Wizzy What?

In a conversation last night, a friend brought up how his union is demanding strict enforcement of the attendance policy. It's an office type job and his supervisor was fine with a call saying, "Hey, I'm running a little late this morning. I'll stay after to make up the hours." The union demands people be written up for showing up late regardless. He found it odd that a union would 'punish' a supervisor for being understanding, for trying to be more human.

In an on-line gaming community forum to which I am a member, an individual was trying to make the case for rules. He suggested that absence of rules for a group game event where valuable items dropped would be fine if it weren't for the selfishness and greed of human nature.

So one of them calls it human to try and be nice to other people. The other calls it human to grab everything that's not nailed down and possibly kick the cat for good measure. Might I suggest a little self fulfilling prophecy?

There was a term in the early days of computer graphics: WYSIWYG (pronounced Whiz E. Whig). What You See Is What You Get. The implementation of this once grand idea is now so thorough nobody bothers to even say wysiwyg anymore. I'm going to revive it, rearrange it, and re-apply it. The above stated situations are wysiwygs. If you see humans as generally good folks, you'll notice a lot of generally good humans around you. If you see humans as scum sucking pig dogs, you'll distrust everyone you meet.

My mom once told me a simple but popular parable that really illustrates my new use of wysiwyg.

An old man sat along the road leading into town. A stranger came walking down the road and greeted him. "Can you tell me what the people are like in this town?"

The old man asked, "What were the people like where you came from?"

"Oh, they were wonderful! Very friendly. Always willing to help someone out. Always having a kind word to say."

"You'll find the people here are just the same."

A while later another stranger comes walking down the road and greeted the old man. "Can you tell me what the people are like in this town?"

The old man asked, "What were the people like where you came from?"

"Oh, they were wretched folks. They ignored everyone around them. Wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire. Couldn't shake a man's hand without him trying to steal your wallet."

"You'll find the people here are just the same."

See? WYSIWYG! (And I'm pretty sure my mom never said that bit about, 'Wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire,' but it makes the point clearer.)