It isn’t unusual for the newest person to get the crappiest job, even when it is counter productive to the goals of the organization. In the 1970s, Wachovia Bank noticed that it had a huge turnover in new tellers.
So some of the management-engineers went into the branches to see why. As it turns out, they found that the newest tellers were being assigned to the drive-in window as opposed to over the counter inside teller work. They also discovered that this was, by far, the most difficult place to be. The remote pneumatic tubes mean that the drive-in teller must work with two or more customers simultaneously, must learn how to work the mechanics of the pneumatic system, switch back and forth between the customers and keep the paperwork straight for each one. On top of that, because the speaker system isn’t all that great, the teller must be able to communicate pleasantly, loudly without seeming to yell, and with absolutely clear diction. It actually requires a little showmanship…the teller must project a pleasant personality over the distance especially to the second and further pneumatic drive through stations.
This was obviously a difficult job and it was not a place that the new teller should be. But the other tellers had seniority and they didn’t want the hard job. So they gave it to the new person who hadn’t really mastered the normal procedures much less the more complex ones. This was totally counter productive to the goals of the organization, but the local branch managers never put a stop to it.
Sequel Link to heading
The bank restructured the teller grade system. A new teller was too low a grade to be assigned to the drive in window. The drive-in position was established as a special higher-skilled job requiring special additional personal skills (voice, diction, ability to project personality over distance) and mechanical skills, with higher pay and recognition. Because of the higher respect and better pay, experienced tellers then vied for the position instead of trying to avoid it.]
Another Perspective Link to heading
In my story, He Added Yellow, there is something going on that I really don’t address specifically because the story is focused on setting output objectives as its thesis.
To understand my comments better, it is helpful to read that article first.
The people on the night-shift had a practice of hazing every new smart ass from marketing by fooling around with them. They knew how to run a printing press and they knew how to mix colors on the press. But invariably some kid, fresh out of college and making twice what they were, would be assigned to approve their work. There is a purpose for this: often there are subtleties which the creative people are trying to achieve that aren’t necessarily obvious. But typically, new kids would think that since they had decision power, they also were expected to tell the people how to do their jobs. You can imagine how this might irritate a professional who knows how to do his job.
For their own personal enjoyment and ego satisfaction, the printers would get the person to give them directions they knew wouldn’t work (such as adding red to make something redder instead of yellow to bring the red out). The supervisor was the ring leader. Just for fun, he had his whole night crew there just so they too could enjoy the fun. Maybe it is counter productive. Maybe it is immature. But I think it was necessary for them to do this. It enabled them to deal with a situation they saw as unfair and disrespectful of their professional abilities.
In other words, it enabled them to show up for work the next day.