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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/ZookeepergameActual1 on 2025-06-19 17:35:02+00:00.
I was a MIG/TIG welder at a mid-size fab shop. Been doing this over a decade. I wasn’t a supervisor, but I ran circles around most of them. I helped new guys set up their machines, fixed wire feeders on the fly, double-checked prints before parts went out, made sure jigs were actually clamped right. Not in my job title, but it kept things running smooth.
Then corporate sends in a new shop manager. Guy had a degree and zero shop experience. First week on the floor, he tells me, “You need to stop doing everyone else’s job. Just weld what’s on your table.”
Alright, boss. Just welding it is.
I stopped checking the WPS. I stopped fixing bad prep. I let new hires melt holes through stainless and warp aluminum frames because no one taught them how to control heat input. I stopped catching missing cuts before they hit the table. I welded what I was given, even if it was upside down or made no sense. Not my job, remember?
By the end of the first week, production was three days behind. Guys were blowing holes through thin wall tubing, welds were failing bend tests, a fifteen thousand dollar custom staircase got scrapped because someone flipped the orientation on the fixture and nobody caught it. One guy welded half a job with 6011 and the other half with ER70S because nobody was around to explain the difference.
Second week, the manager was losing his mind. QA was flagging every other part, clients were calling furious, and half the shop was standing around waiting for rework instructions.
He pulls me into the office, sweating through his button-up, and says, “Can you please start helping again?”
I said, “Sorry man. I’m just welding. Like you told me.”
Took a job offer from a cleaner shop with actual leadership and dipped. Heard he got fired a month later. The shop still hasn’t caught up on their backlog.
TL;DR: New boss told me to stop helping and just weld. I did. Welds failed, parts got scrapped, shop fell apart. He begged me to fix it. I left. He got fired