Why do people act like finding who’s to blame is solving the problem? Just wipe up the god-damned milk you idiot! I don’t care who did it, you’re the one who’s there now, don’t just leave it!
Is this about milk or Iraq?
First a couple of questions to clarify things. Who was leaving the mess? What age are they? This makes a bit of difference as far as actually gasp being in the habit of cleaning up a mess without thought.
Secondly, my sympathies. That kind of thing irks me too. The person is placing blame on someone else in an attempt to cloud the issue, which is not mature IMO. My mom taught me: “If you see a mess, and can clean it up, do so! Don’t just leave things like milk/glass/pet messes laying for someone else to find, be responsible enough to be proactive.” Some people learn that if they can successfully blame someone else for the mess, they won’t have to clean it up, and they keep this thinking even into adulthood. They think “Not my mess, I don’t have to bother”. Makes me peevish at times.
Note, this applies to keeping a living environment decently clean, not politics.
Sometimes finding out who to blame DOES solve the problem. That person can be disciplined/jailed/disinvited to parties (depending on the infraction) and the problem doesn’t recur. Duh.
But, okay, yes. Sometimes finger-pointing is a waste of time. How about you give us an example and we can decide which sort of situation this is?
mischievous
DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!
I am with you Pizza! Kick ass! Fight the power! Clean up the bottle of salsa I just dropped, asshole…I am outta here!
:dubious:
captaindoesnotlikeyou Ah, but then you are still parting ways with the philosophy that my mom taught in that case. It went without saying in my previous post, that if you made the msss yourself, of COURSE you cleaned it up. There were some exceptions, such as I could “get out” (if you can call it that) of sweeping up glass if I dropped a glass and broke it while washing dishes for two reasons, firstly I was usually barefoot, so I’d have to stand REALLY still while the glass was swept up from around my feet, a chair brought to me and I sat down and got my shoes on for the rest of the clean up. (To me, it was worse to have to call for someone else to clean up a mess I made, call it perverse pride.) Secondly, for quite a few years I didn’t do such a good job of glass cleanup because I literally could not see the glass to clean it up, my vision is that bad. I eventually learned to just keep sweeping, and have someone who could see come make sure I got it all.
Let me continue the line of thought in my previous posts, and finally complete it. People are falliable. They spill stuff when they are pre-occupied and aren’t aware of it. Sometimes the spillers are kids, sometimes they are adults. Spillings will go unnoticed. We’ve all done it. For this reason, the simple philosophy stated in my first post is applied. So that the mess gets cleaned up in a timely fashion, and is not left to “ripen”. 
All I know is that this blame thing isn’t my fault.
Seriously, it’s a good point, and I guess blame = solving problem happens mostly through laziness. Finding out who did something doesn’t really count as solving it unless you’ve made sure it doesn’t happen again.
This is a big time gripe of mine at work. Not about spilling, but looking to place blame.
When a process fails, when something goes wrong, when someone gets hurt, little or no thought is given to fixing the process or mindset that led to the failure or damage. It’s all about stringing up someone. It’s all about pointing fingers.
Even when I tried to figure out how to streamline a process, everyone I talked to blamed everyone else for the bottlenecks and the delays. Yet another reason I’m glad I’m leaving the depot. (And a reason I won’t be surprised if they’re shut down in the next round of closures. But that’s another rant…)
This wasn’t about politics, it was mostly about work and living environment, and plain life in general. I’ve head too many too many excuses on why a problem wasn’t fixed that sounded like more work was put into fabricating the perfect excuse than just fixing it.
Oh, and the fact that I hear way too many “they need to”'s and "somebody needs to "'s, as in “they need to fix this!” and “they need to clean this up!”. If you have a problem with something, then you’re the one that needs to do something about it!
“Proactivism, it’s not just a dusty old philosophy that will molder into dust. It can make your life easier, and everyone else’s too, if you only begin doing it.” A bit long winded, but it is a roundabout way of saying what I’d tell these people. Or, I might just tell them my mother’s philosophy. Problems at work can also be seen as messes that need cleaning in a way, don’t you think?
It’s because many people are either assholes or worried about looking like an asshole. The assholes refuse to do anything that they can get out of doing, and “It’s not my fault” often works. The people who are worried about looking like an asshole are always concerned that other people will see them as “that asshole that spilled the milk” and so want to make sure that it is clear to everyone that they are not, in fact, an asshole.
Furthermore, on a more philosophical level, the idea that a lot of things in this world are noone’s fault is really quite frightening, because it means that even if every one of us did everything perfectly right, moms would still get cancer, kids would still drown in bathtubs, kittens would still get run over, and milk would still get spilled. Much more comforting to believe that if everyone would just take responsibility for their own actions, all the pain could be removed from life.
bows head in shame
Oh okay. No revolution this time I s’pose.
grabs broom
Ah, so it’s the assholes’ fault!
They get blamed for everything.
The solution, of course, is for everybody to live (and work) alone. That way, when a mess is made, there’s nobody else to blame, and you can’t expect anybody else to clean it up for you.
Are you suggesting that the realization that since there are some things that just can’t be stopped, some things occur “on their own,” that they’re extrapolating the concept to a personal level and damned-if-they-didn’t-spill-the-milk-because…?"
No, I’m suggesting that it seems to me many people (including myself) are more comfortable in a world in which everything is someone’s fault, and that if you believe that there is blame (or credit) to be had for everything, it seems rational to look to assign it when it is apporpriate. But I think that the asshole/worried about being seen as an asshole factor plays a bigger role.
There are times when who’s at fault is important, because they have to be made responsible. For example, if I’m stopped at a red light and somebody plows into the back of my car for no good reason, dammit, that person should pay for the damage and my injuries.
If a child causes damage, or just spills the milk, it’s good parenting to regret the event, hand the kid the paper towel and show them where the trash is. Assuming we’re not talking about an infant, of course.
But I completely agree on the blaming and finger-pointing that often happens in business environments. Often the responsibility for things gone wrong is not clear-cut, and may in fact simply be bad luck. I’ve numerous times said, let’s just fix the problem first, because it’s not going to go away if we find out who to blame. Recently, my boss got all bent out of shape over a thing that went wrong and required a written report. The other workers and I wrote up a very factual memo listing all the various ways the problem could have been prevented, showing that every single person could have at some point acted differently and the issue might not have arisen. But the main reason was simply that “management” required too many tasks of too few people in too short a time, and did not place a priority on the things that might have prevented the problem. Another word on the subject was never spoken. The memo vanished beneath his consciousness like a bowling ball on a lake.
I hate this. If you made a mess, or did something wrong, fucking clean it up or make it right. Don’t blame someone else for something that was caused by your own stupidity. Take responsiblity for your own actions. Or I’ll come over and kick your ass. Just kidding.
Are you crying over spilt milk?