The pithy sentence about memory in yesterday’s post came from a short story by HG Wells. I listened to it recently and found it interesting.
Have you ever worked for an organization that has unhelpful policies and rules?
You ever find yourself in a situation where the rules say one thing but doing right in the actual situation seems to demand another?
I enjoyed how this clever short story I read recently brought these matters forward.
Certainly every workplace or organization has to have its policies and procedures.
But these policies are meant to serve the accomplishment of a greater purpose and the procedures should serve the well being of the people.
This story is about a student, named Hill, who accidentally moves a slip (a slide specimen under a microscope) during a test. He does not intend to cheat. The movement of the slip is inadvertent. And he thinks that he would have known what the thing was even if he had not moved it and exposed the answer. Nevertheless, his conscience is bothering him so, several days after the exam, he tells his teacher what happened.
He tells his professor about the unintentional slide of the slip. Yet his professor, a man of science, is incapable of understanding any nuance in the situation.
From the story:
“I didn’t cheat,” said Hill.
“But you have just been telling me you did.”
“I thought I explained–”
“Either you cheated or you did not cheat.”
“I said my motion was involuntary.”
“I am not a metaphysician, I am a servant of science–of fact. You were told not to move the slip. You did move the slip. If that is not cheating–”
Poor Hill tries to reason with the professor, tries to plead that he admitted it and that it was all a mistake.
But the professor not only responds like a machine – he actually says that this is all he is capable of doing.
Hill pleaded, “But it’s my own admission, sir.”
“The Regulations say nothing whatever of the manner in which the matter comes to light. They simply provide—-”
“It will ruin me. If I fail this examination, they won’t renew my scholarship.”
“You should have thought of that before.”
“But, sir, consider all my circumstances—-”
“I cannot consider anything. Professors in this College are machines. The Regulations will not even let us recommend our students for appointments. I am a machine, and you have worked me and now I have to do what I have to do.”