Know Your County Government

Yesterday (Tuesday) and today I am scheduled for some new employee stuff at the main County building downtown. Both are full days, 8 hours each. Well not exactly 8 hours. There are short breaks and the 1 hour lunch. And the day usually runs short, once everything on the agenda is covered then you can leave.

So if someone asks too many questions, I give them a super mega wedgie. That is when you grab the back of someone's underwear and pull it over their head. A regular wedgie is just when you pull it out a little bit.

Tuesday, the class ended about 45 minutes early. It was a pretty good deal for me. And I got a full days pay.

Now for the downside. I had to be downtown by 8 AM. And the topics covered were not exactly exciting. I would rather be at the job site, but the program is mandatory. The topics covered are related to stuff that new employees should know about - like for example the FRS program (Florida Retirement System) and the various health plans offered, and stuff like that.

At least the confrence room has windows, and is on the 18th floor. I have a good view of the Miami "river" (more like the Miami Canal really - rivers usually do not have concrete banks). I can also see a little bit of Key Biscayne and Biscayne Bay. I can also see beyond Key Biscayne and into the ocean. If I get really close to the window and look sideways, I can see the Port Of Miami. And on break, I can see the FAA tower at the airport. So that is a plus. The view is pretty nice.

Today the topics covered will be "know your county government" and something else. I will put a thumbtack into my shoe so that I can stay awake.

Oh yea funny story time. At the thing on Tuesday the guy asked "do you think the county is committed to excellent service" (the vision statement is "delivering excellence every day"). I answered "sometimes". When asked what that means, I said that while there ARE some county departments that try to deliver excellence every day (like for example Fire Rescue, the road ranger program, the police when they are NOT handing out parking tickets, and so on) other departments seem to have missed the memo about it.

I used as an example the Parks Department (search my archives for posts about the stupid boat ramp automated pay stations) and Team Metro. I have been to war with Team Metro on a few occasions over things like radio antennas and stuff. My dad went to war with Team Metro over "junk cars" that had valid tags, insurance, and ran. The County said they were "junk" yet were more than happy to collect the registration fee, and totally ignored the fact that the car did run. In each case, the county lost the war. But really the car WAS junk, just because something runs does not mean you should drive it. But for the purposes of winning the war, the car was perfectly fine.

One of the people in the class is a new employee for Team Metro, but she works in the office - she is not one of the people running around in the county cars looking for violations.

So there you are. You now know that Dade County has a vision statement. And ALL the departments had to make a "business plan" that conformed to the vision statement. I also saw a nifty chart that showed how I was directly connected to the vision statement. I learned all this stuff in a senior level business administration class at Florida International University, but this is the first time that I have held a real job that had a vision statement. The federal government's vision statement seems to be "sit there and look like an idiot while you take a week to decide if you should shit or get off the pot", and the school board does not have a vision statement as far as I know. Uusally only private sector stuff has vision statements.

But really, it is good that the County Manager is trying to bring service back to the public service sector. In theory, my boss is everyone who votes and/or use the airport. This is an ass load of bosses! My job preformance should be able to live up to their reasonable expecations. There will always be someone who is not happy with the level of service no matter what you do, but for the most part people just want to not be treated like shit. For too long, the government mentality was "you have no choice, so stop bitching as it will only make the line longer".

The County Manager is very serious about the "customer service" stuff. And this is ok with me. I work for the Aviation Department, but my inside MDAD I work in the customer service division. So the more serious the County Manager is about customer service, the more secure my job is!

And really - people who pay taxes should get more than sandpaper in the toilet stalls. After all, they do pay for that toilet paper.