Insensitvie, uncommunicative fools.

Okay, I'm a boss. I'm responsible only to the Board of Trustees, who are responsible, through the City Council, only to the citizens. Effectively, I'm resposible only to the Board (unless I really, really, really screw up). Next year my budget looks to be better'n US $1.3 million.

There's a meeting in Sitka in August -- I'm paying my own way, so that two staff members can go. I've got a new lamp on my desk -- it goes well with the age of the building and I bought it myself. I'm buying new laser printers to replace the inkjets (the cost is in the cost-per-copy for b&w copies, which are 90% of what is printed) -- my laser printer is mid-nineties vintage, the new ones go to the staff.

What I'm saying is that the 25 or so other peopole are far more important to the running of the joint than I am. I don't have daily "customer contact," they do. They need the information and the best equipment; I can make do (and do).

I'm subject to "ocular migraines," which can be brought on by the flickering of a CRT terminal. I'd been getting them, so I called my Supervisors together, explained the problem, and asked if they or the staff would mind if I got a flat-panel monitor instead. It would be the first in an office (they had already been installed at two public desks, so that there would be a more inviting and open look). They agreed, so I ordered one. Then, because it worked so well for me, I very shortly thereafter began replacing the CRTs of everyone who uses a computer (not the public, though, just the staff).

You take care of your staff. Nobody else will. Leaders come last.