The agent is "never there".

PJT

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Jan 8, 2002
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PJT read with some interest the article posted in DR1 Daily News, 24 May, "Crop dusters complain of DNCD controls" about crop dusters complaining of DNCD controls of requiring a DNCD agent at refueling stations to authorize a fuel purchase. The problem is the agent is "never there". The loose government behavior throws the crop spraying schedule off and places the crops at risk because the agent is not on the same schedule as the crop dusters.

This article is but a window on a government and commercial business culture of an attitude of the client be damned, the comfort of the service provider come first and foremost. You have to ask how many times you have made a trek to a government and/or commercial office in search of a service and have been blown away because the person in charge, the decision maker, is not available because he/she is: in a meeting, out to lunch, has not arrived, on holiday, not his/her day to answer questions, won't answer phone, and ect. ect. ect. ......and the person left to deal with your situation has no authority to do anything except to request you return at another time when the decision maker is available. You have no choice other than return and start over. You do it, however, the agent is "never there".

It would be a good assignment for the Gallup Poll people to survey how much energy (fuel), (personal) time, and money is lost because of government and business inefficiency when (the agent is "never there").

Regards,

PJT
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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Macavity - The Mystery Cat
by T S Eliot

Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw--
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no on like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air--
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!

Macavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly doomed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square--
But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there!

He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's.
And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair--
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there!

And when the Foreign Office finds a Treaty's gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scap of paper in the hall or on the stair--
But it's useless of investigate--Macavity's not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
"It must have been Macavity!"--but he's a mile away.
You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macacity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibit, or one or two to spare:
And whatever time the deed took place--MACAVITY WASN'T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!