re: Are our infamous Production Operators seriously overrated?

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Do us all a favor and read the shut down manual before the next cold snap.

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You sound ignorant.

A main problem was adjacent co gens that provide steam and power going offline suddenly which messed up shut down protocols and all sorts of other stuff. Has zero to do with operators not following procedure

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It’s odd, the hate some of you clowns have for operators? If your jobs are so awesome and fulfilling, what does it matter to y’all what someone else does for a living? Baffling I tell ya!!

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all I know is that Jody is glad things are back to normal, pulling double/triple duty while plant baws were stuck at the plant

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All he has to do is sit around in a cushy 24 hour anti-fatigue chair, watch some gauges, turn a few valves every now and then and write it all in a log. But no, we get a few days a cold weather and they cant shut down the plant correctly leading to expensive sludge stuck in piping from Lake Charles to Corpus. ultimately this will lead to higher prices across the nation on too many products to name here.

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You have no fricking idea what you are talking about. I have worked in chem plants in Ops for the last 25 yrs and 40 total.

I once questioned early in my career why the boiler operator was the highest paid operator in the plant. One day I was sitting in Control Room on a Sunday afternoon and we were all just chit chatting stuff and the Boiler Operator got an alarm on his screen and he looked at it for 5-10 sec and I remember him just saying under his breath "Aw shite" and calmly got up and walked over to another panel and hit two buttons simultaneously that were there to shut the entire unit and most of the plant down. This was because he saw that his big boiler had likely sheared a generating bank tube and was in danger of exploding from a thermal expansion explosion which could have that day killed around 50 or more people. He did not have time to think about it - he had to do his trained duty. When he hit those two buttons he spent over $1 Million.

That day I remember saying to myself that I never would wonder why they made the big bucks.

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Already happening. Incredibly unfortunate. None of you should cheer the loss of American jobs, especially those from a group that is largely patriotic and supporting our country

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Good to know. We can always use more Sherriff's deputies in the future.

Eh I don’t think so. Not everyone is going to be an engineer or get an MBA, I’m glad that we have routes for people with a couple years of post highschool education can make a decent wage. Things we wouldn’t want to live without, trades like plumbers, electricians, Hvac, the plant folks, etc.

As cushy as it seems, it takes its toll. My father in law is early 60s but looks moves like he’s pushing 80. 40 years of operator shift work in the plant is not an easy life. May be easy money most of the time but not a job I would want.

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AI is going to replace them all eventually

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that’s America’s talent pool today.

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Been working in chem manufacturing since 1975 and there have always been dumbasses that weren't qualified but paw-in-law didn't want the grand children to starve so they helped get the useless S-I-L a plant job.

But, I do agree, the current work force generally sucks.