Poor Planning...

A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

For Incompetent Planners

There's a phrase I've heard used liberally throughout my daily meanderings.

I've heard it at work... I've heard it at play... I've even heard it at the grocery store.

That phrase is this:

"Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine."

Basically it's a statement that indemnifies the speaker from having to drop everything and pull the asker out of an abyss of panic just because the asker failed to budget their time correctly from the start of a particularly difficult project.

(How's that for a poorly-cobbled sentence. Sheesh.)

I don't apply this statement liberally throughout my life.

I'm a helper. When someone has a crisis, I try to pitch in.

It works out pretty well, since I too have crises on occasion, and it's nice to have some help to get me through it.

But, there are individuals who just need to help themselves.

Mostly these are the particularly needy folks who leech on to any available life form and slowly suck the willingness to rise and shine right out of them. They prey upon kindness and helpfulness as sustainance for their all-consuming codependence.

It is mostly for those folks that I have created this list:

SUNNY SMILES' GUIDE TO
EMERGENCY SITUATIONS

 

Emergency Tier 1

Yes, this is a major emergency. It is acceptable to panic.

It is expected that you will need assistance with this situation.

* You - or a direct relative - has lost a body part or is otherwise mangled.

* Someone's life - person or pet - is in the balance.

* The apocalypse has come.

Emergency Tier 2

This is a minor emergency. It is not unheard of to panic, but it helps the situation if you don't.

Assistance readily supplied upon request.

* You left the stove on.

* Your basement is slowly filling with water.

* The doctor calls asking to schedule some follow-up tests because something isn't right.

Emergency Tier 3

This is an inconvenience. It is not acceptable to panic.

Assistance will only be available by the kindest individuals who desperately want to help you.

* Your car won't start.

* You misplaced your cell phone/glasses.

* The dog ate [insert your non-lethal substance here. For lethal substances, escalate to Tier 1].

Emergency Tier 4

This is a normal part of human life. It is not acceptable to panic, or even to suggest that this is a worrisome situation.

You will be ridiculed if you seek assistance.

* Traffic or road construction happens somewhere during your commute.

* I left the grocery shopping until the refrigerator was completely empty and I haven't any bonbons for snack.

* The little light in my car came on and now I need an oil change.**1

So, hopefully, that breakdown helps. It provides a basic reaction to whatever scenario may be playing out before you.

As a helpful aside, unnecessary escalation is cause for ignoring future pleas for assistance. For instance, if you escalate a Tier 4 issue to a Tier 2 issue, the next time you have a legitimate Tier 2 issue you're likely to be ignored altogether. The Emergency Paradox walks hand in hand with the Crying Wolf Paradigm.

RaYD,

Sunny

**1 Yeah, I've heard that one. "The light came on and I've got to go get an oil change right now! You can cover me, right?" And then she ran out the door.

Yeah. Ran.

Boston Strong

As I'm gathering these thoughts, I'm sitting in a completely silent office.

Now, most of the time when I sit here at the front desk, it's quiet. There isn't a lot of chatter and outside noise to disturb my thinking.

Today it's silent.

There's no drone of the air handling units...

The elevators aren't zooming through the building...

I've heard exactly one door open and close as I've sat here putting this post together.

I can hear the clacking of the keys as I type.

I can hear the whirr of the fan within the computer tower beside me.

And I can hear the faint "pop-pop-pop" of the flash bulbs in the emergency strobe lights in the hallway.

This afternoon, just moments before a two-and-a-half hour company-wide meeting began off-site, a water line burst in my office building.

It immediately affected the floor I sit on, and the floor immediately beneath it (where the switchboard is).

So the building was vacated, and all employees went to the meeting early.

This all happened as I was adventuring - finally, after 8 days of wanting - for cupcakes.

So I arrived  back to the building in time to watch a wave of coworkers flood the sidewalks, two fire trucks scream down the street and stop in front of our office. I didn't know what to do.

I hate not knowing what to do.

So, after a short session of attempting to get in to retrieve our belongings, we were informed that we needed to wait outside. We meandered to the small sitting area, sat down with our cupcakes and chatted while we waited to be cleared for access.

It was as we waited that I started to think.

There were two fire trucks outside the office. The firemen stood in the lobby, conferring with maintenance staff about the situation.

This was classified as an "emergency."

But in the scheme of things... this was nothing.

On April 15, during the Boston Marathon, a real emergency broke out. Some individuals set out to make themselves know through the pain that they caused. They hurt more than just the runners - they hurt families, and they hurt our country.

That week was terribly, terribly dark.

But out of that darkness, a wonderful light started to shine - brighter and so much more positive than the strobes that are blinking around me now.

Three students at Emerson College - Nick, Chris and Lane - started a campaign that they called "Stay Strong - Boston Strong."

They thought, perhaps, they might sell a hundred tee shirts to raise a little money for the marathon runners who were hurt, and the families of runners who didn't survive the attack.

The result has been tremendous.

News stories have erupted everywhere. These students have been on USA Today, they've gone to Red Sox games, and they're rocking the nation with the difference they're making.

That difference is to the tune of almost 48,000 shirts, and over $700,000.

Nick designed the tee-shirts - a simple design, with yellow block letters on a royal blue tee, in the color scheme of the marathon - on a website called "Ink To The People." Ink To The People agreed to create the shirts, if over 110 would sell. Then they donated the first 1,500 shirts to the cause. More than 46,000 shirts later, they're taking only $5 out of the sale of each tee shirt for production costs. This campaign has put more shirts through their presses than they've created in the history of their company.

And the campaign continues today, striving to reach $1,000,000 for The One Fund. The One Fund, set up to assist the individuals impacted by the bombing, has raised over $27,000,000 so far, and continues to need our help.

You can get your very own tee here:

http://inktothepeople.com/marketplace/ink-detail/4916

So I ask you, my ReaderFriends...

Are you Boston Strong?