What is described in the below story disgusts the living hell out of me!!
This might be an incident that is isolated to its severity, but it is by far not unique regarding the behavior and mentality.
Those responsible should be hung.
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In about 30 plus hours, shoppers will begin their annual post-thanksgiving day pilgrimage to their favorite store or shopping mall to take advantage of the specials. Some of the stores they will go to, will be open by midnight, others they will have to camp out in front of, until those stores fling open their doors at 5 or 6 am.
I work in retail and for the first time in a long time, I dont have to be at the store until 1:30pm, by that time, the “mad-rush” will be over. It means a far more enjoyable Thanksgiving Day for me!! In years past, it was mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, cup of coffee, go to bed, have to be up real early. This year I can really get my meal digested before going to bed.
In years past, we ended up parking way in the back of the building, only to have to walk around, then the customers waiting in line interrogate you on the way in, not being mindful that we are just showing up after having enjoyed the prior holiday. How many of this do you all have or can you hold me one?
Then the doors open and 10 customers expect you to help them all at the same time and they think you can do it.
Of course the ads say limited quantity per store, but that’s all right, you must have the entire worlds inventory here because I camped out since 1 am.
Black Friday hasnt always been like this, it used to be a day when you saw more customers than normal and long checkout lines, but people were friendly and patient.
Now it is symbolic of gimme gimme gimme, me-me-me, stampede, screw the other guy!
To me, Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate with family, friends and loved ones, this new modern shopping ritual degrades this fine holiday, instead of post dinner pumpkin pie and coffee, people have to go get their tents and rush out to whatever store, and then act like animals when they shop, not alot to be Thankful for, is it?
People if I described you, be careful, be kind to your fellow shopper, be kind to the retail employee whom waits on you, they will be more hurried than you can possibly imagine and most of all, be patient. Remember for a handful of hours in the early morning, the customers will outnumber the employees 20 or more to 1, it would be unreasonable to expect kiss butt customer service, like you could any other time.
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House Of Lies: How Congress Failed To Protect Our Economy. Obama Bombshell
Quite Telling!
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The State Of Hawaii, not a poor state among the 50 US states, enacted Universal Health Care Coverage for children 70 months ago, but now have since discontinued it.
The idea of the Hawaii program was to enable parents whom could not afford health insurance for their children to have some coverage provided free of charge by the state, with most Doctor visits only involving a $7 co-pay.
The problem was, many parents whom could afford to provide insurance to their children, were discontinuing such coverage in favor of what amounted to be a state funded freebie.
($7 co-pay, what costs does that defray?)
As a result, the state had major budget shortfalls.
Universal Health Care has always come up as a political topic, often being promised by those seeking elected office to the Federal Govt, going back as far if not farther than 1992 with then Presidential hopeful Bill Clinton.
What just happened in Hawaii will happen everywhere and not just with children’s health care if these people get their way.
People will drop coverage in favor of a freebie everytime. Wouldn’t you like to pay less or no premiums each payday or month?
Anything that gets done about health care in the United States should be aimed at reducing the costs, by extension this would make getting insurance more affordable.
My .02
Was it pay back???
This past week, OJ Simpson was convicted in Las Vegas by a Jury for actions he took a year ago (2007) in some crazy attempt to reclaim sports memorabilia regarding his past NFL greatness.
In case you have just awoken from a coma, in 1994 Nicole Brown Simpson, his ex-wife, and her friend Ron Goldman were found murdered outside of her residence, brutally murdered by knife point. A mountain of evidence pointed towards OJ Simpson, in which he was later charged with the crimes. Actions he took leading up to his arrest, certainly didn’t speak well for the deeds of a innocent man, after seeing a nationally televised police chase of him and his friend AC Cowlings running around the LA freeways. Passport in hand and supposedly a gun on board. OJ Simpson managed to assemble a dream team of lawyers and the LAPD and district attorneys managed to assemble a nightmare team. In 1995, the case went to trial, dominating cable news coverage for weeks, in the end, OJ Simpson was acquitted by a Jury of his peers. He would later be sued for wrongful death by the victims families and he lost that case and was ordered to pay millions.
Following his acquittal, OJ vowed he would spend the rest of his life searching for the “real” killers of his ex-wife and her friend, no one really knows if that killer was hiding out on public or private gold courses, which is where OJ spent the majority of his visible time since.
The facts of the murder case supported a conviction and would have convicted a non-celebrity murderer in any other locality, with a more competent prosecuting team, regardless of the priciness of the defence team. This means that the case was the LA prosecutors case to lose, and they came through.
This case also revealed or reinforced the nations racial divide. In polls after the verdict, 85% of the black population agreed with the verdict while only 32% of whites agreed with it. The then US President, Bill Clinton, said that he was amazed about this divide the nation had considering that each demographic had the same set of facts to judge the case by.
