Sometimes, The Messenger Isn't What Needs Killing

We know Farmer H has a problem expressing himself. Even way before that time I told him I was going to have a story published in an anthology, and he said, in his typical way of endorsing/giving permission for everything under the sun, even those things that don’t concern him, “Go ahead, let them publicize it.”

This morning, to make sure I could not enjoy my chair nap, Farmer H stood behind me and said, “Well, I’m off to work. I don’t even want to go. Yesterday I sat through a three hour meeting of this Lean Manufacturing they’re trying to shove down my throat.”

“What’s that?”

“Good question.”

“No. What is it?”

“You tell me.”

“I want to know what you’re complaining about.”

“I couldn’t tell you.”

“You started to tell me.”

“That’s all I know. It’s a bunch of bull they’re trying to shove down my throat at work.”

“Well…if you’re not going to tell me what it is, I guess I can’t help you.”

“Whatever.”

Huh. I suppose Lean Manufacturing is better for you than fatty, high-cholesterol manufacturing. Still, I had no idea what Farmer H was talking about. Which is a pretty common occurrence.

So when I got to school this morning, I looked up Lean Manufacturing. Of course I went right to Wikipedia. Because, you know, I figured that would be the simplest, most basic explanation I could find.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing

Apparently, I figured wrong. I read through all that, and, like Farmer H sitting through a three-hour meeting, I couldn’t tell you any more about Lean Manufacturing than I knew before I started. Sure, Toyota runs on that model. Farmer H’s factory is no Toyota.

To me, the jaded year-away-from-retirement teacher, this looks like the real-world version of Common Core.