Quality control supervisor tells fruit-robot-checker to stop reporting issues that she sees and to just do her job: 'Your job is only to count. Count, count, count, and count. That’s it'

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
May 8, 2025 6:00 PM EDT

Normally, it would be prudent to keep your eyes open for any issues you might see outside of your immediate role. The common-sense rationalization of this is that it's often better to address problems early on before they become bigger ones that are more costly and serious to manage.

You might expect the reaction for doing so to be praise and recognition, but surprisingly, this couldn't be further from the truth. Unfortunately, some people just don't like to hear about when something is wrong; they'd much rather just carry on down the highway to disaster rather than lift a finger and take an exit.

For instance (and this will happen many times in your career), if you're expressing problems with a plan or changes to a process that your boss has shared with you, they'll usually just wind up branding you as "negative," "old school," or "resistant to change." Of course, when exactly what you were warning about transpires, they'll pull out the proverbial brush and shovel and sweep everything under the rug, pretending nothing happened at all before repeating the process.

Meanwhile, if you're reporting a workplace hazard, chances are there's some manager immediately above you or some bean counter further up the chain who won't appreciate having a risk outlined in writing. They might have even already been aware that it existed, but now that someone has pointed it out, they have to do something about it before it becomes a liability.

 

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  • 01

    "You're only here to count."

    Hi everyone! I wanted to share a story from my job. I work at a place where we pack fruit. There are about 20 robots that fill boxes with fruit, and there's one position in charge of checking that each robot puts the correct amount of fruit in each box.
    via DiamondDust_1

  • When your job is simply to check the work of robots—something I think a lot of us will be doing in the near future—it kind of is your responsibility to point out things that are going wrong with the robot's work. In this case, the robots were clearly playing Fruit Ninja in their spare time, and it was rubbing off on their work. When this worker tried to report the issues she was seeing to quality control, she ended up dealing with someone who was disgruntled that she was making more work for them.

  • 02
    Cheezburger Image 10503035136
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 03
    To explain it a bit more, we basically have to check all day that the robots are doing a good job, making sure each box has the right amount of fruit and keeping track of which robot packed it. (Hope that makes sense.) Obviously, since it's heavy machinery, sometimes the robots damage the fruit. So when I'm checking a box, it's possible to find fruit that's been cut in half or otherwise damaged.
    via DiamondDust_1
  • 04
    When I first started, I was assigned to that checking position. It's pretty simple, count the fruit in each box and return it to the export line. But whenever I found damaged fruit, I used to write it down in a section of the control log called "comments", noting how many damaged ones I found. I also started reporting it to a woman from the quality team. She didn't like that. She kept telling me that it wasn't my job (which is technically true), but I thought it was important to say something wh
    via DiamondDust_1
  • 05
    One day, all the robots started sending out fruit that was cut into multiple pieces (no idea how). So I went to report it again. And this woman confronted me and said: "Your job is only to count. Count, count, count, and count. That's it." She said it in a very ride tone and sent me back to the station.
    via DiamondDust_1
  • 06
    Of course I thought: "She's totally right." So instead of getting upset, whenever I found damaged fruit, I just counted it like a normal one, closed the box, and sent it down the export line. That's how I spent the whole day, just counting, nothing else. Until the export inspection team noticed there was a lot of damaged fruit already packed and ready to go.
    via DiamondDust_1
  • 07
    The quality managers came to talk to me and asked why I hadn't reported it. I just pointed to the woman and said: "She told me my job was only to count, count, and count. So that's all I did." And I shrugged. She started giving me hateful looks while the managers told her that this position does need to report damaged fruit and packaging issues.
    via DiamondDust_1
  • 08
    At the end of the day, they moved me to another area (a much better one, where I now do quality too), and this woman can't help but glare at me every time she sees me. Wasn't I just doing what I was told? Just counting? Thanks for reading. Sorry if some parts aren't super clear, I'm still learning English.
    via DiamondDust_1
  • 09
    CoderJoe1 Diaries of a Fruit Ninja
    via DiamondDust_1
  • 10
    Illuminatus-Prime Get a pic or poster of "The Count" from Sesame Street and put it in your workspace. "One damaged fruit! Two damaged fruit! Three! Three damaged fruit! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
    via DiamondDust_1
  • 11
    Wakemeup3000 Nice of you to point to the root cause of the problem. Threw her right under the bus which is where she belonged
    via DiamondDust_1
  • 12
    FreshFiltered World Management will always prefer someone like you to that other person.
    via DiamondDust_1
  • 13
    Arenalife I need to know if you counted a fruit cut in half as two fruits or one. I can't sleep now
    via DiamondDust_1
  • 14
    avid-learner-bot It's alarming how a simple directive to "just count" led to such a systemic failure, but I wonder if the real issue was the lack of clear communication about what "counting" actually entailed in the first place... (or maybe the woman was just bad at her job).
    via DiamondDust_1
  • 15
    DoubleDareFan The people who designed the robots must have been playing Fruit Ninja in their spare time.
    via DiamondDust_1
  • 16
    ASIMO ECO
    via Maximalfocus

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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