Saturday, January 13, 2007

Erratic Behavior, by Sean: An Impromptu Speech

It may sound ridiculous to complain about erratic behavior, but I don't think so. You can go to jail for erratic diriving, can't you? It should be the same way for other kinds of erratic behavior. If we're not able to predict what others are going to do, then we can't get along in society. Everybody needs to take it slow and act with a cool head and then we'll all make it through this on the other side.

Yesterday when my boss asked to have something scanned, and it took longer than he had expected (20 min), he immediately ordered that the perfectly adequate office scanner worth approximately $400, be replaced with another scanner. "I don't care what it costs. It can be $10,000. I want a faster scanner." We found him a new scanner and ordered it at a cost of $3,000. And this for an office that scans things maybe twice a month and never in any serious rush. This is what is known as erratic behavior and it creates a sense of unpredictability and the associated discomfort that accompanies unpredictability.

Now, I'm not trying to say that we should all be wearing uniforms and walking in step, but we can't be dodging out in front of each other on the sidewalk for no reason. We can't start pounding on the windows of the vitamin store. We can't even burst out into song for no reason and expect to be able to get along and be able to sort out the sane ones from the crazy ones. And maybe a few basic uniforms wouldn't hurt.

1 comment:

Ashley said...

I'm sad that no one has commented on this post yet because I thought it was a fine piece of writing. It's always good to get a little Sean insight, or Seansight, if you will. (I came up with that just now. Do you like it?) Anyway, I loved your calm and casual, yet humorous, discussion of erratic behavior. More people should read it.