A fire drill in June
I work for the Minerals Management Service, a federal agency outside of New Orleans. Today is the second day of summer. Today the temperature is 84 degrees. Today we had a fire drill.
What sadistic idiot decided a good test of safety would be to put 600 people on an open concrete parking lot in the New Orleans summer heat? If you live and work outside of the government, you hear stories and jokes about the anal adherence to arcane rules and regulations. Guess what. It's true. A govenment employee told me that normally the mandated yearly fire drill occurs in the more temperature-friendly month of March, but some fascilities incident prevented its timely occurrence this year. So they made us march down the stairs and stand in the parking lot on June 22.
My first introduction to government red tape happened on my second day at work. I brought in some personal articles including a fan. A co-worker stopped me while I was pulling it from its box. Fans and heaters require special permission to use. It took three months and a note from my doctor to get permission to plug in that fan.
The incident with the fan was a silly example of government arcania. The fire drill was a dangerous one. I understand the need for laws and rules in conducting the business of govenment. We are accountable to the tax payers. Still, that requirement should not mean the complete banishment of common sense.
What sadistic idiot decided a good test of safety would be to put 600 people on an open concrete parking lot in the New Orleans summer heat? If you live and work outside of the government, you hear stories and jokes about the anal adherence to arcane rules and regulations. Guess what. It's true. A govenment employee told me that normally the mandated yearly fire drill occurs in the more temperature-friendly month of March, but some fascilities incident prevented its timely occurrence this year. So they made us march down the stairs and stand in the parking lot on June 22.
My first introduction to government red tape happened on my second day at work. I brought in some personal articles including a fan. A co-worker stopped me while I was pulling it from its box. Fans and heaters require special permission to use. It took three months and a note from my doctor to get permission to plug in that fan.
The incident with the fan was a silly example of government arcania. The fire drill was a dangerous one. I understand the need for laws and rules in conducting the business of govenment. We are accountable to the tax payers. Still, that requirement should not mean the complete banishment of common sense.
posted by Andrew Robinson at 8:20 AM
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