Gambling for a living

Went to a small drinkies thing tonight and met a bloke who gambles for a living. I didn't really get into the deep details of what he does, but he gambles on rugby league and horse racing mainly (I think). He got into it after being retrenched from the public service after 15 years, and he does it all from home by using a PC. He has some sort of connection into the TAB network and is able to upload his bets via a text file.

He is mad about sports statistics and watches 30 hours of rugby league games a week.

I don't know what else to say really, except that he thought that the TAB web site was completely crap, and that it crashed every Saturday at lunchtime for 3 1/2 years. I guess he was looking for an answer from me as to why that was so.

Probably because the TAB employs some idiots. It's not like the TAB would have set out to employ idiots - it's just that it worked out that they employed them and found out later that they had some idiots in the ranks.

The trouble with so many organisations these days is that they tolerate the idiots instead of booting them out. Take your average AFL team. At the end of the season, they always discard the players that are the weakest links, or who have outlived their usefulness. It's nothing personal - it's just that they may well do better playing for another team. Another coach, or some different team mates may do wonders for the performance of someone that is failing at their current club.

We think of this as perfectly natural, yet people get hot under the collar when the same thing is suggested at the office. The weak links must be expunged. They may go on to do great things elsewhere, or they may turn out to be complete screwups at everything they try. Some people are like that. But that's no reason to keep them on as a form of welfare.

The performance of so many companies could be improved if they forgot about trying to develop a new strategy or calling in the consultants to write a report and instead they just sacked the useless mouths. It's funny how morale can be lifted by a few judicious sackings. People tend to think that if the dead wood is sacked, then the morale of the rest of the troops will collapse. I have been a troopie and have had people around me removed, and I have thought that it is the best thing since sliced bread. There is nothing worse than having to work with or for a loser, and having to work extra hard to cover up all their mistakes, or their laziness. Off with their heads I say!