I read your first paragraph and Bill Burr doing an imitation of a crappy nagging wife voice was in my brain instantly. "Oh I see you have nothing to do "watching sports" so let me fill that up for you" He nailed that one and your parent would likely love that part of his act also it's so nailed it in it's perfection. As you also stated sometimes bosses are so focused on the prize they fail to adjust their own perspective so see what is obvious to another person and if they'd just treat them right and then later when a problem comes up ask around and see if those people that are putting in part of their life to enrich yours might be holding gold for idea's that they decide are better kept secret. You stepped up, that's great and show the bosses/owners that the guys that are not top educated are a gold mine of knowledge if just asked to shown the problem it's replied with... "Is that all, we can fix that in 20 minutes, all ya needed to do was let us know what you needed and what are the governement restraints so it fits the specs they require." We know the word fuck would be used twice so not so eloquently said but the meaning and results of the request are the same, done and done right since the workers know the methods to fix stuff in their field best, fuck that bastard with the shit he's trying to sell for the commision. Ask the hourly guys and they'll toss ideas at ya like a machine gun, just respect their intensions and do not berate them if their idea is not right.