If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium.

I should have posted this yesterday morning, when it happened, but I was busy working. (Go figure.)

At 6:58 a.m. every Wednesday morning, Sub's cell phone alarm rings. He immediately reaches for the office phone, dials an on-campus number, hangs up, and redials. This goes on until someone answers the phone (at least two minutes, until the office officially opens, often longer). This frequently delays his 7:00 a.m. briefing with the crew, so we're all standing/sitting around waiting for him.

What does he do when someone answers the phone? What is so important that he sets an alarm to remind himself and then dials until someone answers? What takes precedence over 40 people's productive work?

He makes a tee time for Saturday morning. That's right, he puts aside all other things to reserve a time to golf. My gripe, though, is about something else Sub did yesterday.

I think I've mentioned before (but not made a big deal out of it) that Worker Bee resigned and took another job. Since then, Thing One has taken on much of his responsibility, and I have covered the rest. Naturally, this leaves less time for us to do our primary jobs. To add insult to injury, Thing Two pulled an end run which resulted in her taking this entire week off -- which Boss did not approve, and which Thing One and I were completely oblivious to until yesterday morning. (Yes, this puts her on the fast track to being terminated.) So, to sum up the numbers thus far, Thing One and I are doing the jobs of three people.

Enter Sub -- or, more accurately, exit him. Our primary plant nursery phoned yesterday to let us know the driver was on her way with our order (54 flats of pansies). Thing One took the call and informed me, because I placed the order. I phoned Sub and let him know, because he's the one who wanted the plants and arranges for the crew to do the planting. Sub told me (he didn't ask) to phone one of the crew supervisors and have him (the supervisor) bring in people to unload the delivery because (I am not making this up) he (Sub) was off campus getting a haircut.

Yes, gentle reader, "WTF?" is an appropriate response.

There's not a person so busy doing the work of three people that you can't add a fourth person's duties to his/her workload. Is the moral of this story that one can get away with not doing one's job as long as there are responsible, efficient, conscientious coworkers that can pick up the slack?