Incompetence Set in Stone
Was on a big project where Clueless Manager (CM) was required to coordinate delivery of cement to a remote site. The remote site had its own deep water jetty but otherwise all of the equipment required to pump the cement off the ship needed to be in place so that the cement could be received.
Ship shows up. Trucks, crews, pumps and storage containers either not ready, still in transit or sitting around on site not ready for unloading. Tempus fugits. Ship captain is having a fit and they’re charging $25,000/day for demurrage on the cargo.
11 days pass. Owner of shipping line calls our Project Director, screams at him a bit and threatens to pump the cement out and dump it off the ship if the unloading doesn’t start within 36 hours. Several plane flights of equipment and crew later, unloading commences within 36 hours.
Total cost to the project was over $1,000,000. The same or similar event happened 3 more times. Final settlement went to lawyers & mediation for over $4,000,000. CM was never sacked. Story credit: Reddit / Klarok