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Thursday, June 14, 2018

would YOU do it?

Magnum was telling me about some accelerated life testing they have going on at his work.  He referred to it as "the Monster's Inc. setup".


Magnum designs door locks.  That may sound pretty mundane, but just take a moment to think about the abundance of door locks you encounter on a regular basis - residences, schools, museums, hospitals, senior living facilities (right, Joey?), etc...  And they have to work properly.

Actually, they're kind of like shoes.  You don't really take notice of them unless they cause pain... or unless you design them.

So back to Monster's Inc. life testing.  I haven't seen it, but Magnum describes it as a large room with 10 different doors, each with a unique lock.  The locks are put through rigorous testing on fixtures, but this particular life test uses Real. Live. Humans. Oh. My. God.

These humans must walk through each door by actuating the doorlock.  They must do this all day.  They must walk through those ten doors, each with different locks, over and over and over.

They've brought in workers from a temp agency who are paid, I think, $12/hr, and if they last for something like two weeks, they'll get 6-month temp jobs in the factory.  No degree, certification, or experience is required.  They just have to be able to open doors.  All day.

I can't even.

I told Magnum that it sounds like hell as he told me about the number of temps that dropped out after about an hour.

"They can wear earbuds.  They can take breaks as needed...", he went on.  I should note that this test was not his idea.

"It sounds more like a psychological test than a door lock test to me", I observed, and I'm not kidding.

They want around 50,000 actuations per lock.  Magnum doesn't think they're going to make it.  I'm trying to picture this room with people walking around in large circles as they open ten different doors.  They can't even daydream because they have to know what to do at each door - some they turn, some have a lever to push, some have a button to push or twist...

But, he says a couple of the "lock walkers" are still going strong, with smiles on their faces no less.

"Maybe we should have exit interviews when people drop out", he pondered.

"Heck, I'd be more interested in interviewing the people who stay!  Those there are the anomalies!", I said.

Would YOU do it?  What would it take?

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
2. Tell us about the last time you broke a sweat.



11 comments:

Margaret (Peggy or Peg too) said...

At a certain time in my life when I had no money and I ate 1 can of tuna for 3 days, I would have done it happily. It would have been a job and I never say no to a job. I would have been that smiling anomaly.
Today? Hell, no. :-)

Abby said...

Margaret - Yep, I hear ya. Back in the "bread sandwich" days, I might have considered it, especially if I had a goofy friend to sign up and suffer along with.

Chatty Crone said...

I can comment - yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I had to open doors all day I would be nuts. As it is - my grandson leaves every light on in the room he has been it - and I am kind of nuts about that.

Now did you see the Note on the top of your post? Did you do that? Or blogger?
Sandie

Abby said...

Chatty Crone - Welcome!
I have a friend who actually installed motion sensors for the lights in his house. The kids' habits were driving him nuts.

Blogger says they've added a notice for EU visitors, and Blogger's method for checking that it works does not work. Another frustrated blogger suggested putting a note like the one I put under the header until things get straightened out. I'm not holding my breath

LL Cool Joe said...

I have a message at the top of your blog now about cookies. What's that all about? Anyway at least I can comment.


And yes I know all about locks on doors and their importance! Would I do the job? Can I listen to my ipod whilst I'm doing it? If so, yes. :D

Abby said...

Joe - yes, you can listen to your ipod. And apparently they supply gatorade. It's for eight hours a day, Joey. EIGHT HOURS.

The cookie message is there because the EU requires that sites inform visitors when/if cookies are used. Blogger collects them. I don't

Linda Hensley said...

I sometimes give myself humility reminders about my past jobs shoveling horse sh*t or working at the rubber factory. Opening doors sounds like a snap in comparison. What if they decorated the walls with art to keep things more interesting?

Abby said...

Linda - It just seems so tedious and unchallenging to me. The repetitive unchallenge would drive me nuts after a while. At least shoveling horse sh*t, you can see some progress!
I don't know what the walls look like, but considering it's a test lab, I'm thinking they're pretty bland.

ShadowRun300 said...

I couldn’t do it, but I have a few team members who probably could. :D

Abby said...

SR300 - I think it takes a certain personality type to be able to do this and stay sane. I'm not it.

Brian said...

If I were a retiree (soon, soon) I'd take that on just as a way to earn $100 a day. Being able to listen to music, pod casts, whatever would certainly help. Hooking on as a temp/contract worker for an additional 6 months would be pretty good too.