Why I HATE Knee Jerk Reactionary Policies That Punish All Because Of The Behavior Of One Or A Few
As a librarian I must admit that I am awash in policy. A lot of those defined principles have been adopted as a means to help keep operations as equitable and smooth running as possible. Most of the time I don't even mind operational policy, for it has gotten me out of an irritated and/or combatant patron jam a time or two. It can be a bit of a situational balm to an irritated soul to blame the overdue item conundrum that they are in on a faceless bureaucrat's whims.
That said, I am a firm believer that life is not equitable, nor can it be made completely or even closely equitable by representatives of the State. Nothings makes my hackles rise more than a policy or rule enacted that inconveniences others due to the behavior of one or a few. TSA, I'm looking at you here.
An example: In the recent past in order to log onto the library's computers one had to have in their possession their library card and know how to spell their last name. The computer use policy in our branch is an hour per card with an hour extension if there is no waiting list. The computer use policy exists to try to keep things fair and accessible to all potential and possible users as we only have a limited amount of computers available for use. Well, one enterprising adolescent discovered they could extend their computer use time by swiping and utilizing their parent's cards too. After a nice bit of parental blame gaming and fit throwing upon discovery that the parent's daily time allotment was already spent for the day when they came in to use the computer, management decided that we had to scan every person's library card who was under the age of 18 before they could use the computer from that point forward. No other library in our district did such a thing, so we had to retrain and harass any youth that came in to use the computer because of the behavior of one kid and their parents.
I've always disagreed with causing grief to many because of the mal-behavior of one or a few. It causes me no heartache to diplomatically yet pragmatically tell a parent that it is not my responsibility to babysit little Jimmy. If your kid is abusing his or your privileges, that's your ball game to referee. We will put a stop to the policy breaking action as soon as we become aware of it, but it is not the job or responsibility of a public employee to parent for you. Now, if I catch anyone abusing or falsely using someone else's card, I will react accordingly, but the last thing I will or want to do is disrupt the entire behavior of the existing policy following herd due to one enterprising yet rule bending person.
Current management is quite a bit better in this department. We have guest passes for anyone, regardless of card carrying status to use the computer. We don't bother the kids anymore, and guess what? Library attendance has increased, circulation is up, and the world didn't collapse into a black hole of someone mis-behaved doom!
Another example that comes to mind is I have a cat that loves to urinate in my dog's food bowl. Do I banish all other cats from the house due to this particular cat's apparent hatred for Chuck, our gentle and sweet Border Collie mutt? Nope, I excommunicated the urinating sensation from our realm. After a few weeks of no entry to the land of soft pillows and back scratches, she definitely got the memo.
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That brings me to the close of this malcontent missive. Has it become so easy to just not stand up and deal with those who cause problems? Are we somehow discriminating against people by giving them an implied head slap when they engage in behavior that causes issues? I'd rather have one ill mannered creature mad at me for sticking a fork in their unwanted actions than an entire community hindered by some reactionary policy. Things are not always going to be fair, quite the opposite is true. We, as a species, don't need to run out and make a rule just because we can! Especially in the name of fairness, for in most cases the opposite of fair results. One of the only things we can control is our attitudes, and when I am confronted with some form of rule bending behavior I try to be as tactful and professional as possible. No one likes to be talked down to or treated like landfill refuse, but as someone who was punished a fair bit for the actions of a sibling as a kid, let's just say that the over-regulated in the name of fairness majority have a book glue-smeared champion ready to go to battle for them in their corner.
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