What a tally sheet can honestly hold

A mark on a sheet is a presence at a time of day. It is not a verdict on a crew and it is not a year’s habit.

We use paper because gloves and dust destroy glass. Each line is a place, a time, and a yes or no: was the issued kit (or a named piece) there. That is all a tally can honestly hold.

It cannot hold motive. It cannot hold a year. It cannot hold the Friday when everyone was covering a sick shift. If we only attended a quiet Monday, the account must say so. Application — the sequence of use — needs watching, not only counting. A kit can be present at 7 a.m. and unused at noon.

Commissioners sometimes ask for a percentage. We refuse a single percentage for a whole kit family. A torch present in twelve of twelve vans and a second drawer unopened in ten of twelve vans are two sentences. Crushing them into “83 percent adoption” hides the drawer.

The sheet is a spine for the written account, not a substitute for it. If a host only wants the ticks, they will be disappointed; the ticks without the rooms and the substitutions are how the original stores spreadsheet already failed.