Just thought of another story
I was sitting here thinking about some of the build conditions on my truck, and how they would never fly today, such as:
* Door gaps that vary as you walk your way around the periphery of the door
* Adhesive moldings that fall off
* "Skunk stripes" of body color that peek out from behind wheel opening moldings (when looking into the wheel housings)
* Exposed fasteners in the interior
* Exposed sheet metal (painted body color) in the interior
and etc - stuff like that.
Anyway, I thought to myself "...that's how we made 'em".
So - that's what made me think of this: back when I was at the assembly plant the UAW (the local union) was very militant. We were always butting heads over build quality and personnel issues and there was very much a "us vs them" mentality with the plant management.
As a result, "somebody" (...I don't know who...) got the idea that we should have a plant "mascot". They went so far as to design and build this giant caped "cat" costume, like a superhero, complete with a huge fuzzy plastic head. The idea was that this cat would make appearances down on the assembly line, visiting and shaking hands with the workers, generally doing zany things to lift our morale and thereby improve product quality. His image would appear on our stationary and cartoon pictures were painted on the walls in the audit area, cafeteria, and other areas where the hourly employees congregate.
They even had a contest to "name" the Quality cat, with the winner earning some highly desirable gift or activity (...I'm sure it was a day of paid vacation...
). When all the results were in the winning name was chosen....
....wait for it....
"Howie Makem".