or “Why Chinese companies can sell stuff so cheap - Part 1″
Setting: Boss Yuan’s office at a factory somewhere in China.
Yuan: So Li, tell me how is everything going in the factory.
Li: Boss everything is going well. We have almost completed this new order going to America and the containers should be loaded tomorrow afternoon. We did have a small setback however.
Yuan: Really? Why is that?
Li: Xiao Zhang put his hand in one of the ventiliation fans and it cut off 3 of his fingers. He was trying to impress the girls in the factory by showing them he could stop the fan with his hand. Apparently he has done this before with success but this time he miscalculated.
Yuan: Xiao Zhang is a real dumbass!
Li: I agree!
Yuan: Well, when he returns to work give him a job at the milling machine. He can operate that with only one hand!
Everybody bursts out in laughter.
Setting: A factory somewhere in America.
Jones: Smith, I just finished reading the production reports and it appears that we have had a slow-down in production.
Smith: Yes sir we did. One of the workers put his hand in one of the ventilation fans and it cut off 3 of his fingers. He was trying to impress the girls in the factory by showing them he could stop the fan with his hand. Apparently he has done this before with success but this time he miscalculated.
Jones: Oh my God! Were the OSHA approved fan guards installed?
Smith: Yes, they were installed. Remember we spent $1M last year to get everything up to OSHA requirements. But the worker removed the guard and was able to insert his hand. OSHA is still coming to investigate and we will have to close down the line during the
investigation. Also, the worker is threatening to sue because we did not provide adequate warnings about the dangers involved in placing your hand in a fan. He will probably go on disability because he will not be able to work with only one hand. I have already called the legal team and they are considering our options but they feel that we will probably have to reach some type of settlement with the worker.
Jones: Well I guess we should be more careful in the future. If we pay out another settlement this year we will need to increase the price of our products.
’nuff said.
