OK…I don’t understand corporate America. The institution defies logic. The following is just one example:
When I first started working, I was a “temp” employee at Blue Cross of Iowa. I was supposed to be there one day. The reason I got the job, was that some idiot who picked up insurance documents to take them to the shredder, had left the back door open to their truck while driving down a major highway. The ensuing paper storm caused another type of storm, requiring executives from the company to be out on Fleur Drive in Des Moines, Iowa picking up confidential claim information that had burst onto the streets.
Evidently, the next day, said Executive Management demanded that lower management get someone to box all that shred paper, so that this would never happen again. Understandably, they didn’t want a person’s private medical information floating on the wind across the city. Obviously, this would be a huge liability problem for them.
The result of this ordeal gave me a job. However, I was there about two hours when I had a brain storm. Yes…they could spend the $320.00 a week to the temp agency (I was getting $170.00) to have me pick up and box all this paper…OR….they could just close the back of the damn truck. I know I was just the guy boxing the shred, but hey…it seemed logical to me. I brought this up to my employer once removed (AKA…the client Blue Cross), but they said that management wanted to box the shred, so they would box the shred. It occurred to me, even at the very tender age of 18, that this was a bad decision. If all you had to do was close the door, why would you waste $320.00 a week just so you didn’t have to close the door?
However, this is how decisions are made. Someone at the top sees what they perceive is a problem, and someone at the bottom follows the order, and no one with any common sense stops them. Not that I was complaining about having a job. I needed the work. After two years they finally did hire me full-time, and I only boxed shred paper for a few weeks. However, it took another 15 years (5 years after I left), before someone in management said, “We’re paying someone to box shred paper? What idiot thought that up? Why not just shut the door on the damn truck?!” It would not surprise me if the person that said that, once had to box the shred paper. If you’re doing the math, that means that Blue Cross spent (factoring in just a 3% increase in cost over 15 years), $49,880.00 to not shut the door.
Anyway, when I see some of the decisions U.S. companies make in an effort to save their asses, I’m often reminded of my time boxing shred paper. I’m reminded that people blindly follow managers without any consideration that the decisions might be wrong. No one stands up, and says “No, that’s not a good idea, and this is why.” No one points out the failed logic, and no one considers that the decisions they make and the decisions they accept might have ramifications that go far beyond their office door.
So if you’re in management, and the next time your bosses make a decision that you think is ridiculous, and you don’t point it out, don’t be surprised when you have to pack your desk. Your job will just be another loss in a litany of bad decisions. And in my opinion…you deserve to be unemployed.