Some people totally get the importance of not inviting ANYBODY with authority issues into your survival bunker.
Others are clueless.
This essay is for the second group.
I will present three facets of many people living in tight quarters. There are hundreds of opportunity for friction. I am presenting three for illustration so you can use your imagination on the others.
Vehicles:
In a previous essay I winnowed through a fictional group of family groups and affiliations. I also suggested a list of A-Pile, High priorties.
The A-Pile, High priority group consists of nine adults, ten children and fifteen vehicles.
Our driveway barely accommodates three vehicles. That means that twelve vehicles have to be parked somewhere other than the driveway.
The three vehicles in circulation are community vehicles and rides must be coordinated and shared.
How is that going to fly when one of the group grabs the keys and flies off in a huff? Or perhaps they insist on getting into their car where it is parked out back, gets it stuck and then demands it be unstuck?
Or if they do make a run to town, what is the likelihood that they bring back the Masque of the Red Death? You hunkered down for a reason.
Food:
19 people eat a lot of food and can dirty an incredible number of dishes, pots and pans. Food prep and cleanup for five, individual family groups takes a lot of time and gobbles up a lot of LP gas and wash water. It makes all the sense in the world to make ONE pot of oatmeal in the morning. It makes all the sense in the world to make ONE pot of chili or rice-and-beans for the evening meal.
Food restrictions are a concern. Lactose and gluten intolerance do exist. But if a person is gluten intolerant and they know chili-and-cornbread are on the night's menu, THEY can save an appropriate carbohydrate from earlier in the day or simply skip the cornbread.
The person with authority issues is guaranteed to insist that they get to make their own food and the prime prep time slot. Damned hard to get the horses back into the barn after that precedent is set.
Sewage:
The EPA figures one hundred gallons of water, per day, per person for domestic use.
They also strongly recommend a minimum of one day's detention time for incoming waste water.
They also strongly recommend a 100% factor of overdesign because that tank will be filling up from the first day it goes on-line. That is, the standard 1000 gallon septic tank is marginally adequate for five people when it is half full.
That means limited showers, limited laundry and an outdoor latrine if the facility is to sustain nineteen people for a period of weeks-to-years.
Indoor toilets are to be reserved for night-time emergencies and training kids. Nothing goes down the toilet except urine, feces and toilet paper.
And can you just hear your favorite entitled "I don't have problems with authority...I have problems with YOU having authority." person not thinking "How will they ever know?" or "Just this once." or "They don't mean me." or "Its yucky. I can't touch it." ?
When the first asshole gets shot, the rest will 'understand'... Just sayin...
ReplyDeleteI think the first message is "You can leave but don't plan on coming back."
DeleteIt is a dandy way to vote yourself off the island.
Throwing up the ground-rules in advance also serves to self-nominate people who are just not going to fit. It is not the "leader" who is pulling rules out of their nethermost orifice. The rules are the result of the known, proven limitations of the site.
If they leave and then try to come back, well, things would get interesting.