Jefferson Davis Planner #2

FEMA employees in disasters circle in and out constantly. They stay weeks or months and then go home. It is extremely disorienting for the community. They will be working on something, say a work order to repair a flooded school, and they will call their contact at FEMA only to find the number is disconnected. No warning, no goodbye, just a disconnected number. Once they track down the replacement, all the paperwork is lost in some pile somewhere.

I have experienced it myself several times. Last week I was expecting a map, which was several days overdue. I called the computer mapping contact and the phone rang and rang. I tried back for the next couple of days before giving up. I visited his office and it was empty. I asked around and was told there was a new contact in a new location. I went upstairs to the new office and told the guy about my overdue map. Of course, it was not there. The new guy knew nothing about it. He had overlapped with the old guy for only a few hours. He did not know where the old guy saved anything. He was buried in paper and electronic files, trying to find his way out. Could I resubmit the map request?

Well, my colleague suggested that we don’t use our names, we just call each other by our title. I would be planner or maybe Jefferson Davis Planner #2. So when I meet people I just say, “Hi my name is Jefferson Davis Planner #2.” Then when I go, I just pass on my phone to the guy they send to replace me. He assumes the identity Jefferson Davis Planner #2 and there is a seamless transition. He would answer the phone, “Hi this is Jefferson Davis Planner #2,” and no one would suffer any undo aggravation.