Downside of Democracy
Sometimes an authoritarian rule works best in certain situations. Give people the choice with the mistaken belief that fairness and implementing the majority rule theory is the way to go ….it could backfire spectacularly and end up in utter chaos.
Yet tell them….” this is what you are doing” and “this is where you are going” “RSVP before Friday” everyone is bound to oblige. Other than the usual natter of “have you been there before, I haven’t” “yes I have and the food is great”
“I have been there but it is so noisy” “Parking is too far away too”
“Tell me about it, the smoking area is too far away from the building too”
Yada yada yada…. yet the names will be on the circular one way or the other.
Ask these same people for a preference….. expect chaos unlimited.
That is exactly what has happened with our office Christmas party this year. Last year we were simply told of the place, date and time as planned by the organiser.
This time for reasons unknown, we the people were given the choice………. and you’ve got preferences ranging from the local pub to swanky restaurants, with in-between or wacky – depend how you look at it- choices like an overnighter at the Casino to paintball!
Democratic method results in looking at others’ choices and grumbling, groaning and everything in-between. “I hate that venue, the food is lousy” “Not much of a choice with drinks either”
“I don’t know if I want to go there”
“The smoking area is too close to the building, I don’t want to inhale second hand smoke”
Yada yada yada………………
I have a feeling……. at this rate, we will go to a park somewhere.
Whisperings 
We have a handy little printout left in the tea-room area. On it is a table of restaurant choices at the top (columns) and the rows are blank. People are asked to write their name on a row and then place tick(s) under the places they’d like. A similar table is left for deciding a date. Majority rule wins. There isn’t anyone to whine to as it’s just a piece of paper that people need to tick or not tick, depending on whether they want to come for the meal or not.
Maybe you guys could try that? Sounds a lot simpler than what you’ve described there.
Ha Ha wait and see, you’re never going to have a Christmas party this year. Better make some other plans for yourself 😀
:-)Democracy is kind of a misnomer dontcha think? Here you have an infinite number of good choices that can be made. In democracy there is a limited number of bad choices have to make.
Interesting… You seem to be using “yada yada” a lot.
Democracy requires an opposition party to work right, Does it not?
And your office mates seem to fit the bill perfectly for parliamentarians here. 😉
When I was working we were invariably invited for lunch to the bosses home for a xmas treat,and she hand cooked the meal for us! It was always wonderful!But, when we had to pick a place for other outings, oh…it was a battle of the wills!
Darwin, I am staying way out of this one. After seeing the preferences I later wrote ‘or whatever’ beside my preference and highlighted… mainly because I felt sorry for the one who organises.
Azrael, you reckon? Not if I have to say something about it 🙂
R, hmmm……….Okk : )
Jester, you got me thinking and scared now. 🙂
Mental note to self: do not use ‘yada yada’ or ‘ain’t’ in front of Jester 😛 Are you Queen’s pet or something?
Indyana, wow a boss who cooks for the workers! Now that is a novelty.
Queen’s Pet? …oooOOOooo…
Yo’ ain gotta wor’ bou usin tho words! I ain dissin’ , jus sayin’ 😉
(I wanted to remove the punctuation too, but it was just too painful. 😉 )
“Yo’ ain gotta wor’ bou usin tho words! I ain dissin’ , jus sayin’”
You know, I had to read and re-read the above many times to understand what you were saying. I think after the third or is it the fourth time…..anyway… I got it. That ain’t bad for such language, innit? : )