The Chicken Little School of Crisis Management

There is a theory of Political Philosophy that says that the Government has to keep the populace is a constant state of panic to make them more pliable. Part of me believes this is true, not only that the government uses scare tactics to keep people under control. but will create the crisis in the first place.

Consider the logic of the current Ebola "Crisis".

First off, let's recognize that there is a very real crisis if you are in western Africa. Ebola is a very nasty bug, and highly contagious. There have been several outbreaks in the past, and there will no doubt be more in the future. The current outbreak is the worst we have ever seen, and needs to be monitored closely.

But the amount of panic and vitriol being spewed from the news sources is utterly ridiculous.

The quiz is very short.

Have you come into contact with the bodily fluids of someone who has Ebola? No? Sit down and suty up. Yes? Immediately take yourself to a treatment facility for testing. That's it.

Save the panic and doom crying for something that is of real consequence. More people will die from the yearly bout of flue in the United States than have perished from Ebola WORLD WIDE.

How many people have died from Ebola in the U.S.? ONE. More people have died from being struck by lightning. Certainly a lot more have been killed by Police.

The Center for Disease Control has been struggling to react fast enough to satisfy certain political factions. These same factions defunded the CDC. Well, maybe the Surgeon General should step up and take a leadership role in this time of crisis.

What's that? There is no Surgeon General? Why? Because those same political pundits won't approve the appointment of a Surgeon general because he considers death and injury from gunshot wounds a health issue.

So what is the answer for this crisis?

Blame it on Obama.

That is the answer for everything.

I have yet to understand the logic of that, but then the whole thing makes absolutely no sense to me.

Meanwhile I'll be in my blanket fort with my tin foil hat on to prevent aliens from beaming information into my head.

The Incident

75 days to retirement. If I stick to the plan. Being a very goal oriented person, I will stick to my plan until the end usually, sometimes even when it makes very little sense.
Even though some people think it is impossible, I find that I give less of a SH*T every day. Take the fact that I plan on retiring on Jan 23rd 2015. Why that day? Because it is the 35th anniversary of my joining the Company.
But lately there have been some things that make me question my judgement.
When you do the math, the bottom line comes down to this: If I were to retire today, the difference between what I make by working and what I will get when retired works out to $4.00 an hour. Not a lot of money for the amount of crap I put up with. So when people ask how long until I retire I tell the "One day, I just don't  know which one."
On Friday I had just signed off and was on my way out of the building. I had seen a notice that the main door would be closed off as of 3:00 Friday afternoon. I have a very strong streak of curiosity, so I cut through the Wing Line to see what they were doing.
A voice comes up behind me. "You cant go that way, they have it closed off" I already knew that, so I just kept on walking. Again, louder, more insistent "YOU CAN"T GO THAT WAY, THEY HAVE IT SHUT OFF." Running sounds behind me.
Same thing right next to me. "And you don't have safety glasses on." I was wearing my Washington State approved shatter proof plastic lens glasses, so I tapped them with my forefinger. "WELL, THEY DON'T HAVE SIDE SHIELDS. YOU HAVE TO HAVE SIDE SHIELDS." The fat little half bald dude was yelling at me.
I don't always respond in the best way I could, so I turned to him, looked him up and down and asked "Who the hell are you?"
He refused to give me a strainght answer, but made a smart all comment. Which pissed me off. He continued to yell at me, so I decided the most reasonable course of action was to walk off. He followed behind me threatening me and yapping like a little ankle biter dog.
I walked off.
When I got out of the building, and was walking towards my truck, here he comes running out of the building with a gal .
"THAT'S HIM! THAT'S THE GUY!"
 I turn to them and she walks up to me ans says "Those are not Boeing approved safety glasses, and we can't have people dropping the "F" bomb on our managers.
I told her (looking around me with a puzzled look) "I don't seem to be in a Boeing building, so there is no requirement for me to wear safety glasses. I am not on the clock, but on my own time, and I am on my way home, Please leave me alone."
The little fat f&)k started yelling at me and threatening me. The gal was a HR rep so she knew he way outside of the rules, so she told him to calm down, but he went on, "I'm gonna get you, I'll see you in HR on Monday, Who's your Manager. I ignored him and moved off. The HR rep got him under control.
I had to work both days on the weekend, and it was pretty quiet, so I wrote an e-mail to my manager and my HR rep, explaining the incident in detail, and including the fact that I had no idea he was a manager. Nothing in his manner ot behavior suggested in any way he was management. For all I knew he was a janitor with delusions of grandeur. I also pointed out that if this matter was pursued, I would have solid grounds for filing a "Creating a hostile working environment" lawsuit.
At any rate, I had Monday off, but I never told the little fat dude or the HR gal, so they could search all day on Monday and they would never find me.
On Tuesday when I left for work I told my wife "Today may be my last day. If things don't go my way, I will retire on the spot"
When I got to work, there on my desk was a box of safety glasses with side shields. I found this highly amusing.
But that was the only indication that I had that anything ever happened.
I actually as a part of my explanation started off with the fact that I was guilty of not wearing side shields.
So now I am back to the original plan
75 days.