WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL...

This is one of those twists of phrases that mainly has to do with those going to heaven. Which makes sense because from what I’ve seen it would truly take a miracle to find too many good and faithful anything that honestly you could say well done about. I’m not trying to go out of my way to be negative here, I’m just speaking mainly from personal experience.

I have to confess that I do have a fair number of well faithful types working for me. By that I mean they show up every day and in that regard they qualify as faithful. But good? That honestly would be a tad of a stretch. Oh I’m not saying they are evil. Just rather less that good at what they are doing. Not enough to try and replace for they kind of money I can offer to pay, but the type of person who simply falls under the “other” category when you are trying to put employees in the asset or liability column. I hate to be that unkind, but lord love them they do try, just they hardly ever manage to function at a level one could define as um, efficient.

So I think in my case as Mayor I have had to amend the idea of well done, good and faithful to “you squeak by without messing up too bad sort of okay and sort of faithful by showing up on time” type of help. Hey I’m just doing what I can to tell it as it really is. There are plenty of things that I have honestly admitted I feel a need to lie about, but in this case the main challenge to me is trying to smile when faced with incurable incompetence.

There was a time years ago when I use to assume that you could find the type of help that could be depended upon to perform and a truly functional level all the time. Boy was I so stupid. I have since adjusted my standards to allow for the “nincompoop” factor. That is the one where I have embrace the frailty that possess too many people in terms of what I see as brain drain. The poor souls simply are only capable of a given level of behavior.

I have had those occasions when I had seriously given thought to making a concerted effort to replace them with those that were efficient. It might have had merit till I saw some of my options in terms of applicants.

Now many it is just the peril of living in Mediocrity, but the one thing I have come to appreciate is that the employees I did have were probably the best I could expect. Isn’t that depressing?

However, along the way to trying to encourage myself at the local tavern I did manage to have a blessing of thought. See as long as incompetence was the foundation of my fair city I didn’t have to worry about any of those I dealt with being a threat to my own job. Yep, nothing made me happier than knowing that the absence of sharp and astute minds in my city pretty much granted me the luxury of stumbling through the obstacles of life as Mayor and not worry. Because in order for anyone to complain they first had to be awake and actually consciousness enough to function beyond just showing up for work. Ah sometimes they is a subtle joy to dwelling where we truly live up to our city’s name of Mediocrity.