Many people complain that government workers are inefficient. They base this on sometimes seeing street workers standing around "doing nothing". Or they base it on seeing a postal clerk walking around near a closed counter even when the lines are long.
The street workers may be "doing nothing" because they are waiting for more paving material or because they have to wait for one worker to do something before they all pitch in. The postal clerk may have other tasks besides waiting on customers directly, or he or she better take a break now or never get one.
As I write, we are having major sewer work done from inside our house to the street. At times there are six workers here, sometimes only one is working and the others are watching or chatting. Then they all pitch in and are busy. Shall they all go home until the precise moment they are needed? Then everybody is working except the back hoe operator. Should he clamber out of the cab and pitch in or should he stay put until the back hoe is needed?
Think of your last visit inside a bank. Were there only two teller windows open but at least three tellers available? Could it be there are many other tasks for tellers than just passing money and deposit slips over the counter?
Then there was the time I was visiting a major government contractor as a software trouble shooter for a computer manufacturer. One day the computer was down for hardware reasons. So, us software types played bridge.
Next time you think private enterprise is so efficient, read a few Dilbert strips. Scott Adams may be exaggerating corporate inefficiency, but he is getting plenty of anecdotes from employees who see their own companies' inefficiencies up close.
