Manufacturing in China is very ‘specialized.’ Each village specializes in only one product; and each individual specializes in only one operation, or task. For example, there’s just one individual to put in a specific bolt on a piece. Then the piece goes to the next station, and another person puts on the nut. And that’s all they do, hour after hour; day after day; week after week and so on – you get the idea. And after 40 years or so, if you haven’t lost any of your nuts, you can retire! How cool is that?
One of the most coveted positions in a ‘Chinee’ manufacturing plant is the ‘Twisty Guy.’ (If you think I’ve used a racist term here, well okay – I ain’t feeling real “PC” this morning! LOL!) So, where was I before I side-tracked myself? Ahhh, the Twisty guy.
The Twisty Guy is the guy who puts the ‘twistys’ on the assembled products as they go into the box. The last thing he sees; often the first thing you have to deal with before you can use the cheap Chinee product you just bought. It’s a very important job – putting twistys on stuff… Requires great attention to detail – the right size of wire, the right direction of twist and the right number of twists. And after 40 years or so, I’m told they really look forward to ‘unwinding’ in retirement… (Bad, huh? Keep reading, it gets worse…)
So, last week I’m up on the roof hanging Christmas lights. I open the box, then untwist 2 or 3 twistys, depending upon the light set. As the sun is going down, it’s getting colder up there, and my fingers are getting stiffer. Then I come to the box where I think the Chinee Twisty Guy lost it. There must have been 9 to 11 twistys on that light set where there should have only been 2 or 3! The sick bastard! They are screwing us at every juncture!
My initial thought was to go and get another box of lights, but that was my last box. So, crap, there I sat on the roof, unwinding twistys! Must have took me a good 10 – 12 minutes or so… but I got ’em!
Now, as I think about it all here, a week or so later… I get passes from Delta Airlines. I think I just might take a trip to China this coming Spring and seek out the Twisty Guy in the village that makes GE LED icicle lights – and wrap that sick little guy in 40 yards of twisty! See how he likes it….
lol… that’s what i use wire cutters for… cutting them twisties