My Morning Smile

The System Works

I've always liked Wally [c dilbert.com]. My kinda guy. He comes up with some pretty good ways to shirk his duties. Recently he "added air bags to (his) underpants to avoid accidental assignments." Unusual approach but it could work in a pinch. That being said, nothing beats his 'Wednesday is blue binder day' idea, i.e., he would wander about the building with a blue binder, and look officious, as if doing something important.

Many years ago, while working at a local school, I added Wally's 'blue binder day' to my routine. I took a binder off my shelf, exitted my wee office and entered teacher's classrooms while they worked and, with binder open, would quietly wander about, pretend to look at the window seals, quality of the black boards, height of book shelves, amount of dust on ledges, etc. Occasionally I would wiggle a pen between my fingers, raise an eyebrow, shrug, put a checkmark on a blank page in my binder. No one ever raised an eyebrow for three Wednesdays in a row, even after I taped the inspired Dilbert cartoon inside the staff washroom. I just looked like some committee guy doing a wee, almost pointless task.

But there was a point, i.e., to get a 10-minute break from paperwork. And on the fourth week a teacher welcomed me into the classroom with a warm introduction.

"Kids, it's Wally."

I gave the teacher a thumbs up, had a great laugh with him, and checked the height of a pile of books.

"Wednesday is blue binder day and I'm just doing my job," I said.

The kids looked at me for all of two seconds, could not have cared less.

I got some good mileage out of 'blue binder day'. Had a good laugh.

Have a good day yerself, eh!

Link to It Strikes Me Funny 2002

Photos GH