regarding GM policy in general Hamper stated,There was just no figurin General Motors. When it cametime to make a move, I think they just threw darts at aboard or yanked on straws (Hamper pg.105). These situationsonly perpetuated the growing contempt of management by theline workers and mistrust of line workers my management.Hamper and his line mates did whatever they could tohelp pass the time and break up the monotony of theirworkday. Doubling-up was a common behavioral response tothe monotony of the assembly line. Doubling-up jobs,whenever and wherever possible, made the utmost sense. Thisarrangement totally destroyed the monotony of waiting forthat next cab to arrive (Hamper pg.39). In this doubling-uparrangement two workers would privately organize and devisea means of having one man complete both jobs at the sametime, while each took turns relaxing for half the time....The summit of the double-up system [was] a half day on ,a half day off... (Hamper pg.61), which Hamper tookadvantage of whenever possible. Doubling-up was a ratherdrastic behavioral response because, technically it was atheft of time and wages. (Although one could argue that ifall the assigned work was being completed it was not theft.)Hamper and his fellow line workers embraced any andevery diversion they could conceive of in order to bring alittle excitement or emotion to their daily grind. Most ofthese diversions were passive in nature and didnt interferewith their ability to meet their quotas or performancestandards. Hamper would often pretend that his riveting jobwas an Olympic event and he was competing for the honor ofhis country, just to pass a few minutes. These mentaldiversions soon turned into full fledged sports and games ofskill, such as Rivet Hockey and Dumpster Ball. Co-worker Royshowed Hamper a particularly dangerous method of workavoidance. [He] approached me with a box-cutter knifesticking out of his glove and requested that I give him aslice acros...
