21C Man, part 12: You can't get there from here.

[Doktor Howl]

I just thought I'd take a moment out of my day to explain a few things that should be obvious.

First, the laws of the universe do not change for your convenience.  If you expect them to, you will be disappointed.  If you assume they will, you are in trouble.  If you rely on the fact that they will, you are doomed.  No amount of begging, screaming, or angry demands will change this fact, and if you can't learn to see things the way they really are, you are screwed and you should just give up now.

Second, nothing in the world can stop The Dread God Finagle and his Mad Prophet Murphy.  Dinosaurs?  Thud.  Creationist?  Here's an apple, lady.  Evolutionist?  The best doesn't have a monopoly on reproduction...Anything that is good enough for the present conditions will also reproduce.  When conditions change, then say hello to Finagle.

Note:  For those of you who don't know, Finagle's 1st Law is "If anything can go wrong, it will", also, known as the "oil seal principle", and Murphy's first law states that "If there are two ways to do something, a safe and effective method and a dangerous and ineffective method, someone will do it in the dangerous and ineffective way", which can be shortened to "no matter how easy it is, someone will fuck it up".

Ask the Babylonians about Finagle.  Or the Romans.  Ask the Easter Islanders about Murphy...Or, shit, just ask Donald Rumsfeld.  When you hear hollow laughter in marble halls, that's Murphy in action, telling someone a great idea he had.  When you go see the quaint, ancient ruined marble halls, you can be sure that Finagle was right behind Murphy.

When times are tough (ie, the great depression, WWII, etc), people are very wary of Finagle and Murphy.  They are often (though certainly not always) taken into account, at least once the ball is really rolling, and their effects are at least mitigated.  During long periods of prosperity, people tend to forget about The Great Fuckup Fairy, and it's no wonder that most civilizations collapse right at the height of a golden age...Chances are that the golden age was brought about by short-term decisions, and/or people decided to kill the golden goose (the tax cuts of 2000 come to mind).

Third, hubris.  Hubris is that state of mind where you staple a sign to your face, demanding that the universe come along and kick you in the junk.  To stretch the analogy, the sign also obstructs your vision so you can't see it coming, and then when it happens, you assign the blame to someone or something totally unrelated, according to your prejudices.  The Greeks understood the peril of hubris; Americans view it as a desirable quality.

Doktor's Diagnosis:  It is by luck that humans survived the period between "falling out of the tree" and "inventing fire."

[LMNO]

[The Wizard Joseph]

Literally listening to some of the guys here talk about a fellow named 'Big John' that worked here before me while reading this.

Apparently BJ was notorious for being the guy who seemed to be making it worse on purpose when things go south, but was in fact just an asshole with no foresight.

Like a tire fell off of the trailer we haul on a tugger or tractor (depending on which is currently operable) and he drove it all the way back to the laundry facility from the hospital. He could have made 1 call from the phone carried by the person driving that day, but decided axel and road damage were the way to go.

He also had a toe cut off by a load lifter as it came down for a rack of dirty. There are chains for exactly that reason and he just would not spend 2 seconds to secure it. The person lowering the thing was not aware he was 3 feet away below the lift either. I've seen bad stuff here I won't discuss while under my NDA, but it ALL fits exactly the laws as you describe.

This hospital is now in the top 50. I wonder if that isn't from pure attrition.