Generals Lead Inadvertantly

The assistant civic chief was to visit and see the grand spectre of the repaired and renovated building we work in. The work was by no means over. But the contractor pushed all the clutter into rooms to clear the corridors and locked up the doors. The corridors started looking like those in Western hospitals- clean, nice and empty. He cleared the rubble and tools of repair from the yard beyond a stone's throw, hoping the elderly administrator would not be wearing bifocals in public. I was advised to be available at the time of the scheduled visit. I was not on the welcome committee, probably because I could not be trusted to be politically correct, or could perhaps be trusted to be truthful. So I remained in my office, and conducted a brain-storming session of senior staff members on our educational plans for our post-graduate students. I learned later that the civic boss inspected the premises and went away, without needing my presence. "How did they go up to the third floor without the elevator" I asked the two fellows who were working on the new elevator which had not been made functional yet. "We took them in the elevator" the senior one of the two said. "Is the elevator ready?" I asked. I was climbing up and down all day. A ride in the elevator would help in some of the trips at least. "No, it is not ready. There are two inspections yet to be carried out by two different authorities." "So it was the first run?" "Yes" he said simply. "Something like a trial run?" I asked. "Yes" he said. "The civic boss and our boss went up in the elevator together in a trial run?" "Yes" he said. "Had something gone wrong, we would have lost two brilliant people in one go!" I shuddered. They don't fly all generals in the same plane for that very reason. But the elevator guy did not know that. "Did they know it was a trial run?" "Um … probably not" he admitted. So the generals had led the army inadvertently.