The at-bat is taking a toll on the pitcher, and myself as well, but I feel like the more I have him throw, the better advantage I have on him. The count is all evened up at 2-2 and I can see the stress in the pitcher’s face. I continue to survey the pitcher and let thoughts of what his next move could be run through my mind. This next pitch could be it. I could strike out on this very next pitch and that would be it. I could let the team down, but I can’t think like that. I brush it off and step back in.
Things are starting to feel like I’ve been at NEC for years now. The routine is pretty simple, and I feel like I have worked for this company my whole life. The Ferrari dealership is going smoothly even though we have constant changes with it. I have been to a couple other job sites such as Conneaut and LA Fitness in Natick. Everything is going pretty smoothly, except for a few little bumps with Ferrari.
I've attend the Ferrari meeting every week since I started, and recently we have been having some trouble with materials. First of all, let’s start with electrical mishaps. Tom Hannon, our Superintendent, had been wiring everything and we were almost all set with it, but the tape lighting that we wanted to put up in the cove for the showroom turned out to be defective. There was something wrong with the solder point on the lights, so they would flicker on and off at certain points on the chain. So, we had the Feelux representative come to Ferrari to discuss alternate suggestions. Upon arrival, she admitted that she was not a huge fan of tape lighting. Our biggest concern was that we needed a light that was flexible enough to go around a radius that we had in the showroom. A normal hard set fixture would not work because it needed to be able to bend just slightly. She pulled out a monorail type product which had some flexibility to it. These lights would snap onto this rail and feed off of a power pack that the rail is attached — simple enough for me to understand without any previous experience with this lighting.
The main concern was whether or not they would have to rewire everything that was in the ceiling due to wattage changes in the lights — but luckily for us the lights used the same wiring as the tape lights. We are all set now, right? We have the replacements, but of course it could never go that smoothly. The aluminum track that was up around the ceiling for the lights to sit in was too small for this new fixture. So, that pushes back being able to put these lights up because the current track has to come down, and a new one that is wider has to go up.
We have been in the Ferrari side of this building for a couple months now, and we are trying to finish up so that we can move into the reception phase and then Maserati. But, all these little changes and problems with materials and lead time are causing us some problems. It’s not anyone’s fault, but it is frustrating when something goes wrong. We are waiting on the arrival of these new lights for the ceiling, and it really should only take a week so we should be okay. The only problem was that the lights got shipped to the wrong place, and then sent back to the New Jersey offices. As of now we are still waiting on the delivery of these lights so that we can finally board and plaster the ceiling completely.
With all these changes now we keep having to edit the schedule, and come up with other ideas for things. The little problems range from a defective product to an inspector not showing up on the date we had made the inspection. All these small things are just causing a big problem. After some previous changes we had planned to be done on the Ferrari side by early August, but now we do not even plan to start tiling the showroom until August. All these things just build up and cause a longer schedule.
I realize I just rattled off a whole bunch of frustrating facts about the job, but there’s a reason behind it. I realized as I thought of all the little problems that were going on, every nitty gritty detail of this project, that I was getting frustrated with it too. That this was not just some job that I went to everyday. I realized that since I had been on this project for so long that I felt like it was my own project, and all this frustration was because I personally cared about getting this job done. Even though I am just an intern at the company, I felt like this job really mattered to me because of all the things I picked up on. I felt passionate towards the job and that was the satisfying part for me personally because I knew that this was not just some job I was doing for some money as a college kid. It showed me that I wanted to be here and wanted to help to the best of my abilities. So, as I lean back once again in this box rearing up to swing I stare at the ball coming in waiting to take it for a ride. The pitch is coming in slow, so I sit back and wait. It misses in the dirt. Ball 3.
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