Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, “Someone may steal from it at night.” So they created a night watchman position and hired a person at $18,000.00 a year for the job.
Then Congress said, “How does the watchman do his job without instruction?” So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions for $22,000.00, and one person to do time studies for an additional $22,000.00 per year.
Then Congress said, “How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?” So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One to do the studies for $31,000.00 and one to write the reports for an additional $31,000.00 per year.
Then Congress said, “How are these people going to get paid?” So they created the following positions, a time keeper for $35,000.00 annual salary, and a payroll officer for an additional $35,000.00, then hired two people.
Then Congress said, “Who will be accountable for all of these people?” So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer at $155,000.00 per year, Assistant Administrative Officer $125,000.00, and a Legal Secretary for an additional $100,000.00 per year.
Then Congress said, “We have had this operating for one year with a budget cost of $574,000.00 and we are $18,000 over budget. We must cutback overall cost.”
So they laid off the night watchman.
