I love 24!

I love 24.  I love Jack Bauer.  He's my hero.  Think about this for a second.  When Jack says that he's going to do something, like saving the world, he actually does it.    And he does whatever it takes to get the job done, from sawing a guy's head off to pissing off the Chinese.  Jack doesn't mess around, but gets right to work, and that is just awesome.  He gathers information and decides what to do almost immediately, without any sort of waffling.  Jack gets things done quickly. 

How many people do you know make informed decisions and implement them within the hour?  I don't know a single one.  Even when I was growing up, if I asked my dad something, he would always say "Ask your mother."  When I would go to my mother she would say "Ask your father."   Where I work, if there's a decision to be made, the people who are supposed to make the decision usually aren't anywhere around, and when they are they won't decide anything without consulting the Management.  Management has to consider whether the decision might a)cost money; b)require paperwork; c)involve lawyers; or d)make us look bad.  The Management sends the question through several departments, and by the time there is any sort of answer, we have all forgotten the question.  Part of me thinks that that was Management's idea in the first place.  However, I don't think that there is anyone on the planet who would think that this sort of practice is good management in any business.   

Which is why I love Jack.  I sometimes wish that Jack worked in our office.  I'm sure that we'd all be paid better and be utilized in a more efficient manner.  I doubt that Jack would want any person with my skills in testing and designing interventions to be spending three days of every week filling out invitations to meetings, addressing envelopes, calling parents to remind them of meetings, and making copies.  No, Jack would know right away that a school psychology specialist should be working with kids and teachers and parents, instead of completing secretarial work. 

Yeah, I know.  Jack Bauer doesn't exist. But I can dream, can't I?