Idiocracy

There have been a lot of movies that have predicted a future of earth.  Some say we'll be a prosperous, highly advanced civilization with robots and self-driving flying cars and where the normal life expectancy is 250 years.  Others say we'll be destroyed by war caused by those robots becoming self aware, or aliens coming to Earth, or even just because we want to destroy each other.  The one I hope for it Star Trek's prediction, where we no longer need money to be happy, and instead are hungry for knowledge and work hard to better ourselves and those around us.  Where we become explorers, scientists, doctors, historians...all for the advancement of what we know of the universe.

However, I have a feeling the opposite will happen.  If you've never seen the movie Idiocracy, do yourself a favor and watch it.  It will make you laugh, but if you look too deep into it, it will make you want to learn everything you can about...well, everything.

The basic idea of the movie is this.  The most average guy in the military, and a regular run of the mill hooker, are frozen for an experiment and wake up several hundred years into the future.  Through a trend of intelligent minds not breeding enough children because they want to wait for the right time, while those of, to be kind, less than average intelligence breed like wild fire, the world has become a pit of dumb.  Even the most common knowledge ideas such as water making plants grow, has become something that is hard to convince people of.

It may be a bit extreme, but looking at every movie prediction of the future, this is the most likely.  No robot apocalypse, but instead an overpopulated world of morons living in their own filth and having the mental capacity of a four year old.  And this is coming from someone that considers himself an optimist.

I see it happening around us everyday.  I see mother's with 6 children, of various ages, all of whom are unruly little hellians and their mother does nothing about it.  Or seeing twitter feeds of teenagers and even college students who don't understand concepts like Leap Year or the phases of the moon.  I constantly see the laziness of people everywhere, who all figure that the world is owed to them and so they just do whatever they want and expect someone else to take care of it.  I see it in our government as they allow corporations to take over the legal system in order to fit their needs so they can make a profit.  I see it in our school systems where a person that can't read or write is able to pass high school.  The parents that don't teach their kids anything practical to survive in the world, yet are more than happy to teach them that dinosaurs and humans lived together less than 30,000 years ago.  The people that preach intolerance, conformity, and hate instead of helping people find their own niche in the world and loving all.  Even the people who get visibly angry with people who are just trying to do their job, but feel they need to explode in rage about a mistake that they made.

That image sums it all up for me.  Some people say that bad things happen for a reason, but there is a steady decline of intelligence in the world.  And those that dedicate their lives to being as smart as they can about a subject are being dwindled out slowly.  We live in a world where money and appearance is the only thing that matters, rather than happiness, intelligence, and togetherness.

Timing

A while ago I talked about the past and how memories from it creep up on you.  Today I'd like to talk about the present.  The events that are currently in the process of happening, and in a way, how they reflect the past.

Back in high school, I worked at a local Walgreens.  It was my second job (my first was working at a pizzeria, which I quit as soon as I got the Walgreens job) and I basically worked there as a cashier and associate for a year and a half.  It was pretty easy work.  Towards the end of my high school years, I had learned just about everything about the operations of the store other than pharmacy, which I couldn't learn because I was under the age of eighteen.  However, I had decided to join the Navy, so I could earn money for college, see the world, and experience something new.

But there was another option.  My manager asked me one day if I wanted to become an assistant manager after I graduated.  She wanted to put me on the track to move upwards in the company.  I declined because of the military I had already signed up for.  Fast forward to right now....

As I've said, I currently work at a liquor store.  It doesn't pay enough to live on, so I've been looking for another job, something full time.  About a month ago, I started taking part in a course that would help align me with a sales job that would be full time and could get me into a position where I could once again be self-sufficient.  However, at the liquor store, we've had a problem with one of the head clerks. Every employee, and even some of the customers, have noticed and expressed complaints that he has been drinking on the job.  Usually, he'll be downing at least a full bottle of wine, sometimes two or three in a five to eight hour shift.  If he doesn't drink, we've noticed he gets the shakes.  To add to this, he has been stealing these bottles of wine from the store itself if he can't seem to get his hands on an opened return bottle, or bottles from the tastings from Saturdays.

Honestly, I don't see him working there for much longer, especially after the store manager told me that the issue was out of his hands now, implying that it had gone to higher ups.  One of the associates who works there was also apparently talking with him about what would happen.  This associate told our manager he doesn't want to talk over as head clerk, and said that the position should be given to me if possible, to which the manager said "I just might..."

