Lost Job

Hubs went on a 4 hour training some time back. While on the training, he was able to complete 50+ meter readings an hour. He was given his 1st route last Wednesday & it was nothing like the 1 in training. Instead of a straight forward route, he was given a complicated 1 with 500+ meters to read. He lost his way a couple of times & completed the route in slightly over 2 days, averaging 30+ readings per hour.

Yesterday he was sharing with me how miserable he felt in this job. This job requires him to locate the gas meter at each house & key the reading into a device issued to him. The address is displayed on the device & he needs to match the gas meter serial number with the 1 in the device for the address that he's reading. He was supposed to be able to call the office for assistance when required. Conversation goes:

Hubs: The serial number on the meter doesn't tally with the 1 listed in the device.

Office: Are you sure you're at the right street.

Hubs: Yes. I've got my map with me & my GPS shows I'm at the right address.

Office: What makes you so sure that your GPS is accurate? How can you be sure that you're at the right street?

Hubs: (Getting fruatrated, walked out to the road sign.) I'm very sure it's correct becoz I'm standing in front of the sign that displays the street name.

Office then gave him directions on how to work the device so he can key the reading in. He was frustrated becoz they expect him to be fast yet waste his time asking stupid questions. For that route, he can have no more than 3 skips. Skips simply refer to meters that are unaccessible becoz they're in the garage & there's nobody at home. On the last day, Friday, he called office & told them he had 16 skips. Conversation goes again:

Office: No. You can't have 16 skips. You must go back & try all these houses again.

Hubs: Yes I have. I've been returning to these houses for the past 3 days. In fact, my last check was just 30 mins ago.

Office: No. You must go back & try again.

Hubs: But I just tried 30 mins ago & there's nobody at home.

Office: No. You must go back & try again.

Hubs: (Lan lan just try again. True enough, nobody's at home for all 16 houses.)

Hubs feels that the system is severely flawed. But of course there's nothing he can do about it. The device itself is also flawed in that the addresses on the device tends to skip. So you can be reading several houses on this street & it jumps to another few on another street far away & then jumps back to this 1st street. He can scroll to select the address he wants but it'll mean scrolling 500+ addresses just to search for the 1 he needs. It's a lot of time wasted.

This 2nd route he was given yesterday required him to read 366 meters. The office told him he needs to complete it in 4 hours. That's 91.5 readings an hour or 40 seconds per reading! Even his trainer whose been working in this line for 2 years can only complete 70 an hour on a super straight forward route. This route though not as complicated as the 1st route is still by no means straight forward. When he finishes an area, he needs to go back to his car & drive to the next area. All that takes time. Then he gets houses with dogs & there's no rushing or risk being attacked.

At 1 pm, he's completed 230+ readings & he called office since it had been 5 hours. So he actually went up to 50+ readings per hour. Office then asked him to return to the office, return the device & he doesn't need to come back to work the next day. The reason they gave him was that he's too slow & hence not suitable for this job. They said this is his 2nd week & he needs to have picked up on his speed. I said to hubs, "No, you started on Wednesday, today's your 4th day. Their expectations are unrealistic. How can they expect you to do 91 when a seasoned worker can only do 70?"

Anyway, every night he has to spend lots of time studying the route & he's not being paid for that. So it's back to job hunting for hubs. Well, at least we still have my income. I better buck up & prove myself worthy of employment. So far I've been on track, picking up fast & working efficiently (I hope). I'm going to do recovery tomorrow & subsequently start scrubbing. I hope I can pick up just as fast as I did circulating.