We hear a lot of quotes and phrases as we grow up; Some from our parents, some from our friends, some just happen to pop up in our brains out of nowhere. Point is, when we hear them, somewhere, somewhen, and somehow, the powers that be would tend to say, 'I don't think you get the point!'
I was talking to a good friend last Sunday night. She was in nursing, and it had been a while since we had a one on one discussion. At the time, our focus was on her course, the same one which is going around like some wanted disease: Nursing. I showed great interest, as my own mother was, and I'd like to think still IS a nurse. We got into this topic after we both agreed on the fact that you can have your degree doctored all you want, but sooner or later you're going to have to walk the hell you're talking about.
That didn't sound right. Anyway, it seemed to be a good opportunity for both of us as she went on to discuss that lives are in their hands every time they work. Precision is always key. She went on to tell me about certain horror stories regarding deaths involving misinformation, wrong measurements and procedures. Imagine, you can add an extra zero to a quantity of a certain prescription to kill a man, or at least jack his hospital bill up a notch. Horror, indeed. How... holistic.
Fast forward to today. Our company will be celebrating its Third Year Anniversary at noon today. They gave us stubs - One for Food, one for Drinks, and one for a Gift. The fact that the party is at noon today is not good news for me, as I end my shift at six in the morning... and you know how it is when we hear some sort of announcement regarding a situation that we would have to sacrifice to benefit from: We come up with our own lists of "They shoulds", and/or "They should'ves". At least I would.
Hang on. Prior to coming up with my "They should" for this specific scenario, I remembered how there were so much more celebrations (meaning more free food) back when I was still fresh in the company. One of these celebrations ended up with McDonalds paying us a visit, with a burger-fry-drink combo for each employee. At the time, that translated to a whole assload of burgers. We're talking hundreds here.
Then I get to thinking. Were the dudes who were tasked to make these extra burgers over at McDonalds paid any more for the job? Was 'Willing to prepare a whole assload of burgers within a given time frame' even part of their job description? I'd like to think that they were.
Here's where the powers that be come to play. A big number of us in the office tend to miss on probing for what they think is apparent. They like to make assumptions, probably because they think that the worst that could happen is that the company they represent would lose a customer. They tend to complain if they are corrected when they make assumptions, and when their pride falls and they yield to the judgement of their auditor just for them to shut the hell up, they tend to push in an extra complaint or two, not necessarily in the form of speech.
Would we rather be in the operating room, where a customer can lose his or her LIFE because someone made an assumption?
I personally hated the line 'willing to do additional tasks as requested by management' as one of my job descriptions when I applied to be a QA. I imagine most of us in our department do. It usually means extra paperwork, extra analysis.
Would we rather be in McDonalds, ready to clock out when our boss tells us to stay and help out until 500 burgers are prepared and made ready for delivery?
The line, the quote, the phrase: It could be worse.
Isn't it beautiful how things add up?
By the way, Alec Baldwin has been the Center Square for 4 consecutive episodes so far. What does God want me to learn from that, I wonder.