A study in opposing attitudes
Discussion
I had a splendid little tutorial on this subject today. I needed to get two pieces of A4 laminated and someone suggested the local library.
The young man behind the counter looked up attentively as I approached the desk. I enquired whether they had a laminator. 'We do' he said, 'But it's not for public use'. Then he looked at my folder. 'How much is there?' 'Just two pieces of A4' say I. 'Let me check' he said and disappeared for a couple of minutes. In that time his lady assistant, who was talking to another customer, looked at me and said 'We don't do laminating for the public'. 'Oh' says I, engaging her with half my brain while the other half is fairly sure the chap is going to come back and do exactly that. 'That's a pity, you could sell the service and make some money for the library'. No effect. She got a folder out and mentioned a place about five miles away. 'But that's a 10 mile round trip in a car' I say. I'm lining up something about pollution but just then the chap returns and says 'That'll be fine, I'll put the machine on'. Victory! He takes my folder and disappears.
I saunter nonchalantly over to the books and try to blend in, feeling a bit like Kirk Douglas in The Heroes of Telemark. I reacquaint myself with 'James and the Giant Peach' and after a while the the man returns. He hands over the laminated pages and asks nicely for 50p to cover the cost of the sheets. I happily give him £2. I've got my laminating, the library's made £1.50 profit and the man gets my award for helpfulness and initiative.
I think this is a perfect little example of a 'We Can't' versus 'We Can'. Only £2 was involved, but that's not important. I walked home thinking that if more people shared his attitude the country would work a lot better.
The young man behind the counter looked up attentively as I approached the desk. I enquired whether they had a laminator. 'We do' he said, 'But it's not for public use'. Then he looked at my folder. 'How much is there?' 'Just two pieces of A4' say I. 'Let me check' he said and disappeared for a couple of minutes. In that time his lady assistant, who was talking to another customer, looked at me and said 'We don't do laminating for the public'. 'Oh' says I, engaging her with half my brain while the other half is fairly sure the chap is going to come back and do exactly that. 'That's a pity, you could sell the service and make some money for the library'. No effect. She got a folder out and mentioned a place about five miles away. 'But that's a 10 mile round trip in a car' I say. I'm lining up something about pollution but just then the chap returns and says 'That'll be fine, I'll put the machine on'. Victory! He takes my folder and disappears.
I saunter nonchalantly over to the books and try to blend in, feeling a bit like Kirk Douglas in The Heroes of Telemark. I reacquaint myself with 'James and the Giant Peach' and after a while the the man returns. He hands over the laminated pages and asks nicely for 50p to cover the cost of the sheets. I happily give him £2. I've got my laminating, the library's made £1.50 profit and the man gets my award for helpfulness and initiative.
I think this is a perfect little example of a 'We Can't' versus 'We Can'. Only £2 was involved, but that's not important. I walked home thinking that if more people shared his attitude the country would work a lot better.
Prime example of public sector running uneconomically.
They really need to switch to a private sector survival instinct to avoid extinction. Unfortunately too many of the employee's are power hungry the rules are the rules type wallopers unable to engage any type of business activity.
They really need to switch to a private sector survival instinct to avoid extinction. Unfortunately too many of the employee's are power hungry the rules are the rules type wallopers unable to engage any type of business activity.
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