the prime mover
Somewhere in school, I can't remember if it was kindergarten or college, physics or philosophy, because in some ways they are all too similar, I studied the concept of the prime mover. The prime mover is a force that gets things started...the place where inertia begins. It's the thing that puts an end to boredom and starts something/anything (to quote Todd Rundgren). In the grand universe of things, some people call that God. On a much smaller scale, it's whoever will put down the remote and pick their ass up off the couch. Some times...lots of times..I feel like that's what I am.
Too often, all of us say, "we need to get together sometime", or "we should play golf sometime soon", or "ya know what, it'd be fun if we all went to a baseball game." The problem is, everyone tends to sit back and just wait for things to happen and, because of that, nothing does. Someone has to step up and make phone calls, arrange things, set the wheels in motion. If that someone doesn't exist, everyone sits in their current rut. I used to arrange group trips to hockey games here. The J'ville Barracudas are a minor league team in town, and one day, a few years ago, my boss said, "We ought to get a group together and go to some of those games." I took it upon myself to call, get some information and make the offer to everyone, organize it and make it happen. I started doing the same for J'ville Suns baseball games. The sticking point in these arrangements always was...to get a block of tickets, you had to buy them up front with a credit card. I made the rule...if you commit to going, you're paying, because this is my credit card we're talking about. It worked OK for a while, but then people started testing that rule, and I felt bad telling them, "I'm sorry you can't go, but I still need the cash." In time, that got to be enough of a hassle that I just stopped doing it. The last straw came when over half the people who said they wanted in didn't go to the game, and I spent too much time trying to track down and get money from those who didn't go. Now, the boss asks, "When are we doing hockey again?" I told him...when it's someone else's credit card that backs the trip. So far he hasn't stepped up either.
Where all this is going...
We play golf here in the summer. It starts after 5:00 every Thursday from about Memorial Day to Labor Day and costs a whopping two dollars for nine holes. Two dollars, and we're not talking some pitch and putt dog track. We're talking a resort course and a very nice one at that. Any of you who play know, this is more than just a good deal. It's an outrageously good deal and as close as you can get to free golf without it actually being free. It's a nice benefit that comes with the job, and the underlying premise, long ago, was that you'd meet a bunch of other people who work here and broaden your knowledge in the process of having fun. The guy who organized the whole show for the last 7 or 8 years left for another job. The golf thing was run by a committee, and he was only one person in that committee. He was just the only one who got the e-mails from everyone who wanted to play and set up the foursomes each week. Bottom line, he did most of the grunt work. Rumor has it there will be no golf this summer, because nobody can or will take his place. Nobody else knows or wants to learn how to run the software he used to make foursomes and run the event. Nobody will step up and be the prime mover. To be honest, I don't know how true the rumor is. Nobody else from that committee has even approached me, and I'd probably be a logical choice...so it may get revived yet. If they do ask me though, and if I accept, things will change. Over the years, it turned into a competition, where you pick the people you play with. The concept of getting to know other people who work here fell by the wayside. As long as you could pick who you played with, more people would play. Beginners felt more comfortable playing with their friends, and some people went about the business of stacking their team to get the lowest score each week. Since more people were playing, it was deemed this was more successful. Years ago it used to be a blind draw. You put your name in a hat and played with whoever came out of the hat when you did. Less people played, but the original intent remained. This is where I will take it if I take it. People will complain, and in the past, complaints were given a lot of priority. ("I don't want to play with him again. He talks too much." "Why can't I play with my friends?" "Why do I have to start on that hole?" "Why did you put me behind that group. I had to wait all night." and so on...) If I take it, the rule will be, "You're playing golf for two bucks. Quit whining or leave."
It just amazes me though, that people are willing to just let something like that fold without even trying. "Oh well, the guy who knew how to run it left, so we just won't do it anymore."
Too often, all of us say, "we need to get together sometime", or "we should play golf sometime soon", or "ya know what, it'd be fun if we all went to a baseball game." The problem is, everyone tends to sit back and just wait for things to happen and, because of that, nothing does. Someone has to step up and make phone calls, arrange things, set the wheels in motion. If that someone doesn't exist, everyone sits in their current rut. I used to arrange group trips to hockey games here. The J'ville Barracudas are a minor league team in town, and one day, a few years ago, my boss said, "We ought to get a group together and go to some of those games." I took it upon myself to call, get some information and make the offer to everyone, organize it and make it happen. I started doing the same for J'ville Suns baseball games. The sticking point in these arrangements always was...to get a block of tickets, you had to buy them up front with a credit card. I made the rule...if you commit to going, you're paying, because this is my credit card we're talking about. It worked OK for a while, but then people started testing that rule, and I felt bad telling them, "I'm sorry you can't go, but I still need the cash." In time, that got to be enough of a hassle that I just stopped doing it. The last straw came when over half the people who said they wanted in didn't go to the game, and I spent too much time trying to track down and get money from those who didn't go. Now, the boss asks, "When are we doing hockey again?" I told him...when it's someone else's credit card that backs the trip. So far he hasn't stepped up either.
Where all this is going...
We play golf here in the summer. It starts after 5:00 every Thursday from about Memorial Day to Labor Day and costs a whopping two dollars for nine holes. Two dollars, and we're not talking some pitch and putt dog track. We're talking a resort course and a very nice one at that. Any of you who play know, this is more than just a good deal. It's an outrageously good deal and as close as you can get to free golf without it actually being free. It's a nice benefit that comes with the job, and the underlying premise, long ago, was that you'd meet a bunch of other people who work here and broaden your knowledge in the process of having fun. The guy who organized the whole show for the last 7 or 8 years left for another job. The golf thing was run by a committee, and he was only one person in that committee. He was just the only one who got the e-mails from everyone who wanted to play and set up the foursomes each week. Bottom line, he did most of the grunt work. Rumor has it there will be no golf this summer, because nobody can or will take his place. Nobody else knows or wants to learn how to run the software he used to make foursomes and run the event. Nobody will step up and be the prime mover. To be honest, I don't know how true the rumor is. Nobody else from that committee has even approached me, and I'd probably be a logical choice...so it may get revived yet. If they do ask me though, and if I accept, things will change. Over the years, it turned into a competition, where you pick the people you play with. The concept of getting to know other people who work here fell by the wayside. As long as you could pick who you played with, more people would play. Beginners felt more comfortable playing with their friends, and some people went about the business of stacking their team to get the lowest score each week. Since more people were playing, it was deemed this was more successful. Years ago it used to be a blind draw. You put your name in a hat and played with whoever came out of the hat when you did. Less people played, but the original intent remained. This is where I will take it if I take it. People will complain, and in the past, complaints were given a lot of priority. ("I don't want to play with him again. He talks too much." "Why can't I play with my friends?" "Why do I have to start on that hole?" "Why did you put me behind that group. I had to wait all night." and so on...) If I take it, the rule will be, "You're playing golf for two bucks. Quit whining or leave."
It just amazes me though, that people are willing to just let something like that fold without even trying. "Oh well, the guy who knew how to run it left, so we just won't do it anymore."
John put this out here at 1:04 PM
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