Today I was working a 7 hour shift at the Retail Store that I am employed at. It was pretty much business as usual for most of the day: stacking boxes, working cash registers, and selling products. We are currently in the Back-to-school phase of our year so we are pretty busy. Today we had to assemble displays for more school products. During this time we had to put an obnoxious sign on top of the display. The sign was in the form of a cardboard tube that other signs attached to it. The Manager didn't know what to do because the mother ship to our satellite store hadn't given us the correct supplies to display the sign. So it was my job.
In my life I had seen many challenges like this. Not in any place I had ever been employed though. In my work experience. I was never required to do very many things that involved a brain. Where I encountered my challenges was in Boy Scouts. Throughout my experience we had to complete many puzzles. Using critical thinking skills combined with scout skills and knowledge was pretty commonplace. In Boy Scout team building exercises we had to work as a group to scale walls, cross rivers, create make-shift shelters, start fire without matches, and lash together 15' tall observation towers. When I was growing up it was a very normal occurrence to be given limited tools to complete complex tasks.
This state of mind couldn't be further from the corporate minimum wage jobs that I tend to work. When you're in a corporate satellite retail store you are not allowed to use your brain. All of your instructions are given to you and you are expected to follow them out without even the slightest question to there efficiency or purpose. You are required to use a box cutter that doesn't cut boxes that are thicker than a pencil eraser (not that I ever follow that rule). In order to get promoted in such a job you have to suck ass for long enough that the bossman notices you and gives you a promotion and a raise of pennies an hour. In such a manner the managers are usually suck up pricks that couldn't think to save there lives.
This is why I loved this situation. It was exactly what a strict follower of corporate policy couldn't do. Think. In this situation I had to stand a 4', top heavy, cardboard sign to a 5' tall plastic display that held writing implements. My boss told me to use packing tape. My boss is a flipping idiot.
I immediately went to the back of the store and grabbed a length of synthetic rope and a screw driver (both of these things are no where to be found in the employee manual). I loosened the screws on the top of the box to use as anchor points. Then I cut the rope in half using my "illegal" knife and tied each piece to the cardboard post with a clove hitch. Then I tied overhand loops near the post on all four ropes coming off the post. With the help of one of my friends at the store (the kind of guy that uses an "illegal" knife). I used the loop-double half hitch method that I learned from my Dad. Then I tightened the screws with the screwdriver and the lines were really taught. My friend and I even subjected the display to the earthquake test and it didn't fall over.
One thing can be gleaned from this experience. A world of strict corporate workers is a world of boring people who can't use there skills and minds to work and solve problems. It is incredibly important for those of us with "Old World Skills" to keep it alive. Everyone needs to learn how to tie knots, work with knives, sew, work with a compass, and camp when we are young. Without such important skills we could all become corporate drones and live our lives with out the wherewithal to think outside of the box and make our own decisions.
Best,
The Renegade Rabbit
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