The problem with the racial divide is that anytime a black person is a victim of a crime, the perpetrator will always be guilty of it, regardless of the facts, from the perspective of most blacks. Conversely if a black person is the perpetrator, the same demographic will argue that the perpetrator is not guilty, just couldn’t be guilty, s/he must have been framed by the establishment! This is indeed a unique phenomena, which I suppose originates from some need to make the establishment atone for the racial inequality that existed in this country for years. Some refer to it as the “black experience”, I call it a cop out. During the bad years, the racists set up a system that was supposedly “separate but equal”, what many blacks seek today, whether they realize it or not, is “equal and separate”. They cant use the system to make up for lost time, they can only demand that the system treat them equal. What I mean by all this, is that everything that is bad, unfortunate or even unfair that happens to this or any other minority is not necessarily the product of racism.
OJ Simpson was a tremendously talented and famous running back, with a storied football career with both the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers, fortunately for him, this part of his past can never be undone. He went on to star in various big and small screen movie productions, such as Capricorn One, Airplane. He became a pitch man for various products and services on TV commercials and he was a commentator for NBC sports coverage of NFL football games. This is the OJ simpson I thought I knew, we all knew, not knowing that in the background in his personal private life, some high drama was brewing.
In 1995 a jury of his peers acquitted him.
In 2008 a jury of his peers convicted him.
One cannot help but to think that this recent verdict is some sort of attempt to get even for what many feel was a wrongful acquittal back in 1995. Perhaps it is..
I bet that many whom hailed the 1995 verdict as just, will condemn the 2008 verdict as unjust, translated they want to have their cake and eat it too!
If one used the 1995 verdict as a measure of ones guilt or innocence, then you have to use the 2008 verdict the same way, unfortunately many will not.
You ever been in the workplace where you have either had or have observed someone in a supervisory position enjoy to the point of getting a head rush the power they have over their subordinates?
I have been in the workforce since 1980, all in retail and I have observed this from afar and experienced it from above or rather from the bottom, depending on perspective. It seems supervisors whom fit the mold I describe, have some co-dependency with their job duties, its like a head rush for them as if what they experience is the same thing many experience when drunk on alcohol or high on some drug.
Over the years I have seen employees face abuse from people like this and I have felt it too, but I am feeling it moreso now with one supervisor than I have had at anytime in the past 28 years of my employed life. It is pretty telling that one can contrast this over a span of 28 years.
One cannot reasonably expect that all their bosses to be the same as the ones they liked, personality and life experiences and backgrounds all vary. This aside from personality, maturity and priorities.
A supervisor is not there to be ones friend, buddy, pal, they are there to do a job, to run the business and execute company directives the company way.
A supervisor, should however be treated with respect and treat those under them with respect, this is not to say a supervisor has earned penultimate respect simply because of an affixed title. Abuse is not a prerequisite for any job whether it is given or taken.
I have worked with this supervisor for 7 years now, the first couple of years I was in a supervisory position, he was not, but not over him, when my supervisory position got eliminated, he and I sat as equals, peons on the low part of the pole so to speak. He and I got along fine then. In this time frame, we both had supervisors whom had attributes we didn’t like, but we got over it, but we both had the same things to bitch about.. “Boy is so and so in a mood today”.
Last year a supervisory position opened up and he applied for it and got it, I was really happy for him, it was better someone we all knew and was knowledgeable for the area of responsibility get it, rather than someone whom was a stranger to all and a stranger to the company, kind of like “one of our own”.. When I found out about his promotion, I went up to him and congratulated him, then his response is “now I get to tell you what to do”.
A normal person would have said thank you, but this was the first thing on this persons mind was to tout his new authority, he certainly is not the first time in all my working life when I have seen a co-worker be elevated in their career path, but I never seen in 28 years someone let this elevation go to their head, much less change them, as in personality and otherwise.
This is akin to the abused child syndrome where they say when a child is abused, they grow up to be child abusers, but in this case, he technically was abused by past supervisors and then adopts their behaviour as his own when he attains similar status.
Yes, this current supervisor is the embodiment of that which he detested at the hands of past supervisors, but the sad thing is, he is worse and he thrives on the power he has over others.
Going into work now, often has me having a sick feeling in my stomach, especially if there is any overlap in our schedules, I hate wondering how I am going to be treated that day, just how am I going to get talked to, in what tone? It is not right that I am made to feel dread coming into work on the premise that he is working that day or a certain shift when I will be there as well.
The main issue is how he talks to people, by extension me, there is no please, thank you or do me a favour, it is ORDERS and they are conveyed as if you are a lowly peasant and he is your King.
