Then he missed a few days and was back and Marty said that it was just his guess that Monte had one more chance and it wasn't something he heard from a boss. However, he did hear that there were 3 people who really want Monte gone. Steve Gottschling, who is one of the production managers of Paint, wants him gone. Now, normally the chain of command goes as follows: Regular employee < Area manager < Supervisor < Production manager < Vice president < President < Owner

Ed Read, the vice president of personnel, has about as much power as any of those above him, though. Area managers are in charge of one station. Supervisors are in charge of several area managers. Production managers are in charge of all the supervisors in a plant. Ed Read is in charge of all the production managers.

However, some things got mucked up in Paint. It used to be that Walter (Walkie) Franz was the production manager of all of Paint, his half-brother, Darryl Emery, was the supervisor of all of Paint (seems like the same job if they are over all the same people), and Steve Gottschling was the production manager of overnights.

Well, Steve was so good that they brought him to days and put him in place of Darryl, who pretty much sucked. Darryl became the supervisor of the area managers of buffing. Then, Steve got bumped up to Walkie's level, so they now share the position of production manager of all of Paint, though Steve is more over the preppers and painters (I'm a prepper) and Walkie is more over buffing and the final detail area, though he has a little more clout than Steve. With that said, Steve Gottschling, Walkie Franz, and especially Ed Read want Monte gone. So, why isn't he? After he missed those few days, he then went on to miss 2 weeks in a row. During that time, my boss, Jonathon Inbody, changed the layout rotation. Instead of Monte and me taking turns pulling and pushing on even coaches and Marty and Laci taking turns on the odd coaches, he just took Monte out of the whole rotation and made it so it would be Marty, Laci, and me taking turns pulling. However, Laci decided doing the sides was too much for her liking and would stick to the front and back. That meant that Marty and I would take turns pushing and pulling on the sides for every coach. Awesome!

It was going great and we were totally kicking butt. Then, when Monte came back, Jonathon told me that the layout rotation would remain the same and Monte would just do the back cap. I was later told by Laci that the only reason Monte is even doing the back cap is because she really doesn't want to do it. Jonathon is favoring me more and more above Monte. Monte's losing his power. He can no longer go to Jonathon and talk bad about me and get results.

However, one of the (and usually the only) thing(s) Monte did besides layout was masking off the entry door. In his absence, I would do it and enjoyed it. I would bring my awesome CDs from home and listen to them from inside the coach to the delight of the people working in there. With Monte back, he naturally went back to his routine, which meant I had to find something else to do and get out of the perfectly-timed routine I had made, that included the entry door.

After he did the first one and when we got the next coach in the late morning, I suggested that we alternate doing the entry door. Well, I'll just give the dialog:

Me: Hey, what say you about alternating on the entry door?
Him: Alternating? No. What would I do then?
Me: Well, what I usually do while you're doing it: masking off the windows or bay doors or something.
Him: No. Hell no.

Then he repeated the "hell no" with a smile when he walked by me again. So, what do I do? I gave in and just went to do other stuff. But I wasn't happy. I told Marty what happened and he said that I was talking to the wrong person, I should go talk to Jonathon, and that I need to stand up for myself.

So, I went and found Jonathon in the paint booth and this is how it went:

Me: So here's the deal. I like doing the entry door, but so does Monte. I think we should alternate.
Him: Yeah, okay. Let's do that. Let him do this one and tell him you are doing the next one so he doesn't have a long fight.
Me: Okay. When I brought the idea to him he asked what else he would do.
Him: He can just find something else to do like bay doors or something.

So, on the next coach, I got all my stuff ready, and when Monte came up to do the door, it went like this:

Me: Oh, hey. I'm doing this one because we're alternatin' (I didn't intend it to be pronounced alternatin', but it came out that way).
Him: (smiling) No. No, we're not.
Me: Yeah. The boss said so.
Him: You fuckin' instigated it!
Me: (a little confused) Um... yeah...
Him: Payback's a bitch. I hope you know that. (after a minute or so) I want to do the entry door because I want to see Lauren before she transfers.

Lauren is the gal from the previous station who grouts the tile while we prep it. She's pretty cute for a 30-something and, according to Laci, Monte has been talking about her all day. Monte just wanted to look at her bend over and stuff.

Well, then he went around the coach. A few minutes later, he and Jonathon went outside to have a chat. Laci came from where they were and was laughing and said that it went like this:

Jonathon: Who do you think did the entry door all the times you were gone?
Monte: Jason Reed.
Jonathon: Yeah. You can't just come back after 2 weeks and kick him off it.

Laci said that Monte was pissed after that and had to take it outside. After at least 15 minutes, they came back in and Monte came up to me with a pissed-off smile on his face and here's what was said:

Him: You bastard. Payback's a bitch.
Me: So how was the talk?
Him: It was alright.
Me: ...You okay?
Him: Yeah. Man, I was hot.

He ended up papering the windshield and that's it, which is a much smaller job than the entry door. After we were done, the conversation went like this:

Him: Well, it wasn't that bad. I only had to paper the windshield.
Me: See, it's not that bad. And plus, you got a better view of her from there, anyway.
Him: Heh, yeah. (dirty look) You bastard.
Me: Well, you know, I've taken a liking to this thing.
Him: Yeah?
Me: Yeah. Plus, I can listen to much better and louder music than what plays over the PA.

I wonder what payback he plans to inflict upon me. Oh well.