Self-righteous bureaucrats are trying to hijack virtually all state-funded engineering contracts.
Last February 16 I left my suburban office at around 4:30 p.m. to drive to downtown Chicago, where I was to meet my wife for dinner prior to attending an opera. Normally when I meet Jenny downtown, I take the commuter train that stops at a gloriously convenient station one block from our home. That's because my Type A personality goes bonkers being conveyed at single-digit mph by the metal glacier that is our city's rush hour traffic. On Monday, February 16, however, I surmised that traffic would not be too bad even during the peak of rush hour, and I turned out to be right. Doing close to the speed limit most of the way in, I arrived at the restaurant a half-hour early.
You see, it was President's Day, a national pseudo-holiday. The postal service and virtually all other federal, state and local government offices were shut down, although in the private sector it was pretty much business as usual. Numerous phone calls made to private organizations that day found all except one open for business - the exception being a union mechanical contracting firm whose labor agreement called for President's Day off.