I hear you, Mate ... and I "feel your pain", as it were.
Throughout my career (such as it has been), I've been banging on about life-cycle costs of equipment, properly conducted preventive maintenance, spare parts scaling, proper training for users and technicians, decent workshops, full technical information, quality repairs, well-designed equipment management software, the "complete equipment" concept, decent tools and test equipment ... and all the rest.
I have fought the good fight, been fired more than twice, upset countless people along the way, made myself ill ... and all of that too. I have been sneered at for being "the nurses' advocate" (what's wrong with that?), called a "f***ing old woman" (for actually
cleaning equipment, no less - I wonder where that tosser is now?), and more unpleasant names that I'd best not repeat here.
Why am I telling you all this? Just to illustrate how heartily sick I am that, here we are in in 2007, and the same old shite is still raining down! Why won't "they" listen, and when will "they" learn? Answer, "never", if my thirty-plus years at it is anything to go by!
Personally, I'm not bitter, just a bit
tired, shall we say. I would add a note about something that
has changed over the years, though. And that's my own realisation (as a "kit-oriented" type of guy) that the job is not so much about supporting the
kit itself, as supporting the people that use the kit! That might sound obvious to some (many), but it took a long time for me to fully grasp it. And it's a worthy cause!
So, what's the answer? Well, it's a long hard road. We just have to keep on doing what we know is right, keep the faith, find contentment in knowing what we do is worthwhile, and keep on fighting the jerks! In a word, maintain our own
integrity. And continue to expose the greedy
gougers that leech off our backs.
Here endeth the lesson (it is Sunday morning, after all)!