The Powers That Be

There are so many powers over our lives. If you are in a  public or private job, there's administration to glad hand and impress. In today's economy, a job is a commodity, so doing everything you can to make yourself indispensable is key. Let me translate. This means doing twice the work in two thirds the time for one half the pay and saying things like, "Every challenge is an opportunity for excellence." Or, "We'll figure out a way to make it work." Whatever that challenge may be. Or, "Sure I don't mind purchasing my own office supplies. I didn't need to eat breakfast this week anyway." And you can't just say it, you have to mean it, or at least get really good at acting like you do.

And that red tape, it gets stickier and longer every year. Now, instead of going directly to the IT department with a computer or phone problem, one has to tell the supervisor, who tells the deputy director, who tells human resources, who sends an e-mail to IT. Well, that's just great if your computer has crashed again and eaten the document you've spent 60 minutes typing and the auto save doesn't work. Time is of the essence because the system saves over itself at midnight and if the work is not there, it's not saved AND CANNOT BE RETRIEVED.

So then, there's a meeting about maximizing efficiency and time management because SOMEONE wasted an entire hour that cannot be accounted for. Meanwhile, companies proposition the purchase of buildings and new software, even though it hasn't given cost of living raises in almost five years. At least the phone system will be replaced. That's important, especially when my phone dials 911 on it's own. No joke. The number to dial out is 9 and when I press one to dial long distance, it sticks. I try to catch the call and talk to the 911 operator, telling them it was all a mistake, but that isn't always the case, so the police come to the building prepared for an emergency. Fortunately, I'm not the only one this happens to and they've also had to come when I haven't been in the office. I wonder how much money it costs the county each the the emergency response team responds.

I wonder if I could dial 911 and tell them I'm tangled in red tape and can't get out.