This leaves me with a dilemma.  One one hand, I could get a job that I don't know, but has the possibility of creating large annual incomes for myself.  On the other, I have a job I know very well, and if I could get enough hours at the right pay, I could easily live on my own again.  And both have managed to present themselves at the same time.

The timing on this couldn't be worse.  If instead, the liquor store had offered me the job a while back before I had even joined this program, I would have taken it in a heart beat.  It still hasn't been offered to me, so I'm keeping on as I have been.

These timing issues seem to happen to me a lot.  Whenever I have tons of free time, I have nothing to do.  Whenever I get something to do, I suddenly don't have nearly as much time, sometimes even so little I have to drop out of the project.  But it's how the world works.

What I'd like to leave you with is that whenever you are faced with timing issues like these, especially when making the decision can change your future, take the time to actually weight the pros and cons.  Play devil's advocate for both sides.  Try to convince yourself not to take one, then convince yourself not to take the other.  See which side wins.  I'm currently leaning hard towards a new job, but if I'm offered the job in time, and the questions I have about it are to my liking, I may lean back and stick with my current one.  But I have a list to convince me both ways.  We'll see which way I jump.

Customer Service People

Though I've been working various customer service jobs since the day I decided to join the work force, I have to say, I hate working customer service jobs.  There are many, MANY reasons for that, but unfortunately, even though in the back of my head I'm screaming at people, I still seem to be good at it. It's not that the work is grueling, and in fact, on most days, it's quite easy.  It's the various people you have to deal with in customer service that make the days go like hell.

Because I like listing things though, I thought about it for a while and decided to write a nice little list of the people you will have to deal with in customer service, and why you will hate them.

1: The talker - This customer just likes to talk.  Whether they are lonely or just have a lot to say they insist on taking up your time with anecdotes about themselves and talking about current events all day long.  If you try to break it off with them so you can do something else, they follow you or hang around until it looks like you are doing nothing and then they talk with you some more, essentially preventing you from doing what you need to do.  There are only two things that stop them.  One is them leaving, and two is being rude towards them.  Since you don't want to do the latter, you end up waiting for the former.

2: The cheapskate - He wants $100 stuff, but he want's to spend $5.  This person, regardless of what you attempt to do, will always buy only the cheapest thing you can find to suit his/her needs, even when you tell them they will be in every week purchasing the exact same thing over and over again, and if they'd just spend a little more, they'd get something that lasts much longer and would save them money.

3: The know-it-all - This person knows everything about everything you sell (at least they think they do) and must correct everything you say about something.  Sometimes they'll even rub it in your face saying that they know more than you so you couldn't possibly help them with what they are searching for.

4: The unconsolable - They walk in angry, cause a scene, and even after hearing their situation and knowing what happened, and trying to explain things calmly, they still want to yell and rant until they get their way.

5: The stranger - Usually a tourist or someone that just doesn't know how to speak your language, they are really hard to understand, if at all, even when they talk slowly.  Yet, you have to try to help them as much as possible, and you feel really bad when communications break down to a point where you just start trying to get rid of them by telling them you don't have something.

6: The man on the mission - He'll walk in, head straight for what he gets every week, and walks out.  Never talking, never changing his routine.  You can't sell him anything, or show him a new item that came in that he might be interested in.  In fact, you can't show him anything.  And if he has to wait in line for check out, expect him to start letting everyone know that his time is valuable.

7: The big spender - This person comes in and basically wants everything from all around the store.  This person isn't so bad, and is the person you kind of want to come in every so often, especially if you earn commission.  They want the most expensive items, and they want a lot of it.  You usually have to take the time to go the extra mile just to ensure that they feel like a VIP, but at least you made an impressive sale.  I only mention this person to mention....

8: The fake spender - This person wants to be The Big Spender, but they don't have that kind of money.  But they'll make you go through all of the motions, get all the nice items, and eventually bring them up to the register, only to find out they don't have a valid card, or no cash, or worse yet, they aren't legally allowed to purchase the items.  Then they just leave, and you are left with a cart full of items to put back away, and about an hour or two of your shift completely wasted by one person.

9: The looky-loo - They walk in, and look through the entire store for an hour, sometimes more.  They never purchase anything, and sometimes will break something while they are there.  The only redeeming quality about them is they don't take up your time talking to you about nothing.

