The idiots i work with...

It all started with a game. A computer game. Till the time I had laid my hands on it, cars were just a mode of transportation. Some cheap, some insanely expensive and many totally practical. But not until I had given the game a try, I truly came to appreciate those machines. Initially it was all about tweaking my game car to be fastest amongst all. I rarely worked my gaming skills. To me it was all about the car. The smarter the machine, more is the ease with which you control it. That’s the way I look at this. Humans can’t be trusted with their hands. The little left for them to do, the better. Gradually from the game, I came to think more about all the cars. Particularly the shiny, exotic ones. The tech used in them, the brains, the mechanics, the balance of speed and luxury…every aspect of an automobile would send an energising current through my body. So you can imagine how I must have felt when I received my first SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) student membership card. Sure it’s a fairly ordinary thing, but an own card with the words “Automobile” on them meant something to this kid. And when there was an announcement in class about taking part in an ATV manufacturing competition, I was ecstatic. Engineering would finally become awesome. A team of 19 working non-stop, designing every smallest possible detail about a car, it was a dream.

 I was in for a rude lesson in reality. Don’t get me wrong, I had an excellent time working and studying for the competition. The scrutiny we had to undergo was awesome as well. The problem here was not the hard work, but the people I had to share the work with. At the very beginning, we had divided ourselves into different groups, with each group given a specific detail to work on (Brakes, steering, suspensions etc…), so in the end we can have an efficient working environment with a high success rate.

As if that worked out. It was about a month since we had returned from our summer breaks. Me and a friend had done quite a handful of research on ATVs and where I was ready with detailing for a few parts and the innovations to be used, he was ready with the rest of the structure. Everything seemed to be in place. All we needed were the details from the other 17 to put together the rest of the design. That was like 50% of the total work. We were in a mess. People had simply not given any thought to the detailing, taking it for granted that I and my friend would get them done along with our own stuff, since we were the ones “MOST INTERESTED” in this.

A Very Early Design On My First Attempt

Out of the nineteen, 12 of them refused to do any sort of work at all. 4 of them claimed to have read a little for the event while the two of us had to really go overboard with all the designing on our own. Bad experience, especially with a deadline looming over. Anyways, we got through with that with a decent result, which those”@#^$%*#^” promptly took the credit for. I liked working and all, but it saddened me to see people use our efforts to their convenience. Well that was forgotten soon enough. What was done was done. We would have to be careful about the team in the future.

Two months later came about another competition from SAE. We had to build a race car. F1 style. Passions went soaring again. But this time we were a little smarter. We made a smaller team of eight and decided to go for it. Work went on quite smoothly, with limited people. But then those who had not made it to the team, came about, throwing about every pessimistic dialogue they could deliver.

“Waste of time…” they say.

“We could not do it then. How do they think they can manage it now?”

We.  WE?  I’ve almost had it with these fools hanging around. This is about as frustrating as it gets. I you can’t do the thing for yourself, at least let the other person give it a try. The idiots would try everything they can to discourage us from taking part. Is this how messy it gets in the professional offices too? Is the world such a sad place?

A few days for the competition remain. I’m waiting to see how it pans out. A selection would be an awesome slap on their faces. It’s Passion vs “the other idiots”. Lets see who wins…