At work, the president and I fixed a toilet this morning. The flush handle had broken. Somebody went through the trouble of putting up "out of order" signs, putting tape across the toilet, and going to the hardware store to buy a replacement....but then left it at that, despite the illustrated instructions on the back of the packaging.
Our company has always been kind of...scrappy?, and the president wants to keep it that way. By "scrappy" I mean we try to be resourceful and figure out how to solve problems instead of just throwing money at them. The president is more than willing to spend money where it makes sense, but if a toilet get plugged or a light bulb burns out, it's fine for a senior engineer to go fix it. As the company grows, he's trying to avoid the bloat, inefficiency and corporate-style hogwash that commonly creeps in. It's tough. We have one admin who is continually pushing to "civilize" (my term) the company--she spent a few days painting her office (with permission) and circulates birthday cards every month for people to sign, and we now have monthly company cookouts, and when I arrived today there were two large flower pots flanking the entrance.