Last week I mentioned trying to tackle some different topics. As all things in life go, that has changed and been put on permanent hold. Which is a great segue into a comment @bryanlsplinter made on a DOT about contingency plans. Do you have a plan B or C to go with your A. Or are you a winging it kind of person?
i have many plans…and hopes and dreams
mostly tho…i live in reality where all the plans hopes and dreams get shattered coz oh fuck emergency!
and if no emergencies happen….something fucking expensive dies.
(edit) oh but yeah…im team wing it….no choice…dont have the money to be any othere team
Depends on the situation. If it’s small potatoes, then I usually don’t care. If it’s medium stakes, then I’ll typically have a plan B or C. If it’s high stakes, then I’m going all the way to Plan Z, because nothing fucking works out the way I want it to when it’s important.
I’m fine winging it as plan B if I’m by myself. Things get a little weirder in a group situation.
My contingency planning has a lot to do with what if I only get 3/4, 2/3 or halfway there — is this something that still works?
If I’m hosting an activity and some people drop out, is that something that still works with three people gone? If I’m thinking about places for vacation, if the travel is messed up on the way out and we’re wiped and want to lie around at the end, does this location still make sense with two days gone? Can a plan work if a sudden expense pops up, or is every single dollar accounted for and one lost item throws everything out of whack?
I don’t like single track plans where one missing piece means every subsequent thing falls apart.
When I was kid, I winged it because I thought I was smart enough to get my dumb ass out of any situation. Also planning seemed like work as I was also really lazy.
Things often didn’t go well. For reasons.
As I’ve gotten older (and a little humbler) I’ve become a much better planner. Sometimes I’ve been accused of winging it by a superior or two because I can change plans on the fly. I’ve got contingencies for contingencies.
However, unlike some of my rigid ex-coworkers I don’t fall in love with my work or plans as knowing that there is a good chance I’m dumping them the next day.
“No plan survives with contact with the enemy/reality” has become my co-mantra along with “We plan, god laughs” (ironic despite not believing in a diety) and that motherfucker, Murphy’s Law.
Speaking of Murphy’s Law, I once was told by a coworker that management didn’t believe in Murphy’s Law and that worst case contingencies don’t mean shit. He was kidding, sort of. The GE Six Sigma Lean Motherfuckers who took over in the last days of Nortel certainly didn’t believe it which is why Nortel no longer exists except as a bad joke or memory.
Heh this is good timing. This week my company nearly blew up from a supply chain surprise that is an existential threat. After a couple of sleepless nights and chilling the fuck out for a day, we worked out four or five paths back. Then we started notifying folks – customers and employees, and the calmer we got the calmer they got.
Next week we start pursuing all these options and we might have to hit multiple targets to keep the plates spinning.
Also at least two employees probably had Drew Magary-grade poop stories to share this week, for unrelated reasons.
I AM HERE FOR POOP STORIES.
Alright let’s start with the less convoluted one.
Our workplace has an admin/tech office about ten minutes’ walk from the production floor, across train tracks that sometimes gets littered with crack vials and used condoms. So, not exactly what a white-collar suburban worker considers a good walking area.
This brings us to Thadius IV (name changed, number not). Young Master Thadius works in our company that is named Thadius II, and this being a company that wants to project a family image, they do free catered lunches every Friday in lieu of offering actual good benefits for the hourly class. Thadius IV had to do a quick pep talk this week, a job that usually falls to Thadius III.
The combination of “subpar food” (his words) and nerves got young Thadius IV all riled up in his gut. Not being able to face the prospect of nuking one of the plant toilets, partly because hiring a daily janitor is too much og a burden on daddy, Thadius IV decided to try to huff it over to the office toilet. Also nobody agreed to drive him over after seeing how pale and sweaty he got.
Did he make it? Reader, he did not.
We found out because he showed up at the office 1.45 after leaving the plant at 12.15. With a used condom stuck to his left Hush Puppy.
Happy ending: Thadius III finally upgraded the janitorial services and did a refresh/remodel on the plant toilet, so there’s actual plumbing where the 1950s piss trough used to be.
If I am doing anything for others I think of every possible scenario and strategically lay everything out in my mind from best to worst.
If I am doing something for myself I wing it for the most part.
I am aware that there is something psychological going on that I cannot change or can admit to enough to put forth a concerted effort to change but hyper-vigilance and survival mode has kept me going thus far.
Myo, semi-serious question–do you by chance have ADHD, a family history of some type of military service, or perhaps family history with some generational trauma?
Because I am SO MUCH THE SAME!!!😉😄🤣💖
And (short answer) yes, these are why!💖
Depends? Some things I will hyper focus and have backup plans for. Usually related to something tight logistically.
Like a lot of other folks in here, it’s situational. The small stuff, I don’t sweat. The big stuff, I plan for.
Aaaah! My topic and I slept through it. I had to retire to my fainting couch after the horrors of the Great Pizza Wars.
As noted, I like backup plans. I think the real issue, though, is that if I don’t have a plan, then I didn’t consider the fact that something could happen. Which is a bit abstract, but an example:
When I got let go in August, I was completely shocked. I had not even considered the possibility. There was literally no one able to do my job (and still isn’t, actually, but that’s beside the point). And that’s what upset me more than the fact that I didn’t have a jobhunting plan or a side hustle. It didn’t occur to me that this could happen. And this ain’t the first time I’ve been fired.
Backup plans are predicated on the fact that I’ve thought through at least the major possible outcomes. I don’t like it when I’m, well, stupid.