10: The closing staller - This person comes in with less than 5 minutes left before you lock the doors.  With they way they were running in, you'd think they were going to be in and out, but nope.  Instead they walk around looking at everything, grabbing little things here and there.  Fifteen to twenty minutes later, they finally decide they are done and you can finally close.  It's really aggravating on slow days when the store is already front and faced, everything is stocked, and the last till in the registers should only take five minutes to count, and they come in and purchase a bunch of stuff, and pay in cash.  One person just forced you to be there for another twenty minutes AFTER they leave.

11: The dog walker - Oh look...they have a dog (or cat, or lizard, or ferret, or whatever else), and they decide that that dog needs to go into every store with them.  Never mind that there is food to contaminate and breakables around just waiting for a dog tail to smack them.  Nope, it's just a cute doggy.  Next time I see a dog, or any other pet, in a grocery store though, I'm lighting up a cigarette in the store.

12: The mother/father - Parents...I completely respect what you guys do, especially with the little ones.  But if you have little ones that like to run around, scream, touch everything, and are generally hard to handle, at least allow someone working there to assist you so you can concentrate on controlling your little hellians.

13: The stoner - As soon as they walk in, you can smell it.  The definite aroma of marijuana.  It could be B.O., but as you look at them you can see the blood shot eyes and they are kind of giggly.  The scent is strong enough you are getting a contact high from it.  Do us all a favor.  Either smoke after you get what you need, or at least stand outside and air out a bit.

14: The moron - They are looking for something.  They don't know what, but they know what the label looks like.  Unfortunately, that label is the most generic label in the world, and they don't even describe it well enough to narrow it down to one thing.  They don't know the name of the product, or even what to call it.  After a minute of trying to figure it out, they start questioning whether it was a real item or if they just dreamed it.

15: The price comparator - Insists on telling everyone that works in the store about other stores selling the same item for cheaper.  If you suggest that he tells corporate (the people that actually can do something about it), he just shrugs like he doesn't care.  You wonder why he doesn't just go to that store, but week after week he's back and he has new items to complain about the price to you about.

16: The eternal adder - They come up to the register all ready to go...oh wait...they want to get one more thing.  Well, you've already started the transaction and no one is in line, you'll just wait.  Next thing you know, they've added twenty items and now there are seven people in line waiting on this person to finish up.  Every time you are about to try and just cancel it, he comes back up, looking like he wants to close out.

17: The rearranger -  They come in and grab something, but then they see something else and put their original item someplace it doesn't belong.  Then it happens again.  And again.  Next thing you know there are items all over the store.

18: The phone caller - They walk in and are on their cell phone, talking about who the hell cares.  They never get off the phone though, the entire time they are in the store, even when they check out.  You can't say anything to them to loud for fear of them getting offended that you interrupted their call.  Forewarning, if you come to my store and talk on your cell phone while I ring you up, I don't care what you think.  I will talk loud, fast and I won't repeat myself.  You want to be rude to me, so I'll be rude right back.  Finish your call outside before you shop, or at the very least finish it before you check out.  You can always just say "I'm about to check out.  I'll call you back in 10 minutes."

19: The thief - They come in many forms, shapes, sizes, and colors, but you still know them when the come in.  Sometimes they are good and you don't know if they took something.  Others are terrible at it and you just groan, especially if your store has a policy that you can't do anything about it for one reason or another.

20: The questioner - They have questions.  Lots of questions.  Questions about EVERYTHING.  Most of the stuff they ask questions on they aren't even going to buy.  After a while of explaining so many things to them, you start realizing it and just want to get away where your efforts will be more profitable.  Yet, they always have one more question.  Always one more.

Oh nice...I made an even twenty of them.  It's almost like I planned that. >:)

Most of these, people can't change.  It's part of who that person is.  I know myself I'm a number 1 and 6, with sometimes a number 9.  Being anything on this doesn't necessarily mean you're a bad customer, just annoying after a long day.  So which ones do you see yourself as?

E-Rage and E-Security

This past Monday, there was a bombing at the Boston Marathon.  The first thing I would like to do is express my deepest sympathies to those that were injured or the families of those that were lost.

The second thing I would like to do is say to all the conspiracy theorists and racists out there making horrendous comments about it, shut up.  You don't know anything about who did this, just as much as I don't.  Hell, the government doesn't know who did this yet.  You're making claims that are racist and asinine.  These are some of my favorites.

