As some of you may know, I worked for people that went to jail for their business practices. I left prior to that, afraid I might get caught up in their shenanigans. It was not that they were so clever and shady. They were just plain dumb.
Here is an example that had nothing to do with their illegal activities, but does highlight the dumb that prevailed.
Like most shops, the 14 man shop I ran for the owner had a molder, a few ripsaws and a gang rip saw. As a result we had big bundles of rippings- 4' around and 16' long - going out the door almost every day. These accumulated until they could load up 2-3 flatbed lumber trucks and take them to an amenable gravel quarry and dump these into the bottom of the quarry (200' deep), then drop some stone slurry and other trash on top to keep the rippings from floating back up as the quarry re-filled with water. Well, yes, this was illegal, but not the reason anyone went to jail.
We had looked at co-generation of power, or giving bundles away so people could start a kindling business, and other ways to get rid of the bundles. One day the owner, who's cocktail hour started about 8:30 AM, was busy directing a concrete forming crew, pointing and yelling in his usual management style. Now, besides our Architectural Shop, this place also had a large lumberyard selling dimension lumber to building contractors. The place was huge, about 20 acres, and there were always many things going on. The reason I did not take much notice of the concrete crew. Then someone told me the owner figured out what to do with the rippings. Immediately, it became my area, my potential problem, my thing to steer and get under reasonable control. I found the owner, wagging his arms in the air, trying to explain to the concrete formers what he wanted. There were of course, no drawings, no sketches, no plans. Just shouting and arm waving.
Then I heard the word - 'incinerator' - and my blood ran cold. "Incinerator" I say, sounds like you have a new project. The owner was of course mumbling under his breath about dumb forming crew, stupid fork truck operators, etc.
But, in time, they formed up a 6' wide x 20' long x 10' deep concrete box with walls about 18" thick. A chimney out of 12 x 12 block (no liner, of course) was centered along the back wall, and there were 4-6 12" vents, residential HVAC type, along the floor. This all sat on a 12" thick concrete drive. Capping it all off were two 5' x 6' -3/8" steel plates, hinged on one side, to act as doors. An exceedingly obviously flimsy crank mechanism was rigged to open and close the doors.
So after a few days building, the incinerator was ready to be loaded with wood. I suggested a single bundle until we saw how it worked. The owner overrode me, and yelled for it to be filled and the doors closed. A match was lit.
Smoke curled around and came and went, and for a while it looked as if the darn thing could not draw. Then the smoke diminished, and the flames began to dance in and out of the vents. Then the chimney put up black smoke. Thick black smoke. The velocity increased until it looked and sounded like a jet engine. Sparks added to the threat. the sounds grew louder.
This, I remind you, is in the middle of a lumberyard with several million dollars inventory.
I was ready to call 911, when I heard the sirens. Sure enough, passerby had seen the smoke and called them. But the owner would not let the firemen get near the structure. He insisted it be allowed to burn. "Working fine!!" he said. The lids were curling up like a potato chip. The smoke, now white, covered the entire small town like a fog. Traffic was stopping, first to see the fire then to see perhaps the entire lumberyard go up in flames. The walls were cracking, going off like artillery. The lids were cherry red. I think some parts of the concrete were a dull red also.
After a few hours, it began to cool down. The firemen doused what was left, after it settled a bit. The next day, true to form, no one mentioned the event to the owner. Everyone else tried to outdo the others with their description of what they saw. But the owner never said a word.
After a few days, a crew came in and demoed the monster, and hauled it all away. The steel was recovered, amazing us with the liquefied parts.
Shortly, there was nothing but a blackened shadow on the concrete.
And never a word about the thing. I mentioned that it was good the insurance company had not heard about it. Only then was it explained to me that there was no fire insurance on the properties since the Owner liked to smoke at the lumber yard, and allowed any/all smokers to smoke in the yard.
Dumb on top of dumb.