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Jack Case: Employees' stories (04/19/2006)

By D. Ray Smith: Over the past several weeks as the Jack Case articles have been published on YSource, several employees have contacted me with positive feedback regarding the stories. Many of you have also told me your personal “Jack Case stories.” Not all of the stories are ones I can publish, but many are fond memories and good stories. The following stories come from current Y 12 employees and retirees.

Bob Presley shares the following story.

David Sisson and I made and shipped a special round part that had been made for Los Alamos National Laboratory. The part was packed and shipped to LANL by motor freight. When the part arrived at LANL it was no longer round, but oval shaped having two flat sides.

The irate customer called Jack Case and said he wanted the persons responsible for making and shipping that part fired. Jack told the customer to ship the part back and we would make it good and get to the bottom of the problem. The day the part arrived back at Y 12 the customer from LANL and Jack Case were present for the opening of the returned part.

When the shipping container was opened the customer became more irate. Seems that the shipping department at LANL had used the same shipping container to send the part back in which we had sent the part to LANL, and had also used motor freight as the carrier. When packing the part for the return trip LANL had rotated the part in the shipping container 90 degrees making the part square when it arrived, now having four flat sides.

After looking at the part Jack asked the customer from LANL, “Just who should be fired?” but got no answer. Jack laughed, telling David and me to make sure the part got packed correctly next time. Jack walked out to his big green Buick, got in, and drove off, leaving the irate customer still fuming and standing on the dock alone.
Speaking of the “big green Buick,” Ed Tilley shares a story.

However, before you read Tilley's story, it will help you to know that “Tape Talk” was a weekly meeting held on Monday mornings at 7 a.m. in the 9212 No. 1 conference room, located on the second floor of Building 9723 25. (Long-time Y 12’ers understand this perfectly.) Before the meeting an audio tape was generated by a key person in each of the various production departments by passing it from one department to another, each department adding significant accomplishments or problem areas. Thus, the audio tape contained a record of the week's activities, highlighting any significant accomplishments and especially noting any troubling issues in each of the production areas of responsibility. The finished tape was then played in Case's “Tape Talk” meeting with all the division managers.

Now for Ed’s story.

It was Ed’s job to set up the audio tape player and to start the audio tape when Mr. Case gave him the signal, which was almost always worded in his low gravelly voice as, “Let’s get the show on the road.” One of Ed’s fears was that the tape player would fail each time he hit the play button, but it never did.

Ed recalled that it was Mr. Case’s practice to drive his “big green Buick” right up to the front door of the entrance to 9723 25 and just get out, leaving the keys in the car. The unspoken rule was that someone moved the car and parked it for him, and right before he came out of “Tape Talk” the car was brought back to the spot in front of the door. The parking in front of 9723 25 has been a problem for a long time, huh?

You may recall that another unspoken rule was that your division manager had better not learn anything new about something happening from “Tape Talk.” It was your job to be sure the division manager knew everything before it was put on tape. Communications tended to work better that way.

I want to thank each of you who have given me positive feedback about these articles on Jack Case. I also want to solicit your continued involvement by sending me stories we can share. If you have a “Jack Case” story, please email them to me at smithdr@y12.doe.gov, or call me at 576 7781.
 

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