My dad loved the aerospace industry, and most of the time, the men he worked with. They called him “Frenchie” because of his French surname and quick wit. His temper was even quicker.
Frenchie delivered tongue lashings daily in those pre-HR-will-write-you-up days. Double shifts were the norm then, no room for whiners or slackers in the Space Race. You’d better have a damn good excuse to call out, like a broken leg or your wife going into labor. Be a man (expletives deleted) or risk the double-barreled wrath of Frenchie.
Frenchie’s been gone 26 years now, but his short-fuse temper lives on in me. Even after almost 20 years working in aerospace my temper’s been under wraps. Until Thursday.
Two back-to-back, fruitless telecons brought me to the brink. If I heard some idiot say “That’s awesome” one more time, I would surely puke. What they were saying wasn’t one bit awesome unless we were assessing the level of fact-free bullshit their slides contained.
They did not think what I had to say was awesome since it was the cold, hard truth. Was I the only one who had the balls to say it? Before I could unmute my mic again and go full Frenchie on them, my cell phone rang. The boss needed to see me. I dropped the telecon link and rushed breathlessly next door.
Turns out it was about something unrelated. I thanked him profusely for getting me out of that telecon. Going full Frenchie would have been a career-ending move for Frenchie’s daughter. Definitely not awesome.
— Suztek
Frenchie delivered tongue lashings daily in those pre-HR-will-write-you-up days. Double shifts were the norm then, no room for whiners or slackers in the Space Race. You’d better have a damn good excuse to call out, like a broken leg or your wife going into labor. Be a man (expletives deleted) or risk the double-barreled wrath of Frenchie.
Frenchie’s been gone 26 years now, but his short-fuse temper lives on in me. Even after almost 20 years working in aerospace my temper’s been under wraps. Until Thursday.
Two back-to-back, fruitless telecons brought me to the brink. If I heard some idiot say “That’s awesome” one more time, I would surely puke. What they were saying wasn’t one bit awesome unless we were assessing the level of fact-free bullshit their slides contained.
They did not think what I had to say was awesome since it was the cold, hard truth. Was I the only one who had the balls to say it? Before I could unmute my mic again and go full Frenchie on them, my cell phone rang. The boss needed to see me. I dropped the telecon link and rushed breathlessly next door.
Turns out it was about something unrelated. I thanked him profusely for getting me out of that telecon. Going full Frenchie would have been a career-ending move for Frenchie’s daughter. Definitely not awesome.
— Suztek
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