Responsibility Beyond Station

Today the maid comes. That means a scramble to put away all things she could conceivably mishandle. She might put the hand-made Japanese knives in the dishwasher and run a load, dulling their edges, or include the delicate espresso cups and possibly break them.

She could ruin clothing by washing or drying them wrong. Unless all possible errors are surveyed and prevented, it's better she didn't try. But when it comes to cleaning floors and surfaces, little error is possible and she excels.

When we realize the person answering a business phone is a phone answerer, not a problem solver, it becomes clear that the duties of sensible thinking and abstract consideration are upon us. We should expect them to fail, and thus should direct them away from error and towards success they are capable of achieving.

Like most people, they have no idea what to do, possess no sense of order, and can't distinguish between successful action and total failure.

You must form a picture in your head of the totality and maintain a sense of how its pieces are moving, directing others to their tasks while being realistic about their limited ability, limited ability, lack of focus, and general unconcern for what will obviously happen.

They call it hired help, but we all fantasize about the day they are replaced with robots.