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Do you think we are moving toward a competency crisis in this country? I told this story in a comment on an article a few months back:
“Seven years ago, I bought a 2005 Outback. Despite the pink slip being clearly written by the dealer, the title came back with ‘Culter’ as my last name. I went to AAA for advice and they filled out a correction form for me. The title was revised to read ‘Renneth Culter’. I couldn’t believe it. Sent another correction form with very explicit instructions to correct both names included. It came back ‘Kenneth Culter’ again. I ended up having to drive to DMV headquarters an hour away to resolve the issue in person.”
That experience with a faceless bureaucracy concerned me—was it the canary in the coal mine? If I can’t trust Department of Motor Vehicles employees to fix a simple typo, what else could go wrong in future encounters with government entities? Currently, there’s something like a two-month delay to redeem U.S. savings bonds by mail. What will the wait be in a few years when my bonds mature? And will the bonds even make it to their destination? Recently, in my neighborhood, a lot of mail is being mis-delivered…something that rarely happened even a few years ago. The post office is having a hard time finding anyone to cover certain routes. I’m told drug testing is out the window.
I read news stories about “quiet quitting” and how slacking off is the new workplace norm. While I am a proponent of work-life balance, I’m concerned about the aggregate effect of work being increasingly less valued in our culture.
This isn’t meant to be a shot at younger generations. I’ve worked with many engineers in their 20s who are diligent and competent. My son, a software engineer, has worked harder than I did at his age. My daughter, a proofreader and pre-flight specialist for a printing company, does her job with excellence and a pleasant demeanor.
I think it’s important for people to take pride in their work, whatever it is. The corollary is that all people demonstrating a good work ethic deserve respect, regardless of the status society assigns to their job.
Structural problems and management challenges contribute to declining competence trends. The healthcare complex comes to mind. Although we have high-tech equipment to aid in addressing various conditions, complaining about staff shortages seems to be de rigueur for both hospital patients and employees. With not enough workers to go around, preventable mistakes and errors of omission are increasingly made—despite our technology. Those workers who are trying their best under difficult conditions can be susceptible to burnout.
It’s not that everything is falling apart. My wife recently went on Medicare. I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the enrollment process went. Of course, everything was done online and she didn’t have to speak even one time to a live person.
Not being particularly handy, I have lots of respect for craftsmen who are masters at what they do. I have a fantastic auto mechanic. In the past few years, we’ve had windows replaced, our heater furnace changed out, and a new roof installed. In each case, I was thoroughly satisfied with the job done and grateful that the workers took pride in doing an excellent job. I hope that my experience is typical but fear it may be less common than in the past.
Without getting partisan, I think some of my unease is due to the incompetency on display by many of our most prominent politicians. The bar is set so low. Neil Postman wrote a highly acclaimed book in 1985 entitled Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Postman has turned out to be a reliable prophet—unfortunately for us. I wish I felt that our political class could make progress on fiscal issues like debt reduction and shoring up Social Security. I think that a collective lack of political competency will lead to a crisis and adoption of less than adequate solutions for these problems.
Incentives matter: When there is a direct link between effort and compensation, I find the outcome is better.
Government is a classic problem of incentives. And why would you think you are their customer? Haha!
Part of the problem is atomization. Think call-center people who are hired to follow a call script who are now being replaced by AI. There is no incentive to take responsibility, to be creative, to do anything outside your lane (“let me transfer you to someone who can run that other call script”). There is no empowerment. The only metric is how quickly they can get you off the phone.
I was working at WorldCom in the run-up to the bursting of the DotBomb bubble. One of my co-workers put it well:
That was a Quinn worthy rant! Lots of good stuff to think about. Some 50 years ago a retired business manager turned college instructor told the class about the 10/80/10 rule. His contention was that 10% of workers were exceptional, 80% average, while the other 10% really sucked. I don’t think much has changed Mr. Culter.
That rule holds except at HumbleDollar, where all the writers are good looking and all the readers are above average.
I agree. I used to say something like that at work, but people don’t like to see an appraisal indicating average. Their self assessment is usually inflated.
No doubt all you say is true. I often get frustrated as well. Few weeks ago I called to question the bill for gas in our house. It was very high given we hadn’t been the house for six months. The phone rep told me that didn’t matter because the gas keeps flowing into the house regardless. Kaboom‼️
On the other hand governments have a challenge dealing with a few hundred million sometimes clueless people.
