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Passing The Buck

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by sln, Dec 12, 2019.

  1. sln

    sln Platinum IL'ite

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    PASSING THE BUCK

    Leave a difficult problem for some one to handle and shirk the responsibility is the simple explanation for the title of this snippet.Most of us are not comfortable when problems stare at us and we find ingenious ways to pass on the problem to somebody else.Corporate life is replete with scores of examples under the garb of delegation but let me confine myself to mundane situations at home and social circle..An insult to injury is delegating a tough job to some one else and taking credit when the job is well done.

    My first daughter was three and ready to be admitted in KG school,my wife told me”you teach her the alphabets and numbers one to hundred I will take care of the rest.”I confess that it was the toughest job ever handled by me.It became all the more difficult as by temperament I don’t accept defeat..

    A young lady in her thirties is well employed,goes to office at 8.30 AM and returns at 7.30 pm.As soon as she enters the house she goes into her room and comes out only for dinner.Her mother in law toils in the kitchen all by herself to make sure that food is served piping hot.Clearing the table is done by her son while the lady is busy with whatsup,facebook etc. The story is repeated in the morning,while the lady gets her son for school before she gets herself ready to go to office her MIL is getting breakfast ready.The intelligent explanation given by the lady is that her MIL is an excellent cook and that she would not let any body else in the kitchen.Her silence on not helping her MIL in the kitchen with other jobs ,is eloquent..Every one pretends that things are normal as the double income has helped them to acquire material possessions.FIL who does not lift a finger to help spends most of his time arguing on Modi vs Rahul and reminds every one that girls should be employed and economically independent.

    Many of us don’t even fold the bedsheet after getting up but complain to the housewife that the servant has not folded the bedsheet properly-as if it was her department. Every job in the house is assigned to the servant and the house wife is blamed when a job is not done properly.The house wife is also distracted by the menace of social media that there is even no semblance of supervision.

    We throw garbage on the road and complain that Corporation is not doing a proper job.We waste water[brushing] and blame when water supply is curtailed and water table is going down.It is said that future wars between nations will be on sharing of water.

    A veteran Rummy player was doing intense penance before Lord Shiva.Unable to bear the heat from his penance in Devaloka,Devas requested Lord Shiva to appear before the devotee and grant him a boon.ACccordingly lord Shiva appeared before the devotee and asked him what he wanted.The devotee said that he was a rummy player and he just wanted two jokers and he Would take care of the rest.

    A senior officer known for shirking his responsibility,advised his son:

    When in charge pretend you are thinking about it until some one else comes with a solution.When in trouble delegate. When in doubt mumble so that others neither understand nor have the courage to ask you to repeat it.

    There are persons who believe that “hard work does not kill anybody-but I don’t want to take a chance”

    President Lincoln was shining his own shoes, a foreign miniter to USA said “we don’t polish our own shoes in our country”.Then whose shoes you polish asked Lincoln.

    As President Harry Truman said if we take the position that the buck stops here,the world will be a better place to live.
     
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  2. Amulet

    Amulet IL Hall of Fame

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    One movie presentation of a famous collection of short stories starts with a delegation skit right away:
    This is a story most of us may have read in school. Tom's lesson of getting customers to pay to work for him is followed in many modern enterprises: A zen monastery in an Asian country charges people to come there stay a week, sleep on hard wood floors, work from morning to dusk, with a break for meditation, and eat only a midday meal of rice porridge. And they pay big bucks for the privilege of thusly roughing it for a week before getting back to their cushy lives.

    When one takes on everything and not assign/delegate, there is the danger of becoming (or being looked upon as) a patsy.
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2019
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  3. sln

    sln Platinum IL'ite

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    Thanks for taking me back to the seventies.Jail tourism in medak district of telengana ,at 500 Rs.a day allows tourists to spend a day leading the life of a prisoner and Tihar jail is making an elaborate plan for jail tourism at
    2000 Rs a day.It is alright for a day or two. While patsy gets sympathy though considered foolish dodger is dreaded and often meets with criticism.SLN
     
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  4. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    Passing the buck is as common as pocketing the buck. But then at some stage -THE BUCK STOPS HERE. It is at the top. The top may be head of the family, corporate or Government. A decision has to be taken which may prove wrong. That's why it is lonely at the top. The team wins and the captain loses.
    Imagine a situation where every buck could be passed or every problem could be delegated. It would be so boring or exciting. Imagine a situation where the buck stops at the first point or the decision making is free for all. Again life would be too boring or exciting.
    In our SSB exam for commissioned officer in the army, we were given situations and suggest solutions. No two solutions were the same.
    But be it as it may, keep the buck passing.
     
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  5. sln

    sln Platinum IL'ite

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    I totally agree that it is lonely at the top.When my boss decided to declare a lockout which lasted for four months,it was so difficult to look at his face,We rallied behind him and offered him moral support.Finally truce was declared and since then no IR problems have surfaced for thirty years.I also agree that it is so boring when the problem is solved at the initial stage.I have found group discussion brings about better solutions and absolves every one of individual responsibility.This happens at home also where all relevant family members jointly arrive at a solution.Thanks for sharing your thoughts.SLN
     
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  6. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear SLN Sir,

    We have not given the same level of importance to admitting the mistakes in executing a task as much as for successfully completing a task. This starts from a young age. We don't ask the children what caused them to score more or less in the exam instead the children who score more gets rewarded and those who score less is reprimanded verbally. The society is more focused on the result than the process.

    "# of failures and lessons learned from them are stepping stones for success" remains a book knowledge. Even a sales guy prepares three reasons why a particular sale didn't happen even before he makes the effort to sell. Right from an ordinary home project to sending a spacecraft to the moon, everything is evaluated based on the end results and not on what efforts are made to execute such projects.
     
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  7. sln

    sln Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Viswa,
    We will never become what we want to be if we keep blaming everyone for who we are now. Cursory look at a problem is not going to solve it.It is always better to consult others when solutions are not in our grasp.Dont we go to another Doctor for second opinion.In the current environment of degrading ethical and moral values, means have gone with the wind as end results only matter.
    Regards
    SLN
     
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