There Is No Such Thing As Idiot-Proof

Years ago I was working for a very large Oil Company as a consultant. This job was a bit different than my usual contracts. I was just finishing a contract at one company when I got an urgent call from a manager at a large integrated company. They had an employee not show up for a week and that morning she quit without notice over the phone. They needed someone immediately. The problem was although I did work as a systems analyst and oversaw many system conversions, I had limited experience doing the day to day jobs. But they were desperate and I was soon to be unemployed so a deal was made and with the blessings of my current contract manager, I showed up early the next morning. Stepping into a position with deadlines due that day is interesting but I did it. Did I do it well? Uhhhh, there were mistakes. But it worked out. I did the job for a month while they sought a replacement. Interestingly enough, everything they did was spreadsheet based which was my forte’ so the job morphed into a seek and fix jack of all spreadsheets error mission. The company would soon absorb a smaller publicly traded company and I was once again in my comfort zone merging and converting their systems.

That was what I did. Move from company to company and either set up new specialized systems or dealt with companies that bought out other companies or were merging together. Marketing of oil and natural gas is rather unique and their accounting systems are as well. New and improved systems were being developed all the time and as a result my services were always in demand. For me, with my computer science background they were all the same. It was easy work. The problem were the people I had to deal with. No one wants things to change. They are comfortable in the familiar. Repetition. In fact I found most people were rote workers. Or maybe it was that companies assigned their least productive to my projects. With the takeover came personnel changes.

My new manager was from the new company and had very little experience. He surrounded himself with people he knew and the result was a disaster. Probably the worst merger I was ever a part of. In the meantime we had so many tense meetings behind closed doors as I kept bringing major errors to light and he kept reminding me that I needed to be kinder in my approach. I was increasingly frustrated with his lack of concern. The last straw was when I received a call from an old co-worker who had been reaching out for months to someone at my new company. The friend was trying to get an invoice from our oil marketing accounting for a little over four million dollars. They couldn’t pay it without the invoice. My investigation showed it was an error from the first month of the takeover, part of the new managers work crew. After six months of not knowing what to do with all of the errors, he “wrote them off”. He wrote off the four million dollar receivable because they didn’t know where the other side of the transaction was. He authorized it. I am the person who cannot stand being out by one cent. When I confronted him he said, “That is why we have you?” To create an idiot proof system”. To which I replied “There is no such thing. You have to stop hiring idiots!” I reported him. He fired me. Within a few weeks, he was reassigned to special projects, the dead zone where people go to be fired. And his closest employees were let go. I started a new contract two days later.

That was the problem I ran into most of the time while working. People are afraid to ask for help. They don’t want to appear stupid. And so they hide mistakes. But in real life, outside of work it seems as if the world just assumes the general population is kinda stupid and needs to be protected from themselves. Take driving safety. It is proven that having lights on in the daytime prevents accidents as we are better able to see cars. Daytime running lights were invented. They are lights that come on as soon as the car is started. That way people don’t have to think about or, more importantly, they don’t forget to turn lights off in the daytime and run down the battery. Great so far. Except, they weren’t in the rear. The other night I was coming home in the dark from a hockey tournament. The speed limit on the highway was 110 kph and I almost rear ended a car because it only had its daytime running lights on. Until 2021, these lights only included the front so this car was invisible from behind. I flashed my bright’s and quickly pulled into the passing lane. He started to tailgate me and put his brights on thinking I was just a jerk. Until I turned off my lights and let my car slow down. He still didn’t get it. I took off as another truck came up on him and flashed and honked. We both got the brights for the next 20 km.

That same evening I came upon two more vehicles just using running lights. In the city it is a little better as there are street lights but still dangerous. I was behind a car on a heavily travelled road and didn’t bother to flash. I just passed her and went on my way. I was stopped at a red light in a turning lane when the car pulled in behind me. I got out to go tell the driver about their lights and they started to back up. Afraid I guess. So I pointed to my tail lights, got into the car and turned off all my lights, got out and pointed to the tail lights and pointed to her car. In a couple of seconds her lights came on. And yet she probably had no idea why she could see even though I thought her lights were out. Because somewhere out there, she was prevented from learning through trial and error. I turn my lights on every time I get into the car. I learned at a young age, after a few dead batteries, to turn them off again.

