Deadlines

[Phillip Ellis 0]

PERSONAL LOG

June 7, 2003

 

>Begin Log <

 

The sun had set along time ago. But sounds of men working, of metal being welded and sparks were still flying in Spokane, Washington.

 

Phillip finished putting together a trellis for a bridge lighting panel and sighed deeply. It was past midnight and he hadn’t stopped working in two days. Despite the setback from the Vulcans, their was still a deadline to be met, and by golly it was gonna be met.

 

Phil was a lot of things. But he wasn’t someone to miss a deadline, and neither was General Electric. The order had came straight from corporate—the teams would work until the bridge lighting was done, regardless of how many man hours that would be.

 

Phil shook his head. Working men to death wasn’t all that efficient, but what did he know? He wasn’t a Vulcan after all. Just as he was getting ready to move onto another trellis, one of the Vulcan safety ‘experts’ came strolling over to ‘inspect’ the piece Phil had just finished.

 

“Hmmm…,” the Vulcan nodded emotionlessly as he tapped something on a data pad. “Mr…Ellis…rewire section B3-K of this trellis, its not satisfactory.”

 

Phil’s mouth dropped open; he did it exactly how it was supposed to be done. “What d’ya mean it ain’t satisfactory?”

 

The Vulcan looked at him flatly. “Exactly what it sounds like, would you like me to sue another one of your primitive euphemisms? I believe ‘It is not up to snuff’ would be the proper phrase no?”

 

Phil could tell he was turning a light shade of red. “Now Mr. Vulcan, we have done everything y’all asked for. We completely re-did this section because y’all said it wasn’t up to ‘your’ standards. Fine. So we start all over again workin’ round the clock with your designs. I did this exactly as y’all told us to do…and what do you tell me I need to do….do it over AGAIN? Now, where I come from, that ain’t right. And you better tell me why I gotta do it again.”

 

Most of the other workers had started to notice as Phil’s Alabama drawl was getting more and more pronounced. The foreman had taken notice too and was making his way over.

 

The Vulcan was still standing there unmoved. That was the thing that got Phil more than anything else—how they could rip you off and keep a straight face. Blasted Green Blooded Pointy Eared…

 

Phil’s thoughts were cut off by the voice of the foreman. “Phil what’s going on here.”

 

He didn’t even get to answer…blasted Vulcans. “Nothing,” the Vulcan said quickly. “Mr. Ellis and I were having a discussion about why this trellis needs further work. I assure you, you don’t need to trouble yourself any further.”

 

“Phil?”

 

Phil begrudgingly nodded. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. I’ll make sure it’s done.”

 

“Alright then.”

 

As the Foreman walked away, the Vulcan spoke again. “If you look again you will notice that at section B3-K there are some insulated wires that aren’t using the new insulation we have supplied, that could cause a potential risk if the Challenger was attacked with energy weapons.”

 

Phil looked and sure enough, it wasn’t the right wire. “Well I am sorry for all the ruckus, and thanks for pointing that out too me—but next time tell me what you just told me and not what you did the first time, ok?”

 

“So Noted…”

 

With that the Vulcan was gone and onto pester someone else. Again Phil really wondered if those Vulcans knew how annoying they really were, but he supposed that was just their nature. They really were trying to help the humans—but wow were they smug about it.

 

>End Log<

Edited June 11, 2004 by Phillip Ellis