From Donna's Desk:

There are rules, and then there is payroll.

I have spent years watching procedures treated as sacred right up until they interfere with something everyone agrees must happen. Then, somehow, the system develops flexibility.

Sometimes that is common sense.

Sometimes it is plausible deniability toting a clipboard.

What interests me is how quickly rigidity becomes optional when the alternative is explaining why nobody got paid.

Good judgment lives somewhere between blindly following a process and pretending not to notice who is holding the pen.

So I’m curious:

When have you seen a hard rule suddenly become negotiable?

And who at your workplace knows exactly when not to ask another question?

Let's not bring this up again, shall we?

Donna