Congratulations Katie...your fear of the Muslim people has reached a peak.

Jayce...if it was North Korea, they would have probably done something a bit larger than this.

Sure Holden, except let me make one change.  How about instead we send all the racist assholes and people who insist on being intolerant dumb fucks to an island and then maybe we could make even larger improvements to the American way.

Oh Mrs. Hunman.  I'm sure that the sexual orientation of individuals with the Boston area is the reason why this happened.  I mean, the Boston Marathon isn't a gay pride thing, and I'm sure the 8-year old boy that died deserved it, but that's besides the point.

When 9/11 happened, we also knew exactly who it was that attacked us.  Obama is doing what he can right now with the information he has.  Also, I'm sure a white boy like you is really a hardcore thug drinking that Chocovine wine.

The point is, why do so many people express their rage via twitter before they know anything definitive?  And why do so many people fear it's necessary to post their racist comments when, as I've said before, once it's on the internet it never leaves.  It's because they obviously aren't thinking.  Think people.  Think.  These were just a few of the ones I liked...there are countless others.

Because of the Boston Bombing, there was another issue that became overshadowed.  Our fantastic government, headed by men and women that know little to nothing about the internet, are attempting to pass another internet security measure that would infringe upon our rights.  Some of the key notes are:

It lets the government spy on you without a warrant.

In other words, the government can simple keep tabs on everything and anything you do on the internet, regardless of your intentions.  So everyone better stop looking at all that porn, looking up how to hack their phones or download anything illegally even for the purposes of education.  Big Brother is watching.

It makes it so you can’t even find out about it after the fact. 

Even if you want to know if the government is watching you, you can't until they've pretty much found out what they want to know.  

It makes it so companies can’t be sued when they do illegal things with your data.

Y'know how so many companies, especially retail, have little cards that you fill out so you can get discounts? Well, this will allow them to pass that info onto anyone.  ANYONE!  They could give it to Westboro Baptist, or Neo-Nazi groups.  They could plaster it on their website, or on other websites.  And they can't be sued.  While this is the extreme case, its still possible.

It allows corporations to cyber-attack each other and individuals outside of the law. 

Another extreme case, but y'know all that music, all those movies, all those programs you downloaded over the years without paying for it?  This would allow companies to basically attack your computer to find it all.

It makes every privacy policy on the web a moot point, and violates the 4th amendment.

Self explanatory.

When we say that your information can be shared with “The Government” it’s not hyperbole. Federal Agencies from the Fish & Wildlife Service to Amtrak to the NSA could access your data. 

Oh good...because I love fishing so much and I never use my car to go anywhere.

The basic idea of it is that net-neutrality, internet privacy, and freedom of knowledge would be at risk.  I'm not saying that everyone that illegally downloads anything is in the right or wrong, there is some truth the matter of having the freedom to use a program for nothing more than learning.  I use programs such as Maya, Photoshop, and Final Cut, all of which I legally own.  However, I use ROMS for certain games, and technically that would be theft.  They are for games that are no longer available from the Genesis and SNES days, and most of the games I play I owned at some point.  So why shouldn't I be allowed to play them for free now?  I already shelled out my money for them years ago.  I touched on this when I wrote my On Console Design post.

This is actually a scary thing.  Bloggers, vloggers, anyone with an opinion out there would be easily targeted for having a voice of any kind.  I've kept my real name on this blog mainly because I have nothing to hide from the government, so if they want to watch me, they can go right ahead.  No skin off my nose.  But I also know my rights.  However, should this pass, I can foresee a downslide of other laws on the horizon, up to and including being able to arrest people for talking smack about anyone in the government, or even so much as making a passing joke.  Freedoms could be lost.

To read more about the CISPA bill, you can go here.  And if you want to know who to contact about this, go here.

Fears

Too scared to look...too scared not too.

Whether you are five or fifty, everyone has something they are afraid of.  Sometimes they are completely justified, and other times they are totally irrational.  And sometimes they are just downright funny (I know a guy that at first looks is one of the toughest guys you'll ever see, and then you find out he's afraid of butterflies...as in freaks out and screams like a girl scared).

