Mean Maintenance is the grabbing by the throat and throttling any attempt to spend a cent more than is absolutely necessary on maintenance, asset refurbishment, or support and training. A few examples of Mean Maintenance include machines with peeling paint, tin cans under the oil leaks and clearly jury rigged repairs. Duct tape (not just on ducts!), rubber bands holding things together or open electrical boxes overflowing with wires. Mean Maintenance can be looked at the result of being ignorant, sometimes it might be the result of a business or even the result of a pure unfettered short term greed. Some organizations think the correct way to do business is to be cheap.