Posted on 04/06/2022 7:52:29 PM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
"Do you have designated safe spaces? Are there puppies?"
"Can I bring my support pony to work?"
"Does company insurance cover sex changes?"
"I'm currently a man but plan on transitioning to female in the next year. However, during the year I'm preparing for surgery, can I stay home during my 'time of the month'? Will sick leave pay for that?"
"Once the federal government legalizes marijuana, can I smoke it at my desk?"
I was a professional salesman and always and only worked for the money.
I don't want nor need your pity.
I loved the fact that my worth could be measured by performance against an agreed upon goal, my annual quota.
The more I sold, the more I made.
I worked for 17 different corporations, was fired twice and mostly left for what I saw as better opportunities.
Most times I picked winners, not always, but I never regretted my decision and NEVER looked back.
I was very fortunate to sell in the computer industry during it's early growth period, from the late 60s through the early 2000s when there were very little boundaries on commission sales folks and in general, when most high end selling was face to face and not "ZOOM" and remote presentations.
There were years I earned 7 digits, it was enough. No pity for me.
I couldn't do it today, I'd be fired or quit in New York City minute, with all of the political correctness that goes on today.
I understand your point, but I differ in opinion on this, and I think, in a different way. I do not think the signature values and methods have changed, I believe the people expected to practice them have changed.
In the same way there are so many people who think the next war will be a push-button war, and the physical strength of the combatants is irrelevant (It won’t be-there will always be infantry, and infantry will always be required to lift heavy things, carry them on their back, and engage in hand-to-hand combat) there are people who think everything can be done from home. It can’t. Surely, there are things that can be done just as well from a home office, and power to them. But companies will still need boots on the ground. It is a pipe dream to think that is the future for success. (Not saying some degree of balance isn’t possible and fruitful)
My ideals may be outdated, but they aren’t wrong, and aren’t inferior either, in much the same way as my views on homosexuality, transsexualism, and pedophilia may be outdated but are not wrong or inferior (and we see evidence of THAT every single day)
My views on things may not be what society has decided they wish to accept, but their views are not going to produce better results in those spheres.
And so it is with business.
You asserted that in the work environment, there exists no professionalism, no manners or respect, not a lot of integrity. I disagree, even if what you assert may indeed be true in a given instance. That can certainly be found to be true.
But I am one who believes that those things such as professionalism, manners, and respect are in our own control as individuals, not the control of the company or organization. The corporation may or may not foster them, but when all is said and done, those things must be the domain of the individual.
It is true that you cannot demand respect from others, to get it, you can only earn it, and that happens on an individual level, not at a corporate level. We, as individuals, control those things, and if we practice them, they exist. I know this for a fact, because I see it with my eyes.
Expecting a corporation to solve that individual problem is like asking the government to solve individual problems, and that never works out.
I expect we may differ on this, but that is okay. I understand your view. I think I will go to my grave unchanging...as the views of many going there often are! I confess to, and accept being a dinosaur.
I certainly wasn’t extending pity to you.
It has been my real world observation that the majority of people to whom money is the sole object are unhappy people.
That is not a blanket statement by any means, especially in the world of people who live and die professionally solely based on the amount of money exchanged in transactions, such as...salesmen.
Okay, that was funny. That girl’s voice is perfect. LOL! Thanks!
From the time I started delivering newspapers at age 14, I've put my best effort into everything I did. Over 45 years later, I have yet to be laid off or asked to leave. However, I did leave some places on my own accord to seek better opportunities. Each time, the employer was sad to see me go.
I don't need to be pampered, coddled, repeatedly told "good job". I can deal with angry clients (and turn them around by helping to solve their problems), bad bosses (I always outlast them), and incompetent co-workers (I'm happy to pick up the slack for them and help train them if they are willing).
My employer owes me nothing but the paycheck and comp plan we agreed on. Either of us can decide to part company for any reason.
I have first-hand experience with this problem, and I can tell you, to someone who wants to make a difference, having a job like that is EXCRUCIATING with all caps.
My first full time job out of college was at a small community hospital, and there were two women working there who had been there for years. They were nice, but weren’t bothered by the lack of work at all. I had days where I had one patient! I would spend time doing this task or that, but you can only rearrange the supply shelves so often before you begin to go stir crazy.
I would bring books like Tolstoy’s War and Peace into work and read them until my rear end was sore and I was cross-eyed.
I would look at the clock all day long, and it advanced...slowly...in five minute intervals. It was horrible. Eventually, I could not stomach it anymore, and found another job at a high paced hospital that paid me far better, but boy, did they ever work me hard. I had a German physician who interviewed me, and with his heavy Bavarian accent, said “Ya ya ya...we vill pay you well, but you vill work hard for it!”
