It’s been one of those grey, drab days here in Rita country. The leaden overcast kept the temperature in the fifties all day, and the humidity and the breeze made working outside a really nasty deal.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to work outside. The morning was mostly consumed with a meeting with a client and the engineering firm that is blocking out the next stage of his plant’s expansion. We hashed out some of the technical framework of the electrical power system which will make all this stuff work. I enjoy these sorts of conversations, and the engineers we’re dealing with are well informed and interesting to talk with. Morning was a “plus”.

Afternoon. Well, two of my technicians ahd to travel a hundred plus miles to a city east of us to take a test. People in our particular line of work can be certified by a trade organization which is specific to our business. All the technicians with the exception of the guy we hired in October are at least Level II. One is a Level III, and me, I’m Level IV. The test is proctored and covers a wide range of knowledge of electrical power technology, theory and practice. Both these guys today are Level II, and they were taking the exam for Level III. And they both missed it… I have two unhappy technicians.

The truth of the matter is that we’re not talking about a couple of duds here. The senior of the two has ten years experience and has led projects with two dozen technicians working under his supervision. There’s hardly a job that may come up that I cannot send him out and expect the outcome to be positive. The other tech is five years in the business, right after two years of school, and I’ve had him working with me for the past three months, and he’s good, too.

So why no happy faces? Well, the test isn’t quite a case of “define the universe and give three examples”, but it does cover the panoply of the business. And some parts of the business are parts we just don’t get an opportunity to mess with, so they don’t get the exposure.

That leaves me in the unhappy position of having two very well qualified technicians who are upset that they did not achieve the certification they expected to have. We’ll get past this, and there’s a retest session in November, but I hurt for them. We’re a little office. We’re close. And I can’t help but feel bad.

I see more skull sessions coming when times are slow…