The thing about fears is how you act upon them, and whether you let them control your life or if you use those fears to drive you.  I have three fears that I can honestly say affect me daily.  The first is a fear of my mother, and not in that I'm afraid of what she'll do to me daily.  It's an underlying fear that at some point, I may do something that will make her lose all faith in me.  It's more of a fear of making her disappointed in me.  I've had that fear for a long time, and it has allowed me to separate myself from certain decisions and re-evaluate them before locking in what I'm going to do.  Sometimes, I've made the wrong decision and I have disappointed her.  Luckily, nothing I have done has permanently hampered me in her eye.  But even so, those times when I have disappointed her, I've done everything in my power to rectify the situation and improve myself so that it never happens again.

If I fully lived in the fear that I'd never be remembered, this is what I'd be doing right now.

The second is a fear of being forgotten.  It stems from my dream of one day creating something, whether it's a game, or a TV show, or a movie, or something where everyone for a long time enjoys it.  Whether I get rich off of it is besides the point, but I want to have something that years down the line, long after I'm gone, people will still be able to look back on it and will remember my name along with it.  The fear comes from never reaching that.  Becoming just another statistical death amongst the masses where aside from those that physically knew me, no one will ever know who I am.  I would like to believe that this blog might eventually reach that status, and I hope I'm alive when it reaches there.  Until then, I continue to attempt to create something that will be remembered and cherished.

I am never going to live in Australia...EVER.

The third is my irrational fear.  Spiders.  Eight-legged, ugly little insect eating spiders.  Even from the smallest little house spider to the big tarantulas to those Australian spiders and Camel spiders.  I take precautions within my house to ensure that no spiders enter at least my room.  I have plug-ins that generate sound through the walls to create a barrier and I spray the baseboards and windows and doors every month or so.  Occasionally, one finds a gap and breaks through.  When that happens, I'm so afraid of them that I have to use oversized hard cover books or spray them from a distance to kill them.  If I see one and don't manage to kill it, I'm paranoid for hours, sometimes days, of what it's doing in the places I can't see.  Is it plotting to crawl all over me in my sleep?  Is it going to set up a nice little home and watch me with it's eight eyes as I dream?  *shudders* I'm going to stop there....I'm creeping myself out.

I'm just glad my father has never heard of Slenderman

I look at my father though, and the only fear I've seen him have is ghosts and stuff.  He doesn't like hearing horror stories or watching scary movies, he doesn't like people talking about ghosts or possessions or exorcisms around him, and he definitely doesn't like to know that my great grandmother sometimes comes to visit us, even though she's been dead for more than ten years now.  So we just don't expose him to it.  

My mother's worst nightmare.

My mother on the other hand, she's afraid of some funny stuff.  Midgets, clowns, driving over bridges, handling raw chicken...we tease her about it all the time.

The point I'm trying to make is how we handle fears for our day to day life.  Some people use fear to motivate them to be better, while others let fears consume them into a hardcore preventative state.  Look at those afraid of germs.  Some just make sure they wash their hands well and often, carry around some anti-germ lotions, and generally take care to monitor what they are touching and eating from.  Others on the other hand will lock themselves into a hermetically sealed home, only leaving if they absolutely need to.  They wash constantly, and even small little specks of dust or dirt will drive them absolutely crazy.  

This guy just overcame his fear of being a silhouette.

The first step to living with your fear is admitting you have it.  The second is confronting it.  My first two fears live with me constantly, and I work hard to try to keep them at bay without letting them interfere with my life.  The third one I've been attempting to get better at.  I'm no longer afraid of paper spiders, and smaller spiders I can at least approach for the kill with a paper towel or toilet paper.  Eventually I would like to get over the fear enough that I can be in the same house as someone with a pet tarantula without constantly looking over my shoulder to see if it has escaped. (I did go to a guy's house once that had a pet tarantula that he didn't tell me about.  As soon as I saw it, I left despite his assurance that it can't escape.)  I'll never hold a spider, that I'm sure of.  But it would be nice to not be paranoid about every spider I see.

So what are your fears?  How do you prevent them from taking over your life?  Or do they, and what do you do to keep your self from going into a panic over them?

Respect

For the last two years, I've been living with my parents (whom I affectionately call 'the 'rents'), and for the most part it's been okay.  It took me a while to find a job, and when I did it was just part time working at a liquor store, and after two years I finally have a chance to get something full-time that I can move out on my own again on.  I do what I can to help out, whether it's vacuuming, or the dishes, or even washing the cars if they want me to.  I'm not perfect, but I try real hard to do what I can to help out.  And I do it out of respect for them helping through a tough time.

