More Irony

This week I was quite bored on the job.  Its not that I didnt have a lot to do.  Quite the contrary I have a lot to do.  And I do mean a lot.  There are lists, greats lists, where tasks multiply and many commitments are coordinated.  It I did all of them one after the other without ceasing i think i would still be occupied all day.  [maybe thats part of the bored reaction; deep down i figure that there is no use and so i thilnk, 'why bother?']

And so I deal with it by taking a lot of little breaks, by talking to a lot of coworkers, by looking at new gear on the internet, looking for rumors of new neat gadgets that are coming out.  Basicly bursts of productivity are punctuated by goofing off.  We all do it.  By 'we all' I mean myself and several friends at the office.  I am ussually welcomed in another's office when I come to chat.  We justify it by the old adage, "you had better laugh or else you'll cry."  To an extent thats true.

What really strikes me is the irony of having so many people's lives in my hands in my profession and yet we goof off and laugh and make fun of them.  I have no fewer than 25 children that I am responsible for.  Each of these children have at least one father and one mother, wheather they are involved or not is another question.  That is at least 75 people whose lives are potentially radically impacted by my actions.  Of course if we are following policy everything should work out.  But each one of us knows that if I dont want a child to go home, he wont go home.  I can easily tip the scales against the parents and radically impact three lives.  I, of course, do my best to discharge my responsibilities to the best of my ability working for the best interests of the children of GA.  But still the potential is there.  And we joke and laugh and curse them for bothering us and disturbing our constant and compulsive checking of email.

Update

FYI I have changed the settings so anyone can comment now, sorry that took so long

Title

I have figured out the reason for the title of this blog.  I would run from DFCS but i have no feet to run with.  I am not trapped, I could up and quit at any time, it would not be a wise thing to do.  And so for the time being I am unable to get out.  And so I continue as a cog turning the wheels of "the system."

DFCS is as about as much of a government system as you can get.  My actions, and the actions of my co-workers is entirely driven by policy.  Or at least thats the intention.  There is supposedly a policy for every eventuality.  The goal seems to be to entirely eliminate the judgement of the caseworker from the equation and thereby eliminate liability.  If the shit hits the fan because of something I do and I was following DFCS policy then I am told that I am protected.  The implication is that if I am acting outside of policy I am entirely on my own.  The agency will disavow any knowledge of my actions.  This is ironic because we are dealing with people and their complicated screwed up and very very unique lives.  My policy manual is quite think yet any CW who knows what he/she is doing will tell you that there is a lot that it doesnt cover.  More to come.

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i am writing on my blogging widget