Overkill, Overboard and Underwhelmed

So, here I am, sitting in my office attempting to waste another 20 minutes writing down my thoughts as it seems no one else in my company is working anyway today. Apparently there was snow, I barely see it now, but it scared enough people into not coming in today, whatever. I’m just being irritated that I didn’t have the foresight to see how easily I could have claimed being fearful of driving on wet roads and staying home. Either way, I would still be working from there so all that changes is that I had to shower before noon and get dressed to come to work. Enough of that thought.

We got some snow, not real snow that stays around for days on end, but enough to look pretty for a few brief moments. I swear though, out here in Washington you’d think people are used to seeing precipitation fall from the sky, but no! Even when it rains here, folks feel the need to slow down and lose their minds on the road. Are there that many California transplants that have never seen snow or rain? I’m a transplant, but even I know that rain is not going to damage the clear coat over my paint if I drive the speed limit! There should be a test for competency and common sense when they allow anyone to drive a car, not just the legal test, but an actual common sense test that can determine if you’re smart enough to operate as a human being. And just think, they allow people to drive, drink coffee and talk on a cell phone all at the same time; I swear that should be illegal! If you are so afraid of the snow, then wait until its safe. Do you even know if it’s not safe to drive? If you don’t you have two choices:
1) Watch everyone else out driving, if they start slipping and sliding like bumper cars, it’s slick, stay home.
2) Go out and drive so other people can watch you and decide if it’s slick as you ram bumpers with other morons on the road, your choice.

Anyway, back to the topic. In my line of work, I’m responsible for keeping things running regardless of what Mother Nature, the phone company or a random act of stupidity does to slow us down. When there’s a chance that snow or hurricanes or a tornado will impact one of my centers, we plan and we plan and we plan to keep the ship a float so that it is seamless to the customer (Seamless, a great corporate word). We hold conference calls in order to plan and we talk about shit a lot. We have more documents about what to do “if”, then I care to ever explain. It’s quite fascinating at times. So, we got some snow here, nothing serious, although very pretty personally. I love how quiet the word becomes when it snows. Sometimes, even with all of the planning, it does require that you access the situation at hand, that may be mid-afternoon or the middle of the night. When those of us at my level in this company took our jobs, we knew once that our roles would have no normal operating hours and that as leaders; it would require a conversation at 2:30 or 3:30 in the morning, that’s just the way it is. Keep on trucking, eh!

This morning we had one of those times where it required national presence to discuss the underwhelming Washington weather issue and make adjustments as needed. 3:30 am comes and it’s time to make some determinations as to whether the weather will allow us to be open here or delay the opening or be “Business as Usual”. That’s just part of our jobs. I had a director from New Jersey ask me if I thought that pulling everyone together in the middle of the night was overkill. I nearly fell out of my bed laughing (YES, I do take conference calls from bed in my undies at that hour). I couldn’t believe I was being asked this question by someone on the East Coast, it was 6:30 am her time and knowing this lady, I know that all of her upkeep gets her started on her day much earlier than that, in order to be present physically by 9 or 10 EST. Again, common sense is missing in the business world as well these days. How can it be overkill to plan ahead in order to keep the business running smoothly? I was ashamed to have even heard her ask the question, although my lack of respect for her is no longer able to reach any lower. It was just sad

So there it is, my rumblings for today. I’m sure I’ll find something else to grumble about later.