About seven months ago though, my aunt hit near rock bottom.  After quite a while of having problems with money (which my dad as well as other family members helped her with), she was in danger of being kicked to the curb.  My dad was nice enough to say she could move in with us for a while until she got back on her feet, something we were also going to help her with.

At that time, I didn't know the extent of the damage, but with her on the cusp of being force out of here, I now know every detail.  For years, she has been borrowing money from family, never even attempting to pay them back.  While living with us, she has spent more time going back to her husband (who is a drunk and has even attacked their sons before) and hanging out with her friends than with her 18 year old son in high school who is living with us as well.  She doesn't do anything to help out around the house, and shows no sign of gratitude towards my parents.  This fifty year old woman basically has the mentality of an angst ridden teenager when it comes to respect.  Just this week, she spent ten days being with her friends, while the son living with us was under our care during his spring break.  She ended up coming home at 9pm on Sunday, said a quick "Hello." and then ran up to her room and hid.  She never checked to see what was going on this week, or even attempted to come home and take care of her own son.  My mother ended up doing his laundry, on top of the task of making sure that he ate.  My aunt has never taught him how to do anything to fend for himself, and in my opinion has set him up to basically to fail for the rest of his life.  Total, she owes my father somewhere in the vicinity of 8-12 thousand dollars, and he's already said that he doesn't ever expect to get it back.

Her basic routine during the week is to wake up, drive her son to school, go to work, and come home at around 10 or 11pm.  Given what she does, I don't fault her for that much, though my mother is pissed that she can't seem to wash a coffee mug after she's done using it.  On weekends, she remains with her husband and friends, avoiding contact until Sunday when she arrives either right before dinner or right after dinner.  She eats, then hides.

There are ton of little things as well.  She uses my bathroom, and when I wake up in the morning, I find that she's used the toilet and hasn't flushed.  Her room is so cluttered it makes my room look pristine (I don't keep the tidiest of rooms).  She never offers to do the dishes, and she never tries to even do her son's laundry for school.  On the one or two nights in which she's been home and my parents were away that weekend, instead of actually preparing something decent for a meal, she's made hamburger helper.  Her one night home with her son, and she makes something a bachelor makes when he's eating alone.  And that's just here.

Over the years, apparently she's never pushed her children to be better, so the son living with us is in some of the easiest classes I've ever heard of, despite him being quite intelligent.  Her apartment, the one time I've been over there, made Chernobyl look livable.  She's avoided taxes several times, which is where some of her money troubles came in, and at family functions she does nothing but eat and socialize, never trying to even lift a finger to help with anything.  The first family function I did with that side of the family, I was asking if there was anything I could do to help, and after dinner I helped with the dishes, something I learned to do from a very young age.

I tell you all this because you should respect people, especially if they are trying to help you out.  I can tell you right now that after this entire incident, she's burned a major bridge between not only this house, but the rest of the family.  I'd be surprised if she has another bridge to even cross should she fail at being a human being again.

But yeah...respect people.  Help them out, and strengthen that bridge so that if something happens later on, you have somewhere to go to for help yourself.  

Employers and Employees

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  No one likes to work.  Especially when that work involves interacting with irate or even ignorant people, back breaking heavy lifting, and standing on your feet for hours on end for minimum wage.  People like money though, so some people get a job to earn it.  Others find ways to get money just to sit on their asses, but many people are willing and able to do an honest days work for a paycheck.

I've worked several jobs, primarily in retail and sales.  Before I take any job, I usually determine whether the amount I'm being paid justifies the work I'll be doing.  Nine dollars an hour?  Yeah, I'm willing to work four hour shifts dealing with customers and lifting boxes to stock shelves.  Not hard, and to some extent, I enjoy it.

What I don't enjoy is doing that stuff while other people, who are paid exactly the same as I am, get to stand around and gossip WHILE I'm doing that work.  I'm a self-motivated worker.  I prefer to at least make it look like I'm busy doing something while I get paid, and nine out of ten times I actually am trying to get stuff done because I take pride in doing something to justify my paycheck.  In other words, I work hard for the money.  Yet, most of the people I work with don't.  Unless they are confronted with a task directly, they will simply stand around, talking about non-work related topics, or playing on their phone or reading a book in clear view of customers.  To me, that's not only highly unprofessional, it's also an insult to those that would be happy to take their job. (To those of you that are unemployed and seeking work, that would be you.)

