Petty Tyrants With Power

Heaven protect us from petty tyrants with power. I can't think of a worse combination.

Today it took me half an hour to drive 2 miles to work. The shortest, most direct route is down Harrison to Grand River, then to Bogue to the ramp that serves the College of Law and the Broad College of Business, where I'm temping (and direct route pretty much does not equal MSU, where even the lab rats get confused).

Now, in Michigan we have two seasons - Winter and Under Construction. There's not a foot of snow yet, so it must be Under Construction. I understand that, and that adustments must be made and delays tolerated. However... why in the name of all that's unholy would they block off one of the two eastbound lanes of Grand River in East Lansing when that's one of only three ways to get into campus? I could understand it if they were actually working, but the blockage consisted of a truck with an arrow indicating the lane was closed, six blocks of orange cones sequestering the right lane, culminating in another truck and ten guys standing around. Just standing in their yellow vests and hard hats, drinking their coffee and smirking at the rush hour traffic jammed into the sole lane, creeping along.

I don't mind if they're actually working, but dang - they could have waited till after 8 am if they were just going to stand around and look at it! The cynic in me is convinced that they did it just because they could...

For the same reason that 15-minute train delays (two sets of tracks bisect campus, and you can't get anywhere north to south without crossing them) are inevitably at morning and evening rush hours. Ghaaaaa!

I feel better now.