NJgui
How to understand "get quality work out the back door on time" in this sentence? The solution will not work. People here, they like what they got. We keep our heads down and get quality work out the back door on time.
Aug 4, 2015 10:59 AM
Answers · 7
1
P.S. "Out the back door" is short for "out THROUGH the back door." The word "through" is omitted and understood. I'm not a grammarian and honestly don't know whether this is strictly correct, grammatically, or not. It is good informal English speech. Similarly, people say "I threw it out the window" for "I threw it out of the window."
August 4, 2015
1
It's colloquial language of the workplace. "Quality work" is clear. "High quality" is often shortened to "quality." "Quality work" means good work, well done work, high quality work. "Out the back door" or "out the door" is a colorful way of saying "shipped." In either case, it means COMPLETELY finished, ALL steps completed, the product is on its way to the customer. "The back door" refers to shipping. The back door is where the shipping dock is. If a company is manufacturing something, there is a point at which the product has been assembled, but is still inside the building waiting for other things to happen. Sometimes that's a long wait. Maybe it needs to be crated. Maybe the instruction manual needs to be translated. Maybe it needs a final quality inspection. From the point of view of some people within the company, the work seems "finished," but it isn't, really. The customer doesn't pay until they get it. When the product goes "out the back door" to be loaded onto a truck, that's a critical moment.. The customer still doesn't have it, but the responsibility has shifted. The company has completed all of its work, it is REALLY "finished," it is now the shipper's responsibility. Figuratively, even if it's not a physical product, the phrase "out the door" is used. In a software company, one could imagine this conversation: Manager: "Is it finished?" Engineer: "Yes." Manager: "Why hasn't Megacorp received it?" Engineer: "It's in QA [quality assurance]." Manager: "That's not good enough. In QA doesn't count. You have to get it out the door."
August 4, 2015
I THINK that "is there more?" here is a rhetorical question. "Is there more?" means "There ISN'T anything more." which means something like "There ISN'T anything more that needs to be done. It's the only thing that's important. It's the only thing customers care about. It's the only thing that matters. Quality work out the door is all there is. Period. End of story."
August 4, 2015
"Is there more?" may mean, "Do you have anything else to say?"
August 4, 2015
And there is one sentence missed behind: Is there more? (The solution will not work. People here, they like what they got. We keep our heads down and get quality work out the back door on time.Is there more? ) "Is there more?" also makes me confused, what does it mean?
August 4, 2015
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