Worse yet, those who are managers seem to do nothing about it.  They walk by, say nothing, and don't even comment on their lack of activity, even when it's been going on for over an hour.  So, because of this, I would like to declare a list of things to remember for both employers and employees.  And yes, I have seen all of these happen at the various places I've worked at.

Employees

1: You are there to work.  Do something.  Anything.  Help a customer, stock a shelf, file some paper work...whatever your job entails, do it.  Everything done for the day?  Get ahead.  Do stuff that would normally be done tomorrow.  Can't find anything to do?  Ask your boss if there is anything you can take off their hands.  Not only does this show that you are a hard worker, thus if they need to get rid of someone you are less likely to be let go, but it also makes time go by faster.

2: Phones, books, games, and anything else non-work related...don't use them at work.  Checking the time on your phone is one thing, but you should not be on Facebook or playing a game while working. Do it on your break.  Do it when you get home.  But when you are on the clock, work.  You aren't getting paid to play (unless you are a QA game tester...then I guess you are, but it's towards a purpose)

3: If you have clients or customers, don't talk about them or other clients/customers around them.  It's unprofessional.  Period.  Same goes for bad mouthing your co-workers in front of them.

4: Speak English (or if you are in another country, whatever the native language of that country is) to your co-workers during business hours.  Customers don't want to hear you yammering on in another language for two reasons:  One, if you start breaking Rule 3, it's even more of an insult that you thought you could hide it by speaking in a foreign tongue and two, it's unprofessional towards your fellow coworkers who may not speak the language.  Also, eventually, you are going to say something out of line that a customer or coworker is going to know, and they are going to call you on it.

5: Whatever your dress code is for work, you should be two steps above it at all times.  Many of the places I've worked had a dress code of "uniform shirt and khaki pants, belt and black shoes."  That does not mean a wrinkled right out of the laundry shirt that you keep untucked, khaki colored pants that have 20 pockets on them, a belt with flames on it, and black boots with ten straps on them going up to your knees.  Professionalism people...remember it.

Employers

1: Chain of command.  The people you employ are there to work for you.  If they are not working on something, then give them something to work on.  You don't have to micro manage them, but whenever you see an associate standing around doing nothing for 10 minutes, then tell them to do something.  If you are the boss of the place, give the department heads a list of tasks you would like done daily.  And let your associates know that they can express comments and concerns through this chain of command.  A low level employee should not be contacting a CEO directly.

2: Delegate.  You hire underlings for a reason.  They are there to do the menial tasks while you take care of the higher priority ones.  Store managers?  You should be worrying about ordering stock, money, and walking through the store to see what needs to get done so the store is as perfect as it can get.  The associates should be the ones doing things like stocking, cleaning, and your go-to guys should be doing things like resetting sections.

3: Reward.  Every job has employees that skate by doing bare minimum and others that work hard every day.  Let the latter know that their work is appreciated.  Tell them "Hey, I appreciate all this work you do." every so often.  If you can, give them something small.  Gift cards, free product, a paid day off...something that shows them that their hard work is not for nothing.  If you make it public, then the slackers might start working harder to try to earn it.  And don't just give it to a random person just so one person isn't always winning it.  If one guy is always winning, give it to number two once in a while, or even number three if those two guys are always at the top.  If you give it to the worst person in the place, then the reward becomes meaningless.

4: Reprimand.  Those people that do nearly nothing? Reprimand them.  Give them verbal or written reprimands saying that they need to work harder.  Evaluations don't come often enough to really make an impact.  Usually those people that skate by need to have someone on their ass pushing them.  And if they don't get it after a while, then those written reprimands will prevent you from being sued when you fire them.

5: Communicate.  Talk to those guys below you.  Tell your section leaders or your head clerks or your department heads what is going on.  The best boss I ever had carried a notepad on him at all times, and he wrote down everything.  Twice daily he would get all the senior staff together and tell them everything and what he wanted to be done about it.  The senior staff would then pass whatever was necessary along to us at the low level and things got done.  In fact, the store was almost always perfect because of that.

6: Train.  Don't assume that because someone does something once they will remember it every time from then on.  And if someone has never done something before, don't just take over for them.  Make a note to train them on it.  It doesn't need to be extravagant training, but quick training on something every so often is great for a refresher.

