A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from April 03, 2012
“Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency for me”

“Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency for me” is a popular business saying that has been put on gift items such as posters and plaques, and that has appeared on many Internet lists of sayings. Variations of “lack of planning” include “poor planning” and “bad planning,” and “emergency for me” is sometimes given as “emergency on my part” or “emergency on mine.”
 
“Poor planning on your part does not make an emergency on our part” has been cited in print since at least 1983.
 
[This entry was researched with the help of Bill Mullins, a frequent contributor to the American Dialect Society listserv.]
     
   
10 November 1983, Washington (DC) Post, pg. DC10, col. 3:
“Poor planning on your part does not make an emergency on our part.”
 
4 Feb 1984, Los Angeles (CA) Times, pg. OCA1, col. 1:
“A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”
 
21 January 1987, Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, IN), “GOP, Demos Fight 2nd Battle of New Orleans,” pg. 20, col. 4:
“Poor planning on their part does not constitute an emergency on our part,” he said.
     
Google Books
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the School Library:
A treasury of anecdotes, quotes, and other happenings

By Larry A. Parsons
Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited
1990
Pg. 100:
“Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”
 
Google Books
The Light Touch:
How to use humor for business success

By Malcolm L. Kushner
New York, NY: Simon and Schuster
1990
Pg. 150:
“Lack of planning by you does not constitute an emergency for me!!!”

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New York CityWork/Businesses • Tuesday, April 03, 2012 • Permalink


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