Dearest Overseer,
We, the members of the esteemed and ecsoteric order of stone masons, would like to remind you of how we do things.
Firstly, we do not, and have never done things in the order in which you submit them. That is just plain silly. Think about it. If you give me an order, and put it in a tray on my desk, then place another work order on top of it in that tray, which one will be on top? Naturally, the second one will be. The first one will be at the bottom of the stack.
We work from the top of that stack down. Not from the bottom up, because that would be silly. So, the first things you assign to us, will be the last things we do. This is the way it has always been, and is how it will always be.
Secondly, we would like to remind you that being able to actually GET to the job site is important.
As stated above, we take our work orders, in order, from the top of the list, and work down. When many of us are working, we simply take the next job slip in the pile, without disturbing it. Some of us are faster than others, which means the order gets slightly scrambled when many of us are working. This means that if Urist takes the top slip, Ducim takes the second, and Stukos takes the third, but stukos is the fastest, he will have his designated section of wall completed before Ducim or Urist can get there. Where do you suppose Ducim and Urist stand? Should they grow wings and hover next to the wall perhaps?
I ask this question, because like so many overseers, you misunderstand the requirements of performing the work. You are attempting to presume that each dwarf wait for the preceeding dwarf to complete the task they were assigned, before starting the assignment. If we did things that way, there would be no benefit to having many of us working on a wall at the same time. Most of us would be standing around waiting for Urist the slow to finally stop playing with the plumb bob, and actually lay his tier of masonry, so that the next of us could go.
Really, if that is how you want your constructions made, then give the rest of the guild the month off, and assign only a single mason, then submit your job orders appropriately.
Otherwise, if you want there to be an actual reason to have multiple members of our illustrious order building grand monuments for you, you need to ensure that we can work with some degree of asynchrony, which means you must allow for a place for us to stand. A scaffolding, if you will.
We require this scaffolding, to keep from entombing other members of the guild, and to avoid having out of order constructions be a problem, when many of us are at work.
If you insist that there must not be a scaffold, because of your own laziness and incompetence in proper construction technique, then again, give the rest of the guild the month of, and assign only a single mason.
I don't think I need to explain for you the absolute chaos that would ensue if members of the masonry guild started being selective about which of your work orders they wished to complete, and in what order, based solely on their own discresion. There is a reason why we do things the way we do them. That is, unless you ENJOY being flooded with cancellation notices for floor constructions, when no support is nearby to build from, and other such foolishness.
As the overseer, it is YOUR responsibility to create and submit the work orders, and in order of precidence from least priority, to highest, such that the foundation is built first, then the walls. Etc.
All too often, overseers like yourself make the same foolish mistake that what is most important should be submitted first. As I have already explained, this is foolishness. Nobody works from the bottom of a stack of paperwork, and again, asking us to re-sort your assignments for you is just asking for trouble. (You know how fond our kindred are of parties and drink, afterall. Just imagine the corruption that would happen if you left it up to others to decide such things! "Unfortunate cancellations" so that they could have extended and extra breaks would surely be the LEAST of the problems such an arrangement would produce!)
We at the guild fully understand that not everyone is cut out to be a fortress overseer, as the logistics of central planning requires for you to manage and anticipate workflow.
We again respectfully remind you of how and why we do things the way we do, that your job as overseer will be fruitful, and with the least complications, and we again respectfully remind you that central planning is YOUR responsibility, and not ours. If we did that as well, there would be little need of an overseer, now wouldn't there? We do things the way we do, because we acknowledge the benefit and necessity of having an overseer. That is why we don't disregard the order in which you have submitted your work orders, regardless of how nonsensical they may seem to us. While it may seem perfectly sensible for you to request that we be more autonomous, as well learned and loyal members of the fortress, we simply cannot permit that to happen, as the consequences are far too dire. Afterall, what if you had actually submitted the work instruction in the proper order? Would you not be unconsolably irate, should we deviate from them, and build as we saw fit instead?
As the parable goes my lord, "be careful what you wish for, as you just may get it."
In closing, we, the members of the proud and ecsoteric order or stone masons, humbly decline your request to act with independent autonomy, citing the clearly deleterious nature of such an order, and would like to remind you that all of the problems you are suffering as overseer can be far better resolved simply though working with the system, than from working against it.
The illustrious and ecsoteric order of stone masons.
Author
Topic: Note to Urist--In which you express your frustration to your dwarves (Read 1555684 times)