Pigwick Blunders Vol.5

The book deals with the unbridled follies of a government executive who had sudden and frequent bouts of idiosyncrasies in discharging his official responsibilities.The varied experience of Pigwick in handling the problem of unemployment came to the attention of the Ministers. Therefore the government searching for a competent hand appointed him as Labor Commissioner. On taking over as Labor Commissioner he continued his frenzy of innovations in the new portfolio. Multifaceted personality development, a feature with the really brilliant men, manifested as versatile incompetence in his case. Incompetence attained perfection as an art and a tool with striking results and guarantee though in the wrong direction. Every field of activity bore his stamp of incompetence facilitating easy identification of the luminous radiant source. Thus anyone could say with certainty and confidence that the author of such an act was Pigwick. Risk taking was unknown to him and he never wanted to venture to take up anything considered risky. That was left for others to take though on his behalf. No power on earth except the hands of death could dismiss him from service for acts of inertia or incompetence. Such a job conferred on him several privileges. He all along enjoyed the perquisites of office, which increased in variety and content as he ascended the hierarchy. This trend developed so strongly that he forgot the main task for which he joined the organization. Whenever someone complained during idle conversations about inadequacies, he consoled him by drawing parallels and precedents. He added that he was fortunate and far better. Whatever be the exacting demands of the executive job, of course with clerical content, he set apart hours for enjoying himself at the cost of the organization. The resources available were mobilized for lavish distribution to favorites free of cost and in exchange for material benefits. The basic operating philosophy was to cash in every unit of power exercised. A signature meant something large in return tax free. He valued his signature as something which in official parlance meant something like a gold mine and he never wanted to part with it unless it was for a consideration. The term something and bribe were synonymous. This feature became a philosophy of personal enrichment which he faithfully practiced.The working of the philosophy with examples is illustrated in this book with an enjoyable dose of humor.