The Quirky and Zany

Those individuals that make a leader’s

day long and sometimes unbelievable.

We all know them: the quirky and zany characters that pass through our lives on their way to future endeavors that we hope do not involve us. The time they spend with us can be interesting, offbeat, cockamamie, goofy, insane, a little touched and sometimes just plain silly; but more often than not: downright funny.

If you have spent at least as long in your career as I have in mine and worked with people, you’ve met these guys. You can’t get away from them—not that you’d want to do so. They make the days long and sometimes unbelievable. It’s not that they want to, it’s just part of their nature—they have to do the things they do. It’s in their DNA—they can’t help it.

I might have been one of the luckier ones, my name coming to the top of the list more often than it should have—or maybe the problem was my attraction to the bizarre and wacky world they inhabit and the people that usually seek the positions I was “lucky” enough to be called upon to lead, manage and supervise. Having spent some forty years in the Army and manufacturing industries, I saw a large cross-section of our populous that others may not have.

If you haven’t run across these guys and gals, you have no idea what you’re missing.

Take for instance:

Thomas - adventure with expanding gas, being run over by his on vehicle and being zapped by a helicopter

James – same named brothers, deserted, shot, died, and moved home while we cleaned up his mess

Jenkins – resembling the Pillsbury Dough-Boy, who ran out of gas on remote Alaskan Highway

Van – attacked by ravens and crawling back to his home-away-from-home

Cassidy – lost in the twilight zone upon coming out of the restroom

Jerry – seat belted into his car and unable to escape

These are just a few of the offbeat and wacky guys that I had the chance to be associated with during my career that I intend to share an anecdote or two about them with you.

I hope you return time and again in the future to catch up on these and others I have run across during my travels. I am positive you will find somebody you recognize in the mix. I welcome your comments on your quirky and zany acquaintances.