ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author recounts a humorous tale about workplace politics. This inevitable, yet progress-hampering aspect of any business is not going away any time soon. But knowing how to deal with it is an important quality for a safety practitioner. When it comes to safety and health, politics on a worksite often gets in the way of the real work needed in order to keep employees safe. So, it is up to the savvy “safety guy” to figure out how to work around it. This chapter’s story provided the author an “ah-ha” moment which made him begin to question the status quo. Through confrontation, he learned that while some things are worth fighting for, others are certainly not worth the time and effort. Many of those things are just downright wastes of time. Through the narrative, the reader will be challenged to figure out the difference between what truly matters and trivial things that people waste their times waving their hands in the air and screaming about.
