visionaries don't keep their eyes closed

Some companies are run by visionaries. People who can read the upcoming trends and act on those trends before they approach. Men and women who can lead their business in the right direction and ensure success for years to come. Unfortunately, the company I work for is not one of these companies.

The unwritten philosophy of the company I work for is ‘ignore the problem as long as possible.’ In short, they see the bomb coming from miles away, watch as the bomb falls to the ground, continue to watch the resulting explosion and destruction, and then run around with buckets of water trying desperately to extinguish the many fires that have sprung up.

Lori, our inventory clerk, has been gone for almost a month now. The people in charge have known this, but have conveniently decided to forget that there is no longer an inventory clerk working at the company…until this past week. This is when, finally forced to accept that Lori is not going to return, they had to face the fact that many of their contracts with clients are not going to be filled on time. Friday was spent with the head-honchos running around trying desperately to fill in the gaps…gaps which have long since become craters.

Kelly, my boss, was among those running around in a state of panic. And, in another act of exquisite bad timing and short sightedness, Friday was also the day that Kelly arranged to interview several applicants. The billing department, which has consisted solely of me since I began working here over seven months ago, is supposed to be a two person operation. This is the position that Kelly was interviewing for on Friday.

The first two applicants never showed up, perhaps receiving some type of sign from God that no sane person would actually choose to work here.

The third person arrived at two o’clock. Kelly briefly introduced herself, threw an application to him and instructed him to take a seat in an empty office, the same office that is supposed to be home to my co-working billing associate, while he filled it out.

An hour and a half later, I walked by the front desk and asked our receptionist Sondra if Kelly was done interviewing the applicant. Sondra, who was in the middle of painting her nails a shade of red that apples can only dream of achieving, paused and said, “Kelly has been in meetings all afternoon. That guy she was supposed to interview walked out about ten minutes ago.”

I stopped by the empty office, and sure enough, it was still just as empty as it always has been. The guy’s application sat on the desk. And on top of his application was one of Kelly’s business cards, ripped in half.

My guess is that the position isn’t going to be filled anytime soon. Which is probably a good thing, because if the number one motto of the company is ‘ignore the problem as long as possible’ a close second is ‘blame someone else when things go wrong.’

And because I’m low man on the totem pole, I’m fully expecting that Monday morning will start with me taking the blame for Friday’s problems. Honestly, I’m less worried about being blamed and more interested in how the higher ups will try to connect the dots to prove that I’m the one who’s at fault.

But, at the rate Kelly is going in the hiring process, I’ll most likely remain the only billing associate. So my job is safe for the near future, or until Kelly remembers to actually interview the people that she’s scheduled interviews with.