Sometimes you don’t notice how things change until you have the chance to look at them from a different perspective. Last week I was on the road. The details are mostly inconsequential, other than to note that what I saw was an office that gave all outward appearances of being cohesive, professional, and productive. More to the point, the people I was observing genuinely seemed to be as happy to be at work as one could reasonably expect. That’s something I haven’t seen in a long time. Actually, it took me the better part of the first day to realize what I was seeing. When you’re in the moment, you don’t ever get to stop and see just how radically dysfunctional things really have become. All you see is the ebb and flow of day following day and the general sense that something isn’t right. You don’t catch that colleagues don’t smile when they greet each other. You don’t notice that the only kind of humor passing around the office is gallows sarcasm. The rampant desire to get eight and get out seems like something that’s just normal.

That’s what made getting back to the routine this morning a shock to the system. I mean, I knew things were bad, but I only realized how bad after I had seen things on the outside for a few days. I’m too much of a relativist to ever suggest that anything is ever all bad or all good, but I know what pretty damned bad looks like when I see it… and I got an eye full of it today. No end to that situation in sight, so now it’s all about keeping a low profile and doing your best to stay out of the direct line of fire. It’s a hell of a way to run a railroad.