[#spillthebeans] What would happen if you lost your checklist?

Brady Gunn was the kind of guy who loved a routine. Each morning his alarm would wake him before first light, and as the world would come to life around him, he’d eat his bowl of cereal and drink his class of juice. Of course, this was followed by his first and then second coffee, which he drank whilst perusing the daily newspapers. Brady would then rise from his seat, shower, take the same route to work, being careful to avoid potholes and to take the back streets to avoid the traffic lights. Then he would begin his work in a methodical manner, working through his checklist, careful to tick each item off.

Brady, of course, loved his checklists. He depended on them to keep himself dependable. He worked as the maintenance supervisor at the local coffee production facility. There, beans were taken from their giant sacks and ground into the finest blends to be shipped around the world. The company marketed itself with an Italianised flair, despite none of the employees or beans ever having been to Europe.

Brady, in his dependableness, would first start by checking the cogs in the machines, making certain that there was no build up between them that might lead to a malfunction. Then, he would focus on the compactor, recognising that a well aligned production line would lead to higher levels of efficiency. Systematically, he would then make observations at each of the critical point in the facility’s production line, taking note of temperatures and any vibrations, measuring them within the acceptable limits of the machine. This task he repeated many times throughout the day.

Brady’s days ran like clockwork, he worked meticulously, and he worked to his schedule. As a consequence the machinery in the plant had been operational for over 1624 days. A day count matching his reign in his role as Chief Maintenance Technician. He was proud of his achievement and, he was certain, given the optimisations he’d put in place to support the production, that he would continue to build his flawless reputation.

However, despite receiving favour from his superiors, Brady was often the joke of the tearoom. His co-workers would jeer each time he finished his lunchbreak on the exact second it was up, and the dependence he had on his clipboard. They would scoff, ‘What would happen if you lost your checklist?’ and they would incite panic in his heart as he would come into work and they would laugh, ‘Your clipboard is missing!’. Brady did not see the humour in their mocking but recoiled as he understood the absolute danger in that eventuation.

It was unsurprising then that today started like any other. Brady was up to meet the morning birdsong, and, having had his cereal, juice and two mugs of coffee, he clocked into work at precisely the right time, having taken the backstreets to avoid traffic lights. He walked into the staff admin room and stopped; he looked across the room to his desk; his clipboard was not sitting next to his pencil case. Horror swiftly fell over Brady and his knees buckled slightly as he dragged himself forward, imagining the terror of what the loss might mean. On reaching the desk, Brady’s breathing was becoming strained, and he was having to take deep breaths in to control himself. As he had feared, the clipboard was not there. He felt there was no way he could cope with the calamity, and cried out to the plant’s manager who was sitting beyond him, ‘You must shut the plant! How could we possibly go on!’.

The confused manager, Phil, looked startled. He’d never seen Brady so undependable, and he attempted to placate him and reassure him. He even took a brand new clipboard from the staff stationary cupboard; it was even the same colour blue as the missing one. But Brady could only pull at his hair, the strain of the situation overtaking him. He continued to cry out, ‘But my checklists! We’re all doomed!’ Phil was perplexed, but insisted Brady move to the factory floor and that the routines of his day would naturally take over.

Hesitantly then, Brady moved from the office and began to stare out to the machinery in front of him. He took a deep breath in, and then out. The magnitude of the situation had been lost to his manager, but it continued to prey on his fears. He felt lost and did not know where to start, and 48 minutes later he had found that his feet had not moved and he remained entirely still. Around him, the production line was in full swing, crushing and grinding and processing and bagging. The world seemed as it ought to be. But, appearances can be deceptive.

A whistling crunch started to be heard in the far corner of the factory, which was followed by a bang. A small cog had been flung from a machine, followed by a second and a third, and then a much larger one. Part by part the machinery was falling apart. The conveyor belt, in turn, which earlier had a small vibration which was slightly irregular, now was bouncing and churning and coffee was being thrown from the belt into the air and across the floor, before the belt ripped, choking the production line. This in turn led to a spillover in the compactor, whose temperature levels were exceedingly high. Warning lights began to beep and an announcement came over the factory floor, ‘The whole plant is going to explode, get out now!’ which was followed by feet thundering to the exits. Yet, in all the carnage Brady’s feet didn’t move; as beans and machine parts were flying about his head, he felt a sense of satisfaction as he recalled the jeer, ‘What would happen if you lost your checklist?’.