Today, Yahoo posted an article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110217/ts_yblog_thelookout/help-wanted-jobless-need-not-apply#mwpphu-container

Said article was pointing out how companies won’t hire people who have been unemployed for too long! And the masses started ranting and complaining, pointing fingers and tearing each other into shreds. “It is the dems and libs, they screw up our country.” “Oh no, it’s those greedy republicans, because Bush did us in.”

Those who have been reading my blogs will know where I stand politically. Hence, I am not gonna reiterate my political views here. What annoys me, as usual, is the lack of responsibility people are taking for what is going on in our country at the present time. It seems to truly shock the public that our government is corrupt and self-serving, just like most of America’s corporations are. Really? This is news to you guys? I guess it’s a bit like religion. As long as we have someone to blame we feel a whole lot better and much more secure, because imagine how sucky it would be if one would have to point the finger back at oneself, admitting “damn, my choices contributed to this mess.”

Look, I drank the Kool-Aid, just like everyone else did. For a while I came close to actually feeling safe and almost taking things for granted. The rude awakening came in 2008 within a matter of 8 weeks! First I got dumped, which finally made me realize that my decision making in the relationship category was way off, and then Yahoo!, the company I had been with for 7 1/2 years, laid me off. This was the same company who had, in the same year, given me a retention bonus when a competitor tried to hire me away, a promotion and a Super Star award, which is supposedly given to a mere 50 within an organization of 16,000 at the time.
Was I bitter and distraught? You bet! Especially since I watched certain individuals unscathed who neither worked hard enough, nor contributed largely enough to warrant their continued safety. However, they had had done something I absolutely refused doing, kissing the right butts and making friends in the right places. My delusion came from thinking that hard work, honesty and integrity would always win over douche baggery and weasleness (how do you like THAT word?!).

Don’t get me wrong, not everyone who survived, god knows, how many layoffs is a douche bag; and thankfully, my bitterness is also slowly subsiding. What I learned painfully slow and the hard way at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 (and am still learning now) is that nothing can be taken for granted and doing the right thing or being the good guy doesn’t always make you finish first, or finish at all. I also learned that there is nothing gained by sitting around and moping or whining about the hardships I have endured and the unfairness I have experienced. Instead, I figured there had to be ways for me to contribute to our economy, besides just walking through life with integrity, honesty and loyalty.

This brings me back to my actual topic (finally!). Whenever I read these news articles I am completely astounded by the level of sheer stupidity, ignorance and denial sported in the comments. If people would actually spend some time reading and researching, instead of blindly following and watching “Jersey Shore,” or “American Idol,” etc., maybe they’d learn a thing or two. Maybe they’d actually think twice before voting for whatever douche bag appeals the most to their emotions and makes them “feel” as if they actually care, or make a change. Of course, I have to mention, yet again, that approx. two thirds of the population is actively voting against their own self-interest. Alas, I digress!

I sure know that being unemployed, or paid shitty kinda makes it impossible to spend money on quality. So “poor” people do not fall into this category. But for all the other Muppets out there, who have no problem spending money on clothes, tanning, big screen TVs, SUVs and god knows what other crap, this does apply, and I feel they need to shut up already! I don’t shop at Wal-Mart, EVER! I will not set foot into any store that I know contributes to the state we are in. Whenever I can and have a choice, I buy American. Sure, it’s more expensive, but I take it any day over the mass produced crap that is Made in China. Up until recently, I only drove American cars. Now I drive a Honda. Why? Because I am driving a hybrid and don’t want to keep supporting the evil oil companies. Yeah, it’s black and white like that for me.

Outsourcing? Not for me! I work in the fraud industry. I have done presentations that clearly proved that outsourcing in my industry does not save money at all. As a matter of fact, it becomes kinda costly. By the time you keep retraining a constantly revolving team in India, which cannot function outside black and white rules you actually lose. Too bad those large corporations are turning a blind eye on that, because they are still thinking that they can pay 10 guys in India for the salary of 1 guy in the US. Well, I’d rather pay for a consistent, well-trained and well-oiled machine, then to constantly having to face the headache of the job not being done right. Sorry, again, it’s black and white like that, because this was my experience when I had a team in India for almost 2 years. I am sure there are situations where outsourcing works, but for my industry it did not.

I am not really sure how companies quantify their savings, when most of us are extremely annoyed when we have to deal with agents in another country, who clearly respond like robots. I don’t know anyone who has pleasant experiences, when having to deal with a situation that requires the kind of support that doesn’t come in a handbook. But again, I digress!

All I can do is keep reading and keeping abreast with the stuff that is going on in the world, not just the US! I actually attempt to form my own opinions, instead of listening to Billy Bob, who lives down the road and doesn’t even know how to form a coherent sentence. The sense of entitlement needs to go. No, not everyone is entitled to a six figure salary, just because they have been somewhere for a while, or because this country is based on the idea of turning the trash man into a millionaire. It doesn’t work that way in reality, where we still need to do our jobs, work hard and actually contribute to the company. We don’t get to sit in the corner office, just because we feel we should. We also don’t get to bitch about the high cost of the surrounding food establishments, just because we are too lazy to prepare our own food, or god forbid, walk a few blocks. And while being on the topic, nope, a MBA does not entitle you to anything either! While there are still people out there who are impressed with such “shinery,” I for one have encountered plenty of not-so-smart people with degrees, but egos higher than a skyscraper, who got the salary and job, because they walked in with a fancy suit and said degree. I was actually turned down from a company because I didn’t have the American degree they asked for. The fact that in Germany we learn more in 10 years than Americans do in 12, oh well, is just a fact but didn’t do me any good, when I was told that “we are degree centric,” and when my years of experience, apparently, couldn’t overrule a degree I would have gotten more than 20 years by now.

These days, more than ever, I feel it should be much more about who you are and what you actually know and do. The bullshit shouldn’t fly anymore and based on our current economy, I’d say this is, at least to some degree, fairly accurate. The times where one could sit on one’s butt, collecting a paycheck and excellent benefits for merely showing up, maybe even on time, are gone for a lot of free-loaders and whiny people. Unfortunately, some people who didn’t deserve it still got axed. But at the end of the day, this is where my idealism still prevails, as I do believe that in the long run we all get what we deserve and what we have coming to us. I guess one could call it my version of karma!

So, if you want the American dream you can still have it; it’s just not thrown at you anymore the way it may once was. If people keep going at the rate they are, I feel this country will sink even further; and maybe that is a good thing. Because when I take a look at the masses I must say “wow, they truly are idiots, because they keep repeating the same stupid behavior without ever learning a damn thing.” So in the spirit of said morons, I say “go team, go!” Meanwhile, I am going to pull out a lawn chair and keep watching as Billy Bob is emerging from the trailer, sporting his few remaining teeth and voting for Sarah Palin as president, “cause we can’t let those damn libs and dems turns us into communists.”

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us

0

0