So what is the moral of this rather lengthy story? Honestly, I believe we are encouraging people to be idiots by trying to prevent any consequences for their stupidity. Trial and error. Such an important part of learning. Watch a baby sometime. They try and try and try again to do the smallest of tasks. Until they master it. We take so many of our skills for granted as adults because we forget how hard we tried to learn those things. Trying and failing is one of the greatest precursors to critical thinking. Critical thinking isn’t something that is just in us. It is developed over time and it really is hard to define in some ways because we all think differently. As children we learn about the world with ourselves as the centre of the universe. Everything is about us. But in time we learn about our immediate surroundings. Our community or family. How things work with us and how we interact in our little part of the big world. These are the days we learn our biases. Whether it is familial or cultural, we see the world based on where we live, how we live and what we are taught by those around us. But basically, critical thinking is when an individual takes in all the information they can find regarding an idea or problem. They try and expand their minds and find other areas of knowledge than the childlike knowledge we all seem to hold onto so tightly. Then they make decisions based on that input. But in order to develop the practice we have to listen to the words of John Cougar, “When I was a young boy, said put away those young boy ways.”

Yeah I know that song is about a woman and he does go on to say that he longs for those young boy days. But that’s because we all think the good old days are so much better. I think it is because we were young with no responsibility. Nothing could stop us or hold us back. Or… Maybe it is because when we become adults we realized that our youth is meant for fuck-ups. Because that is how we learn. Gain knowledge. And now as adults we have no idea how to break free of the self imposed chains we drag through life. Because in our minds we have so much more to lose. It is kind of like investing. When I was young I took a lot of chances with my money because I had a lot of earning years left. I could afford some losses. But now, it is a little more risky. But, I am fine financially. And if tomorrow I suddenly lost everything I would still have family. It would all work out. I lived some very lean years when I was young and life was grand. In so many ways. Because there was nothing to lose.

I think the most important lesson I have learned lately is that I can trust myself. To make decisions. To screw up. Statistically I have always landed on my feet. Why would that change now? While the powers that be are so insistent on regulating the world to protect us from ourselves, we can opt out. I still do stupid things. I don’t wear a helmet while ice skating. My daughter thinks I should, and she does, but she doesn’t hound me. There is a difference between loved ones wanting us to be safe because they worry, and governments legislating every part of our lives to keep us all alive. When it comes right down to it, we need to teach people, not just change things to protect them. Because the world will never be idiot proof. And there will always be idiots. So maybe we should start to teach people. Give them more knowledge. Encourage youngsters to read. To become excited about learning rather than march them through regimented education systems. We need to recognize that all children are unique and don’t fit the same mold. But we also need to allow them some control over their own learning based on their likes and wants and fears and expectations.

I’m reminded of my daughter Drew and the day she picked up her new car with her Dad. It was a stick and she had never driven a four speed. Once the papers were signed and money changed hands she got the keys. When she asked if he was going to drive her new car home her Dad replied “It’s not my car” and he left her there to figure it out. Guess who figured it out? Guess who got home safely? Somehow. Guess who learned how to drive a stick? Guess who has always been able to figure things out? Guess who loves to learn and loves to debate? Guess who just learned because she had to? Even when she failed. Yeah, that would be Drew. Were things hard at times? Of course. Do we see eye to eye always? Nope. But the most important thing we have in common is the love of learning. The best gift I gave my children. Because they are well aware of how little they truly know.

It isn’t too late. We can create a better world. We can do what we want. Be the odd man out. Screw up royally and then start again. But more importantly remember what John said. He longs for those young boy days. Remember your young days. Remember the best parts of those days. Now, go live them again. We don’t have to live in an idiot proof world filled with fear. Fear of failure, not fitting in, wearing the wrong clothes, eating the wrong food, going through life as a clone. It is awful. It is meaningless. It is mind numbing. It is the movie “Idiocracy”. Living life on our own terms doesn’t mean blaming everyone else. It is about educating not just ourselves but our children and grandchildren. So they learn to think for themselves. In fact maybe we should start by just letting peoples car batteries go dead because they left their lights on.