Sometimes I wonder how the hell America ever got this far

I truly believe that America is a great country. But there are times when I think we succeeded despite ourselves.

Now I really am a moron when it comes to knowing how big corporations work. But it seems to me like there's an awful lotta...I dunno....make-work kinda things goin on. Things that they say are to make your productivity better, yet do nothing more than fuck everything up.

I've always thought that the fastest, simplest way to go from point A to point B was a straight line. Providing the path is clear, I mean. Of course, exceptions always have to be made if it's not. But that exception should be the simplest, right?

For example, at work, we have this computer program. It's bulky and cumbersome and ridiculously redundant. I'm certainly no genius, but even being there only a week, I can see where it could be made sooooooo much simpler. It'd save time. It'd save money. But who the hell am I to question something that's "always been that way"? I've asked why it's so difficult to work with...I figured there must be a good explanation...something I haven't learned yet. Nope. No one knows why.

"It's always been that way."

Same way with some of the paperwork. There's tons of it and most of it could be condensed into a fraction of what's there now, making all our lives soooo much simpler. Making us more productive.

Like...has no one ever thought of simplifying it? I just don't get it.

And it's not just stuff like that. It's other ways that big businesses do stupid things. For example, Zig just told me about this big re-do at his work. There's a particular area...a driveway kinda thing...that's been in crappy condition for at least 20 years. They finally fixed it a few weeks ago. He says they fixed it great...except now, they've decided to close that particular area.

They spent thousands of dollars on something that's been shitty for years, only to close the whole area a couple of weeks later. And that's not really the best part. They spend thousands of dollars on fixing a driveway that's gonna be closed anyway, but most of their machines are being fixed with bandaids and rubberbands. And maybe a little duct tape. Because they don't have spare parts...can't afford 'em, they say.

They don't have the basic material to work with to produce their product to make money, but they fix a driveway that's gonna be out of service, anyway.

I ain't very smart, but I believe I could figure out that something's not quite right with this scenario.

I dunno. Is it because the head honchos all have an agenda and all those agendas conflict? Is it because the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing? What the hell is the answer? I'd really love for some really smart business guru to explain it to me in a way that I can understand.

Or is confusion, redundancy and conflict part of the syllabus for most business colleges nowdays?

If it is, then I oughta be a damned MBA.