Eventually, he decided to close down the workshop and signed a contract with Kev’s Autoworks to service his trucks. This, however, left Bob Miller without a job. Peter Miller thus approached Myers and asked him if there was a vacancy for a mechanic at Kev’s Autoworks. As Wabira was still an apprentice and the workshop was in need of another mechanic, Bob Miller was hired. In the beginning, Myers had told Miller about the way in which things were done around the place. Miller seemed very understanding and accommodating. He seemed quite happy and enthusiastic about his newly found job. This was despite the fact that he was the second lowest paid worker there. The pay was based on both seniority and skill. Miller, of course, lost out on seniority, but appeared not to mind this. Myers thought that it was probably because he felt lucky to even have a job. The workshop opens at 8.00 a.m. daily and the mechanics are assigned jobs by Myers. At 10.00 a.m. there is an unofficial coffee-break where the entire crew would go across the street for a cup of coffee. This is looked upon as a social gathering, where the men would get to know each other better. Being an unofficial coffee-break, it is customary that anyone who does not complete his first job by 10.00 a.m. would forego his coffee-break for the day. Although skilful, Miller seemed to constantly miss his coffee-breaks as he was not as fast as Stevanov, Lam or Myers. During his first three weeks at Kev’s Autoworks, he only managed to attend one coffee-break.
By the end of the fourth week, trouble was brewing. Miller had become quite alienated and dissatisfied with his job. He tried to hurry though his work so that he could make it to these social gatherings. Furthermore, he did not want to appear to be the slowest around. His haste, however, led to one of the trucks which he repaired breaking down because of a faulty gasket. Hearing about this, Myers spoke to Miller in his usual mild-mannered fashion. He basically advised Miller to be more careful with his work and to take his time. Miller acknowledged this with an unfriendly shrug of his shoulders. Over the next few days, Miller’s dissatisfaction grew even more as he tried to hurry his work, yet making an effort to be careful. Unfortunately, he still missed his coffee-breaks. At lunch, he chose not to associate with the rest of the crew and there was little communication between him and the others. Soon Miller began complaining about various things. He went up to Myers and told him that the workshop was too dirty, so dirty that he found it hard to work in it. Myers tried to explain to Miller that they were understaffed at the moment and, besides, workshops were naturally dirty. Miller responded by saying ‘it was always clean at my father’s workshop’. Not long after, Miller complained about the noise from the loudspeakers. The men had always worked with the radio on so that they could keep up with the latest news and sports scores,
particularly in summer during the cricket season. Miller once shouted, ‘turn off that damn thing, how’s a man supposed to work in this kind of noise?’ By this time the rest of the men had enough of Miller and his temperamental behaviour. They ostracised him from their activities, which led him to believe that they were talking abo
