Pinned
Everything that surrounds you, our entire society, is held up by a bunch of dirtbags. Don't believe me? Maybe it's because everything seems so glamorous and put-together. After all, some very nicely dressed people are telling you about how things work.
Politicians. Architects. Analysts. Owners of engineering firms. McKinsey consultants. Those folks are upper management. When was the last time, in your job, that you believed upper management really knew what was going on? I thought so.
When you get down to the very basic level, the folks who actually know how everything is held together are – to a person – terrified weirdos. They speak strange words to each other, and make jokes that are completely incomprehensible to normal people. Each and every time disaster is narrowly averted, it's because of their tireless actions and neurotic hyperfocus on the subject matter in question.
And this isn't just a blue-collar thing, either. Sure, your friendly neighbourhood mechanic might be absolutely scared stiff to drive in traffic, within striking range of any of the poorly-maintained rot-boxes they see all day. That's obvious. This phenomenon goes further. It affects workers of all stripes: I guarantee you that right now, some woman who collects human skulls as a hobby and talks to squirrels is busy sweating through her business-casual outfit in the bowels of a power plant, trying to figure out what that last strange little error code really means.
So, the next time you meet someone a little strange, a little off, who has encyclopedic knowledge of just how close we have come to oblivion every day this week, be kind. You don't want to know what happens if they decide to let their boss run things instead.
