I recently sent a compact disc to Russia. It was purchased/won in an Ebay auction I had posted. For some reason, I can't help but to speculate about the bidders in the auctions I post-- the basic demographic. Who has disposable income these days? What's their zip code? Does it look like they live in an apartment or are they possibly a home owner? No, I don't have too much time on my hands. My brain is just constantly folding over on itself like that.
Like when I see gum on the floor and I wonder, " What flavor is that? Did someone accidentally drop it? Or spit it out? What kind of person spits their gum out?" Or, "Hmmm, is that package is on the floor because the cardboard wasn't strong enough to support the product from the tiny hole used for hanging it on a peg? Or did someone try to aggressively put the package back? Carelessly?" And, "Why is this person walking so slowly in front of me? Are they lazy or do they have a physical handicap? Don't they hear me behind them? Can't they move over? Are they deaf?"
So, I am thinking about the amount of money this Russian guy paid for CD I almost gave away to the City Mission. And, wow, I think the Russian economy has been really out shining the US economy. And, what a bunch of crap we feed the rest of the world in our fight against communism or former embracers of communism, supporting the Grand Ol' Flag and Democracy... I mean capitalism. Since we watched the Wall fall, we get to watch our arch enemies do what we do better than we do. Or are they simply more corrupt and, therefore, more successful? Do they not care about the widening gaps between classes? No, because before the USSR only had two or three classes: government officials, individuals with ties to the government, and the rest of the stinking, starving masses. Only difference now is the stinking masses have heat for two more days a year and possibly a TV. And, you should realize I have no idea what the everyday citizen in Russia has or has not. I'm just creating wild generalizations like any good Liberty embracing American should do about something they are less than informed about. The point? The Russians with all their dollars wrapped up in their domestic investments, celebrating rising employment, and an overall surging economy must think it is absolutely hilarious what we've done to our own economy and are so glad they've maintained a healthy relationship with China (the lenders of the Great American Mortgage).
Sure, I took a month or so of Russian back in college. It is buried next to the German, Spanish, and French I do not use. And, yes, I was horrified when the manager at the bookstore where I used to work had no idea who Karl Marx was. And, yes, I am a big fan of the writer Nikolai Gogol. However, I do not consider myself a "commie" or a "red". I mean, hell! I am convinced I was a cowboy in one of my past lives since I love coffee and bacon for breakfast so much! But, I didn't mind seeing Putin with his shirt off. And, even though I'm no longer entertaining any idea of voting for the crazy heart attack on legs, McCain, I would love to have a wizened, savvy president with a menacing snarl like Putin.
Speaking of the economy, have you ever wondered where the chaos begins? Well, many of you living on the Great Lakes are very familiar with water spouts-- swirling with force, picking up water only to toss it about, and dancing across the surface with no real purpose except for trying to maintain its own existence. That, my fellow citizens, is management in corporate retail. I have had the pleasure of working for small business owners most of my life. That too has it's own fistfuls of razor wire. However, I recommend it over corporate retail. I think I might recommend panhandling over corporate retail at this point.
Corporate retail thrives on a few things like poor time management, wasted resources (staff), and high turn over. During a phone call with my Uncle David, my one-time atheist Godfather, I shared with him some of my recent revelations. One was this: if you stick it out long enough in corporate retail, you will move into a higher position by default whether or not you possess any skill sets appropriate for the job. He told me about the Peter Principle. Amazing. Just amazing. Conversely, I have also noticed you get "punished" with more responsibility than your pay reflects if you do these simple things: show up for work on time, do not call off or not show up without calling, and actually seek out the activity of working during your paid shift at work. I do these things. These are things I assumed were just what you do when you work. Not the case in corporate retail. The deltas don't think they are being compensated well enough, so the deltas do nothing. I always figured before you start your employ, you are told the responsibilities and the correlating wage. At that point, you make a decision. After that point, you perform the tasks outlined as your responsibilities and then get financially reimbursed for your time. If you choose (like myself) to do more because you can't sit around catching flies in your gaping maw, you do so under the advisement there may or may not be an further reward or recognition except your own pride and satisfaction. These views have repeatedly put me in the position of the hard-ass, exasperated freak in the workplace. But, I still can't convince myself I'm wrong.
I have very similar views to nepotism in the bureaucratic arena. But, I don't wanna dig into the secretaries' pool today. There are also those steaming hot piles of EOE controversy in the white collar world. So, I will save the story about the woman (I make no reference to race, religion, age, or physical ability) who was completely inept at her middle management job. She couldn't perform any of the analysis work necessary. And, if she tried to perform the analysis work necessary when not surfing the web her entire shift, she would screw it up so completely and nearly cost the company millions, yes, MILLIONS of dollars. Well, her boss couldn't fire her in fear of legal battles up the whazoo. So, you know what the company recommended? A promotion! They moved her out of the department to a higher salary! Long story short, she was as equally inept at that job, too. She ended up where she started. And, I'm sure she is just biding her time there 'til she can suck the sauce off the juicy rib I call her pension plan. How do I know this? She was a co-worker of mine. A co-work who loved leaving me lists of things that didn't get done on her time, but needed to be competed on my time. But, I've let that all go now. Well, until I think about it again.
