Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Despite what I have noticed the past couple of years, declaring an emergency does not allow us to do whatever we want.

I’ve noticed something about folks and those emergency flashers on automobiles. If you turn on your emergency flashers, you can do anything you want.

• You can park next to a sign that reads, “FIRE ZONE, NO PARKING,” if you turn on your emergency flashers.
• You can drive on the Interstate at 40 miles per hour and straddle the center line blocking both lanes, if you turn on your emergency flashers.
• You can drive 50 miles per hour over the speed limit on the Interstate, if you turn on your emergency flashers.
• You can block a lane in the parking lot, leave your engine running, leave your driver’s door open, and go into a store for a few moments, if you turn on your emergency flashers.

Great things these emergency flashers, huh? All you have to do is tell the world, “I am having an emergency,” and you can do anything you want with your automobile.

I have seen similar practices in work settings. Tell everyone, “We are having an emergency,” and you can do anything you want. You can suspend all work. You can require everyone to work 24 hours straight. You can even spend more money than you have. All by simply doing the equivalent of turning on your emergency flashers at work.

Well, sorry folks. Simply stating, “I’m having what I consider to be an emergency,” doesn’t empower us to do whatever it is we want. The laws of nations and physics still apply. Other people still drive on our shared roads. Other people still need to use a FIRE ZONE to fight fires. Other people still only have so much money and we can’t exceed the budget or the speed limit or cross that center line for miles and miles.

There is some old saying like, “Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” If you’re late to a soccer game, sorry, but you can’t park in a fire line while you walk into Starbucks and order a dozen specialty drinks that take half an hour to make. That is not an emergency for the rest of the world.

And the thing about, “WE ALL have to work 24 hours straight to make up for my errors in estimation,” sorry, doesn’t work either.

Let’s all do a little better.