Blog Week 70: The law of thirds.
Monday 26 March 23.23
Have you ever heard of the law of thirds? I hadn't till today either. I was told about it- as always - by Old Timer. But for once I was not alone in being the lucky recipient of his latest words of wisdom.
It all started this morning when Shakespeare and I were discussing how useless Laurel & Hardy had been in the office. Old Timer suddenly appeared. Like a character from Star Trek, he has a habit of suddenly beaming in.
He told us about his law. Basically workers come in three types: those that do their work; the workaholics always doing extra work; and the slackers doing just enough not to get themselves fired. If an organisation is too small then the law does not apply, but once above a certain (unspecified) size it kicks in. Essentially the second and third categories should balance themselves out; as one grows, so should the other.
This law sounds contrived to me. Why the law of thirds? Why not: 90%-5%-5% or some other combination? I am sure we have about double the number of slackers compared to workaholics. Most of the rest of us just muddle along in the middle.
Old Timer then beamed out (again as is his habit) and Shakespeare began speculating about "cause and effect". Do the slackers create a vacuum filled by the over-workers, or do the over-workers push the slackers to the side?
In my experience it is definitely the first case. The slackers piss everyone else off. And under L&H's "reign" some have got a lot worse.
Wednesday 28 March 23.41
Received an email from Pierre today. The first contact I have had with him since last year.
He wants to set up some meetings with support staff next week - find out where things are, what matters need to be resolved. Old Timer noted that Pierre does not know what he is letting himself in for. If he does not watch out he'll be back in hospital again...
Pierre always tried to run a tight ship. And I am sure he does not realise just how slack things have become in the meantime.
Thursday 29 March 23.52
This time last year I talked a lot about the Apprentice (the BBC version). I was out last night and missed the first episode of the new series. Can I avoid getting addicted this year? I have a feeling it is going to be difficult.
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