Efficiency Expert

My husband's first job as a nuclear engineer was at the Dresden power plant near Morris, Illinois. It was owned and operated by Commonwealth Edison. There were several engineers on site. Many were recent college graduates and newlyweds as well. Since it was nothing unusual for them to stay at work 12 or more hours at a time, they were in the habit of calling their wives a couple of times a day just to check in. In the morning they might call and make sure she was awake and getting ready to go to work or school. In the afternoon, they just called to say hi. There were two phone lines at the plant. One with the local phone company and another direct line to the corporate office in Chicago.

Since this was in 1974, it was at least twenty years before anyone had a cell phone. The calls home to the wives were made on company phones and company time. 

About a year after Commonwealth Edison hired my husband, they retained an efficiency expert to find ways to cut costs within the company.  The man traveled from site to site and studied procedures. At the Dresden power plant, he observed employees making personal phone calls. The engineers were taken to task. 

They informed the guy that marital bliss was maintained through the phone cord. Nevertheless, he told them to cut back. They protested the company was committing telephonus interruptus.

One day my husband answered his desk phone to discover the engineer at the desk next to his was on the line. 

"Bill, why are you calling me? You're sitting right beside me."

Bill laid the receiver down, leaned closer and whispered. "I called your desk long distance on the Chicago line. Their efficiency expert will never figure this one out."

They continued with their work but left the two lines open for an hour or so.

Rule 41: Never tell an engineer he can't do something.