One hot, lonely summer day in 1958, at our rural home near Crozet, Virginia, I was working on an 8-year old’s project: dislodging a big quartz rock that was buried in the gravel driveway. After a few hours I realized the trowel just wouldn’t do the job. So I found a wood chisel in my Dad’s tool chest. “Ah-ha!” I thought, “This is just the thing! I’ll reduce it to bits and dislodge it a chunk at a time!” By the time Dad got back from work at 5:30 or so the quartz had not been reduced by much, but the wood chisel had lost about all of its utility.
Dad’s objections included the necessity of the objective (”You wanted to put a hole in the driveway?”), the soundness of the strategic analysis (”You were going to pound it to bits?”), and (particularly) the skill of the execution of this project ([eyes raised to heaven] “Son….”). And ever thereafter, when he cautioned me about using ”the right tool for the right job,” his words had particular piquancy.
Which (obviously) gets us to the Arbitration Fairness Act. Read more »
Tags: Arbitration, Employment, Public Policy