I must admit that I don’t react kindly to his tone and I bristle and I argue, which isn’t always the right thing to do, and because of this it only fortifies this guys “bad points”, so I know I ain’t helping the situation any, but I have been in the business to long to just sit and take the abuse, one still is allowed to have their pride and self-esteem which this guy is trying to deny me. In all fairness, I don’t think he is actively trying to deny me anything, but that is how he is making me feel and I think that is a result of his personality that allows him to channel his power as if its the force and he is Yoda or Darth Vader.
You can hear this man barking orders to others, they aren’t requests or simple direction, they are in the simplest form, orders.
Supervising is in its simplest form is the art of delegation, however to achieve a goal, proper delegation must be handed out, improper delegation does not achieve any goal other than to sow dissent and resentment.
Maybe I will invite this supervisor to read this post and see if he see;s himself here, fortunately he has not the power to hire and fire.
I know I ain’t the first person to jump on this boat, but using my economic stimulus payment from Uncle Sam, I finally got myself a Windows Mobile Smartphone.
I went and got a Samsung Blackjack II, it uses Windows Mobile 6 Std, and I am able to surf the Internet, send email, do instant messaging, using its QWERTY keyboard.
My prior cellphone was a Motorola Razr v3, a nice phone but to do the things on it that I can now do on my new one, meant tedious typing on a standard phone keypad.
With this new phone, I found myself turning off my landline phone as I plan on obtaining a landline phone handset unit that can pair up to my cellphone using bluetooth, giving me the freedom to make and receive calls when at home from normal phone handsets. Click this Link for a CNET review of this product from GE.
I traditionally am not a chatter box on any telephone, my calls are short, sweet and to the point, but the convenience I have with both having landline like options at home, mobility and the data plan make it all worth it.
When my home internet connection went south a number of months ago, I was unable to email friends and such until the following Monday, this smartphone certainly compliments my options in addition to the options obviously present when away from home.
I highly recommend a smartphone for anyone wanting to compliment their mobile and data options.
Please welcome aboard Alan Cassell, one of my kid brothers, he will be contributing to the blog from time to time.
I believe he wants to “Think Out Loud” about mostly political topics and issues, but I am sure his thoughts will go beyond that.
Many of his views along that line will not match up with my own, albeit I haven’t spent much time commenting on politics. He and I have slugged it out in Email, so don’t be surprised if he and I do the point and counter-point thing in here..
Reason why I haven’t committed the time to politics is because all the idiocracy has been replayed in the media and with the current administration in lame duck mode, there is no point. Replaying the blame game is not productive when it comes to the topics being worn down like a pencil lead.
Of course with the upcoming elections with interesting but less than stellar candidates, we shall see.
If one must know, I am somewhere right of center and he is somewhere else, as far as political belief goes, so I might be referred to as a less educated Republican or a Blind Patriot, but it all comes out in the wash, he and I are brothers and different ideologies cannot change that..
Alan, I love you man!!
Welcome Aboard Bro!
Does US economic policy spit in the face of conventional economic practice and wisdom? Is the mighty US immune to severe fundamental market pressures? How would a severe economic crisis bode for our national security? How low will our currency go?
To entertain these interesting questions read on…
I enjoyed this years Super Bowl, it was one in which the team the talking heads said was supposed to win, actually lost.
Thats right, the 18–0 New England Patriots lost to underdog New York Giants by a score of 17–14!
The irony is sweeter, the Patriots lost a Super Bowl by the same point margin that marked their prior 3 victories, yes by 3 points.
This Super Bowl wasn’t marked by tremendous point production, but rather defensive struggles.
The Patriots season should not be dismissed, its hard to have played 16 regular season games, and harder to have played 2 playoff games without a single loss, but in the end, all that is technically moot if you cant get the one lone victory that matters.
The talent of the Patriots team and coaches should not go un-noticed, perfect team cohesion and consistent focus are hard goals to reach, this years Patriots team achieved that. I believe they had this, but I also believed they took it too far.
After the spygate scandal that plagued them early in the season in which they were caught spying on the New York Jets, a stupid act because they handily defeated them anyway, I believe the team felt they had something to prove. So they were going to prove to the world that they couldn’t be stopped by defeating opponents handily one week at a time.
As the season went on, I do believe this bold determination to silence their critics, led the team to believe they were unstoppable, invincible. When you believe what your ego tells you, it is called arrogance. They nearly got tripped up by lesser teams in the regular season, almost losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens.
But in the Super Bowl, who were they playing, oh its only the New York Giants, heck we beat them once already, piece of cake..
This is why the Patriots lost the Super Bowl, they believed their own egos by thinking that they are supposed to win, therefore they will.
On the other hand, The New York Giants faced much more adversity than the Patriots. Over the course of a season, its easier to overcome adversity like the Giants did, as opposed to the Patriots not having had to face it, then encounter it and not know what to do.
I am not without bias, I got tired of AFC teams winning the Super Bowl and got tired of it being the Patriots.
Congratulations New York Giants!