The Peter Principle at my office.

Platapus · 01-04-22, 04:49 PM

Many of you are familiar with what lead Dr. Laurence J. Peter to come up with his Peter Principle (if not it is easily googled)

Well I had a similar experience on Monday.

I work in DC.

On Monday we had some snow so naturally the world is ending.

First a little background
I work an early shift so I am at work from 0600-1500. I live about an hour away so I have to leave home at 0500, which means that I get up no later than 0400 (and more often between 0300-0400). So I tend to go to bed at around 1900. Such is my life.

On Sunday evening, I checked the weather forecast. Snow in the morning stopping in the afternoon but remaining cold. Got it.

On Monday I got up at about 0330 and walked the dog. It was raining/sleeting. When I left the house at 0445 it had just started to snow.
Got to work at 0550 and opened up the office. Even though I normally get to my office at about this time, I am rarely the first one there. We have people showing up at 0500 to work!
No one else shows up so I check the news to find out that the base is closed. Oh well, I am here and being by myself should allow me to get some big projects done that I can't do around other humans. Win for me.

At about 0830, I get a call from the deputy division chief. He tells me that the office is closed, why was I there? He told me that OPM published the closure at 2200 Sunday.
I told him that the announcement came about 4 hours after I went to bed and based on the weather forecast, it never occurred to me to check OPM site for closures. After over 30 years in DC, I still forget the snow panic.

He tells me that I have to leave work now. I pointed out that leaving now would force me to drive during the heavy snow at a time when the roads had not been plowed/treated. I wanted to stay in the office until that afternoon when the plows would have had a chance.
Unacceptable, I had to go home now.
Took me 2.5 hours to drive home and I spun out twice on the way!

I realize that it was my fault for not checking OPM that morning. So my driving in to the office was a mistake and against policy. Fair point against me.
But now that I was safe in the office, why order me to travel during the very conditions that the office was closed to avoid?

In the interests of my safety, I was ordered to leave a safe location and drive in unsafe conditions.

At some point sound judgement should enter into this. I was safe in the office and wanted to stay to do work. Why not let me stay there and leave when it was safer?

This reminded me of what Dr. Peter experienced when he was applying for that faculty position.

01-04-22, 04:49 PM	#1
Platapus Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19,101 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 0	The Peter Principle at my office. Many of you are familiar with what lead Dr. Laurence J. Peter to come up with his Peter Principle (if not it is easily googled) Well I had a similar experience on Monday. I work in DC. On Monday we had some snow so naturally the world is ending. First a little background I work an early shift so I am at work from 0600-1500. I live about an hour away so I have to leave home at 0500, which means that I get up no later than 0400 (and more often between 0300-0400). So I tend to go to bed at around 1900. Such is my life. On Sunday evening, I checked the weather forecast. Snow in the morning stopping in the afternoon but remaining cold. Got it. On Monday I got up at about 0330 and walked the dog. It was raining/sleeting. When I left the house at 0445 it had just started to snow. Got to work at 0550 and opened up the office. Even though I normally get to my office at about this time, I am rarely the first one there. We have people showing up at 0500 to work! No one else shows up so I check the news to find out that the base is closed. Oh well, I am here and being by myself should allow me to get some big projects done that I can't do around other humans. Win for me. At about 0830, I get a call from the deputy division chief. He tells me that the office is closed, why was I there? He told me that OPM published the closure at 2200 Sunday. I told him that the announcement came about 4 hours after I went to bed and based on the weather forecast, it never occurred to me to check OPM site for closures. After over 30 years in DC, I still forget the snow panic. He tells me that I have to leave work now. I pointed out that leaving now would force me to drive during the heavy snow at a time when the roads had not been plowed/treated. I wanted to stay in the office until that afternoon when the plows would have had a chance. Unacceptable, I had to go home now. Took me 2.5 hours to drive home and I spun out twice on the way! I realize that it was my fault for not checking OPM that morning. So my driving in to the office was a mistake and against policy. Fair point against me. But now that I was safe in the office, why order me to travel during the very conditions that the office was closed to avoid? In the interests of my safety, I was ordered to leave a safe location and drive in unsafe conditions. At some point sound judgement should enter into this. I was safe in the office and wanted to stay to do work. Why not let me stay there and leave when it was safer? This reminded me of what Dr. Peter experienced when he was applying for that faculty position. __________________ abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right.