#20 The World is Upside Down

A few years ago a former co-worker used to say "world is upside down".  It was his way of expressing his frustration and disgust with an organizational structure that was no longer working.  I came across that same phrase while reading the book "The Big Short" about the collapse of the financial markets.  It was used when referring to an out of control Wall Street (before the collapse), in which nothing they were doing made sense. 

That is the way that I feel daily as I go about my retired life.  I get phone calls from former associates and listen to friends and others who complaint about their out of control, dysfunctional work places.  They all ask me questions about what I think about such and such -- I often say that it makes my head hurt.  The work world that I knew it for over 40 years no longer makes any sense to me.

Long ago I took an oath of office to the State of California.  That meant that I was loyal to the State (department that I worked for) -- not to any specific leader.  I was a public servant and I took that responsibility seriously.  The public, in some form or other, was paying my wages, and I was responsible (on their behalf) for doing my duties responsibly -- protecting and earning their trust. Those days seem to be a distant memory. 

Despite leaders and others signing that same oath, taking a mandatory course and signing a document showing that they have completed ethics training -- to include conflicts of interest -- those documents apparently mean nothing -- just something to sign, file away and ignore.  There must be another memo/oath that I missed, one that states the world of state government is your oyster -- make it work for you!

This take what you can get, however you can get it attitude is what is killing government and upsetting the general tax paying public.  If the public is served in any meaningful way, it is a happy accident.  When employees come forth and speak truth to power, they are vilified, shunned and perhaps even written up and terminated. 

Until those politicos, leaders and others that have created and perpetuated this giant debacle (for their own self-serving interest) are held accountable morally, financially and legally, nothing will change.  Real change cannot be built on a crumbling foundation.  Until that happens,  the world will continue to be upside down!

Note:  I have been so busy of late -- summer is keeping me way too busy to continue to blog two times a week.  Going forward look for my blog on Tuesdays until further notice.  And thanks to everyone who is reading -- I greatly appreciate it.