Over 20 years I worked as a Purchasing Agent for five different manufacturing companies. Every day, all day, every issue and requirement was “urgent”....“critical”....“hot”, and of course every department’s need always deserved priority over every OTHER department’s need. Meetings were always a lot of unproductive, ineffective arm-waving, enhanced by veiled management threats.
Finally, after being laid-off by two different companies (both of which closed not long thereafter), I was unemployed for 10 months in 1992. My wife made pretty good money at her job, plus I collected unemployment benefits, so the whole thing wasn’t too scary.
Anyway, after so many years of tolerating the “URGENT, URGENT, URGENT” thing, the unemployed me got to sit on the back patio, drinking coffee, and watch the squirrels play…..(psst…..I kind of liked it).
In October of that year, I was able to get a pretty good job in the same field, but for the next 20 years, it was the same faux urgencies and emergencies all over again.
These days I am retired, and in the morning happily drink coffee and watch the squirrels play…..