I have this job. It's a career really ... a career I never could have imagined I would have. It has presented me with opportunities to do something I am very good at, make a name for myself at a very young age, travel, meet astounding minds and colorful characters, and work very, very hard. I have been in this industry for 10 years now. It is a highly government regulated industry and one of the functions of my position are to ensure we are complying with these federal regulations. I work in biomedical clinical research which means that I answer to the Department of Health and Human Services, the FDA and the Office of Human Research Protection.
Two weeks ago, I got a call from one of the aforementioned agencies to announce an inspection at my place of business starting the following Monday. This is the fourth time in my career I have hosted these types of inspections. All previous inspections have been successful with no or minimal findings ... none of which required any official action. Yet no matter how good you are at what you do, this is a nerve-wracking experience. It's the equivalent of your accountant being audited by the IRS. Similar to that feeling you get when a police officer pulls up behind you at a traffic light and even though you know you aren't doing anything wrong, you get nervous. It feels like that.
In my industry, a poor performance at one of these inspections can cost you your business and all of your employees their jobs, so I take this very seriously. My company and our team do a very good job, but it's my job to make sure they do their jobs perfectly. If we don't do it perfectly, we get cited and those citations can become public record.
This wonderful career I have also allows me to telecommute to my office hundreds of miles away from my home in California. However, this inspection requires me to be in office. So I arrived to my office two days before the start of the inspection to prepare for what I anticipated to be a three, maybe four, day inspection. We are now ten days into this work trip for me. The agency investigator has been arriving late, leaving early, and is extremely naive with regard to scope of our function within the industry. I have spent the majority of the time the inspector is on premises explaining what we do, teaching certain terms within the regulations that they are supposed to be an expert on, and then today ... the inspector doesn't even bother to show up.
I have explained to the inspector that I have traveled to be in town for this inspection, that I had a conference to be at on the other side of the country starting tomorrow. I expressed that I understand they have an assignment to fulfill, but I have other work travel commitments, deadlines with our accrediting body, as well as a toddler and a husband at home waiting for me to get home, so if there is anything I can do to help streamline the process or expedite any of the process, I would gladly do it. Reciprocity. You let me know what you need and I will get it to you. No delay, no stammering ... just ask and ye shall receive. Apparently none of that matters, I am on Day 10 of a business trip, costing my company hundreds of dollars a day to have me here and this investigator (whose salary we pay with our tax dollars) is completely wasting my time. As a taxpayer, a mother, a professional, and someone who works really hard at meeting tight timelines and doing my job efficiently, I am offended by this investigator's mediocrity and blatant disregard for all of the lives, business plans, and money that are being sacrificed to host this inspection,
I am frustrated. Even if I wasn't missing my husband and my baby (which I am), I would be offended. Mediocrity offends me. This agency is charged with making sure we are doing our job perfectly, yet they are allowed to not even understand what they are evaluating; they are allowed to be mediocre. How is that fair? As a tax-paying citizen and thus a stakeholder in the business that is America's government, I am disgusted at the disrespect and disregard that this individual government employee is displaying towards me and my company. I have a front row seat to the stereotypical government employee doing the bare minimum.
I could say so much more, but I won't. The only way we are going to change the unengaged, uninvested, disenchanted stereotypical government employee is to speak up and let the government know that as stakeholders, it's not acceptable for our employees to be treating us this way. Once this inspection is complete, there will be letters written to Congressmen and Department heads at aforementioned agency relaying my discontent.
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