A quote from an interview with the Operations Manager of a growing company. The journalist asks, "So how many employees are working in your company?"
The manager replies, "Approximately half of them..."
That reminds me of the old Ronnie barker joke
"In the recent census it was revealed that 1 in 5 men work for the local council, the other four stand around and watch them."
Similar to how we refer to our local City
Council but with a slightly different 'twist' to it.
"Our Council works in the most wonderful ways,
They have, 3 Experts who go out and spend an hour or 3 assessing whether or not the VISIBLE gap in the ground surface is ACTUALLY a hole or just a mirage,
then they return to their Office, dink many cups of coffee and debate as to the status, etc, of the ground anomaly after which they hold more discussions BEFORE they determine the status of this anomaly,
Next it is referred to the Council General Manager for his decision and once he has reached his decision, he rosters a team of 1 Supervisor, 1 Assistant Supervisor, 1 Civil Engineer, up to 5 Workers and 2 Work Trucks and then drafts out the orders that MUST approved by him BUT not until the City Mayor has been consulted as well of course.
Usually by the time all the "Protocol" has been followed correctly, some enterprising member of the public has managed to fill in the hole/gap by merely mixing up some rapid setting concrete on-site, pouring it in, smoothing it off and headed back home for well earned coffee.
As the ages old local saying has always gone, " IF you want something done, do it yourself, IF you want nothing done about something urgent or necessary CALL the Broken Hill City Council."