The Stupidity Was At An All Time High Today

Yes my friends it is sad but true.

Just when I thought my job couldn't get any less fulfilling it finds a way to surprise me and kicks me in the groin.

The flagship aircraft I wrote about a short time ago was part of it and here is why. When a new flagship is declared the old one has to be changed back. No big deal right? Well you would think that but we have Mr. Hyde as our supervisor and that makes a world of difference.

We changed the tail to reflect the regular tail numbers and took off the flagship tail flash. To do this the old flash has to be sanded off and repainted. Not a problem so far until we had to put the old numbers back on the jet.

Normally this is a very easy job and it was going very smoothly. We use what is called Gerbermask to mask off the areas we don't want painted. We use a computer to cut the new tail numbers out on the Gerbermask by way of a plotter that has a tiny knife on it. We take the newly cut tail numbers and then can put the complete number on the jet and then peel out the numbers revealing the new paint. We then mask up the whole area that was painted and the only thing that is left is the numbers that we put fresh paint on.

All in all a easy and simple process that we have done for years. Amazingly we know what we are doing.

So after the second coat of black paint....precisely two hours after the second coat that is, Mr. Hyde wants the jet demasked and ready to roll. We explain that the paint is fresh and wet and will cause a huge mess if it is touched.

That doesn't matter to him.

So I don't argue at all and do the best I can despite the diaster that I know will happen. I begin to peel off the Gerbermask and get fresh black paint all over my fingers. The Gerbermask is stretchy and of course covered in fresh black paint so it is quite a process. What happens is when a piece is peeled off it stretches and snaps and usually lands on either the freshly painted numbers to leave a sticky piece of masking material on a sticky number which leaves a huge mess of the numbers.

Now combined with all of my fingerprints that were left on the surface it was a huge mess.
I took a rag and some acetone and tried to wash off all of the fresh paint which didn't help the fresh gray paint much but it looked a little better.

None of that mattered to Mr. Hyde but here is one thing I do know, that jet will be setting in the exact same spot tomorrow morning.

In short there was no reason to do what we did other than Mr. Hyde is a MORON!!!!

The night shift could have done what we did in about 10 minutes and not have had any problems since the paint would have been dry by say 10 PM tonight.

Yeah....36 more years to retirement.