So Glad I Went to College For This

The reason there have been no posts is that Ms. Cranky has been fighting quite the fit of pique over the summer. For the most part, my days have been filled with activities of no social, economical, moral, or spiritual value. There's been nothing going on. My facility has been about as jam-packed as Mother Hubbard's cupboard. The center of the Gobe at high noon has more activity. So, there really hasn't been anything to write about. I have done a lot of very, very frustrating make-work. During this time, I have been able to ruminate on my position in the education industry, and indeed in my life, and I've decided that I'm getting out. Out of the whole thing. My poor little blog, a terminal case before it leaves infancy. A moment of silence, please?

...wait for it....

Ok, thanks for that. Anyway, this post is simply a kvetch about my boss, and bosses in general. They are silly, aren't they?
I rather like Paul Graham's essay entitled You Weren't Meant to Have a Boss. We can all identify with the sentiment, I think. Note that he didn't say "Leader," he said "Boss." Back in the day, way way back, "Boss" meant the guy who knew what the plan was, who told folks how high to build the wall, how deep to dig the trench, things like that. He knew what was going on and he was the conductor of the group, making sure that the men who worked under him were doing the RIGHT things and doing them the RIGHT way. Now, the average boss seems more concerned with things LOOKING like they're being done than actually getting done.
My boss thinks nothing of having his highly trained staff do work that would be done faster and better by machine, simply because it LOOKS cheaper. And since I and the other person of whom I speak are salaried, we are simply given more things to do without any extra time. We must now gather our own straw for the bricks we must make without falling behind in production. When we fall behind, in classic Pointy-Haired Boss style, our boss chews us out for being inefficient and/or unwilling to spend large amounts of extra hours at work.

How do people come up with these kinds of things? How does a person lose their grip on reality so thoroughly that they can't see that a person forced into an untenable position will eventually revolt?