon. One interesting challenge involved painting a set of double garage doors with our High Volume Low Pressure spray gun – while another finisher repaired damage to a wooden bed frame. Meanwhile yet another was repairing IPS panels at a hospital.
In fact, you never quite know exactly what you are going to be doing or what situation you are going to be faced with, in any one single day at Plastic Surgeon – no two days are the same, and this is what our finishers enjoy about their work – and perhaps why our staff retention is so good. You could never call our work boring.
But, as is the way of life, there is always adversity to overcome … and where our British sense of humour comes into its own. It is ironic that a simple accident can derail the best organised workers, such as when one of our finishers managed to break his glasses, which he really needed in order to carry out the precision repairs and careful colour matching we specialise in. But in true British style, he repaired the glasses using equipment from his repair kit so he could carry on and complete the job. Another finisher managed to lock himself in his van, and had to ring his colleague to set him free. While not so funnily, but highly inconvenient, we had an orbital sander stolen on one job.
Possibly it is because they enjoy their jobs, as well as having a strong sense of commitment to the business that our finishers are generally willing to work out of hours if it is necessary to get the task done. One operative, for instance, worked most of the way through the night at a branch of Tesco, and still made it to Bournemouth for another job early next morning.
As the cliché says, ‘it’s all in a (24 hour) day’s work …’