The unable leading the unwilling

The title to this column came from years of working for the railroad where it seemed that the people with the least ability always rose to the top management positions leading to “confusion” among the ranks and an “unwillingness” to comply on the employee’s part.
I recall many a time that managers were hired right out of college to try and lead 200 men with over 30 years of experience each. It was mass confusion until they would finally realize that each of us had been doing these jobs for more years than they had even been alive and then they would disappear into their offices for the duration of their tenure at that location while we moved freight.
That seems to happen a lot in business and I think it’s because the smartest people maybe just maybe tend to avoid the managers’ jobs. And that may be due to the fact that it’s more work and the boss also ends up with what is called “the blame.”
Marriage is a lot like that and the sooner a man finds out that he is “wrong” and lets his partner make all the decisions, the sooner he will escape “the blame” when things go haywire. There is an old saying that goes “If a man speaks and no woman is there to hear it, is he still wrong?” And that pretty well sums up a man’s life.
Trixie is the world’s best at running the show and I am finally learning to let her do it which means I get to go fishing more. That’s what you call a win-win situation there, folks. And I escape any blame for things going south. Well, most of the time anyway.
There seems to be a lot of people out there who are “un-ables” however. I see it every day when I look for things on Craigslist and see the gross misspellings and grammar mistakes in the ads. How they even make it in today’s world I am not sure.
The funniest ads to me are the ones that have an item for sale such as a boat. Now for the uninformed, boat is an acronym for Break Out Another Thousand as they are always needing some kind of work. But that does not prevent a fella from looking anyway. Just because a guy is on a diet doesn’t mean he can’t look in the refrigerator.
So you will see an ad and it’s all good and will tell a person about the features. Just when I am about to get some interest in the item the person trying to sell it will add on a sentence like “if you don’t want to pay what I want then go away.”
Nothing like a positive feeling that kind of statement generates?
Another type of un-able is the ones that want something for free but are unwilling to make any effort. Trixe, ever the soft touch, found someone online needing carpet for their house so they could move in.
It seems they had remodeled it but the bank would not let them move in without floor covering and they were short on money and long on kids. So Trixie made contact and offered to GIVE them new carpet for free when we get back to Dallas area in a week.
The note back was short and a tad nasty as the carpet-needing people demanded the carpet ASAP and said that they could not wait. Since Ol’ Dutch was gonna be the one in the carpet hauling business that person’s chances went from some to none in a heartbeat as I became one of the “unwilling” at that point.
I am not sure what was going through the couple’s mind or if they even had a mind after birthing six kids but it was definitely not one of thankfulness or appreciation.
Another ad I saw while looking for beekeeping supplies was from a young man who basically was asking for a complete hive, suit and tools be given to him. He said, “My family lost all of our beekeeping things and we need you to give us new ones.” That ought to make someone really reach out to such a humble soul?
I am not sure what has happened with people that they are so demanding of other people but it seems that there are a lot of them out there.
I guess Ol’ Dutch could be more giving and I could have offered to drive the 1,400 miles round trip to go give the family the carpet so they can move in.
Or, I could go fishing on the beach and let the family complain to all of their friends just how unwilling people are to help. The fish are always biting somewhere.

Kevin Kirkpatrick and his Yorkie, Cooper, fish, hunt, ATV or hike daily. His email is [email protected]. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com or on Twitter at TroutRepublic.