During the 1960's my father worked as a quality assurance rep for the federal government, which meant he was stationed at various plants. A total brain (a.k.a. nerd) at the time I had little interest in his work stories, but this one stuck in my mind permanently, especially whenever I make drawers: seems one of the fellows in the crating department at AT&T in Clifton, N.J. bet his coworkers that he could build a 100-drawer hutch in a day. Remember, before the days of foam and wrap, products were often shipped in wooden crates. A crating department was a full-blown, completely equipped woodworking shop. The day was long, the effort Herculean, but a day it was, and the bet was won, so the story goes.
For the self-employed, extracting good value from a day's work is a tricky business, more psychological than logistical. Often my only boss is a list of production goals. Monday I gave myself a huge, unrealistic list, but surprised myself as the check marks gathered. So come 3:00 PM a spot of tea as a little reward, maybe a snack to go with, check the emails perhaps, retrieve the snail mail...a half hour gone with a sizable task remaining, as even retrofit, built-in drawer boxes deserve a nice smooth roundover on their upper rims. Determined not to undermine this fine day I accomplished the roundover operation at more than double my usual rate...ah, echoes of the 100 drawer hutch.