Heh, he wasn’t kidding, but that didn’t bother me a bit! The days flew by, to the point I would look up a the clock and panic because I still had so much to finish before I could leave!
I prefer that...:)
You know, I have probably seen that video at least a dozen times, but the part where the guy asks her what applications she was proficient at, and she says something like “Snapchat, Instagram...” and the guy says “I’m surprised you didn’t say Facebook” and she laughs gaily “Ha ha ha! That’s for OLD people, like my parents!” makes me crack up each and every time!
The actor who plays the guy is brilliant with his facial expressions!!!!
Reading your post, I get that we see things in a very similar way.
I have the same experience, and it isn’t just beneficial to me, it is beneficial to my employer.
A system I had been managing for years was phased out, and I was asked to interview for the job of working on the new system, but...to be honest, my heart wasn’t in it. I didn’t want the job, and I believe I interviewed very poorly. (I am one of those people with an open face, and I think the interviewers saw every emotion as if it were a lit up billboard.)
When I didn’t get the job, my boss actually created a new job for me, to keep me on board. That meant a lot to me, more than I can say, because in that environment at that time, it was no mean feat to get a new job position created and approved by management.
Millennial job interview. LOL!!
I will say there are a few millennials at my work who are sharp and have great work ethics. They’re also conservatives so that may be why.
But I’ve certainly seen plenty of them who are more like” Amy” in the video too.
I am currently retired.
My job had me literally following the work for decades.
As such, I have interviewed many times, and worked for many companies. This is my advice:
You are a company. You are joe fonebone incorporated.
Just like a company, you have debits and need credits to become profitable. This is your initial attitude. Here are the rules I followed.
1) Time is money. Their time, and your time. Don’t waste either one.
2) Interviews work both ways. Ask direct, blunt questions. They want you to fit. Make sure you are going to fit. If at any time you feel that it is not going to be a good fit, stand up, shake their hand and thank them for their time.
3) Know your worth. Discuss compensation. If they can’t or won’t make you an offer at your initial interview, have them give you a range. If the compensation you need is not in their range, stand up, shake their hand and thank them for their time.
4) Ask if you are free to walk around and speak to the current workforce. Ask them direct questions. If you are told you cannot, stand up, shake their hand and thank them for their time.
Always remember, you are your own company. Sell yourself the way a company sells itself.
Really good advice.
If I don’t like where I am, or I don’t want do do things the way they ask, I am free to leave.
it would be for one reason and one reason only: Get money.
Why bother working anymore...........................
Agreed… It’s a funny thing, but we keep in mind there are some very sharp millennials!
I know a few too!
I hear ya. I worked an office job for years then started my own business and was self employed for 17 years. I tried to go back briefly but it just didn’t work out. Mr. GG2 has been self employed for 25 years. We are now setting up a little cottage industry on 6 acres in the mountains. A small Air BNB next to the main house and we’ll sell produce, eggs and stuff to the people who rent it for vacay.
KEEP IN MIND-—
BIDEN wants EVERY SINGLE JOB in the USA to be a UNION JOB...
I want him to sell that idea to cattle ranch cowboys.
I’m with you on all that. What happened to me was that I ended up in large corporations that were poorly managed and kept cancelling projects. Also, during those last years I was a business analyst in IT. Now, that used to be great, but when I joined a company that did almost all it’s work through vendors, I found myself almost comically redundant. I was close to retirement anyway so I just stayed the course as it got progressively worse.
Then the virus hit and we went WFH. My job was almost all meetings. And those meetings were almost completely worthless. 15 people trying to talk over each other with bad connections, bad english, etc. I tried to create a virtual white board on most of them even though I was just a low level “attendee” in most of them. That helped a lot, but still. They were mostly an exercise in futility.
I did that for a year and retired. My contacts in the company say it is MUCH worse than it used to be and people are almost waiting for the whole thing to get shut down, and checking on a daily basis - for the last year. Most of the truly good people have left.
This is a large and ongoing concern. It’s not going anywhere. But I think it very much speaks to the concept that most people don’t do anything at work. There are all sorts of articles and youtube videos about it. And it destroys people and their motivation.
Now that I’m retired, I get to choose what I do and my choices involve actually getting stuff DONE. And stuff I, personally, want done. It’s empowering.
For most people, the job just keeps you alive with the means to feed yourself and put a roof over your head. That is why I think those that own and run their own businesses are the “happiest” people in many ways. They spend their time working toward their own goals. And yes, as an employee you can make doing your job well your own goals, but the measure of success is imaginary.
That was precise!
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