Me: “Please, get the small ladder.”
Reply: “It’s not here.”
Me: “Check in the van.”
Reply: “No luck.”
Me: “I just saw it yesterday with the others.”
I quickly look in the other three greenhouses, my employee checks the lobby.
Me: “Well, you drive and I’ll call to ask if any of the other supervisors took it.”
After making the phone calls, which were to no avail, I bemoan the fact that it was a good ladder, not rickety like the wooden one we previously had and that it said plainly, in large letters on the side, that it belonged to the greenhouse.
Upon returning to the greenhouse I became as one who had lost a precious gem. I looked in every conceivable place and finally found the missing tool, tucked mostly out of sight, behind the door of the north house.
When I saw it I knew how it gotten there. An employee from another department had come to replace a ceiling fan. When he was done instead of carrying the 4-foot ladder just 15 feet to where it is stored, he simply put it where it was most convenient for him. He had taken no thought of the lost work time he would cause others.
A wise old owl could have taught him that in order to be a valuable employee he should learn and practice these simple rules at home and at work.
If you open it, close it.
If you turn it on, turn it off.
If you unlock it, lock it.
If you break it, repair it.
If you can’t fix it, call someone who can.
If you borrow it, return it.
If you make a mess, clean it up.
If you get it out, put it back … where you found it … before leaving the job.
A place for everything and everything in its place.
A game of Hide and Seek is lots of fun, unless there is work to be done.