The only reason that SS and Medicare haven’t been fixed is because politicians fear telling voters the truth about what it will take and getting worse every day.
As far as savings bonds go, I take them to the bank.
I recently received a propane delivery and noticed the price per gallon was a dollar more that the contracted price through the buying cooperative I am a member of. When I called the company they said they received an email from me stating that I no longer wanted the reduced price. I asked them if that would make any sense to them. Then I told them if they received anything from my email address that they were scammed.
The customer service representative looked further and discovered it was an email from another customer that they linked to my account. 😩
Your first story aptly illustrates my point. And yes, the character (or lack of such) of the electorate has a great deal to do with how well we are governed. I still take my savings bonds to the bank, but I understand many banks are eliminating that service, so no future guarantees.
I moved all my bonds to electronic status on Treasury Direct. It took a little effort but it’s great now. You get instantaneous prices, and can even download to a spreadsheet and all kinds of fun.
I have noticed the same thing, Renneth (sic). I dismissed it as my perspective changing as I aged. In other words, as I became more experienced and competent, other’s incompetence became more noticeable to me. However, you may be right about it being a general decline, especially when it comes to political leaders. Most politicians couldn’t lead a dog to a bone.
Matt, that’s an interesting observation, worth pondering. Of course, as you age you have more lived history in the memory bank to use for comparisons.
My mother in law recently experienced two episodes of a health scare. Both were the result of people not doing their jobs. One episode resulted in a totally avoidable call for EMS and an overnight hospitalization.
My children are closely approaching their 40s, and growing up they constantly heard their father saying, “Nobody does their job”. I’m sure they felt like I was just blowing off steam. Now as adults however they look at me sheepishly when they repeat my mantra!
“My wife recently went on Medicare. I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the enrollment process went.”
Could this result be because she did all the work?
While I haven’t had any problems with Medicare, I can’t say the same for SS. After not receiving a monthly payment, I was told that in accordance with my request, my monthly deposits had been changed to an account in a bank where I had never had an account. It took me three months and numerous phone calls and visits to the local SS office before I was able to convince them that they had made an error and that I wasn’t trying to scam SS.
That’s a bit disturbing. Brings back memories when SS erroneously declared my disabled uncle dead.
True, she (with my help) did all the work, but at least the website worked as designed. Also, someone had to approve the application and mail the card out. Bonus: her name was spelled correctly the first time.
Ken, thanks for uninteresting and challenging piece. There’s a lot to consider in it. I had an issue with my online SS account that was found when I signed up for Medicare. I had to go into an office, but a great employee had it corrected and signed me up for Medicare in 10 minutes. When we moved form PA to NJ we had to go to the DMV to change licenses and registrations and it went fine, and the folds where competent and pleasant, down tot he security guards. I always struggle with how to assign weight to anecdotes – for every bad experience I have I also have a good one. I worked with the federal government for 40 years. There were great people, OK people, and a few not great people. Only a few were incompetent. The same for the top Aerospace company in the world. My dissatisfaction is more with what I’ll call “bad” folks. they were competent and smart – but often overly ambitious, dishonest, and untrustworthy. The folks I saw in the government that were troublesome fit that description more than incompetent. I was an deal with incompetence – it might take more effort on my part, but I’ll handle that. I struggle with dealing with selfish, dishonest, and self-centered people, especially in leadership roles. I see that type of behavior as more of an issue with ou current political class. Just my two cents.
Rick, hopefully more challenging than ‘uninteresting’. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your experiences and insight.
Oops – that was supposed to be interesting. Sorry. I need to proof read more before hitting submit.
You make many excellent points in your article. Sometimes, it feels like you must be on Candid Camera when you’re on the problem merry go round. Regrettably, this conundrum isn’t something new and there are numerous reasons, in my opinion, why we are where we are. I can recall in the early 80’s when Sears started letting go of their highly experienced sales people because they were too expensive. My go-to associates for help were all let go. They then hired a lot of younger, less costly sales people but somehow failed to give them decent training (What’s a saw horse?). I believe it has to start and continue with great leadership throughout the organization. I have to say it was encouraging to hear that the new CEO of Boeing started day 1 on the factory floor, meeting and talking with people. Plenty of work to do there. Rebuilding trust is a long journey. The old adage of, “Management earns the people they deserve”, still applies.