An Off-Topic Rant About Accountability (July 2017, Not a Keto Video)
This is a 17-minute recording from July 10, 2017, and it isn't about keto or nutrition at all. It's a morning rant about accountability: not personal accountability, but the kind governments and companies owe the people they serve. It's also one of the earliest recordings in the archive, made about four weeks after I started keto in June 2017 (video cTGYIFOTPl8), and three weeks before the first videos went on YouTube.
In this recording
- [0:01] The topic: accountability of government offices and corporations. I said neither side of politics has it figured out; people who want government to do everything should visit the DMV, and people who think the free market fixes everything should look at how the big telecom companies rate with customers.
- [0:35] The example: a new parking kiosk downtown took a payment that didn't go through, and the car got two tickets.
- [2:21] to [6:23] My trip to the parking office the next business morning, and my frustration that nobody offered to check the machine or follow up on what I'd been told.
- [6:23] to [10:21] A second example: a billing and paperwork mix-up with my health insurer that took months to straighten out.
- [10:21] The point: when a person makes a mistake it costs them money; when a large organisation makes one, it says sorry, promises a refund, and moves on. It has staff to cover a sick day; you don't.
- [16:04] The ask: when someone brings you a problem at work, consider that they might not be crazy, and follow up for them a little.
The language is rough in places, and some of it is aimed at one employee. That's a reason to think twice before posting it as is.
The only link to keto
The word that ties this to the rest of my content is accountability. Here it's about institutions. By 2019 I was using the same word about diet: you can't improve what you don't track, and if no one else will check in on you, give a friend a list of questions to ask you every week (live KPDK8043). That idea gets its own post: willpower vs habits.
If you came for keto, start there, or with tracking on keto.
Related
- Guide: Tracking on keto
- Videos: Willpower vs habits