In order to save money and therefore reduce staff and hence put some loyal faithful servants out to graze, the Environmental Agency in their wisdom have slowly been making many of the locks self-service, in which boaters are allowed to operate themselves when lock keepers are off-duty, on holiday or have just popped in doors for a quick one.
When he had a proper job, the First Mate had been a senior manager in the water industry and unlike many people in top jobs had actually got his hands dirty by actually doing something practical, attending in-service training and slowly but surely progressing up the ladder on a merit basis and not because his Aunt Fanny’s second cousin once removed had been a student or playboy at Oxford.
In such large organisations the Peter Principle is rife whereby in a large organisation with a hierarchal structure every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence. Translating this into everyday English is means that only competent people are those who haven’t been promoted and it is these people that actually do the work.
After about 10 minutes the First Mate had still not opened the lock gates and the Cabin Boy went to investigate. The Cabin Boy came out with the solution; “These gates are not multitasking and can only do one thing at a time. You can only open the gates when the sluice gates are fully open and you have to wait until the appropriate light comes on.” Yes even a university graduate can be baffled by simple instructions.” said Billy the Cabin Boy
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