Day: May 9, 2023

JSW Prompt — 21st Century

Fandango12 Comments

Aaron had been successfully running his sheet metal fabrication shop for the past forty years. He was rapidly approaching 70, and he felt it was time to bring his grandson, Andrew, into the business. Aaron considered himself to be an artisan and wanted to teach his grandson the art of sheet metal fabrication from a master.

Andrew had just completed a graduate program in mechanical engineering and was thrilled when his grandfather offered him a sizable stake in the business. And he was eager to bring his grandfather’s sheet metal fabricating business into the 21st century.

After six months of apprenticing with his grandfather, though, Andrew was losing patience with his grandfather’s old school way of doing things and he saw an opportunity to exponentially increase capacity and revenue for his grandfather’s business.

Andrew decided to sit down with his grandfather and discuss his ideas with him. Aaron agreed to meet with his grandson to hear him out. But when Andrew said he wanted to invest in CAD/CAM technology, Aaron balked.

Andrew explained that CAD/CAM was the integration of Computer-aided design (CAD) and Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). CAD/CAM software that could be used to design and manufacture prototypes, finished products, and production runs of products using a single development tool.

With a stern look on his face, Aaron said, “That’s not how we do things in my shop. It doesn’t work like that.”

“It does now,” Blake said.

Aaron turned around and was surprise to see his son standing behind him. “Blake,” Aaron said, “what are you doing here? You’ve never shown an interest in my business. And what the hell does ‘it does now’ mean?”

“Dad, do you remember that, when Deborah and I got married, you gifted us each a twenty percent stake in your business as our wedding present?” Blake asked his father. “And you also gave Andrew a twenty percent stake as an incentive for him to join you in the business as his apprentice. Well, Andrew came and spoke to Deborah and me about his ideas to grow the business and she and I agree that they have merit.”

“So what are you saying, son,” Aaron asked Blake.

“I’m saying that Deborah, Andrew, and I pooled our sixty percent ownership to your forty percent and we’re backing Andrew. I’m sorry, Dad, but your old ways of doing things doesn’t work anymore.”

Written for this week’s JSW Prompt from Athling2001. Sorry that I exceeded the suggested 300 word maximum.

WDP/Truthful Tuesday — When Prompts Collide

Fandango17 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s a job you would like to do for just one day?
View all responses

Today is one of those days when two prompts ask almost the same question and by answering one, you come very close to answering the other. Well, sort of, anyway.

The WordPress Daily Prompt ask us “What’s a job you would like to do for just one day?” And Di (Pensitivity101), in today’s Truthful Tuesday prompt, asks us, “If you could be King (or Queen) for a day, how would you spend it?”

Okay, they are not exactly the same question, but pretty damn close. The WordPress question is more open ended, whereas Di’s question specifies being King or Queen. But both questions talk about holding that job for just one day. So, even though I’ve never really thought about being, or even wanted to be, a king, I’m going to run with that.

I’m patterning my kingship after my perception of the King of England. Or is it Great Britain? Who knows? Anyway, as an American, the position of King of England (or Great Britain) seems to be mostly a ceremonial position, full of pomp and circumstance. So I would play dress-up day, don my crown, and meet and greet dignitaries from around the globe. We’d have tea and crumpets, discuss the thrill of fox hunting, and talk about important matters that I, as King, have no control over and very little influence upon.

I’d offer a grand tour of the palace, enjoy bountiful meals prepared by the kingdom’s greatest chefs and served to me and my many guest by skilled butlers and handmaidens.

When it’s time to retire at the end of the long, taxing day of schmoozing and eating, I will go to my king’s chamber, where my personal valet shall undress me and my chamber maids will bathe me. After my bath, my valet will assist me with my nightgown and I will get into my luxurious king size bed and fall asleep comforted by the fact that I fulfilled my kingly duties for the day and will, when I wake up in the morning, once again just be a regular person.

I hope those of you from England or the British Commonwealth countries take no offense at this post. It was all in fun, and I admit to ignorance when it comes to the day-to-day activities and responsibilities of the King of England. Or is it Great Britain? Who knows?

Five Word Weekly Challenge — Splashdown

Fandango5 Comments

Two days earlier, the small space capsule had been launched into the cosmic early morning sky like a meteor streak. As the astronauts inside the capsule started the descent back to Earth the next day, the men onboard the Navy recovery vessel were looking up into the cloud-filled as sky when they saw the capsule break through. It was their job to retrieve the astronauts once their capsule splashed down into the rough, deep ocean waters. The biggest challenge was to ensure that no astronauts drowned as they were transferred from the capsule to the boat and that they all made it safely back to the ship.

Mission accomplished.

Written for Greg’s Five Word Weekly Challenge using the words meteor, cosmic, cloud, capsule, and drown.

Fandango’s Story Starter #96

Fandango18 Comments

It’s time for my weekly Story Starter prompt. Here’s how it works. Every Tuesday morning (my time), I’m going to give you a “teaser” sentence or sentence fragment and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build a story (prose or poetry) around that sentence/fragment. It doesn’t have to be the first sentence in your story, and you don’t even have to use it in your post at all if you don’t want to. The purpose of the teaser is simply to spark your imagination and to get your storytelling juices flowing.

This week’s Story Starter teaser is:

She searched her apartment frantically trying to find it, but it wasn’t there…

If you care to write and post a story built from this teaser, be sure to link back to this post and to tag your post with #FSS. I would also encourage you to read and enjoy what your fellow bloggers do with their stories.

And most of all, have fun.

FOWC with Fandango — Customer

Fandango18 Comments
FOWC

Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “customer.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.