7: Promote.  Take note of who are your best workers.  Anytime an opportunity comes up for promotion, ask them if they want it.  Put in a good word for them, and even push to get them promoted.  That's why they work hard.  They want to advance.  If nothing is coming up for a while, give them a leg up.  Train them on how to do higher level stuff.  Give them the opportunity to do it themselves under supervision once in a while.  This way when they do get promoted, they can hit the ground running.

*****

So, to all the lower employees out there, work hard.  Try to work harder than anyone else where you work.  And if everyone is just slacking off, raise the complaint to your boss.  If your boss doesn't care whether you slack off or work hard, continue to work hard but look for a job where your work will be appreciated.

And to employers out there, you should only want the best workers.  No body is perfect, but when you know someone is working hard and trying to make something for themselves, help them along.  Help them move forward.  It's how you gain loyal workers who will advance your business ten-fold.  And cut off your dead weight, because it's not the pay thats going to make your good employees leave.  It's your good employees noticing that their work isn't going to get them far with your company.

People of the mall.

I went to the mall a couple of days ago, and wandered around with some acquaintances of mine.  Nothing really significant happened, except one little thing that got me thinking.

There...I've met my pony quota for this blog.

One of the guys in our group noticed a couple of people outside of our group laughing at us, and also a girl outside of our group taking a picture of us.

Perhaps I should explain why.  If you haven't gathered so far from previous blog posts, I'm a brony.  For those not in the know, it's a fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.  Whether you agree with my choice to watch it or not, that's your prerogative  and I don't feel like going too deep into it in this post.  The people I was hanging around with, also bronies, and from the general attire we all were wearing that day, it was pretty easy to tell that we were a herd of bronies.  (Yeah...I made that pun.)

Anyways, after that guy pointed it out, I went on high alert for further incidents of it.  While there were the occasional stares at us as we walked by, I rarely noticed any laughing or pointing, which was good. Some people actually smiled at us with a genuine greeting.  I was happy to see that there were not too many people out there that wanted to start something.

I'm all of these...and more.  A lot more

And by start something, I have to bring up a few other situations that have happened in my life.  Along with being a brony, I'm a raging geek, nerd, otaku...I'm quirky in many ways.  I can't really explain every way, but understand that I have more than one thing out there that makes me smile uncontrollably, and quite a few eccentricities in the way I act.  This has in the past, caused more than one problem, most notably with confrontation.  I've had a few times where certain people have seen my overly happy demeanor as a sign that I'm a pushover, or even a fun little (well, not really little) target for attempts of bullying and humiliation.

This was what I was mainly afraid of as we continued through the mall.  That some teenager or young adult was going to see a group of obvious geeks and attempt to take advantage of the situation to either harass or even physically test us.  And I wasn't going to have it.

I've been in a few fights that started with this same look.

People know I'm not one to take any form of harassment lightly, usually getting quite angry and even physical myself.  It's not that I want to fight, but I learned at a younger age that running from a problem doesn't solve it, and can usually bring that problem back.  I prefer to confront any and all problems head on.  I may not win, but I will show that I'm willing to give that problem a run for it's money and make it second guess itself next time it wants to try something.

So for the next couple of hours, I constantly was watching for any sign of trouble that may be heading our way.  Luckily, no incidents.  The herd was oblivious to my watch standing, and we ended up having a great time.

But those people...those couple of people that made my one friend uncomfortable even for just a moment...especially the girl that took our picture...they are the kinds of people that need to understand something.

The reason why we have so many conflicts in life is because of people not allowing other people to be themselves.  Our group wasn't harming anyone.  We were just roaming the mall enjoying the day and each other's company.  We weren't blaring music, singing loudly all over the mall.  We weren't dancing like crazed idiots.  We were walking, and had our attire been different, you never would have known we were bronies.  But because they knew that fact, suddenly we were a focal point for ridicule.

And that's why I don't go to the mall very often if I can avoid it.  Yup...that's the point of this rant.  Malls suck.  Yay for a point.  Oh, and a question.  Have you ever noticed someone ridiculing you behind your back because of something you were/are that's different from what some would call 'normal'?  What did you do about it?  Run or fight?  I like hearing those kinds of stories.

Also, I'm thinking about starting another page.  This one would not be updated nearly as regularly, but it would be a more idea driven blog.  Someplace where I can upload pictures I've done, lyrical work, animations, etc etc.  I don't know how often it would be, and there is going to be a LOT of random crap most people aren't going to understand.  But if there is an interest, I'll start it up.